CRITICAL UNDERSTANDING

RAFFAELLO,
The Virgin and Christ, 1504 - 1505

Critical understanding
There is an arcane bond between the two protagonists of Raphael’s artistic and philosophical creation. A fine thread unites the horizontal gaze of the Virgin with the oblique gaze of Christ, who is blessing the world, while the evident and impressive presence of a single “spirit” obliges one’s eyelids to slightly close.
The fixed gaze accentuates a strabismus that reveals the significance of relations between an inner dimension of the individual - in which an awareness of the self and of the world appears to predominate (the right eye observes reality) - and the spiritual dimension produced by a projection of consciousness onto the various levels of knowledge (the left eye reaches beyond the limits of the present).
In both of the faces depicted in Raphael’s work, the vivifying force of the spiritus mercurius (also known as “hot air”, “vapour”, “the quintessence” or “quick silver”) is at work: the real goal of the efforts of the highly intuitive alchemist. The distillation of mercury into its quintessential form cannot be artificially produced through visualization techniques, the imagination or by the projection of mental energy.
The spiritus mercurius originates in St. Thomas’s desire to evolve - through the means of sceptical curiosity - to achieve the fullest comprehension of the different planes of reality: the world of form and matter and the dimensions of concepts and consciousness.
The transformation of critical perception into rational analysis however will not assist us in our quest for further knowledge; but the study of historical, economic and social events may nevertheless engender a moral, civil and ecological conscience capable of reflection on the “wounds and suffering” inflicted by man on other men and nature.
In their workshops, Renaissance alchemists conducted experiments to transform mercury into argentum vivum, and to then directly observe the properties of the little drops as they sprouted their “wings” and flew off, to outwardly project - onto glass or onto a metal base - their silvery colour. From the psychological point of view, the observation of chemical phenomena had the effect of lighting the “fire of knowledge”, which was capable - also at the physiological level - of heating the individual’s inner “mercury” until the complete distillation of mercurius vulgaris has occurred; or, in other words, transforming “normal” intelligence into the perceptive and projective, acute intelligence referred to as argentum vivum.
Artists attained the same “temperature” in their work - and more quickly - combining the love of their art with a passion for women and the emotion-stirring perception of beauty, which could stimulate erotic and creative imagery.
Within the space of only a few years, Raphael in particular managed to fully elaborate the cardinal themes of the psychological transformation of the instincts into love and creativity.
“Breathing one’s own smoke” and the sulphurous fumes produced by “overheating” erotic impulses, the Renaissance artist transformed sexual drives into a creative furore, and thereby freed the emotional spiritus contained in the formless dimension of the emotions and impulses.
For now, it matters little whether we comprehend what occurs in a chemical laboratory or in the workshops of artists and alchemists, who hope to transform the logical and systematic heaviness of “Saturnine” lead into the “Philosopher’s Gold” of the intuitive mind, and then finally into the argentum vivum of the comprehension of all things sacred and profane.
The spiritus mercurius is produced through an elaboration of personal feelings and impulses into an awareness of the self (Jesus), of the transformation of the mental factors into creative energy (The Nazarene) and finally of the transformation of individual consciousness into the all-knowing consciousness of Christ (King of the Jews), the model of a perfect realisation of the incarnation of the Divine Spirit within the human body.
The combined action of this triple process causes an evolution of emotional intelligence into critical perception, intuitive knowledge and critical consciousness, the three qualities of the creative mind which emerge at the end of the artist’ work.

The spiritus mercurius is a quintessence of all of this, and can only be defined as the superior comprehension of “all things”. It is a level of comprehension that operates in those individuals who achieve control over themselves, moral stability, and a full experience of the sentiments. It is the expression of love and compassion which unfolds in human comprehension (The Virgin) and spiritual comprehension (Christ).
Human (the Elixir) and spiritual comprehension (the Spiritus) constitute a fulcrum, around which revolve every motivation, decision or choice - of a material, moral or existential kind - determining the nobler faculties of acute discrimination, and liberty of action and opinion.

The Elixir
It is significant that Raphael offers a representation of the realisation of the Elixir of knowledge of the human condition in the portrait of a woman: Elisabetta Gonzaga. The painting was not produced to convey a reflection of any particular moral quality, intuitive sensibility or ethical values, but rather “to generate an influence” and act at a purely mental level. The small, scorpion jewel Elisabetta wears on her forehead is a sign of an imminent transformation of critical feminine faculties into a profound comprehension of the psychological motivations that model individual and collective behaviour. The natural critical perception of women (the scorpion’s poisonous kiss) often translates into an element of separation of elements foreign to the “social body” or “the couple” and becomes a discriminating, conflictual factor. Elisabeth’s gaze conceals a different perception and knowledge of existence.
The right eye, which is connected with the left cerebral hemisphere - the seat of rational logic which emanates from the evolving of particular sentiments into individual sentiments and finally into ethical and moral values - holds within its constant, critical gaze the actions and behaviour of those who have not been able to elaborate their instincts, affects and passion to achieve a sense of responsibility and a moral conscience.
The scorpion’s ability to walk backwards and develop a form of physical, psychic and mental introversion, from which a creative kind of meditation can subsequently emerge (The Madonna of Sinigaglia) allows Elisabetta (Raphael) to associate the themes, topics and conflicts of passion with the “waters” of emotional desire, “cognitive” sentiment and moral decisions, so as to establish a quite different comprehension of human relations.
The left eye however diverges from the centre of focus, to simulate an analogical link with the “reasons of the heart” and emotional memory. The connection with the cognitive faculties of the right hemisphere, specialised in the elaboration of poetic, artistic and “psychological language”, triggers a specific awareness of the faculties of emotional intelligence (as can be seen in the work of Proust, for example) to go beyond the limitations of rational thought and reflections of the present.
The recalling of sensations, emotions and sentiments elaborated by the emotional memory transforms sensorial consciousness into rational and intuitive consciousness, the mental substrate in which it is possible to comprehend the works of artists and philosophers who have developed the knowledge and awareness of “good and evil” that dwells within the human soul.
The attainment of the Elixir is the basic premise that leads to the new dawn behind Elisabetta’s shoulders, metaphorically indicating the birth of a developmental consciousness (Jesus the Child) capable of transcending duality and promoting an integration of opposites.

