(I am uploading this as a sample of my writing, since the most recent posts were about exhibition preparation and were in note form. There is more writing earlier on in the blog.
Also, since this is purely here as a sample of my writing, the images have not been included.
Copying and pasting this from PDF severely messed with the formatting. I have fixed it now, but this site apparently does not allow indentation. Also, a few lines in the bibliography were switched; how does that happen?! Hopefully that has not happened anywhere else in the document.)
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Introduction:
A work of art can document or be a by-product of a ritual or habit, or the ritual or habit
itself can be the work. Work that deals with either religious/spiritual ritual or unconscious/negative habits can be used to observe the ways in which these two separate ideas can follow similar patterns. It can illustrate the emotions fuelling the rituals/habits, their intended purpose and their consequences.
People such as Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx and Claude Levi-Strauss have stated their views on the motivation behind and effects of religious and spiritual ritual. Their views on religious and spiritual ritual can be compared to artist’s portrayals of negative habits.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapists aim to analyse the patterns that negative habits follow. These theories can also be used to compare various habits and rituals.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy:
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, abbreviated to “CBT,” aims to identify and modify “dysfunctional (inaccurate and/or unhelpful) thinking and behavior,” (Beck, 2011, pp. 19-20). This behavior can include habits such as nervous rituals (for example, those carried out by people with obsessive-compulsive disorder), substance abuse and tics. CBT identifies the pattern that these habits follow.
Obsessive-compulsive rituals (such as checking, counting and cleaning) are part of a vicious cycle (Vivyan, 2000). They tend to start with an intrusive thought that leads to a negative feeling. This leads to a compulsion to carry out a certain ritual. This ritual brings short-term relief from the negative feeling. The relief is brief, and carrying out the ritual reinforces the idea that the ritual is useful or necessary, so the behaviour is a cycle. As an example, someone with obsessive-compulsive disorder could have a fear of burning their house down. They may neutralise this feeling by checking that their oven is off. This relief would be very short-lived, and the urge to check again would shortly return. Habits such as tics and body- focused repetitive behaviour (for example, picking skin or pulling out hair) are also part of a cycle that starts with an urge, leading to an action that provides short-term relief (COTTAG, 2015).
Also, since this is purely here as a sample of my writing, the images have not been included.
Copying and pasting this from PDF severely messed with the formatting. I have fixed it now, but this site apparently does not allow indentation. Also, a few lines in the bibliography were switched; how does that happen?! Hopefully that has not happened anywhere else in the document.)
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How Do Artists Reveal Consistencies between Unconscious or
Negative Habits, Such as Those That Are the Result of Neuroses,
and Religious or Spiritual Rituals?
Introduction:
A work of art can document or be a by-product of a ritual or habit, or the ritual or habit
itself can be the work. Work that deals with either religious/spiritual ritual or unconscious/negative habits can be used to observe the ways in which these two separate ideas can follow similar patterns. It can illustrate the emotions fuelling the rituals/habits, their intended purpose and their consequences.
People such as Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx and Claude Levi-Strauss have stated their views on the motivation behind and effects of religious and spiritual ritual. Their views on religious and spiritual ritual can be compared to artist’s portrayals of negative habits.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapists aim to analyse the patterns that negative habits follow. These theories can also be used to compare various habits and rituals.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy:
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, abbreviated to “CBT,” aims to identify and modify “dysfunctional (inaccurate and/or unhelpful) thinking and behavior,” (Beck, 2011, pp. 19-20). This behavior can include habits such as nervous rituals (for example, those carried out by people with obsessive-compulsive disorder), substance abuse and tics. CBT identifies the pattern that these habits follow.
Obsessive-compulsive rituals (such as checking, counting and cleaning) are part of a vicious cycle (Vivyan, 2000). They tend to start with an intrusive thought that leads to a negative feeling. This leads to a compulsion to carry out a certain ritual. This ritual brings short-term relief from the negative feeling. The relief is brief, and carrying out the ritual reinforces the idea that the ritual is useful or necessary, so the behaviour is a cycle. As an example, someone with obsessive-compulsive disorder could have a fear of burning their house down. They may neutralise this feeling by checking that their oven is off. This relief would be very short-lived, and the urge to check again would shortly return. Habits such as tics and body- focused repetitive behaviour (for example, picking skin or pulling out hair) are also part of a cycle that starts with an urge, leading to an action that provides short-term relief (COTTAG, 2015).
CBT recommends exposure therapy (COTTAG, 2015). This involves resisting the urge to carry out a compulsion. The aim of this is for the patient to observe that the negative feeling will disappear without the aid of the compulsion, and that the compulsion does not protect them from what they fear. This can increase the negative feeling in the short-term, but reduces the belief in the habit’s necessity. This is reminiscent of the social anthropologist Alfred Radcliffe-Brown’s view on spiritual ritual, which is that it is the belief in the ritual that causes anxiety when the ritual is not carried out; it is not the case that carrying out the ritual is preferable because it genuinely serves its intended purpose (Levi-Strauss, 1962, p. 67).
Rituals that are spiritual or religious can fit similar patterns to compulsions. For example, the New Age practice of affirmations involves thinking positive statements in an attempt to reverse negative thoughts (Shapiro, 2015). A sufferer of obsessive-compulsive disorder may have intrusive thoughts that are negative, and a compulsion of theirs may be to neutralise these thoughts with a positive statement (Veale, 2009). This is the same process. New Age rituals and certain symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder can both come with a feeling of having power over what is beyond one’s control. They can both resemble superstitions.
Another example is the act of praying. It can be said that praying is used to remove fear;
people often pray for the prevention of events that they have no control over, as well as some
that they do have control over through means that are not praying. This suggests that the
function of prayer is to remove bad feelings and not to remove or prevent problems. Praying
can even be a compulsion carried out by sufferers of obsessive-compulsive disorder (Tellawi,
2011).
However, from the point of view of someone who believes in prayer, praying has a function other than simply removing a negative feeling. It is considered to be a form of indirectly taking action by asking someone else, usually a deity, to take action. For this reason a less divisive example might more clearly fit the explanation: perhaps ritual sacrifice, as practiced by the Ancient Egyptians, the Aztecs and the Ancient Romans to name a few. Sacrifices were, and still are, often made to appease gods or spirits. A common reason for sacrifice was the prevention of natural disasters; if the gods or spirits were kept happy, they may have been less likely to inflict pain on humans in this way. Sacrifice essentially acted as a way to reduce the fear and worry caused by potential bad events.
