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Sabine Woman I

( Size: 80cm x 60cm Acrylic on canvas )

Sabine Woman I

Leila Kubba Kawash 1995.

Complexity comment:

The Sabines were opposed to the Roman Gods Zeus and Mars, whose characteristics are those of control and war. As we enter the 21th Century these characteristics of suppression and violence are as far to the fore as ever they were. It is quite strange to observe that the benefits of co-operation over conflict rarely seem to invade the male mind, we act largely in the image of our animal past, re-enacting those sexual dominance scenarios that derive from ape mating urges. Yet in all rational analyses of behaviour it is clear that overall fitness is maximised by co-operation, by trust in our neighbours and friends. We see this in the Prisoner's Dilemma, a game theoretical simplification that shows that selfish behaviour, even when perfectly 'rational', leads to poorer results for both parties than would actions based on co-operation.

Transcending our genes is one of the most valuable abilities possessed by humans, unmatched (it seems) by the rest of the animal kingdom. Before however we can take this step, we need to recognise just how much under their influence we are in our day to day behaviour, and this includes our 'intellectual' judgements. This area is studied in the field known as Evolutionary Psychology, and we can relate almost all our cultural structures to such genetically influenced behaviours, whether based on power, on material, on appearance or on status. In Eastern thought much less emphasis is placed on these external aspects of life, and here instead the aim is to analyse the internal structure of mind and to understand our behaviour from its source. This also relates to transcending our animal past, and to raising up our awareness to such a state that we can see the futility of much of our current behaviour. Going beyond the present into new areas reflects the need for a new way of looking at life, and that is a role admirably filled by complexity thinking.

Page Version 1.0 June 1999
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