The “Spiritus”
The Elixir of comprehension which emerges in Elisabetta corresponds with the opening of the “third eye”, a metaphor reflecting the gaze with which the soul perceives, at a very subtle level, the subconscious and unconscious motivations that drive behaviour and moral, ideological, philosophical or religious, individual or collective decisions and choices, that are often so difficult to comprehend and interpret.
The psychological perception of the soul is pure intuition. Information rises into consciousness through “psychic channels” (the two angels painted by Piero della Francesca), which translate sensations, emotions and sentiments into words, images, symbols or metaphors, often spontaneous and immediate.
It is doubtless that the right eye of Christ, who is gazing at and observing what is directly in front of him, reveals the same intuitive quality as that found in the gaze of the Virgin. It is in fact impossible to ignore the psychic nature of the individual and collective needs when we start to investigate social, historical, political and economic phenomena that occur in the continuity of social behaviour and action.
Nor have we as yet produced a “history of sentiments” in the historical study of ideas. We have a history of the products of the mind that culminate in philosophy, but not “of the sources from which certain views originate, in such a radical manner that the variations through the ages are never recorded at the level of ideas but always at the level of a symbolic background, in which the sentimental dimension is a jealous and faithful interpreter.”1

The malaise of the contemporary critic is accentuated when he recognises that in “this gap there is the conviction that sentiment is a part of the “nature” of man, and thus belongs to the “non historical” element of his development; even though we are all convinced our way of “feeling” no longer resembles the feelings of the ancient Greeks or, more simply, the feelings of our forefathers.”2
And yet the truth has always been there.
With frightening precision, the critical and intuitive perception of women, artists and poets describes for us the critical phases of the passage from one scenario to the next, or from one social environment to another, more complex and evolved. The transformation of instinctive impulses into love, awareness, comprehension and consciousness occurs in every age in different guises, with differing techniques, allegories, metaphors, parables, symbols and words, and yet, in the background, the unifying principles of Alchemical Knowledge, the knowledge of what must be known to allow for the evolution of the spirit and consciousness remain unaltered.
The evolution of the psychic energy of the individual into soul, mind, consciousness and spiritus or understanding occurs in four acts: just as there are four angles formed by the two lines that intersect at the centre of the middle finger, the point of permanent gravity in which the spirituality and sensibility of the Renaissance alchemist places the “transcendent heart” of the Blessing Christ.

Painted by Raphael in the act of showing the wound between his ribs (the sacrifice of the soul), Christ represents his understanding - through an evolution of the “Divine Triad” of Consciousness, Knowledge and Perception (the Father, Son and the Holy Ghost) - of the horrors produced by the universal Libido. Represented too is the possibility of not succumbing to or becoming numbed by the schemes of the dominant culture, which make it difficult for us to imagine other models or alternative worlds.
The distillation of the Elixir and the sublimation of our human comprehension, which raises us to the level of the Spiritus of higher and noble comprehension is the essence of all of Raphael’s work, which, by no mere chance, concludes with the “Transfiguration”: a metaphor of the taumaturgical power of human and spiritual understanding and its capacity to cure, sooth and save, and to indicate the path of rectitude.

FIRST ACT: "NIGREDO"

Caravaggio and Apocalipse Now

The existential condition of the Nigredo is experienced by men and women who wish to transform their psychic impulses into pure sentiment, affection and self-knowledge.
Very often a difficulty in expressing sentiment stems from problematical relations with parents, siblings and from the emotional dimension of existence. Complexes rooted in an individual’s relationship with his or her father or mother may inhibit the natural flow of psychic energy, which may remain in an “undeveloped state”, and “fixed” at an early stage of growth.
The aim of the alchemist still struggling at the Nigredo stage is to transform the “rough stone” (the Pleroma) into Philosopher’s Mercury, which must be distilled until the Elixir of knowledge is obtained. In practical terms, the experience involves refining “psychic energy” generated by the primary instincts into “mental energy” to attain a stage at which the individual comprehends that human impulses constitute a creative potential which we have at our disposal and which can aid us in our search for happiness.
In the film Iris, a true story of the last years of an Irish writer, the protagonist intuitively understands that only the mind has the power to free an individual’s creative potential.
“Neither love nor education can ever make us happy. Books cannot teach us how to lead happy lives, however education can provide us with the instruments that will allow us recognise what work would be needed to attain such a goal.”
Education, training, control, the transmission of ideas, channelling and orientation are terms which have as their common denominator the intention of working with psychic energy; and, that is, the uncontrolled stream of emotions, words, actions and impulsive gestures that represent an instinctive reaction of the organism in the presence of an external stimulus or provocation.

Psychic energy manifests as fear, anger, ill feelings, envy, jealousy, hate, greed, attachment and its physical manifestations are tears, shouting, bilious attacks, stomach pains and secretions of the endocrine glands that change the colour of our skin or make our lips turn rigid. Psychic energy is in most cases a clear warning of the existence of a conflict that can have an internal influence on the body.

