One of the topics within the painting relates to the early Christian belief of a great "Flood". Findings by eminent Archaeologists working on a "dig" situated on Mount Ararat stumbled across what they interpret as ancient "Drogue Stones", sea anchors sculptured out of rock.
The theory is that, along with artefacts found at the site, they
believe this may have been the resting site of "Noah's Ark".
Future research may enlighten us as to this being myth or fact.
The Archaeologists' findings say that the Drogue Stones size and
spacing are comparable to the assumed length of the "Ark".
The "Five Strands" flowing in and out of the canvas represent firstly, Anchor Ropes, secondly, Conduits for the first five books of the Old Testament, "The Pentateuch".
The great flood, alluded to in "Genesis", is said to have obliterated all humanity, except for a chosen few. It most likely represents and symbolises a major local flood (c.4000 BCE) marked by an 8 foot layer of mud at Ur (near Erida) Iraq. The resting place of the Ark is assumed now to be situated on the 17,000 ft. mountain "Great Ararat" on the Turkish/Iranian border.
The "Three Images" facing inward in the foreground have a religious flavour, the Holy Trinity, the Three who died on Calvary, the Three Wise Men and so on.
The human image reclining, central to the painting, is stricken with the knowledge of the awesome power of nature.
The "Rowing Boat", beached, depicts journeys end, fulfilment of life, the way ahead, the unknown, mysticism and spiritualism.
The " Sphere " encircled by the five strands, represents the discovery of "Neutrinos" which scientists believe may constitute 90% of all the mass in the Universe (known universe). "Where time is like a 'Tear' in the rain" !
For any set of facts, multiple theories can be generated, these are only limited by man's imagination. Complexity studies look to trying to investigate all the possibilities in any particular scenario, yet this is found impossible, the options are too vast. Contrast this with normal life and science, where we often look only at one or two options before boldly and arrogantly declaring that we have 'found the truth' !
Scientific progress is a process of iteration, new discoveries are fed back into the old theories and these then change to synthesize the old and the new. Similarly, in complex systems, the processes involved develop by iteration. A chance mutation or choice will change the trajectory of the system in such a way as to take it to a new area of state space, a previously undiscovered option. This then forms a new starting position, from which to explore the fresh possibilities then made available....