Joshua Sinclair on periodic table

From: Joshua Sinclair
To: evapetric
Date: Tue, 19 Apr 2009 04:04:39 PM

Re: i am not sure if i told you that i am preparing for my MFA project a collectors' limited edition photo book called "Gr@y Matter"- THE LANGUAGE OF SHADOWS which will consist of around 250 black and white analog produced shadow photographs. Based on the Periodic table of elements my shadows will present emotions not elements though, and when viewed together will comprise a language of shadows used to build and express different emotions. This book will serve for me as the DNA for my future shadow based projects....

Dear Eva,
The Periodic table is a great idea. As you may know, there is a lot of art in the Table. John Newlands, for instance, noticed in 1865 that when placed in order of increasing atomic weight, elements of similar physical and chemical properties recurred at intervals of eight, which he likened to the octaves of music. In fact, he composed an aria that fitted the table (as it was known then with less than 117 elements). They are also related to stability and instability, atomic weight (= importance), abundance, “transition elements” (=insecurity and spiritual development), value – both material and ethical (noble gases), etc. There is definitely a link between atomic and subatomic particles and visualized “emotions”. Tungsten creates Light. Hydrogen and Helium are the Parents of the Universe. Gold which is the goal of the Philosopher's stone would also bring immortality. The mythical element Carmot which would create the Stone and make all our dreams come true. Mercury (which was a basis for the transmutation of the stone, the “ugly duckling” that became the Swan (=Gold). The Periodic Table was, for Alchemy and even today, the fabric of which dreams are made — and illusions. In this case, the case of illusions, we are dealing with shadows. That which is but is not. The Periodic Table represents the “emotions” God had when He created the Universe, the emotions inherent in the Big Bang. Some of those Divine Emotions were expressed at the Big Bang itself (Helium, Hydrogen), others came later, others still were the product of the intense “emotion” or heat of the Supernovae in which the heavier elements were “cooked”. This means that the Original Philosopher’s stone was divinely inspired in the Big Bang and the Greatest Material Philosopher’s Stone are the Supernovae which can create the Anti-Stone which is the Black Hole.

And what is the first particle to have been created? Light. The Photon.

Let there be Light. It all comes from there. Light (together with the darkness which preceded it) creates Shadows. And the Shadows are always fluctuating, in the process of “becoming”.

Heraclitus said “Panta Rei”, everything is changing. And that is what is happening in Big Bangs like the Supernovae.

The Shadows measure that “Becoming”.

A Shadow is an area where direct light from a light source cannot reach due to obstruction by an object. A Shadow is an area where the Direct Illumination of Love cannot reach because of the Obstruction created by our Becoming. In other words, when we relinquish the obstruction of the Ego (our becoming; our craving), Love can shine through to the Self, dissolving the Shadows.

As you probably know, the expression “through a glass, darkly” comes from St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 13, verse 12: “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see though a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part, but then shall I know even as I also am known.”
I wrote this to you a while ago.
To see through a “glass, darkly” means to see reality through a succession of shadows, - shadows which represent our fear, our cowardice, our inability to perceive the true consequences of our hatred, our struggle to overcome moral mediocrity, our inability to see ourselves “as we are seen”. I believe this concept is extremely relevant in a world that is still reeling from the bewilderment caused by Baghdad’s “Shock & Awe.” A world that is asking: when will we finally go beyond that “glass” and “see as we are seen”.

We can live in the Light or we can live in the Shadow. One is Being. The other Becoming. This is exactly what we see when we review the elements of the Periodic Table: Some elements are Being. Others are Becoming. Stable and Noble versus Isotopes and Radioactivity.

Joshua Sinclair