Is Reiki Nonsense?
by Gil Dekel, PhD. The purpose of this article is to analyse the difficulties in formulating coherent arguments about the benefits of Reiki. Whilst scientific research has undoubtedly brought progress to the human race, scientific knowledge is not yet able to provide reliable evidence on the benefits of therapeutic practices such as Reiki Healing. The tools with which we measure reality are not...
Read MoreMathematics and Reality: Is Mathematics a symbolic Universe Invented by the Human Mind? (part 5 of 5)
Part 5 of 5. Read the previous part… by Paul Hartal. Chapter 5: A Magical Land of Infinite Worlds A gentle soul and highly poetic mathematician, Georg Cantor (1845-1918), upset thoroughly the applecart of arithmetic with his Set Theory of Infinity. The mystical imagination of Cantor had created a magical land fraught with perplexing logical paradoxes that forced mathematicians to reassess...
Read MoreMathematics and Reality: Is Mathematics a symbolic Universe Invented by the Human Mind? (part 4 of 5)
Part 4 of 5. Read the previous part… by Paul Hartal. Chapter 4: Unverifiable Theories Although Einstein had made major contributions to the development of quantum theory, in his eyes the new branch of physics was incomplete. He could not accept the idea that on the atomic level blind chance and unpredictability governed nature, which scientists could understand only in probabilistic terms. For...
Read MoreMathematics and Reality: Is Mathematics a symbolic Universe Invented by the Human Mind? (part 3 of 5)
Part 3 of 5. Read the previous part… by Paul Hartal. Chapter 3: A Leap of Imagination Einstein’s theories rely on innovative mathematical models of space. For more than two millennia the magnificent geometrical axioms of Euclid of Alexandria were regarded as incontrovertibly absolute truths. New discoveries transformed their status, although inasmuch as the axioms apply to the geometrical...
Read MoreMathematics and Reality: Is Mathematics a symbolic Universe Invented by the Human Mind? (part 2 of 5)
Part 2 of 5. Read the previous part… by Paul Hartal. Chapter 2: Zero is something The mysterious irrationality of the nullity: zero equaling plenty– arising from the bewildering mathematical complex of the concise and elegantly wrapped Euler Identity—had cast a particular spell on Benjamin Peirce, who in 1831, at the age of 22, had been appointed Professor of Mathematics at Harvard....
Read MoreMathematics and Reality: Is Mathematics a symbolic Universe Invented by the Human Mind? (part 1 of 5)
by Paul Hartal. Introduction Mathematics is a model of exact reasoning, the most precise branch of human knowledge. Using logic as its main instrument, mathematics probes the numerical and spatial relations of axiomatic systems by means of strict rules and careful analysis. It is a ubiquitous and indispensable subject because every human endeavor involves some form of arithmetic. In the sciences...
Read MoreRepresentation and Narrative in Popular Two-Dimensional Animation: A Critical and Practical Investigation.
by Natalie Dekel. Can self-observation of an artist/researcher on her work stand as an academic tool of investigation? I would argue that the process of moving from theoretical analysis to practical exploration of one’s own art work can challenge and enriche any academic research, and can establish better notion of authorship. I have conducted a research where the topic of hand-drawn...
Read MoreEngaged practice and authorship: Inquiry into the process of animation filmmaking as a practitioner and critical researcher.
by Natalie Dekel. I would argue that artistic ‘information’ is rushing through one’s body and mind, driving one to express in animated language of symbols and images what is ultimately a personal interpretation of subjective authorial nature. My research aims to explore this sense of authorship through my own artistic practice, by observing my experience as an animator in the...
Read MoreLines of the Self: artistic choices while creating art works.
In this paper I will reflect on the connection between lines in art works, the artist’s personality and the choices they make in the creative process. I will offer examples from my work as a painter/animator and a researcher.
Read MoreThe Silence of the Paper: Embodiment of ‘Artistic Personality’ in the Process of Art-making.
by Natalie Dekel. How artists embody their distinct personality, emotions and experiences, in the process of making an art work? The literature in art does not sufficiently discuss this point, where the literature often refers to the final product from which views about the artist are deduced, or it discusses the views of artists on their work as an afterthought. Either way, the actual process of...
Read More“Waterised Words”: Exhibition exploring self-knowledge through art practice.
by Gil Dekel. Plato’s suggestion ‘know yourself’ raises the question: How can one know oneself? and what are the tools available for discovering self-knowledge? Continue… (opens a new page). 3 August 2010. Gil...
Read MoreWho is the Author of my Poems?: Art Practice Based PhD Exploring Knowledge Gained in the Process of Creativity.
by Gil Dekel. It is a prevailing assumption that poetry is closely linked to the times in which it is created, and that the poet is influenced by his/her surroundings. For example, the English Romantic poetry is seen as a direct result of the French and American revolutions (Ackroyd, 2006). However, this assumption does not explain the observation that poetry was written in ancient times and is...
Read MoreIlluminating the Word: Visualisation of Poetic Experiences Through Filmmaking.
by Gil Dekel. Freud acknowledged that poets have explored the unconscious much before he himself developed it into his psychological theories (Jay, 1984: 23). Visionary poets such as Blake and William Wordsworth suggested the psychoanalytic process much before Freud himself practised it (see also Shengold, 2004: 28). In my research I propose to direct this psychoanalytic inquiry, which I suggest...
Read MoreWordless Silence of Poetic Mind: Outlining and Visualising Poetic Experiences through Artmaking.
by Gil Dekel. This paper approaches visionary poetry from the point of view of an experiential observer. The paper explores the “poetic silence” that occurs in the moments before the poem is written, attempting to capture the moments in which a thought of poetry is formulated. This silence is defined by RILKE (1950, p.20) as “nameless”, thus may pose...
Read MoreConceptual Graphic Design.
Black Circle That is Going to Be. Flash Artwork. 2008. Gil Dekel. “What interests me is not the square or the circle, but what is in between the two: the artistic process by which one becomes the other.” Gil...
Read MoreThe Discovery of an Esoteric Message in Pascal’s Triangle.
By Paul Hartal. I began to experiment with Kabala inspired paintings in the 1990s. To my utter astonishment these experiments led to a totally unexpected and most exciting discovery of a transcendent communication. In the Hebrew alphabet each letter assigns a numerical value. When I substituted the numbers in Pascal’s triangle with Hebrew characters, to my absolute amazement a meaningful...
Read MoreInspiration: a functional approach to creative practice (PhD Research).
By Gil Dekel. I have been conducting a PhD research (University of Portsmouth) into the subject of creativity and inspiration in art, studyng techniques of accessing one’s talents and opening a door to innovation. These techniques were tested with artists and non-artists alike, and proved beneficial to anyone who is willing to ask: “who am I, and how can I be more...
Read More
Recent comments: