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Turbulence

( Size: 80cm x 100cm Acrylic on canvas )

Turbulence

Leila Kubba Kawash 1996.

Complexity comment:

Turbulence in nature is a state containing structure on many scales, vortices within vortices. This self-similarity of nested features we call a fractal, and it often indicates a state midway between order and chaos. The state of a system is very dependent upon the forces acting upon it, so this middle state corresponds to a balanced system, neither too cold (frozen) nor too hot (into meltdown).

We can relate this also to human systems, either brains or societies naturally adopt the same central position, we self-organize to an 'interesting' state. Attempts to force us to conform merely result in resistence, like a compressed balloon we break out in another location. Similarly, when overloaded we withdraw into ourselves, avoiding the unwanted stimuli and preventing mental or social breakdown. Such self-balancing behaviour occurs over many different levels, thus the state of a person, like a turbulent whirlpool, is highly complex and can be understood best as a dynamic system and not as a static machine. When we analyse another person we should try to look beyond the superficial cultural differences between us, and recognize that our shared aspects as humans far outnumber those variations. Furthermore, those differences give us an opportunity to re-evaluate our own values, and to recognise that often what we considered so important is really just an arbitrary historical choice amongst other possibilities which possess equal intrinsic value.

Page Version 1.0 June 1999
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