The conflictual dimension of sentiment has been widely analysed by Western psychology, which has identified in traditional myths, fables and legends the educational instruments with which societies of the past attempted, through metaphor, to educate the individual to become aware of and to control emotion.
“The highly developed human brain, with its capacity for coping with the unexpected and new concepts, and our protracted human infancy, much longer than that typical of other species, has endowed humanity with a learning capacity far superior to analogous capabilities in any other creatures. However, such advantages also imply the risk of disorientation. One of the principal aims of the common rituals of both primitive and the more highly developed races is thus that of guiding children in the developmental process leading to adulthood. The dependency of infants must be transformed into the responsibility of adults, and in the terms prescribed by our social order.
A son must become a father and a daughter a mother; each must pass from the infantile stage to adolescence, which are practically the same everywhere, and then become an adult and assume the various social roles.
Instincts must be governed and matured in the interest of both the group and the individual; and, traditionally, the first function of mythology was that of serving this social and psychological purpose. The individual adapts to his group and the group, in turn, to its environment, with a sense of gratitude for the miracle of life.
I would moreover suggest that this is the function of village mythology, whereby instincts are controlled and sentiment is duly oriented.”1
Education through myths, fables and legends is thus a determining factor in the transmission of the “energy” inherent in a conventional code of conduct of the group one belongs to. In a village community the experience of Individual Nigredo is in fact an exploration of the instincts in a controlled environment.
Negative emotions are subject to an ethical and moral order, within the framework of religious rules and civil law.
Every individual experiences the Nigredo in a manner determined by the social group in which the passage from adolescence to maturity occurs. A sense of “belonging” thus allows and induces the personality to adhere to models of behaviour which are functional for the aims and objectives of the community. Conventional education insists on repression and the conscious control of negative emotions as a means of inhibiting violent reactions.
In civilised countries children are taught to control both their actions and their emotions. In fact, many people become so good at hiding or disguising their instinctive reactions - not only with respect to others but also with respect to themselves - that extreme forms of self-control can make them vulnerable and susceptible to other dangers.
If inner barriers collapse - even minimally - owing to a lowering of the threshold of consciousness, or if a change in outer conditions removes certain inner restrictions, repressed emotion may then explode in an uncontrollable manner, and become doubly destructive, as the person in whom they become manifest has never been aware of their presence.
The Nigredo of the instincts is thus latent in every individual and can become quite manifest at certain moments during a lifetime: when exhaustion, depression, stress and, above all, frustration have the effect of triggering sexual and creative energies that have hitherto remained inert and imploded for so long.
The Nigredo of consciousness on the other hand has an “explosive” effect and can oppose social conventions or the moral codes of religion and social ethics. The alchemist however perceives that a “second truth” exists, which transcends any commitment to a “group”, whereby every achievement requires the “sacrifice” on the part of the single individual for the common good.
“This is just the expression of a fundamental norm that regulates social life in the entire animal kingdom. It appears moreover when the loss of personal gain - determined by submission to the rules of the group - is largely compensated for by gains that derive from the success of the group. A corollary of this dynamic, in the case of human beings, is that rich, self-centred groups which adhere to unhealthy religions and unworthy ideologies are contrasted by the poor, altruistic followers of new religious faiths.
The promise of a better, future life - whether it be an earthly paradise or resurrection in heaven - is a cultural reward that may justify the imperative of those forms of submission upon which society is based.
An experience relived again and again by each succeeding generation, submission to the group and its moral codes becomes stabilised in official doctrine and individual faith. And yet, it was never decreed by God, nor does it descend from heaven in the form of an undeniable truth. It merely evolves as an indispensable procedure useful for the survival of the social “organism”.”
The empirical alchemist however believes that “religious precepts and faith are entirely materialistic products of the mind.
For thousands of generations they have contributed towards our survival and the reproductive success of those who conform to tribal creeds.
Epigenetic rules and hereditary trends in mental development have had sufficient time to evolve and generate moral and religious sentiments. The possibility of indoctrinating has practically become an instinct.”

Aware of the rules of communication within the “global village” and a necessity for the “sharing” of mass culture, the gaze and attention of the alchemist - as was evident in the work of Caravaggio and Coppola - turns inwards, in search of a vital nucleus and the true riches of human nature concealed within the individual and an inexhaustible manifestation of emotional, creative and spiritual energies.
Historically, the philosophical interests of the alchemist-empiricist are certainly not recent developments, and their origins are rooted in Aristotle’s Nichomachean ethics.
Alchemical experience however undoubtedly occurred long before the earliest historical recordings, and can be said to have their origins in the sad action perpetrated by Cain. At a certain point, human beings perceived the fine thread which separates good from evil, and soon comprehended that the good of society does not necessarily correspond with the interests of the individual.
Modern film producers have often “stuck their fingers in the fresh wounds” of those who in recent times have had the task of taking up arms to defend the American way of life: a model of society in which the freedom of the individual is all too often measured in terms of economic standing and social status. In the name of the collective wellbeing of a nation, political, social, financial and national prestige and feelings of love for one’s homeland or family have functioned as a screen upon which illusions and falsehoods are easily projected.
Moral sentiments have a powerfully manipulative effect when the instinct to defend the group is experienced by the individual in terms of personal “conscience”, self-respect, remorse, compassion and sympathy, shame, humility and moral outrage.
The Nigredo “controlled” by civil and religious institutions promotes a “cultural evolution of the individual”, goading him on to assume schemes of behaviour which express the universal moral codes of honour, patriotism, altruism, justice, compassion, piety and redemption, all of which, in times of a crisis, are capable of creating a “scapegoat”.
Loyalty towards the group is thus crystallized by means of symbols and “sacred” goals, and the mythologies abound with epic tales of the victories of crusaders over their evil enemies.

The relationship between Willard (Martin Sheen) and Kurtz (Marlon Brando) - the two protagonists of the film Apocalypse Now - represents the point of culmination in the crisis between “experience and conscience” in Western culture, still bereft of the cognitive means of exploring the “Heart of Darkness” of the human psyche.
Very little progress has been in the psychological, ethical and biological exploration of moral sentiment, which derives great energy from the instincts.
The last two thousand years of collective Nigredo have produced so much horror and destruction as the control of our psychic energy is wielded by powers that subtly operate through the dissemination of collective codes in accordance with predetermined aims.
The collective conscience is stronger than any form of ethical and moral education, which can be overridden by the doctrines of religious sects and fanatics, by the clan that holds sway over a particular territory, by the political party that advocates models of development favourable only to the ruling classes or by models promoted by the conformism of the masses. The Western conscience remains poised between ethics founded on a moral rationalisation of customs (God), and on ethical codes founded on a technical rationalisation of impulses (Science) and social behaviour through repression (Laws).

