When You Connect The Dots
You Don’t Always Reach The Right Conclusion
Facial recognition is spreading through the world like a virus.
I wrote about the facial recognition company ‘Clearview’ a couple of weeks ago. (Here.)
In Joseph Steinberg’s piece called ‘How To Prevent Facial Recognition Technology From Identifying You’, number 10 was ‘wear a mask’. (Here.)
There are a lot of people doing that in the world today, though most are trying to protect themselves from the Coronavirus.
Others simply want to protect themselves from identification.
Masks disguise you, hide you, protect you. Against facial recognition. Against 'viruses'.
Some cultures believe that when your photograph is taken and your image is ‘captured’, you lose your soul.
It's a belief held by many cultures all over the world. Why?
Chris Rainier published his brilliant new book Masks at the end of last year. (Buy It Here)
The captions on each image are authored by Dr. Robert Welsch and shed light on why mankind has always worn masks.
Photo Credit: Chris Rainier: Papua New Guinea
Those masks reminded me of this image;
The actress is Bulle Ogier from Barbet Schroeder’s film, La Vallée
La Vallée’s soundtrack was called ‘Obscured By Clouds’, written and performed by Pink Floyd (famous for hiding their faces from their audiences).
La Vallée was filmed in Papua New Guinea.
Barbet Schroeder is Iranian. Just like the gentleman below. (Source)
I know Chris Rainier through his good friend Andy Patrick which is also how I know Lillian Sizemore - an artist who specialises in mosaics with a particular leaning towards mandalas.
“Each person’s life is like a mandala - a vast, limitless circle.
Pema Chodron, Buddhist Nun.
I first discovered mandalas through the writings of John Michel, around the same time I discovered the music of Pink Floyd. A connection. Not a coincidence.
Lillian Sizemore knew John Michel. Well enough to also know his assistant who was with him when he passed in 2009. I met them at one of Andy Patrick’s events. The one where I also met Joe Boyd. If anyone can lay claim to having discovered’ Pink Floyd - it is Joe. Oh and a third point of triangulation to ‘famous’ (what defines famous?) people and assistants .. at 19, Chris Rainier who I referenced above was the last ‘photographic assistant’ to Ansell Adams in the early 80s.
All of this was lon after joining RILKO - an organisation founded by Michel which focussed on ‘Lost Knowledge’. The Organisation is still around - though a shadow of is former self. RILKO sadly got tarnished with the likes of Uri Geller and Erich von Däniken responsible for ‘spoon bending’ and ‘gods from outer space’ respectively.
Erich, of course, is famous for making leaps of logic that can be best represented by this image.
I paraphrase Erich;
Our ancestors on ‘seeing these visitors from outer space’ wanted to be like them, so created versions of the space-suits for themselves.
He provided no explanation as to why spacesuits worn by aliens thousands of years ago so tightly resembled the modern human spacesuit. Others have suggested that we discover time travel in the future and return to visit ourselves.
Here’s another theory.
What if these ancient cultures were simply hiding their faces from those visitors - or whatever it was surveilling them?
What if ‘the machine’ was actually stealing their souls, because how else could it know so much about them?
What if they were simply taking the advice of Joseph Steinberg thousands of years before he wrote it, intuitively understanding ‘facial recognition’ and were wearing masks to hide and keep themselves and their identities hidden?
Like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel
Never ending or beginning on an ever spinning reel
As the images unwind, like the circles that you find
In the windmills of your mind!The Windmills Of Your Mind
💬 Alan and Marilyn Bergman.
This newsletter is a journey through a series of disparate - yet connected - dots. Each dot leading to the next with the final dot also being the first. An image of the journey is created. A mandala. An image of some ‘25 degrees of People First’.
Back to more earthly discussions next week.
This Week’s Eight Pillar Index.
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