Rituals temporarily reduce or neutralise bad feelings without altering the cause of the feelings. For this reason, rituals which have origins based on religion or culture are not dissimilar to rituals which are symptoms of anxiety disorders such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, or other habits stemming from negative feelings.
However, from the point of view of someone who believes in prayer, praying has a function other than simply removing a negative feeling. It is considered to be a form of indirectly taking action by asking someone else, usually a deity, to take action. For this reason a less divisive example might more clearly fit the explanation: perhaps ritual sacrifice, as practiced by the Ancient Egyptians, the Aztecs and the Ancient Romans to name a few. Sacrifices were, and still are, often made to appease gods or spirits. A common reason for sacrifice was the prevention of natural disasters; if the gods or spirits were kept happy, they may have been less likely to inflict pain on humans in this way. Sacrifice essentially acted as a way to reduce the fear and worry caused by potential bad events.
Rituals temporarily reduce or neutralise bad feelings without altering the cause of the feelings. For this reason, rituals which have origins based on religion or culture are not dissimilar to rituals which are symptoms of anxiety disorders such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, or other habits stemming from negative feelings.
The words “ritual” and “habit” have different connotations; “ritual” sounds intentional,
while “habit” sounds accidental and possibly negative. However, they are arguably a very
similar thing. Rituals are intended to be useful, but rarely do they actually solve the problem
they are intended to be relevant to, unless the term is being used relatively loosely (for
example to describe chores or routines). As an example, the ritual of confession does not undo
the sin, affect the victim or prevent the sinner from sinning again; it just removes or lessens the
guilt. Rituals and habits are both categories of actions that temporarily ease the negative
effects of a problem without actually solving it. They perpetuate cycles by failing to solve a
problem. They also perpetuate cycles by reinforcing the idea that they are necessary. For
example, someone may continue to pray, act on superstitions or obsessively check because
their belief in the importance of the action can further convince them that things would have
been worse without these actions.
Sigmund Freud:
The neurologist Sigmund Freud, considered to be the father of psychoanalysis, believed
religion to be a response to humanity’s need for a father figure (Freud, 1928). He believed that it was no longer necessary and should be replaced by science (Thevathesan, 2015). He observed consistencies between neurosis and religion, stating,
Sigmund Freud:
The neurologist Sigmund Freud, considered to be the father of psychoanalysis, believed
religion to be a response to humanity’s need for a father figure (Freud, 1928). He believed that it was no longer necessary and should be replaced by science (Thevathesan, 2015). He observed consistencies between neurosis and religion, stating,
“I am certainly not the first person to have been struck by the resemblance
between what are called obsessive actions in sufferers from nervous affections
and the observances by means of which believers give expression to their piety,”
(Freud, 1907, p. 117).
He noted that prayer and nervous ritual were carried out with similar intentions, namely protection:
“The sense of guilt of obsessional neurotics finds its counterpart in the
protestations of pious people that they know at heart they are miserable
sinners; and the pious observances (such as prayers, invocations, etc.) with
which such people preface every daily act, and in especial every unusual
undertaking, seem to have the value of defensive or protective measures,”
(Freud, 1907, pp. 123-124).
The suggestion here is that the need for religious ritual stems from fear. Freud also felt that
people were “overrating [religion’s] necessity for mankind,” (Freud, 1928, p. 48), which would
mean that the fear could be overcome without religious ritual. This is consistent with Cognitive
Behavioural Therapy’s view on rituals that stem from neuroses.
Theists often disagree with Freud’s view, some being adamant that he was simply on too much cocaine (Thevathesan, 2015). Freud’s theories on the matter get incredibly specific, and therefore easier to argue against. He states that obsessional neurosis which turns to religion is always the result of “repression of an instinctual impulse (a component of the sexual instinct),” and that “during the process of repression itself anxiety is generated” (Freud, 1907, p. 124). The repressed feeling that he is referring to is what he calls the Oedipus Complex: sexual attraction towards one parent and hatred towards the other (Freud, 1913). This means that Freud’s theories do not explain the presence of religion in the lives of those without both a mother figure and a father figure. The Oedipus Complex is commonly criticised these days, one reason being belief in the Westermarck effect, which is the theory that humans do not feel sexual attraction towards those they were close to during their early life (Westermarck, 1891).
Theists often disagree with Freud’s view, some being adamant that he was simply on too much cocaine (Thevathesan, 2015). Freud’s theories on the matter get incredibly specific, and therefore easier to argue against. He states that obsessional neurosis which turns to religion is always the result of “repression of an instinctual impulse (a component of the sexual instinct),” and that “during the process of repression itself anxiety is generated” (Freud, 1907, p. 124). The repressed feeling that he is referring to is what he calls the Oedipus Complex: sexual attraction towards one parent and hatred towards the other (Freud, 1913). This means that Freud’s theories do not explain the presence of religion in the lives of those without both a mother figure and a father figure. The Oedipus Complex is commonly criticised these days, one reason being belief in the Westermarck effect, which is the theory that humans do not feel sexual attraction towards those they were close to during their early life (Westermarck, 1891).
Karl Marx:
Karl Marx was a German philosopher and economist, and a critic of religion. Like Freud, Marx felt that religion was caused by negative feelings. He believed that humanity created religion as a response to pain and struggle. He stated, “Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people,” (Marx, 1970, p. 131). This would suggest that religion was not based on observations or evidence, but a need to ease pain.
However, the comparison to opium may not be entirely negative. The idea that religion has its roots in something other than truth is not necessarily relevant to its ability to soothe. Like a painkiller, religion can reduce negative feeling without actually altering the cause of the negative feeling. This increases happiness and leaves a person better equipped to engage in activities that positively impact their general situation, such as work and relaxation.