The point of view of the alchemist is based on the principle that purification and the abandonment of unconscious behaviour induced by group codes may occur through the process of transforming libido into love, creativity and a knowledge of human nature.
Such knowledge is closely linked to the study of psychic impulses and the material functioning of the brain.
There is moreover a deep void in our knowledge, which for the moment hinders the study (also from the biological point of view) of a fundamental branch of ethics: moral sentiment.
Moral sentiment is the crucial point of convergence of all hopes for a positive transformation of society and every single individual.
Moral sentiment draws directly from the dimension of human instinct, which provides the raw material that has to be “cooked” very slowly, so that the psychic energy and libido are not dispersed and can be transformed into love, friendship and the spirit of collaboration.
The Nigredo, as conceived by Renaissance alchemists, is an empirical procedure that draws psychic energy into a “vas hermeticum” located inside the athanor, a metaphor for the psychic body. Here, the energy is then “elaborated” by means of the imagination, and transformed into mental desire, a creative will and, finally, a “solar consciousness”.
In our own day and age, the “vas hermeticum” is formed by our modern schools and colleges, where adolescents are educated. Our schools teach the “mythology of the village”, while literature, films and art are provided to transmit the “mythology of the forest”, which can lead to inner soul-seeking and the possible transformation of the creative impulses into pure conscience.
The mythology of the forest is gradually disappearing however, and the myths of the past are at risk. Formerly, for generations, the community adhered to such rigid behaviour that a divinity could last for thousands of years.
Nowadays, the rules are “fluid”, and whether we like it or not, we are left to tend for ourselves; in our inner dimension, in forests with no well-defined routes, we may venture and delve into our books, metropolitan legends and the images and icons of modern life to discover but faint traces of a long-lost Grail.
For this purpose, moreover, the myths that should guide us no longer provide any ethical norms. No longer passed on by each generation, they are out of date and out of place; they are being swept away by the heroes of the cinema, by comics and video games. In our modern era, there is no horizon and no mythogenetic zone. Only the cinema now seems to possess the power to interpret the reality of the individual, the collective unconscious and forge new myths, around which the desires of the androgynous soul converge to discover hidden truths.
Nevertheless, by filtering the experiences of characters in modern films with the knowledge of Renaissance artists, it is still possible to rediscover a logical link between the heart, the eyes and the brain as it may be experienced by contemporary film producers.
The film Apocalypse Now, for example, is a foundation stone, which would allow us to “cook” the raw material of the instincts; and equally fundamental is the stone upon which is set Caravaggio’s scene of the Deposition of the Body of Christ. Both works reveal the symbolic body of Christ, or the monstrous consequences generated by human folly, our collective libido and ego-manic individualism suffered by the frail body of both the individual and collective soul.
Like Caravaggio, Kurtz provides us with an extreme form of ritual, which the energy of the psyche needs to greatly expand the powers of the mind.
Like a shaman, he channels the energy of blood and adrenalin towards a conscious descent into the hell of the psyche, where the instinctive self holds sway over everything. This “pleroma” of the instincts or “heart of darkness” is manoeuvred in an occult manner through a series of chemical responses; and these are triggered in the blood of the observer by the perceived tension, stress, repressed anger, fear of death and by the instinct for survival conveyed in the images of the film.
The profound stirring of the psyche, horror, fear, blood, rituals and symbols are the alchemical ingredients that withstand any resistance opposed by a “moral” conscience induced in the soldiers by their military training, or their political or ideological backgrounds.
And they are free to manifest their Nigredo, as a “biological world” is revealed in the sequence of such crude images. The survival instinct is triggered in obscure parts of our central nervous system, in the oldest parts of the brain, and by substances secreted by numerous glands and the stimuli of adrenalin. Nervous responses to environmental stimuli are linked also with endorphins to produce even a state of pleasure in performing - and in depicting - such bloody acts.
The creative alchemy of Caravaggio is capable of stimulating the release of adrenalin, and directs the attention of the observer of his art towards the expressions and plight of his protagonists, thereby generating virtual emotions, psychic impulses and states of mind.
Coppola’s alchemy consists in contrasting the solar rationality of Willard with the lunar folly of Kurtz. Going back along the river to look for Kurtz, at a certain point Coppola decides to let us see Willard’s head appear out of the water, in a setting influenced and created by a totally unnatural light. In one hand he is holding a mitre, and in the other a book.
As occurs in Caravaggio’s work, Willard reveals the presence of two important allies capable of helping him on his way towards the final realisation of his mission: towards the conclusion of his Nigredo of Consciousness in the deep core of the “Heart of Darkness”.
Courage and knowledge are required to hold back the transfer of irrational psychic energy into those parts of the brain in which “emotional logic” and moral sentiment are skilfully manipulated by information system or a Kurtz of the moment.
Courage and knowledge are the only arms Western consciousness can adopt to firmly contrast the development of terrorism induced by Islamic extremism in cities that symbolise Western culture.
History seems to repeat itself in symbolic form, and Willard too uses symbolic gestures.
When he eventually kills Kurtz, the journey within the psyche has extended beyond the final barrier. The “father” who had been held in increasing esteem since his having been nominated as a target for termination (as he drew closer and closer to the monster’s lair, Willard had even begun to see Kurtz as a mythical figure) is finally destroyed. Now he knows. He knows that beyond reason there is madness and a pure pleasure instinct.
The film also acquires knowledge. As in the initiation of Don Juan by Castaneda, Willard-Kurtz-Coppola understands that after defeating fear and subjecting the power induced by horror, blood and disdain for life, he has to deal with wisdom itself. And he must do so with a lucidity which is in itself a “spiritual” experience, full of hope for mankind and faith in the power of the “Universal Self” (symbolised by the alchemists as Hermes/Filius Noster) to induce through conflictual means a recognition of one’s errors and the experience of opposing forces (mankind and reason, love and peace).
Like Willard, Hermes emerges from the river, holding the caducee: the symbol of an all-embracing mind. In the other hand he holds not a mitre but an orb surmounted by the cross, the symbol of knowledge and experience of transcendent faculties that emerge within every individual (regardless of race or religion) when the “Heart of Darkness”, which conceals the mystery of death and the alchemical transformation of opposites, has been fully explored.
It is not necessary to take up arms to restore order and justice, but to project the light of critical understanding above the ruins and symbols generated by Western knowledge.
Caravaggio was an instinctive precursor of this method.
His works stimulate disturbing emotions and, even now, after hundreds of years, they are still capable of kindling the fire of reflection in the mind of an observer.

FROM RATIONAL CURIOSITY TO CRITICAL COMPREHENSION

THOMAS’S DOUBT
FROM RATIONAL CURIOSITY
TO CRITICAL COMPREHENSION

The Incredulity of St Thomas not only presents us with the four faces of Reason. In this work, Caravaggio emblematically represents the saint’s rational curiosity through his expression and extended index finger in an event, and technique, capable of undermining faith, opinion and empirical practice.
“Above all, and as a link between knowledge and power, the will requires technique in order to express and differentiate itself from dreams or mere desire without realisation.”
Caravaggio’s creativity is revealed in a desire to know the truth through a “technical” action. For an artist, a “technical” action is a process whereby a subject is “elaborated” within a geometrical grid capable of structuring and inspiring a second level of comprehension. The symbolic construction elevates the artist’s work from the level of a simple exercise to an authentic application of preordained knowledge according to a scheme which already exists in the creative mind and which remains hidden to those who operate in the domain of “thought as a technique of domination”.
“As far as I am concerned, any activity incapable of rationally explaining the nature of its object or its instruments or is incapable of explaining facts or linking them to a cause is not a technique but a mere exercise or practice.”
In art and painting, the arrangement of objects and content according to the lines of the alchemical cross is no novelty. For example, diagonal lines may be used to generate a sense of tension and a breaking up of schemes. Such configurations can be adopted to introduce symbolic elements required to establish a meaningful link with the theme of the composition.
A double diagonal establishes a relationship between the parts of an arrangement that must subtly intercommunicate through operations of a sensorial (red line) or conceptual type (blue line).

