In November, I visited Shanghai for the first time. I travelled there to participate in the Consciousness Reframed Conference at the De Tao Masters Academy. There, I presented a paper on the Techno Spiritual Horizons of Art and Compassionate Networked Art Forms. It was also an opportunity to meet Kuan Yin, the Goddess of Compassion, face to face, at the Jade Buddha Temple. Prior to my visit, my view of the Goddess was rather limited, especially in comparison to the actual encounter which, unexpectedly, granted me a magnificent vision.
Words don’t seem to be the proper medium to fully describe or perceive the essence of Kuan Yin as transpired in my vision. Therefore, I wish to share with you, as best I can, what can be communicated in a verbal or written way.
Kuan Yin is ancient but her wisdom is timely. A powerful innovator, in my vision she manifested as the creatrix of compassionate technology. Her presence unfolds as a dynamic entity with both organic and immaterial faculties, with layers of existence and consciousness.
Kuan Yin’s symbolic and somewhat surreal visual manifestation as a female being with a thousand arms, hands and eyes is the expression of her innate generosity, her perpetual bestowal of help and nourishment. Her arms, reaching inward and outward, resemble a web of interconnected links, mirroring the expansion and intricate connectivity of organic, imagined and artificial life. This image of her reflects the structure of the Internet, an artificial technology that has become closely interwoven with our biology and the communication of various levels and modes of consciousness. The mesh, which is formed between her arms, hands and eyes recalls the networked transfer of knowledge between online links, continents and planets, and from one generation to the next. Nothing is lost in her network. All is seen and acknowledged. Time is never wasted as it is elsewhere. Everything serves a function, or it lives, dies and is reborn. Knowledge is active, transmuted into wisdom and then transformed into practice and a way of life.
I left Shanghai with a feeling that the vision would serve me in the days to come. Surprisingly, I was reminded of its relevance and actuality, a couple of weeks later when two young women in Leicester Square in London approached me. They were part of a group of protesters against animal slaughter, emphasizing the cruelty involved in killing farm animals, which, as they say, have emotions and feel pain just like cats and dogs. One woman said that their struggle is similar to that of the suffragettes. It is difficult to imagine women gaining the right to vote a century ago, just as it is now difficult to imagine a world in which people “choose compassion over killing.”
The young women protesters contextualized their protest in history within a continuing feminist legacy. Furthermore, they talked about compassion that is inherent in the animals’ character, such as the compassionate nature of cows, basing their claim on the observations of animal behavior. I was instantly reminded of the sacred status of cow goddesses in the ancient world and the commanding status of ancient Egyptian queens that were associated with the cow goddess, such as Hathor.
In the web of arms, hands and witnessing eyes of the visionary structure that makes Kuan Yin, it is possible to imagine the invisible links that interconnect the young women of today with the suffragettes of the last century and with the ancient realm of goddesses. The transference of experience from one generation, or a phase in time, to the next, prompts the evolution of consciousness, which in the realm of Kuan Yin, depends on the capacity to channel and employ compassion.
Consequently, Kuan Yin has become an inspirational pattern for Compassionate Networked Art Forms. The dance of her many arms and eyes and her mythic association with sound and air, correlate with 21st century technologies of interactivity and connectivity that join, entangle and display through vision, movement and sound, waves and vibrations, different locations and situations in space-time.
Contemplating Kuan Yin, she has flooded my mind with images and sensations. I suddenly remembered Yva, a German Jewish photographer known for her multiple exposed images and avant-garde style. Yva was murdered in a Nazi concentration camp. I have embedded one of her photos, now in the public domain, showing a multiple image of a nude female dancer, within a visual landscape made of the body and multiple arms of the goddess.
Reflecting on the forthcoming year 2017, it is, undoubtedly, yet unknown how a civilization which is built on a narrative and culture of violence, could evolve into a compassionate web of life. Still, Kuan Yin’s presence in moments of crisis, may give rise to thresholds of change, hope and novelty.
(Meet Mago Contributor) Dr. Lila Moore.
Dr Lila Moore is the founder of The Cybernetic Futures Institute, an online academy for study of the spiritual in film, technoetic arts, screen dance and the exploration of consciousness. The courses and workshops take place online and in central London. Lila is an artist film-maker, screen choreographer, networked performance practitioner, educator and theorist. The CFI is based on her post-doctoral project at Planetary Collegium of Plymouth University (2015). Dr Moore holds a practice-based Ph.D. degree in Dance on Screen (2001) from Middlesex University and an M.A. in Film from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London. She researched film and the spiritual as Associate Research Fellow, London Metropolitan University, and has been teaching B.A. courses in Cinema and Spirituality, Film and Ritual as well as The Spiritual in Art as part of a BA in Mysticism and Spirituality at Zefat Academic College (2013-2017). She has presented her work internationally in academic conferences, cultural organisations, art galleries and networked platforms.
http://www.cyberneticinstitute.com
I like the tone of this essay – and the importance of the question being asked. But is it realistic to ask how our (dominant) culture of violence could be “transformed” into one with compassion at its center? Isn’t this asking us to make an either or choice at this point? Isn’t there some way to would allow us to work with violence oppression sexism etc as they are exploding all around us, incorporating all our humanity into a larger more meaningful (and yes, spiritual) context, one that most importantly does not deny the dark side of humanity?
I would like to think that this last election has finally brought us face to face with the darkness in ourselves, a human centered darkness that is increasing every single day that we continue to deny it. After all, the dominant culture chose hatred, bigotry, sexism etc. when it elected its next president.
Until I came to Northern New Mexico and began to observe some of the Pueblo dances in the context of their Tewa speaking culture I was despairing… These American people who continue to live their lives authentically ( let me be clear here – I am not saying that there are no problems) in the rich and varied context of Indigenous Culture (s) have helped me to see that we already have a paradigm in this country that has survived the dominant culture and continues to work even though it has been rendered invisible. This paradigm is predicated on relationship and has as its center the importance of working with the forces of nature to keep the Earth (and ourselves) in balance. Most importantly it does not deny human darkness, it creates room for this energy to be re-directed in a more creative way.
Thank you! I appreciate your feedback and that you have noticed the element of movement! Blessings to you
Hello Lila,
I have with me a painting of Quan Yin, done by the clairvoyant artist Peter Fich from Denmark. I use it sometime in my meditation..
I watched the video above, and did not feel at all that it is connected to her.
Her qualities are not in 3D realms. Although our mind which can connect with her are able to bridge 3D with 4D and 5D and upwards.
To me she is not a goddess, although she is so high and advance that most people tend to associate this level with the Gods.
She is our older sister, from higher dimensions, and was once a human being, who was able to step through the ladder of consciousness and service to others and thereby reach the exalted place where she is now. She walked as a 3D human being once upon a time, and is now assisting millions of people to raise their consciousness and become themselves more service oriented, more compassionate to others and wiser in the ways of cosmic laws.
So violence cannot connect with her. simply because the frequency of it is too law.
Hope you don’t mind my input.
p.s
And I fully agree with these two ladies regarding animals pain.
Dear Ayelet Hashachar
I appreciate your feeback. However, I reserve the right to express my views in this particular aesthetic way! I cannot argue whether she is a goddess or not. As far as I know she is considered a goddess. This is not a 3D video but a 2D video but am happy to hear that it gives the impression of a 3D work!
Much love and healing to you.
Greetings,
Thank you for sharing your spiritual encounter with the compassionate Goddess Kuan Yin. The video of “the dance of compassion” is unique & showing the ecstatic movement of this Goddess, who hear each prayer, sigh, or cry for mercy.
Blessings Lila!