The negative side of this comparison is that religion, like the use of painkillers, relieves the negative feeling attached to a problem without affecting the problem itself. This can lead to avoidance. Religion can encourage people to leave their problems up to a “higher power” that in theory could either solve the problem or have reasons not to. This encourages a feeling of content, regardless of any changes or lack of changes to a problematic situation. Drugs taken for physical pain can reduce the pain regardless of whether the physical problem is best ignored or best paid attention to, for example in the case of someone whose use of pain killers masks the feeling that they are putting too much stress on an injured body part. Drugs taken for emotional pain can cause feelings of content in situations that a person would usually prefer to attempt to change.
Karl Marx was a German philosopher and economist, and a critic of religion. Like Freud, Marx felt that religion was caused by negative feelings. He believed that humanity created religion as a response to pain and struggle. He stated, “Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people,” (Marx, 1970, p. 131). This would suggest that religion was not based on observations or evidence, but a need to ease pain.
However, the comparison to opium may not be entirely negative. The idea that religion has its roots in something other than truth is not necessarily relevant to its ability to soothe. Like a painkiller, religion can reduce negative feeling without actually altering the cause of the negative feeling. This increases happiness and leaves a person better equipped to engage in activities that positively impact their general situation, such as work and relaxation.
The negative side of this comparison is that religion, like the use of painkillers, relieves the negative feeling attached to a problem without affecting the problem itself. This can lead to avoidance. Religion can encourage people to leave their problems up to a “higher power” that in theory could either solve the problem or have reasons not to. This encourages a feeling of content, regardless of any changes or lack of changes to a problematic situation. Drugs taken for physical pain can reduce the pain regardless of whether the physical problem is best ignored or best paid attention to, for example in the case of someone whose use of pain killers masks the feeling that they are putting too much stress on an injured body part. Drugs taken for emotional pain can cause feelings of content in situations that a person would usually prefer to attempt to change.
A difference is that while a person could conceivably remain religious until their death,
there are practical reasons that prevent drugs from being both a consistent and permanent
pacifier. However, regardless of whether or not a person’s source of catharsis or distraction has
practical limitations, the nature of this method of achieving happiness could be criticised. Marx
stated, “The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their
real happiness,” (Marx, 1970, p. 131). This suggests that even if there were no problems directly
stemming from a source of catharsis such as religion, achieving “happiness” in this way is still
inferior as it is not “real.” This idea could be seen simply as different phrasing of the suggestion
that religion is avoidance, but it could also be interpreted to mean that there is something
intrinsically wrong and/or different about happiness that is an “illusion” when compared to
happiness that is “real.” However, it is hard to argue that a person’s happiness is not “real,”
regardless of the cause of the happiness, since emotions are not external or objective, meaning
it makes little sense to suggest that a person can be mistaken about what they are feeling.
Perhaps the suggestion is more that “illusory happiness” is more fragile or less intense than the kind of happiness Marx calls “real happiness.” One might not object to the principle of their happiness being caused by an “illusion,” but the suggestion is that an illusion can break. Religion can give people reasons to tolerate uncomfortable situations or justify problems to themselves; they can comfort themselves with the belief that a deity will eventually improve their situation, or the idea that there is a reason for their suffering (such as the idea that God is testing them). The issue is that the relief provided is not constant. A person can use prayer to neutralise a negative feeling such as financial worry or concern for one’s health, but the feeling will return as long as the situation remains the same. Prayer can neutralise the feeling repeatedly, but it cannot prevent it from returning repeatedly. It does not provide consistent relief.
Perhaps the suggestion is more that “illusory happiness” is more fragile or less intense than the kind of happiness Marx calls “real happiness.” One might not object to the principle of their happiness being caused by an “illusion,” but the suggestion is that an illusion can break. Religion can give people reasons to tolerate uncomfortable situations or justify problems to themselves; they can comfort themselves with the belief that a deity will eventually improve their situation, or the idea that there is a reason for their suffering (such as the idea that God is testing them). The issue is that the relief provided is not constant. A person can use prayer to neutralise a negative feeling such as financial worry or concern for one’s health, but the feeling will return as long as the situation remains the same. Prayer can neutralise the feeling repeatedly, but it cannot prevent it from returning repeatedly. It does not provide consistent relief.
As prayer does not provide consistent relief, it follows the pattern of comforting habits.
Obsessive checking, an example of compulsive behaviour, is the habit of repetitively checking
things such as door locks and stoves (Robinson, Segal and Smith, 2014). It generally stems from
a feeling of anxiety, the idea that a potential bad event can be prevented and the uncertainty
involved. Repetitive checking is carried out with the aim of achieving some level of certainty:
certainty that there won’t be a break-in, for example. Since it is impossible to be certain that
the bad event will not happen, the feeling of anxiety cannot be removed by checking. In the
example of someone obsessively checking that their door is locked, the root of the problem is
the uncertainty that there will not be a break-in, or more accurately, the desire for certainty
that there will not be a break-in. Alternatively, the person checking may describe it more as a
desire for certainty that the door is locked, but since the real fear is a break-in and not an
unlocked door, the feeling of anxiety remains. Repetitive checking is even shown to make
people gradually less certain. Checking provides temporary relief from anxiety, but it cannot
provide certainty that a bad event will not happen. It also gradually exacerbates the uncertainty
that the preventative measure has been carried out, and maintaining the habit reinforces the
idea that it is necessary. This all makes the habit cyclical.
Claude Levi-Strauss:
The French anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss called religion a “humanisation of natural laws” (Kavulla, 2010, pp. 114-118). Levi-Strauss’s “Le Totemisme Aujourdhui,” written in 1962, examines the role of religious/spiritual ritual and questions some of the anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski’s views (which are not dissimilar to the views of Marx and Freud).
Levi-Strauss presented some arguments against the idea that religious or spiritual ritual stems from anxiety. He mentioned Bronislaw Malinowski’s view of “magical rites” as a “means for man to abolish or diminish the anxiety which he felt in undertakings of uncertain outcome,” (Levi-Strauss, 1962, pp. 66-69). He countered this by describing the actions of the Ngindo, a Bantu tribe “who lead a precarious existence.” As observed by A.R.W. Crosse-Upcott, common activities for the tribe include “nocturnal wandering in hostile forest, and encounters with hostile bees at dizzy heights.” Crosse-Upcott goes on to observe, “Ritual impinges very little on the Ngindo daily subsistence routine.” Levi-Strauss’s argument is that societies exist where risk does not lead to belief in ritual. However, the existence of these societies does not act as proof that risk and anxiety never lead to belief in ritual; it only suggests that sometimes they do not.
Levi-Strauss goes on to describe Alfred Radcliffe-Brown’s position. This is that it may not be the case that ritual is created to counter anxiety, but rather the existence of and belief in ritual causes anxiety when the ritual is not carried out. He suggests, “If it were not for the existence of the rite and the beliefs associated with it the individual would feel no anxiety.” This is also an argument against the use of religion as a source of comfort. He continues, “Thus, while one anthropological theory is that magic and religion give men confidence, comfort and a sense of security, it could equally well be argued that they give men fears and anxieties from which they would otherwise be free.” This can be compared to rituals that are the result of neuroses. To use obsessive hand washing as an example, the action can bring feelings of security in the short term, namely feelings of protecting oneself from pathogens. In the long term, the action greatly increases the belief in its necessity, leading to a disproportionate level of fear associated with failure to carry out the action.
The French anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss called religion a “humanisation of natural laws” (Kavulla, 2010, pp. 114-118). Levi-Strauss’s “Le Totemisme Aujourdhui,” written in 1962, examines the role of religious/spiritual ritual and questions some of the anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski’s views (which are not dissimilar to the views of Marx and Freud).
Levi-Strauss presented some arguments against the idea that religious or spiritual ritual stems from anxiety. He mentioned Bronislaw Malinowski’s view of “magical rites” as a “means for man to abolish or diminish the anxiety which he felt in undertakings of uncertain outcome,” (Levi-Strauss, 1962, pp. 66-69). He countered this by describing the actions of the Ngindo, a Bantu tribe “who lead a precarious existence.” As observed by A.R.W. Crosse-Upcott, common activities for the tribe include “nocturnal wandering in hostile forest, and encounters with hostile bees at dizzy heights.” Crosse-Upcott goes on to observe, “Ritual impinges very little on the Ngindo daily subsistence routine.” Levi-Strauss’s argument is that societies exist where risk does not lead to belief in ritual. However, the existence of these societies does not act as proof that risk and anxiety never lead to belief in ritual; it only suggests that sometimes they do not.
Levi-Strauss goes on to describe Alfred Radcliffe-Brown’s position. This is that it may not be the case that ritual is created to counter anxiety, but rather the existence of and belief in ritual causes anxiety when the ritual is not carried out. He suggests, “If it were not for the existence of the rite and the beliefs associated with it the individual would feel no anxiety.” This is also an argument against the use of religion as a source of comfort. He continues, “Thus, while one anthropological theory is that magic and religion give men confidence, comfort and a sense of security, it could equally well be argued that they give men fears and anxieties from which they would otherwise be free.” This can be compared to rituals that are the result of neuroses. To use obsessive hand washing as an example, the action can bring feelings of security in the short term, namely feelings of protecting oneself from pathogens. In the long term, the action greatly increases the belief in its necessity, leading to a disproportionate level of fear associated with failure to carry out the action.
The idea that belief in ritual causes anxiety does not necessary conflict with the idea
that anxiety leads to belief in ritual. Anxiety caused by risk and uncertainty can lead to a belief
in ritual, as ritual can provide a greater feeling of control or security. Belief in that ritual can
then cause feelings of anxiety when the ritual is not carried out. This means that anxiety and
belief in ritual can be a cycle; each causes the other, regardless of the initial cause.
Adam Curtis:
Adam Curtis’ “The Century of the Self,” released in 2002, is a documentary series that examines the way in which the ideas of Sigmund Freud, Anna Freud (his daughter) and Edward Bernays (his nephew) were used to manipulate the public for the sake of stimulating the economy.
The trend of buying out of desire as opposed to need was greatly encouraged by Edward Bernays, who was known as the “father of public relations,” (Curtis, 2002, 9.21). After he had read Sigmund Freud’s “General Introduction to Psychoanalysis,” “he wondered whether he might make money by manipulation of the unconscious.” It was his work that persuaded people to start buying products to fulfill “primitive desires”; they started buying objects perceived as pieces of a certain lifestyle, or associated with certain personality traits, in order to temporarily feel better. For example, Bernays advertised cigarettes to women as a symbol of power and freedom, and it was effective. A woman smoking was no longer taboo; it was a protest against patriarchy.
Adam Curtis:
Adam Curtis’ “The Century of the Self,” released in 2002, is a documentary series that examines the way in which the ideas of Sigmund Freud, Anna Freud (his daughter) and Edward Bernays (his nephew) were used to manipulate the public for the sake of stimulating the economy.
The trend of buying out of desire as opposed to need was greatly encouraged by Edward Bernays, who was known as the “father of public relations,” (Curtis, 2002, 9.21). After he had read Sigmund Freud’s “General Introduction to Psychoanalysis,” “he wondered whether he might make money by manipulation of the unconscious.” It was his work that persuaded people to start buying products to fulfill “primitive desires”; they started buying objects perceived as pieces of a certain lifestyle, or associated with certain personality traits, in order to temporarily feel better. For example, Bernays advertised cigarettes to women as a symbol of power and freedom, and it was effective. A woman smoking was no longer taboo; it was a protest against patriarchy.
Buying out of need fixes a problem. For example, the need to protect feet from the
discomfort or dangers associated with walking outside is fixed by buying (and wearing) shoes.
This need is fulfilled until the shoes are no longer functional. Buying out of desire is a more
repetitive action. As the products do not really give the consumer the qualities, traits, talents or
lifestyle that they claim to, the mood change is temporary, and so the habit is a repetitive cycle.
Excessive consumption can be compared to Marx’s view of religion; it provides “happiness” that for practical reasons can be considered to be an “illusion.” These reasons include the temporary nature of the mood changes, the potential negative consequences (waste, financial problems) and the subtle deceit involved. It also follows the same pattern as habits that are the result of neuroses, namely that it provides temporary positive feelings without fixing a problem, meaning that the action ends up being repeated. A distinction may be that excessive buying is often not compulsive.