The red line created by Caravaggio aligns the left eye and nose of the two apostles with Jesus’ middle finger (faith). The blue line is the direction from which the light of comprehension gradually illuminates the scene and draws attention to the critical faculty in Thomas’s sense smell, the lips of Jesus, and, in the shadier part, the index finger of the left hand (a symbol of the psychic component upon which all forms of curiosity tend to feed). The geometrical layout of the composition is an artifice used to rationally “control the scene”, the dynamics of the gestures of the figures portrayed and the subtle transmission of the content of the painting to the observer.
The six sections of the circle, used by Botticelli in his Madonna of the Pomegranate (Virgin Mary with Child and six Angels), form a technique used to instil and “compress” in a symbolic form large quantities of information and alchemical knowledge in an “emblem”. The “Word” itself is thus “incarnated” in visual iconic material and becomes increasingly complex as the conceptual plane shifts from perceived themes to principles of knowledge and on to individual consciousness and the universal spirit. Rationality sets up an effective barrier against error and illusion, however we should leave our minds open to the language of symbols. In this way, rational criticism can remain “open” to stimuli which can challenge its schemes. Otherwise, it would become restricted by doctrine and mere rationalisation; we would witness an enforced “squaring of the psychic circle” and an a priori refusal to forgo the power of the “Word” to inspire, teach, nourish and encourage the rational mind to trust in the cognitive potential of the creative soul.

Caravaggio’s work leads us into a dimension quite different from that perceived in Botticelli’s paintings.
Botticelli is interested in codifying the three stages of development which the soul must pass through in order to evolve from the level of psychic and emotional sensibility to self-knowledge and knowledge of the world through the experience of sentiments which have the effect of modelling logical and rational consciousness.
Caravaggio on the other hand aims at investigating the critical stage that occurs during the “death and transformation” of the psychic soul in the creative mind: a process in which we encounter the emergence of the phenomena of sensorial perception and the results of intuitive knowledge. Within the space of just a few years, Caravaggio rapidly evolved in the critical perception of reality and captured the eternal conflict between the natural naivety of the soul and an egocentric libido which manifests in the form of craftiness, deception and psychic manipulation.
After The Cheats (1494) and The Fortune-Teller (1595), with his painting The Concert (1595), Caravaggio concludes his psychological analysis of human conflicts and comprehended the developmental relationships between intuition and sensation, and between thought and sentiment, the four “corners” of the alchemical cross, from which emerge every degree of perception and all forms of knowledge.
If Botticelli’s work is of a purely “theoretical” nature, in The Concert Caravaggio interprets the “operative evolution” from the stage of logical, deductive and inductive rationality to the stage of creative discrimination reflected in the The Lute Player, who is free to decide which musical score should be played. In the same way, Caravaggio begins to present an a priori selection of subjects to be studied, and places them in a specific light, providing metaphors that reflect a critical and intuitive reason capable of probing sentiment, revealing passions, and inspiring various levels of interpretation.
Like St. Thomas, Caravaggio believes solely in evidence which emerges from empirical studies of reality. The “incarnate mind” is not only the fruit of action, trials or conflicts generated by human relations and relationships with power or through a comparison – occasionally violent and irrational - with the environment.
The cognitive experience of Caravaggio reveals itself through an emotional awareness and a knowledge that emanates from critical reason. However, above all, it is experienced in the realistic perception of human nature, its psychological weaknesses and limits (especially mental), as can be seen in the artist’s highlighting of the numeral III beside the number 8: the symbol of the capacity to abandon subjective convictions.
A “symmetry” of analyses and points of view emerge from life experiences assimilated in the memory and from virtual experience produced through creative imagination; and in these analyses and points of view we can detect the “double process” that stems from constructive rationality and the intuitive mind.
Goliath – a figure with whom the painter can be identified - is decapitated three times, and, by such an action, Caravaggio succeeds in eliminating the biological, social and cultural causes of errors of reason: errors that emerge from the ego’s identification with the behaviour, ideologies, doctrines, philosophies and principles that originate in the process of rationalisation of human, individual or collective resources.
The rational technique of “assembling” experiences in order to obtain a specific model of knowledge carries with it a possibility of error and illusion when it becomes perverted rationalisation.
“We see rationalisation as “rational” as it constitutes a perfectly logical system grounded in deduction or induction, however it is founded on mutilated or false bases and opposes any falsification process or empirical verification made possible by examination of the elements considered.
Rationalisation is a “closed” process, while rationality is “open”. Rationalisation accesses the same sources as rationality but constitutes one of the most important sources of error and illusion. Thus, a doctrine based on a mechanical and deterministic model of the world is not rational but a form of rationalisation.”[1]
Caravaggio perceives this danger in the biblical story of Abraham, who is commanded by the god of limitation and obligation (Saturn) to sacrifice his son Isaac (a metaphor reflecting a creative impulse in the form of an act of obedience and the observation of rules or principles). Again, in the Sacrifice of Isaac, Caravaggio reinterprets the sacrificial gesture in the light of good sense, logic, critical reason and solar rationality, in which we find a reflection of Greek philosophy and the technical praxis of all sciences based on a profound knowledge of human nature.
The angel arrives from heaven just in time to stop the knife (a symbol of absolute, univocal rationalisation, which often tends to cut away, sever and simplify) and from the opposite direction appears the head of a goat (indicated by the angel’s index finger). This is the symbol of a form of rationality which is “open”, domesticated, productive and willing to accept debate and share experiences: a quality typical of the individual that observes and accepts the biological order in which the alchemist recognises a divine presence.

