Of memory, beauty and our fleeting presence
Fresco from the palace at Knossos, Minoan civilization, island of Crete, between the 27th and the 15th centuries B.C.E

Of memory, beauty and our fleeting presence

One of my fondest most evocative childhood memories is a wall painting commissioned by my parents, outside our home in Africa. A huge fresco of fantastical sea creatures, so alive in their colors and energy, both over and in the water. The stunning in-situ creation of a lady artist, friend of my folks. As the years passed and I grew up, the fresco gradually faded, under the relentless assaults of the rains, the sun, various sorts of fungi... What we typically call the ’elements’. In the years after we moved to a different place, I would sometimes steer the car back to that wall. To connect with the last remnants of the picture, the very last traces of its beauty. On my last visit, the wall had been painted over, drab white. The shapes and the colors had finally disappeared in the strata of time. But paradoxically and symbolically, the physical erasing of the fresco made it even more alive in my memory. I don't recall all the details of course. ‘Just’ the emotions of it. A human was there, and created that, and that act of humanity – her creation – is part and parcel of my identity, decades later.

Today, as I walked to work, the streets still glittering from overnight showers, the memory of that fresco came to life again, in my mind, the shapes and colors and creatures. And I made a mental connection with my personal ‘obsession’ of detecting traces of what has been, of the human-driven beauty that has existed through an act of creation, lingered in the memory of those who experienced it, and so often disappeared when they in turn went away. I thought of a very old fabric, inexorably turning to dust, strand by strand, color by color, until what is left is either a mental picture, or a network of threads so feeble, so fragile that even to look at them seems to take some of their remaining life away. Not a sad image. On the contrary: an invitation to be present in the moment. And that took me to think about our troubled world.

I am not saying that our world was ever a quiet stream, nor am I longing for some fantasy version of a pseudo perfect past. It never existed. But today, as we are collectively rushing forward, whatever the cost, engrossed in the contemplation of our machine-driven ‘genius’, one thing that catches my attention is the sense of disappearing humanity. Not population. But the very idea of what makes us human. A certain idea of humanity, beyond a life form, a user status, a consumer data point…?Those soft, subtle, fragile traces of human touch, human sensitivity… The links we have with human experiences past that (should) connect us to human experiences present… I feel that the sense of time is both what links us together and directs the fragile creation that we call ‘being’. When I look at the picture of the three ladies above, so ancient yet so alive, I think of the artists who conceived of it. How they felt working on the project. Their choices of themes, colours, shapes. How they captured in their art some of the fleetingness that is the human experience. For a few moments, I enter a bit of their mind space, just a little bit. The pressure they applied on the brushes, the memory of it captured in the picture, that makes me feel human. Because it is deeply, essentially, fundamentally human: to leave a trace of our moments, and hopefully contribute beauty and elevation that transcends... time. Blinking at the fresco that is our life today, accelerated, computerized, optimized, picture-perfected, packaged, formatted, instantized, sanitized, dematerialized… I wonder what uniquely and beautifully imperfect human memories will remain to be treasured, in our hearts and those of generations to come...

If any.?

Gijs van Wezel, MSc

Open Space Team Facilitator, Certified & Accredited Life/Career Coach (ICA/ICF/HRDCorp) / Commercial bridge in (Mal)Asia

1 年

Waooo Cyrill that goes deep??. If you are still in KL, let's meet??

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Daniel J.

Global Delivery Lead at WPP Team Synthesis | Executive MBA student at Imperial College Business School

1 年

Wonderfully written Cyril, you brought me right there, standing where you stood, seeing what you saw.

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