Excessive consumption can be compared to Marx’s view of religion; it provides “happiness” that for practical reasons can be considered to be an “illusion.” These reasons include the temporary nature of the mood changes, the potential negative consequences (waste, financial problems) and the subtle deceit involved. It also follows the same pattern as habits that are the result of neuroses, namely that it provides temporary positive feelings without fixing a problem, meaning that the action ends up being repeated. A distinction may be that excessive buying is often not compulsive.
Song Dong:
[image] (“Waste Not,” Song Dong, 2005)
Song Dong is a contemporary artist from China. His piece entitled “Waste Not” is an installation using the products of his mother’s hoarding habit (Cotter, 2009). She had accumulated over ten thousand objects before her son’s suggestion to turn the collection into a work of art.
Song’s mother, Zhao Xiangyuan, was someone who got used to re-using objects in a time when frugality was necessary, but her desire to hoard was suddenly exacerbated years after the family regained its wealth. She began obsessively collecting objects after her husband died, and her family believed it was a reaction to the grief. Song stated, “My mother's need to fill space with daily-life objects resulted from a need to fill the emptiness after my father's death.” However, Zhao saw the collection as a “fabao” (meaning “magic weapon”) against poverty.
[image] (“Waste Not,” Song Dong, 2005)
Song Dong is a contemporary artist from China. His piece entitled “Waste Not” is an installation using the products of his mother’s hoarding habit (Cotter, 2009). She had accumulated over ten thousand objects before her son’s suggestion to turn the collection into a work of art.
Song’s mother, Zhao Xiangyuan, was someone who got used to re-using objects in a time when frugality was necessary, but her desire to hoard was suddenly exacerbated years after the family regained its wealth. She began obsessively collecting objects after her husband died, and her family believed it was a reaction to the grief. Song stated, “My mother's need to fill space with daily-life objects resulted from a need to fill the emptiness after my father's death.” However, Zhao saw the collection as a “fabao” (meaning “magic weapon”) against poverty.
Hoarding can temporarily counter negative emotions, for example if the objects are
seen as mementos of something that is lost, or if they are providing a feeling of protection
against poverty and want. Keeping an object avoids a feeling of wastefulness or loss caused by
disposing of the object. However, the root of the problem (in this case, grief and/or fear of
poverty) is rarely solved by having an excess of possessions that mostly have limited use. This
means that the habit continues, temporarily easing or avoiding a negative feeling again and
again. For this reason, hoarding seems to take the same role as religious ritual (as described by
Marx or Malinowski), and fit the same patterns. Both actions are responses to negative feelings
(according to the aforementioned theories), and they provide relief without altering the
situation, leading to the action becoming repetitive.
Mike Ballard:
[image] (“Whose Coat is that Jacket You’re Wearing?,” Mike Ballard, 2009)
The British artist Mike Ballard illustrated an example of a habit reminiscent of both excessive consumption and hoarding. “Whose Coat is that Jacket You’re Wearing?,” an installation exhibited in 2010, was a collection of coats that the artist stole from other people as a reaction to his own coat being stolen (Jury, 2010). This is similar to Edward Bernays’ idea of buying out of desire as opposed to need. A reaction based on need could have been to replace the coat with one that served the same purpose. This reaction was not based on need, but a desire for retribution.
The British artist Mike Ballard illustrated an example of a habit reminiscent of both excessive consumption and hoarding. “Whose Coat is that Jacket You’re Wearing?,” an installation exhibited in 2010, was a collection of coats that the artist stole from other people as a reaction to his own coat being stolen (Jury, 2010). This is similar to Edward Bernays’ idea of buying out of desire as opposed to need. A reaction based on need could have been to replace the coat with one that served the same purpose. This reaction was not based on need, but a desire for retribution.
As the people targeted in retaliation were not the original thief, neither justice nor
revenge were actually achieved. This meant that the act of stealing from them only provided
relief temporarily. The unsolved problem led to a repetitive habit that resulted in an
unnecessarily large collection of coats. The repetitive action arguably also postponed the
artist’s ability to move on from the incident, focus on other things and therefore put it into
perspective.
The act of stealing a coat (in an attempt at retaliation) could be seen as an attempt to reverse the act of having a coat stolen. Unless the original coat is being stolen back (and in this case it was not), the reversal is not perfect. This means that the act attempts to achieve something that it cannot achieve. It is an attempt to regain control, much like the act of praying for what cannot be influenced. It also creates a feeling of justice without proof of justice, much like belief in either karma or an afterlife in which people are punished for sins and rewarded for good. The temporariness of the benefit obtained from this action causes it to be repeated like a religious ritual.
Banksy:
The 2010 film “Exit Through the Gift Shop” by the street artist Banksy tells a story of a French filmmaker, Thierry Guetta, known as “Mr. Brainwash.” Guetta, whose character is generally considered to be a work of performance art, starts his film career with a fixation on filming his surroundings and experiences (Northover, 2010). Filming becomes a ritual for him. He begins by compulsively filming his everyday life, then his focus shifts to street artists. He follows and assists them, claiming to be making a documentary about street art. However, he is actually hoarding all of his tapes, keeping them in boxes and sometimes leaving them unlabeled with no intention of viewing them again.
The act of stealing a coat (in an attempt at retaliation) could be seen as an attempt to reverse the act of having a coat stolen. Unless the original coat is being stolen back (and in this case it was not), the reversal is not perfect. This means that the act attempts to achieve something that it cannot achieve. It is an attempt to regain control, much like the act of praying for what cannot be influenced. It also creates a feeling of justice without proof of justice, much like belief in either karma or an afterlife in which people are punished for sins and rewarded for good. The temporariness of the benefit obtained from this action causes it to be repeated like a religious ritual.
Banksy:
The 2010 film “Exit Through the Gift Shop” by the street artist Banksy tells a story of a French filmmaker, Thierry Guetta, known as “Mr. Brainwash.” Guetta, whose character is generally considered to be a work of performance art, starts his film career with a fixation on filming his surroundings and experiences (Northover, 2010). Filming becomes a ritual for him. He begins by compulsively filming his everyday life, then his focus shifts to street artists. He follows and assists them, claiming to be making a documentary about street art. However, he is actually hoarding all of his tapes, keeping them in boxes and sometimes leaving them unlabeled with no intention of viewing them again.