[1] e.Morin, I sette saperi necessari per il tempo futuro

THE ALCHEMY OF CRITICAL REASON

CARAVAGGIO
The Incredulity of Saint Thomas, 1600

“In training aimed at enhancing the powers of perception it should be emphasised that a superficial search for meaning may result in overlooking the significance of fact or events, while an obstinately thorough search for meaning may lead to errors caused by rationalization, which can alter the significance of what has been observed or considered. Examples may be indicated of disastrous decisions, taken not only as a result of cynicism or due to a lack of responsibility and caution but also determined by psychic processes involving absurd forms of rationalisation or unconscious repression aimed at preserving our personal tranquillity.”
Edgar Morin’s views may also be quoted to describe the inner motivations that induced Thomas to place his finger in Christ’s side wound.
Whether it is simple curiosity, excessive diffidence or even too great a desire to discover the meaning of an event in what appears clearly evident (or barely evident) to everyone, the fact remains that Thomas’s emblematic gesture is typical of individuals who wish to avoid falling prey to illusion, errors of evaluation and propositions often presented as dogma or absolute truths.
The visual content of the painting called The Incredulity of Saint Thomas can be seen as taking the form of a small treatise on symbolic geometry. From this work emerges the knowledge of what it means to expand comprehension through an evolution of our critical, intuitive and cognitive powers of perception: capacities that are indispensable if we wish to directly access or “touch” the source of truth.
From the wound issues forth the water and wine* of Christ: that is, of the alchemist who fully completes the entire process of transformation whereby the individual mind is raised to the height of the “universal mind”, which is capable of communicating love and knowledge through symbols, parables and the rituals of initiation.

We would suggest that something that “we know” or knowledge itself is never a faithful representation of what the searcher’s intuition was capable of unravelling, grasping and finally codifying in words or theses, syntheses, allegories, metaphors and symbols.
“A piece of knowledge is never a mirror of life or the external world. All perceptions are at one and the same time “translations” and cerebral reconstructions, which start from captured stimuli or signs that are codified through the senses.”
Through vision, our most reliable sense, the brain acquires countless errors of perception, which accumulate and crystallize over time through laziness, indolence and apathy and on account of our mental state. What determines acuteness of perception is the subjective mental state that is subordinate to the presence of the “three dragons”, which can disturb self-perception and deform reality. The first dragon impedes the transmutation of laziness, apathy and indolence into curiosity, or a desire to understand and explore the world with the faculty of creative imagination. The second dragon represents unconscious aspects of the personality which inhibit the natural flow of psychic and mental energy along the pathways of sensorial and cognitive perception.
The third dragon is the most difficult obstacle to remove. Deeply-rooted beliefs and specific thoughts or emotions and fears, our defence mechanisms, conflicts, complexes and such instinctive factors as greed, pride and aversion can create profound distortions in the process of decoding what we perceive and memorise.
This then is the “psychic” element which Caravaggio decided to sever and present as the first act of purification of thoughts in which prevail a will to dominate the desire to know the truth.

Errors of perception may be compounded by errors of the intellect. Renaissance art was produced by the psychic sensibility of artists who were capable of directly experimenting the dualism which exists, let’s say, between a David’s intuitive intellect and an intellect subservient to a Goliath’s tyranny. Western knowledge, which manifests predominantly through rational thought, is the result of a “translation” or reconstruction of truth through the creative faculties of logical and symbolic language. This knowledge is thus subject to the risk of error. Such a form of knowledge, at the levels of the “translation” of thought and the decoding of concepts, introduces defects of interpretation of the subjective mind, the faults of its vision of the world and the faults of its principles of knowledge.
Caravaggio is not interested in expressing an intellectual opinion; he forgoes a personal point of view and avoids becoming too involved in the decisions of his clients regarding the content of his work. He thus discovers the “law of synchronicity”, which offers him, with surprising timeliness, an opportunity to investigate, through his critical intuition, the truths concealed in content inspired by religious or mythological topics. The abandonment of intellectual control over the world through the imposition of systems of ideas, doctrines and ideology is an esoteric act of fundamental importance in alchemical philosophy. The choice implies defeating the arrogance of Goliath, and Caravaggio thus engraves on David’s sword the letters “HAS O S” to remind us of the motto humilitas occidit superbiam.
Containing the intellectual vanity of the “peacock” inside the vas hermeticum of the mind allows our perception to evolve and develop into a form of intuition aware of sentiments, emotions and critical knowledge and leads us towards a “trans-logical comprehension” of the world.
Caravaggio ventures beyond the limits of rationality and our desire to organise our knowledge of the world, and virtually promotes the “death and transformation” of the critical and speculative intellect within the creative mind, which is eventually capable of interrogating the symbols and signs of the times.

