55
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
M. C. Tobias, J. G. Morrison, On the Nature of Ecological Paradox,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64526-7_7
Chapter 7
Pathologies of Self-Image
7.1 Quagmires of Consciousness
One early hint at this high probability comes from Medieval bestiaries depicting
Adam naming the animals from Genesis, a motif of inordinate influence upon
Hieronymus Bosch in whose supreme masterpiece “The Garden of Earthly Delights”
(1490–1510) many painted creatures “defy any classification, and result therefore in
‘empty’ aberrational memories. The three-headed bird with a feathered ‘eye’ on its
peacock-like tail, just below the Creator’s feet, for example…”.
1
Not only did Bosch
detail new existence, but posed a virtual dilemma for human consciousness in that
our original taxonomies, at least in terms of the Biblical rendition in Judeo-Christian
traditions, failed scientifically to take sufficient account of the true extent of wildness all around us. A century after Bosch, a single painting by Roelandt Savery, his
1624 “Bouquet of Flowers,” said to be a still-life, in fact contains a living cornucopia: 63 flower and 44 animal species (Fig. 7.1).
2
But even these expanded peripheries of biological say-so do not yet hint at an
even more satisfying scenario that might account for a human species on the cusp of
something grander than itself, the essence of ethics, but also of molecular biology,
wherein crazy numbers—2 million to 5 trillion molecules in a single human cell,
multiplied by the nearly 38 trillion cells on average per human body—begin to form
an argument. We have earlier explored the scenario in our Hypothetical Species
(2019) hinting at the possibility of twin species.
3
V. B. Sapunov contrasted and
1 The Land of Unlikeness – Hieronymus Bosch, The Garden of Earthly Delights, by Reindert
Faleknburg, W Books, Zwolle, The Netherlands, 2011, p. 122. See also, A Dark Premonition –
Journeys to Hieronymus Bosch, By Cees Nooteboom, Translated from the Dutch by Laura
Watkinson, Schirmer/Mosel, Munich, Germany, and Verona, 2016.
2 As pointed out in Micheline Walker’s essay, “Roelandt Savery: From Flowers to the Dodo,”
November
30,
2012,
online Art
blog,
https://michelinewalker.com/2012/11/30/
roelandt-savery-from-flowers-to-the-dodo/
3 The Hypothetical Species: Variables of Evolution, by M. C. Tobias and J. G. Morrison, Springer,
New York, 2019.
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
M. C. Tobias, J. G. Morrison, On the Nature of Ecological Paradox,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64526-7_7
Chapter 7
Pathologies of Self-Image
7.1 Quagmires of Consciousness
One early hint at this high probability comes from Medieval bestiaries depicting
Adam naming the animals from Genesis, a motif of inordinate influence upon
Hieronymus Bosch in whose supreme masterpiece “The Garden of Earthly Delights”
(1490–1510) many painted creatures “defy any classification, and result therefore in
‘empty’ aberrational memories. The three-headed bird with a feathered ‘eye’ on its
peacock-like tail, just below the Creator’s feet, for example…”.
1
Not only did Bosch
detail new existence, but posed a virtual dilemma for human consciousness in that
our original taxonomies, at least in terms of the Biblical rendition in Judeo-Christian
traditions, failed scientifically to take sufficient account of the true extent of wildness all around us. A century after Bosch, a single painting by Roelandt Savery, his
1624 “Bouquet of Flowers,” said to be a still-life, in fact contains a living cornucopia: 63 flower and 44 animal species (Fig. 7.1).
2
But even these expanded peripheries of biological say-so do not yet hint at an
even more satisfying scenario that might account for a human species on the cusp of
something grander than itself, the essence of ethics, but also of molecular biology,
wherein crazy numbers—2 million to 5 trillion molecules in a single human cell,
multiplied by the nearly 38 trillion cells on average per human body—begin to form
an argument. We have earlier explored the scenario in our Hypothetical Species
(2019) hinting at the possibility of twin species.
3
V. B. Sapunov contrasted and
1 The Land of Unlikeness – Hieronymus Bosch, The Garden of Earthly Delights, by Reindert
Faleknburg, W Books, Zwolle, The Netherlands, 2011, p. 122. See also, A Dark Premonition –
Journeys to Hieronymus Bosch, By Cees Nooteboom, Translated from the Dutch by Laura
Watkinson, Schirmer/Mosel, Munich, Germany, and Verona, 2016.
2 As pointed out in Micheline Walker’s essay, “Roelandt Savery: From Flowers to the Dodo,”
November
30,
2012,
online Art
blog,
https://michelinewalker.com/2012/11/30/
roelandt-savery-from-flowers-to-the-dodo/
3 The Hypothetical Species: Variables of Evolution, by M. C. Tobias and J. G. Morrison, Springer,
New York, 2019.