It is revealed that his mother passed away during his childhood; her illness was kept
secret from him and her death came as a shock. He had completely missed his mother’s death,
and he started to obsessively record as an attempt to compensate for that fact. Preservation
through recording helped to counter the fear of missing moments and the concern regarding
potential loss. Since excessive recording could not reverse the loss that had already occurred or
bring back moments that had already passed, the habit continued, temporarily reducing fear
and feelings of loss but never being able to affect the root of the feelings of loss. No specific
quantity of footage could ever be “enough."
His intention to preserve is mirrored in the work of one of the subjects of his filming, John Tsombikos. Tsombikos is filmed painting “Borf” in conspicuous places, “Borf” being the nickname of a friend lost to suicide. Ideas of preservation and commemoration are often present in rituals surrounding death and loss. Funeral services and eulogies are often planned with the intention of collating various images, stories and facts regarding the deceased’s life. Death masks (plaster casts of a corpse’s face) were a tradition present in a variety of time periods and places, including Ancient Egypt and the Russian Empire. With loss comes the desire to preserve what can be preserved: mostly images and objects. Film, photographs and mementos serve as a death mask for time that has passed. Constant feelings of loss can be present when someone is excessively concerned by the passage of time (for example, a parent feeling painful nostalgia after their children have grown up), change (for example, a person who is moving house), or the potential to forget. The ways in which these feelings are countered, which can include excessive logging/recording, can be compared to ritual. They temporarily reduce a negative feeling such as the fear of forgetting, while not affecting the root of the problem, for example by helping the person to let go, move on or accept change.
His intention to preserve is mirrored in the work of one of the subjects of his filming, John Tsombikos. Tsombikos is filmed painting “Borf” in conspicuous places, “Borf” being the nickname of a friend lost to suicide. Ideas of preservation and commemoration are often present in rituals surrounding death and loss. Funeral services and eulogies are often planned with the intention of collating various images, stories and facts regarding the deceased’s life. Death masks (plaster casts of a corpse’s face) were a tradition present in a variety of time periods and places, including Ancient Egypt and the Russian Empire. With loss comes the desire to preserve what can be preserved: mostly images and objects. Film, photographs and mementos serve as a death mask for time that has passed. Constant feelings of loss can be present when someone is excessively concerned by the passage of time (for example, a parent feeling painful nostalgia after their children have grown up), change (for example, a person who is moving house), or the potential to forget. The ways in which these feelings are countered, which can include excessive logging/recording, can be compared to ritual. They temporarily reduce a negative feeling such as the fear of forgetting, while not affecting the root of the problem, for example by helping the person to let go, move on or accept change.
Sophie Calle:
[image] (“The Birthday Ceremony,” Sophie Calle, 1998)
[image] (“The Birthday Ceremony,” Sophie Calle, 1998)
The work of French artist Sophie Calle also deals with recording, and specifically the idea
of people’s identities being made up of their actions. She follows and photographs people and
records their actions, and her findings become “evidence” of their existence. Her work
emphasizes the importance of the evidence and consequences of a person’s actions to the
point where one could question the significance of an action in the event that it is not
witnessed and has no noticeable consequences or “evidence.” Her work entitled “The Birthday
Ceremony” takes this idea further as she collects and catalogues thirteen years of birthday gifts,
specifically intending not to use them (Dorment, 1998). Evidence is given more importance than
experiences. The purpose of the collection of objects is existence, rather than the function of
the objects or fulfillment derived from their use. This is a reversal of the idea that one’s actions
are for the purpose of fulfillment, and that evidence of their actions is a side effect.
Her work mirrors the idea of hoarding for the sake of keeping “mementos.” A person can feel the compulsion to hoard unnecessary objects to preserve the ability to piece together evidence of a life. Each object tells part of a story, so the disposal or removal of an object removes part of the story. This need to collect evidence of past actions can interfere with the present; an excess of objects can make a living space less enjoyable to inhabit and can be impractical and inconvenient. In this situation, evidence of experiences is being prioritised over the experiences’ intrinsic value and the momentary fulfillment. Experiences, in themselves, are not seen as the purpose of existence. The “higher purpose” is the story told, the evidence and the legacy. The person is living for something outside of themself and their own experiences and perspective.
Her work mirrors the idea of hoarding for the sake of keeping “mementos.” A person can feel the compulsion to hoard unnecessary objects to preserve the ability to piece together evidence of a life. Each object tells part of a story, so the disposal or removal of an object removes part of the story. This need to collect evidence of past actions can interfere with the present; an excess of objects can make a living space less enjoyable to inhabit and can be impractical and inconvenient. In this situation, evidence of experiences is being prioritised over the experiences’ intrinsic value and the momentary fulfillment. Experiences, in themselves, are not seen as the purpose of existence. The “higher purpose” is the story told, the evidence and the legacy. The person is living for something outside of themself and their own experiences and perspective.
A lack of emphasis on one’s own fulfillment can stem from an inability to achieve a
significant level of fulfillment; that is, a person finds it difficult to derive any kind of enjoyment
from life, so something else (for example, leaving behind a story, record or collection) becomes
their main aim. This is reminiscent of religion; fulfillment is not the aim; there is some “other
meaning.”
Lee Ufan:
Lee Ufan:
[image] (“From Line,” Lee Ufan, 1974)
Painting can be a ritual that describes the passage of time. The Korean movement “Dansaekhwa” reduces the artist’s actions to a repetitive movement. An example of this is Lee Ufan’s work; his description of his piece “From Line” is as follows: “Load the brush and draw a line. At the beginning it will appear dark and thick, then it will get gradually thinner and finally disappear,” (Tate, 2012). As time “vanishes,” the lines fade. Painting in this way turns it into a meditative process. Emphasis shifts from “doing” to “being” as the idea of “productivity” is not over-thought; it is reduced to evidence of existence. This mirrors the aim of meditation: “being awake inside without being aware of anything except awareness itself,” (Phelan, 1979).
Parallels can be drawn between this activity and daily life. The repetitive action reflects time passing and the repetitive activities filling the time. The difference is that everyday activities are most often carried out with their consequences in mind; the idea is that they have a function. Each activity is carried out with a purpose and enables further actions. Each activity continues a chain of activities, for example someone may eat to have energy to work, and work to earn money to pay for food.