THE ALCHEMY OF CRITICAL PERCEPTION

Pieter Bruegel the Elder, "The Land of Cuckcaigne", 1567

The alchemy of critical perception

We feel that a lack of training in “critical perception” is an issue that Western culture should address as soon as possible in order to nurture in our citizens the development and refinement of the natural capacity of the mind to perceive and locate information in contexts and in sets.
Throughout the 20th century, modern mass media performed the tasks of facilitating, inhibiting or stimulating the critical perception of the masses, conveying in a subtle, subliminal manner an approval or disapproval of proposed solutions whenever it was felt that, for the common good, widespread acceptance or rejection of certain political, ethical or cultural ideas would be required.
“We would do well to teach children, from primary school onwards, that all perception is a reconstruction of reality elaborated by the brain and determined by our sensory organs, and that no knowledge can be acquired without “interpretation”.”
Anyone who writes and offers comments on any aspect of reality through any available means of communication interprets facts on the basis of his or her own particular vision of the world.
The ability to enhance one’s powers of critical perception does not normally depend on one’s education or cultural background, a high professional or economical status or any particular philosophical, political or religious stance.
All through life, people express their inner evolution in terms of self-awareness and their powers of discrimination and mental comprehension of reality; and this is reflected in particular moods, feelings, a certain philosophy or an historical awareness. Understanding that perception is modelled as a “backdrop of consciousness” is extremely useful and leaves us free to evaluate, with a reasonable degree of detachment, the theorems, theses and hypotheses that derive from various different points of view and upon which are erected the foundations of all hegemonic frameworks of knowledge.
“Thus, starting with contradictory appraisals of a single event - for example, a car accident - we can illustrate the possibility of the occurrence of perceptions that often result in forms of even hallucinatory rationalisation.
It is possible to describe cases of imperfect perception caused by the force of habit or poor attention, and other cases where we might encounter a lack of attention towards certain insignificant details, hurried interpretations of unusual details and, above all, a poor capacity to capture images or stimuli as a whole or an absence of reflection.” [i]
The fundamental difference between a good perception of a series of elements and a very poor perception of reality, which is often reductive and uncertain, is due to the difficulty in maintaining one’s attention for a sufficiently long period of time until the “bits” of information one perceives can complete their “circular course” and are deposited in the memory (after the stimulus has caused an effect within the three different systems: i.e., cognitive-perceptive, attentional and emotional.
Attention is most definitely a capacity that can be improved by study and application, daily mental exercise and the habit of reflecting on content (not only sensorial, or that which is acquired by the immediate satisfaction of curiosity) but it can also be enhanced by information often invisible to the physical eye.
Brueghel metaphorically describes the preliminary phases of perception: those which allow the soul (symbolised in the form of a woman) to leave the dark tunnel of unawareness to observe (comfortably resting on a velvet cushion) the actors and protagonists of history and life. A woman, wearing a helmet with an open visor and protected by a breast-plate and iron gloves, looks out upon life. She is as determined as a warrior “compelled” to witness cruelty, human misery and the illusions that fill the chronicles of daily life.
To observe reality directly, without prior interference with the powers of subjective judgement (often interpreted as conformist prejudice or as an unconscious refusal to elaborate differences, emotional anxiety, or moral inhibition engendered by taboos), requires a serene, trusting acceptance of all “light frequencies” and an acceptance of the whole spectrum of experiences during our earthly existence.
If we ignore or pretend to ignore the existence of evil, cruelty and violence or moral, ethical and ecological sin, then we remain blind, stupid and emarginated from true reality and the knowledge of truth for our entire life. Ignoring or pretending to ignore that errors of evaluation due to an excess of rationalisation or pragmatism (albeit with the apparent aim of pursuing collective benefits) can lead to disasters, destruction and the end of every hope of reconciling conflicts implies the mere illusion of being in the right or of having full control.
Brueghel was the first Renaissance artist to denounce the ills of society, as he saw them in the 1500s, and he does so with the detached lucidity of an observant journalist or pitiless critic, with no form of compassion or historical or moral justification. What guides his imagination is a certain curiosity that rapidly evolves into critical perception, discriminating reason and ethical conscience.
It is fascinating to note that Brueghel reaped the rewards of his research and lucidity only one year after he had produced “The Land of Cuckaigne”. The artist’s powers of perception seem to be increasingly enhanced when he depicts the worlds of “the blind” and the “crippled”. In these highly effective paintings we also find two extraordinary allegories of a “sick society” incapable of just action and incapable of understanding reality. Brueghel’s society is one in which the leaders of our world and the representatives of the collective consciousness are utterly blind and incapable of identifying changes that will address the real needs of humanity.
The three paintings we refer to reveal a common denominator in their composition and, it would appear, a sole source of inspiration. It is well known that the esoteric artist Brueghel was also a mystic with a profound interest in alchemy. He was evidently well-acquainted with the symbols and lore of the astrologers and alchemists and clearly perceived the occult meanings of parables contained in the Gospels.
The “actors” in the scenes are portrayed in a theatrical world that recites its own folly and unleashed libido and reveals a sacredness which no-one deeply believes in.
Breugel’s vision however is neither moral, nor ethical. He appears not to take sides and chooses - or perhaps, despite himself, is rather obliged - to assume the position of a “witness”: the position of an individual who cannot avoid observing reality with critical awareness.
In Italy, and probably in Florence and Rome, he assimilated the basic principles of an alchemical vision of the material and spiritual worlds.
Alchemical knowledge can be structured into four parts, which can be seen as corresponding with the four arms of the Christian cross. Alchemy is fundamentally a process in which psychic energy evolves along the “horizontal plane” of time to activate rationality, intuition and trans-logical consciousness, which develop on the “vertical plane”, rising from the depths of the soul to the mind, which Augustine of Hippo saw as an imago Dei.
When the vertical axis, generated by the evolving “psychic” soul, intersects the horizontal line (symbolising the spatial orientation of critical perception which expands through philosophical, psychological or artistic activity), a progressive “distillation” of the philosopher’s mercury occurs. This metaphor refers to the transmutation of the intelligence of the soul into the rational mind.
By attaining critical perception (the raised visor of the helmet), the egocentric motivations, intentions and sentiments present in individuals are revealed to the mind, and one may appreciate how such weaknesses result in an individual becoming the victim of another’s libido (the dead soldier with an amputated arm) or, inversely, the victim of one’s own materialistic libido (the peasant depicted in the lower frame lies exhausted on the ground, overcome by fatigue and hard labour) or the victim of a desire to escape reality by means of the imagination, fantasies and the search for sensual gratification (the opulent waster).
In “The Land of Cuckaigne”, the first three frames created by the cross represent the three processes of transmutation of common intelligence into a critical, historical and psychological awareness of social dynamics, individual and collective libido and the unconscious and conscious mechanisms of avoidance of personal responsibility, which will inevitably lead to destruction, greed and ignorance.
In the painting, we see that food is within arm’s reach on the tree of knowledge, on a plane just a little higher than sensorial awareness, but none of the three subjects depicted is capable of attaining this level.
In the upper right quarter, we notice a man trying to find his way through the clouds. Here, the metaphor warns us of the dangers of induced illusion, self-illusion and erroneous perception, and, eagerly leaning forward, the subject is descending to the land of cockaigne, where food, money and riches are there for the taking and plucked geese are offered to him on a silver platter.
Brueghel’s allegory is thus composed of four metaphors which fully describe the evolution completed by the individual who decides to observe reality from “the point where the sun rises”, from the point where the clear sight of critical reason can observe the bloodshed, violence and wars generated by human folly, which in turn is a result of egocentric libido, considered by the Renaissance alchemists as the real original sin to be eradicated from the bio-psychological nature of mankind.

