PARALLEL

Script Analysis


     Inspired by Gary Zukav's book on quantum physics, titled "The Dancing Wu Li Masters: An Overview of the New Physics" (1979), the script written for the voice over of Parallel is an artistic interpretation of existential themes related to individual identity and the act of creation. Below, on the left, is the script. On the right are notes explaining the connections between the script and philosophies of quantum physics outlined in Zukav's book.
art is a form of communication   (1)
drawing is but a tool
a mechanical process
observe
recreate   (2)
pencil lead is applied to areas that are black
what is white remains untouched   (3)
and in between
a rainbow of greys   (4)


   (1) viewing art as a form of communication gives art a defined function and sets it on a level comparable to literal languages or mathematics as the language of science
  (2) this is a reference to the scientific method of observation and duplication of results
  (3) the value scale of black and white is key in both pencil drawing and photography, but this is also a reference to yin and yang, in turn a reference to philiosophy
  (4) the rainbow of greys is a metaphor for various perspectives co-existing

I am alone here
isolated
surrounded by emptiness
this is how I feel
I use art to communicate my experience
so those who missed me then
can see me now
but the pictures seem inadequate
as do the words I am speaking to you now   (5)


   (5) after introducing the concept of self awareness, this verse discusses the limitations of language. "...it is important to remember that mathematics and English are both languages. Languages are useful tools for conveying information, but if we try to communicate experiences with them, they simply do not work. All a language can do is talk about an experience... [but] a description of an experience is not the experience. It is only talk about it." (Zukav, 42)

still, I continue, driven by motivation I do not understand   (6)
unhappy with what I've observed, I recreate myself in my own image
the self I want to understand
the self I hope to become   (7)
the two headed in the same direction
running parallel


   (6) an acknowledgement of unidentified forces that influence our behaviour, translated to physics, this is a reference to the subatomic particles that make up everything in the physical world, what controls these particles remains, for the most part, a mystery
  (7) describes the duality that exist between what we are and what we want to be

with every action, I feel the momentum of change, though it's not clear where I stand
and then, when I understand myself better, the sense of movement is gone   (8)


   (8) Zukav explains that in the case of measuring the momentum of a particle, or its change of position over time, "we cannot know both the position and the momentum of a particle with absolute precision. We can know both, approximately, but he more we know about one, the less we know about the other. We can know either of them precisely, but in that case, we can know nothing about the other. This is Werner Heisenberg's uncertainty principle." (Zukav, 52)

I feel stuck in the middle
between reality and my idea of reality
between what is and what is possible
each forms a line
headed in the same direction
running parallel
and I can no longer distinguish between the two   (9)
  (9) this verse further discusses the concept of perception vs. reality and how the two are often blurred.

my actions are propelled forward not by me but something else
a self-perpetuating machine
and I am caught within it   (10)
some say it is not possible to observe reality without changing it   (11)
perhaps it is also not possible to observe reality without being changed by it
our internal thoughts connected to the external world   (12)
the two intertwined
both headed in the same direction


   (10) According to the philosophical perspective of Newtonian physics, in which future events are governed by the laws of nature, "we may seem to have a will of our own and the ability to alter the course of events in our lives, but we do not. Everything, from the beginning of time, has been predetermined, including our illusion of having free will. The universe is a prerecorded tape playing itself out in the only way that it can. The status of men is immeasurably more dismal than it was before the advent of science. The Great Machine runs blindly on, and all things in it are but cogs." (Zukav, 51-52)
  (11) One of the principles of the old physics, or Newtonian physics, is the belief that there is an external world that exist apart from us humans, a world that we can observe without changing. (Zukav, 54-55) Quantum mechanics "strikes down the term 'observer' of classical theory, the man who stands safely behind the thick glass wall and watches what goes on without taking part. It can't be done..." (Zukav, 54) Quantum mechanics says it is impossible to observe reality without changing it. (Zukav, 56)
  (12) "Quantum mechanics, for example, shows us that we are not as separate from the rest of the world as we once thought. Particle physics shows us that the 'rest of the world' does not sit idly 'out there.'" (Zukav, 42)

by recreating my experience through art I have given it new life
what was once my perception is now reality
I feel something when I look at these images
they reflect back what I felt before
recreating the experience in me   (13)
the words bounce back, too
re-asserting themselves in me
telling me what I already knew
image and text, working together
running side by side
in a loop


   (13) while describing the dilemma of the creative feedback loop, this verse is also an artistic interpretation of the mystery of quantum mechanics. "...the implications of quantum mechanics are psychedelic. Not only do we influence out reality, but, in some degree, we actually create it. Because it is the nature of things that we can know either the momentum of a particle or its position, but not both, we must choose which of these two properties we want to determine. Metaphysically, this is very close to saying that we create certain properties because we choose to measure these properties. Said another way, it is possible that we create something that has position, for example, like a particle, because we are intent on determining position and it is impossible to determine position without having some thing occupying the position that we want to determmine." (Zukav, 52-54)

so I discover myself
locked in a cycle of my own creation
a self-perpetuating machine
me stuck in the middle of opposing sides
discovery and creation
idea and action
reality and perception   (14)
black and white
and in between a rainbow of greys
all running parallel


   (14) Perhaps reconciling the relationship between the human perception and physical reality is futile. "The mind is such that it deals only with ideas. It is not possible for the mind to relate to anything other than ideas. Therefore, it is not correct to think that the mind actually can ponder reality. All that the mind can ponder is its ideas about reality. (Whether or not that is the way reality actually is, is a metaphysical issue.)" (Zukav, 63)



Source: The Dancing Wu Li Masters: An Overview of the New Physics by Gary Zukav (1979).











© 2010 Owen Eric Wood