Ufan’s meditative style of minimalism swaps the idea of existing to function with the idea of existing for the sake of existence. It acknowledges and embraces futility, breaking the chain of carrying out series of activities (such as eating and working) which all aim to be a means to an end; existence itself becomes the end goal.
Although the emphasis during meditation is on existence rather than action and consequence, it could still be said that it is carried out with a goal in mind, namely change in state of mind. However, meditation is a ritual that breaks the pattern previously described, by not aiming to directly influence a situation. Since an intended purpose of meditation could, for example, be to relieve negative feeling and not to directly influence the cause of the negative feeling, it cannot be considered to be a ritual that does not solve the problem that it is supposed to solve. In addition, it is not a ritual that causes more negative feeling in the long term in the way something such as obsessive checking might. Since overall it can decrease negative feeling (for example stress levels), it can be said to indirectly affect the cause of the negative feeling because it leaves the person in a better mental state, making it easier to solve problems.
Painting can be a ritual that describes the passage of time. The Korean movement “Dansaekhwa” reduces the artist’s actions to a repetitive movement. An example of this is Lee Ufan’s work; his description of his piece “From Line” is as follows: “Load the brush and draw a line. At the beginning it will appear dark and thick, then it will get gradually thinner and finally disappear,” (Tate, 2012). As time “vanishes,” the lines fade. Painting in this way turns it into a meditative process. Emphasis shifts from “doing” to “being” as the idea of “productivity” is not over-thought; it is reduced to evidence of existence. This mirrors the aim of meditation: “being awake inside without being aware of anything except awareness itself,” (Phelan, 1979).
Parallels can be drawn between this activity and daily life. The repetitive action reflects time passing and the repetitive activities filling the time. The difference is that everyday activities are most often carried out with their consequences in mind; the idea is that they have a function. Each activity is carried out with a purpose and enables further actions. Each activity continues a chain of activities, for example someone may eat to have energy to work, and work to earn money to pay for food.
Ufan’s meditative style of minimalism swaps the idea of existing to function with the idea of existing for the sake of existence. It acknowledges and embraces futility, breaking the chain of carrying out series of activities (such as eating and working) which all aim to be a means to an end; existence itself becomes the end goal.
Although the emphasis during meditation is on existence rather than action and consequence, it could still be said that it is carried out with a goal in mind, namely change in state of mind. However, meditation is a ritual that breaks the pattern previously described, by not aiming to directly influence a situation. Since an intended purpose of meditation could, for example, be to relieve negative feeling and not to directly influence the cause of the negative feeling, it cannot be considered to be a ritual that does not solve the problem that it is supposed to solve. In addition, it is not a ritual that causes more negative feeling in the long term in the way something such as obsessive checking might. Since overall it can decrease negative feeling (for example stress levels), it can be said to indirectly affect the cause of the negative feeling because it leaves the person in a better mental state, making it easier to solve problems.
It can be argued that rituals such as religious prayer, acting on superstitions and New
Age rituals differ from habits and compulsions because they may not gradually exacerbate
stress despite any dependence they may cause. A comparison to meditation could be made; if
they make the person feel better without making them feel worse in the long term, they make
it easier for the person to remove the cause of their negative emotions. In this case the ritual
has a positive effect regardless of whether or not the act itself actually directly affects the
problems, and regardless of whether or not the act serves the exact purpose intended.
Whether the ritual has positive effects or negative effects possibly hinges on how much reliance
is placed on outside forces such as deities or magic, as this can lead to avoidance. (Naturally this
point is not valid to someone who believes in said deities or magic, in which case the example
can be replaced with a set of religious or spiritual rituals that they do not personally believe in.)
Meditation emphasises transience and “letting go.” It can involve the idea that exists in
Buddhism that suffering is caused by desire, and that one can stop suffering by ceasing to
desire (BBC, 2009). The idea is that a person is not suffering because they are cold; they are
suffering because they desire warmth. This is a positive spin on apathy that resembles
Nihilism’s rejection of meaning. Apathy becomes freeing, which is also a feeling experienced by
some sufferers of depression (Brosh, 2011).
On Kawara:
[image] (“I Got Up,” On Kawara, 1974)
[image] (“I Got Up,” On Kawara, 1974)
The Japanese conceptual artist On Kawara also created works that reduced life and
existence to a series of repetitive acts. Kawara’s “I Got Up” is a series of postcards sent to
various people from a variety of locations, all of which have a uniformly stamped message
consisting of a date and the text, “I GOT UP AT,” followed by a time (MOCA, 2010). The series
shows contrasting places but forces them into the same format. Traveling and activity no longer
seem varied; they are simply a series of repetitive actions.
Presenting most activities in this way can reveal their similarities to religious or spiritual
ritual. Every action has temporary consequences and can be considered repetitive. Any action
can be seen as being unnecessary; we “need” to eat to live, but technically we do not need to
live. Every action can be seen as being carried out for the purposes of emotion or feeling; we
drink water so that in the short term we do not feel ill, and in the slightly longer term we do not
die and cause the people who know us to feel bad. This could blur the line between everyday
activities and ritual. This would be an argument against specifically comparing the patterns of
“negative” habits and religious or spiritual ritual as it could be said that all actions including
everyday activities, neurotic habits and spiritual ritual follow the same pattern.
An argument against the idea that everyday tasks fit the aforementioned pattern is that they can be more logical. Examples of these tasks include chores, bodily functions and morning or nighttime routines. These examples are fixes for “problems” whose cause people do not intend to fix. Washing up plates is a ritual in a sense, and dirty plates are a problem. However, the cause of the “problem” is that people are eating off the plates, which is not something people tend to consider changing. Showering is a ritual and being dirty can be a problem, but removing the need to shower would require huge scientific breakthroughs that not many people feel the need to work towards. These “rituals” differ from rituals that are carried out to temporarily counter a problem that has a root that can be fixed. For example, someone may pray for their financial situation to improve, and this may help them to feel better, while a more permanent fix would be something like a job that pays more. Someone with obsessive- compulsive disorder may, to use a common example, repeatedly check that their oven is off, and this may momentarily help them to feel less afraid or uncertain. A more permanent fix might be exposure therapy that helps reduce the person’s fear or need for certainty.