"HISTORY OF PASSION" , Jeronimus Bosch, 1489

Human identity is found in the sentiments of compassion, comprehension and sympathizing.
The thousand-year old history of the evolution of primary instincts, and of conflictual integration of emerging cultures in society, have resulted in unique religious and artistic experiences of the three spiritual qualities that define, in modern terms, the theological virtues of faith, hope and charity
To teach knowledge of humanity means, above all, to be cognizant of the fact that human condition is identical for everyone, regardless of race, religion or culture, and that awareness of self stems from the learning of emotions.
Agnes Heller sets out the common starting points. She says: "Firstly, it is important to distinguish what we feel. Otherwise, and because we are not creatures guided by instincts, we will be unable to help ourselves."
The recognition of particular, egocentric and then individual sentiments, can become the "field" of study and consideration of personal experience along with the intuitive experience of women, artists, writers and philosophers. The endeavour to "integrate" cognition was synthesized, by Edgar Morin, as follows:
"Humans are physical, biological, psychological, cultural, social and historical beings. Education however has disintegrated man’s complex unity and has divided knowledge into specific disciplines. Today, it is no longer possible to know what to be a human being human means. Instead it would be fundamental to be fully conscious, not only of one’s complex identity, but also of the shared identity common to all of humanity."
The learning of ‘pertinent knowledge’ can become accessible to everyone, regardless of social and cultural condition if there is a move away from fragmented knowledge in favour of simpler, more accessible language – also the most ancient and synthetic form; that is the art of sign, symbol and image.
All images contain a concentration of synthesised information derived from psychology, philosophy, and social history. The reading of such images is intuitive and unified, and is the same both for the person reading the "document" as for the one who produced it.
Michael Foucault was the first to realize and warn about the dangers of scientific rationality. He forecast the problems of scholars conceiving historical documents, whose material was divided into sections, organised, distributed, ordered and subdivided into levels, so as to establish new unities and incessantly renew the foundation of shared knowledge.
The experience/knowledge/consciousness, that can contribute to facilitating the identification of human, earthly, and spiritual identity, must depart from the point in which discourse had been interrupted.
Saint Augustine, Dante Alighieri, Meister Eckhart and Albrecht Durer have set the pillars of knowledge. A knowledge that originated from Saint Agustine’s evolutionary desire to know, Dante’s analytical spirit, Meister Eckart’s mystic mind and Durer’s artistic perception.
Clearly, then the domains of psychology, philosophy, literature, and art education become an integral, and indispensable, tool to select, contextualize and globalize knowledge pertaining to the soul’s needs. But, and above all, these domains offer the key to extract the "quintessence" of ethical, moral and spiritual questions from an image. Renaissance artists used the term "spiritus mercuris", synonymous with compassion, understanding and discriminating judgement.
The transformation of human identity (Jesus) into an earthly identity, (Nazarene) and then spiritual one, (the king of the Judeans) can be achieved through growth in critical, cognitive and creative perception of the three worlds.
The subjective material world (mineral), the world of culture and collective sentiments (plant) and the world of universal knowledge and spirituality (mythological animals) embody the potential of growth freeing the individual from a system of social habits and constraints.
"Man is born with particular tendencies, hence his most particular point of view cannot be transcended. Man’s instinctual function is acquired, primarily, by a system of social habits. Therefore, it can be claimed that, of the two kinds of behaviour, (particular behaviour and individual behaviour), the first is the most natural. Individual behaviour is, instead, a ‘secondary way out’ of nature." (A.Heller, Theory of sentiments)
A climb to the top therefore means that a person has opted for the toughest, steepest and most tiring route up. Overcoming self-centredness opens to a new and superior dimension of conscience in which the individual’s viewpoint is transcended to leave a direct and privileged rapport with the Great Mother which changes and can be Nature, Realty, Existence, Conscience and Beatitude.
The "milk of beatitude" awakens the collective conscience and paves the way to a possible terrestrial spiritual homogeneity. Through the respect of religions, cultures and traditions comes enrichment, friendship, integration and of peace.

"LO SPOSALIZIO DELLA VERGINE" di Raffaello,1505

The "backgrounds" of historical events have been accomplished for centuries with the same methods, schemes and strategies accurately experimented. From the discovery and colonization of America to the war in the Gulf or the current war in Iraq, every single aggression has been -and is still- preceded by the old propitiatory ritual carried out by the wizards of the tribe, the priests of the Empire or the experts in communication.
Invoking benevolent spirits, the protection of the gods or the consent of the crowds requires the same mixture of ingredients that can successfully persuade warriors, raise sentiments and skilfully manipulate collective perception. Rites and ceremonies, words and sacred images, documents and television or satellite images contain an enormous potential of psychical energy capable of triggering the phenomenon of adrenalin excitement, of political exaltation, religious fanaticism and, not less dangerous, of submissive consent in democratic masses.
"A weakened global perception leads to a weakened sense of responsibility since each individual tends to be responsible solely for his specialised task, and also to weakened solidarity, since each individual perceives solely the ties to his own city, region or nation"
Education for a conscious perception of reality is an indispensable tool for the individual to get oriented in his choice of life, in his decisions and in the definition of reasons that support any type of action, minimizing the threshold of error caused by the environment ; but the risk of illusion is still present, tied to the identification with models produced by a society that homologates individual perception and reduces it to statistics, something perhaps useful for a political or commercial survey.
The recognition of individual awareness is accomplished gradually through a process of cultural, social and spiritual identification with evolutionary models of consciousness. Nowadays, the process of individualization is interrupted, as if the virtual bridge of consciousness that leads to the maturity of earth identity had collapsed.
Edgar Morin declared: " There is an increasing democratic deficit because experts, specialists and technicians have taken possession of a growing number of vital problems. Learning becomes more esoteric ( available only to specialists ) and anonymous ( concentrated in data banks, used by anonymous authorities). Technical knowledge is reserved for experts who are competent in their closed field and incompetent when that field is parasitized by outside influences or modified by new events. In these conditions the citizen loses the right to knowledge"
The right to knowledge must not be confused with the right to education. One of the most astonishing aspects of the last decades is the fact that education can no longer teach what "to know" means , what "knowledge" means and what the "purpose" of knowledge is . The fragmentation of truth into numerous branches of knowledge, more or less specialised, esoteric or massive, continuously moves the target at which the string of soul intends to aim
Bewitched by technological innovation, blinded by manuals that teach how to "conquer" happiness, excited by the emotions produced by new age literature and philosophy and finally distracted by the images of cultural consumer society, the soul of the western world wanders restlessly in bookstores, cinemas, museums or conferences dedicated to it .
We may consider Raffaello as one of the precursors of western soul, perhaps the first artist free from any type of prejudice and philosophical or psychological education. Nevertheless, in a short time Raffaello obtains the keys to knowledge capable of opening all the doors of the Temple of knowledge.
The light emitted by the image, gets filtered by the eye, reaches the cortex of the mesencephalon that specializes in transforming electromagnetic frequencies into neuroelectrical stimuli, is then sent to the two superior hemispheres tso it can decoded into meaningful images. The mesencephalon makes no distinction between a light emitted from a photograph and one that comes from real objects.