Lascaux Cave paintings Pablo picasso painting inserted

It seems unlikely that a writer would begin their expressions of a belief without leaving space on the page for doubt. My perceptions of humanity are presented in that way. I do realize that I, like countless others that are sufficiently foolish, bold or brash, to point out one or two of man's shortcomings will forevermore be reviewed as 'misanthropes' and the subject of endless ire: I give you my personal assurance I wouldn't do this if I didn't believe even that could be fun.

On having very often skirted the borders of 'Misanthropichood' I would on those occasions painstakingly research the most recent definitions of the 'title' misenthrope. Having done this for more than 55 years I am happy to report we have finally reached the milestone of having more definitions of a misanthrope than we have actual misanthropes. To my knowledge this is an achievement unparalleled for us or for any other presently known species.

As in all thought, balance is an ally. Contrasts in human ex- perience are legion. For Good we have Bad. For Hot there is Cold. For High - Low. I shall confidently leave the reader in command of the countless other antonyms. Before exploring the symbolism of my work 'The Paradigm' below, Mark Twain has by divine right to first observation.

HUMANITY ... The Bad, the really bad, ...the good and the hurt.

HOMO SAPIENS

a person of interest .....

HUMANITY DENIAL

"No man ever ended a war because he wanted to."

As a starting point of my efforts to better understand Homo Sapiens-sapiens it was essential to go beyond the nonsensical scribbling I had read from the National Institute of Wild-Eyed Guesses. For this reason and a personal drive to get a factual insight to our species true nature, I began the Civilization Collection.

The antiquity collection of over 400 exhibits represent Man's oldest known civilizations somewhat before humanity's first writing and onward. Times prior to the civilizations of Sumeria and those of the Indus Valley could be thought of as proto-civilizations beginning around 10,000 BCE. with the collection tapering at around 750 ACE. The collection has for me become a path of artifactual breadcrumbs: A path when followed gives an uncomfortably higher resolution image of mankind and the bumpy ride through civilizing.

Antiquities as data can often, and at times very accurately, reflect the evolving stages of a civilization. Through its written records, its conflicts and art there are intriguing periods of cultural transition that are visible in art, style, color texture and form of an art. It may be surprising to know I believe Picasso would be quite comfortable splashing out a 'bull or two' in the 20,000 year old gallery in the Lascaux caves in France. Not averse to publicity Picasso would definitely want a selfie.

In reading even this limited lauding of otherwise prosaic objects of the past, archaeologists and anthropologists of all stripes are choking back tears of professional dispair as they ponder the spectacle of an otherwise seemingly 'educated' person uttering such ill-informed banalities. What neither of these admirable professions will confess is how special they feel about being among the rarest few that will actually hold the artifacts of antiquity: To smell them, (many have odours) to touch them. How many of our increasing billions of fellow humans never have had or will ever have that experience. It is unfortunate to my mind that billions never see such wonders let alone feel them.

A J Richter Sept 9/2024

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