An argument against the idea that everyday tasks fit the aforementioned pattern is that they can be more logical. Examples of these tasks include chores, bodily functions and morning or nighttime routines. These examples are fixes for “problems” whose cause people do not intend to fix. Washing up plates is a ritual in a sense, and dirty plates are a problem. However, the cause of the “problem” is that people are eating off the plates, which is not something people tend to consider changing. Showering is a ritual and being dirty can be a problem, but removing the need to shower would require huge scientific breakthroughs that not many people feel the need to work towards. These “rituals” differ from rituals that are carried out to temporarily counter a problem that has a root that can be fixed. For example, someone may pray for their financial situation to improve, and this may help them to feel better, while a more permanent fix would be something like a job that pays more. Someone with obsessive- compulsive disorder may, to use a common example, repeatedly check that their oven is off, and this may momentarily help them to feel less afraid or uncertain. A more permanent fix might be exposure therapy that helps reduce the person’s fear or need for certainty.
Martin Creed:
[image] (“Work No. 112,” Martin Creed, 1995)
This idea of repetitive actions and the suggestion of futility are also present in the British artist Martin Creed’s work. Creed states that the work “negates itself at the same time as pushing itself forward – so there’s an equal positive and negative which adds up to nothing,” (Tate, 2003). “Work No. 227: The Lights Going On And Off” uses the gallery’s lights in an empty room, and is a repeated pattern of five seconds of darkness followed by five seconds of light (Creed, 2007). The title is an arbitrarily chosen number, followed by a literal description of the work. This does not encourage interpretation, and so the work seems to be communicating facts only; it is a repetitive action, the consequences of which are reversed after five seconds. “Work No. 112,” which consists of thirty-nine metronomes (Buck, 2014), also describes “an action” and “its immediate negation.”
Creed’s work seems to make an effort not to reference what is not physically part of the work, but parallels can still be drawn between the actions that take place within the work, and the actions that make up daily life. The actions are cyclical, some reversing others, and any sense of “purpose” or “meaning” is unclear. Creed’s 2014 exhibition title asks, “What’s The Point Of It?” and he answers, “I think that there isn’t any point to it.” When asked if the repetition in his work mirrors his own obsessive, repeated actions triggered by phobias, he answers, “I think that must be the case. I’m sure everyone has their own things – it’s like your own religion almost, your own ritual,” (Dawson, 2014).
This work illustrates the idea that every action is a ritual. Every action is repetitive. Even if the exact specifics of the action are unique, similar things have been done repeatedly for similar reasons. Every action has temporary consequences; even buildings lasting thousands of years are temporary. Every action is carried out within a set of rules, no matter how strictly those rules are or are not followed, and whether the rules are traditional or personal. For example, it can be said that a person showers because they have a rule against being dirty for too long, regardless of whether or not they have ever thought of it this way, and regardless of how consistently they follow this rule. No action is strictly necessary as there no universal rules regarding what is necessary and what is not. Even eating is not necessary, as it is not necessary that we aim to stay alive.
This idea of repetitive actions and the suggestion of futility are also present in the British artist Martin Creed’s work. Creed states that the work “negates itself at the same time as pushing itself forward – so there’s an equal positive and negative which adds up to nothing,” (Tate, 2003). “Work No. 227: The Lights Going On And Off” uses the gallery’s lights in an empty room, and is a repeated pattern of five seconds of darkness followed by five seconds of light (Creed, 2007). The title is an arbitrarily chosen number, followed by a literal description of the work. This does not encourage interpretation, and so the work seems to be communicating facts only; it is a repetitive action, the consequences of which are reversed after five seconds. “Work No. 112,” which consists of thirty-nine metronomes (Buck, 2014), also describes “an action” and “its immediate negation.”
Creed’s work seems to make an effort not to reference what is not physically part of the work, but parallels can still be drawn between the actions that take place within the work, and the actions that make up daily life. The actions are cyclical, some reversing others, and any sense of “purpose” or “meaning” is unclear. Creed’s 2014 exhibition title asks, “What’s The Point Of It?” and he answers, “I think that there isn’t any point to it.” When asked if the repetition in his work mirrors his own obsessive, repeated actions triggered by phobias, he answers, “I think that must be the case. I’m sure everyone has their own things – it’s like your own religion almost, your own ritual,” (Dawson, 2014).
This work illustrates the idea that every action is a ritual. Every action is repetitive. Even if the exact specifics of the action are unique, similar things have been done repeatedly for similar reasons. Every action has temporary consequences; even buildings lasting thousands of years are temporary. Every action is carried out within a set of rules, no matter how strictly those rules are or are not followed, and whether the rules are traditional or personal. For example, it can be said that a person showers because they have a rule against being dirty for too long, regardless of whether or not they have ever thought of it this way, and regardless of how consistently they follow this rule. No action is strictly necessary as there no universal rules regarding what is necessary and what is not. Even eating is not necessary, as it is not necessary that we aim to stay alive.
End:
Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx and Bronislaw Malinowski were of the belief that religious or spiritual ritual was a response to negative emotion. This would make religious or spiritual ritual comparable to habits that are not considered to be positive, including those that are the result of neurosis. Feelings such as guilt, fear and sadness can trigger the desire to act out religious or spiritual rituals, or nervous habits such as obsessive checking or hoarding. There is an element of catharsis, but equally there are elements of avoidance and dependence. These activities follow a clear pattern which is documented in many art works, each painting different pictures of people’s lives but revealing thinking patterns and cycles that are common to everyone, regardless of their culture, beliefs, time period or mental status.
Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx and Bronislaw Malinowski were of the belief that religious or spiritual ritual was a response to negative emotion. This would make religious or spiritual ritual comparable to habits that are not considered to be positive, including those that are the result of neurosis. Feelings such as guilt, fear and sadness can trigger the desire to act out religious or spiritual rituals, or nervous habits such as obsessive checking or hoarding. There is an element of catharsis, but equally there are elements of avoidance and dependence. These activities follow a clear pattern which is documented in many art works, each painting different pictures of people’s lives but revealing thinking patterns and cycles that are common to everyone, regardless of their culture, beliefs, time period or mental status.
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