Wholeness

“The discipline of creation, be it to paint, compose, write, is an effort towards wholeness.” 

Madeleine L’Engle,  Wiki  American Writer

Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art

Toward Oneness

Introduction

The yearning to be “one” drives us, whether we conciously know it or not.  The atom thinks it is indivisible (and probably invincible) but it also has smaller parts. The atom by itself is powerless unless it combines with similar atoms to make up an element.  This same feeling of power and individuality comes to the cell, which for practical purposes, is the smallest living individual and independent unit in biology.  It is made up of smaller parts of macromolecules that combine to form microstructures such as the ribosome, endoplasmic reticulum, and the nucleus.  All parts in combination make up the cell, giving it singularity and oneness.  The cell is powerless without the tissue, and so it combines with similar cells to humble itself before the tissue.  Although the tissue claims individuality, it too seeks combination with other tissue as it searchs for oneness in the organ.  The seeming accomplishment of unity continues through the body to the individual, the family, the community of the village, the community of the nation and the community of the world – and even the solar system, which bears uncanny structural similarity to the atom. The solar system probably thinks it is the end of the world, but the universe has a surprise in store.  At this writing, the universe resides at on the one end and the atom on the other – both claiming singularity – but we have to suspect there may be something beyond both of them.

This yearning or need to create a unit of unity,  reflects a need for the power of harmonious synchrony.  The shape of the triangle and the sphere both seem to reflect the concept of the coming together of the parts to form the whole and these shapes are used throughout the site to artistically create that concept.

Most Primitive Force   Davidoff Art Copyright 2014

Most Primitive Force

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The Atom – Powerful and “Indivisible”

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The Element

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The Molecule

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Close to a New Beginning

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Close to Oneness  – Conception and the Soul

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Division after Division Multiplication to a Unit

Units to unity – a blastocyst  is formed

The organs all have segments and subsegments but are not all organized in the same way as the liver.  The parts of each of the organs will be discussed separately but the basic structural concept of small combining with small to form larger and more empowered subunits is universal.

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The Cell

The cell is the building block of all biological structure.  In this image a few polygonal cells of the liver are attached together.  Each cell has a central dark nucleus which is embedded in a pinkish cytoplasm. The nucleus takes up approximately 1/5 to 1/6 of the volume of the cell.  (Image courtesy of Barbara Banner M.D.) 13440

 

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The Tissue

The cells of the liver are organized in cords and plates, like spokes of a wheel around the central vein. The plates and cords are lined by the sinusoids which are the channels which carry blood to the liver.  Just below the sinusoids, between the wall of the sinusoid and the capsule of the liver there is a space called the space of Disse which carries the lymphatic fluid of the liver.   (Image courtesy of Barbara Banner M.D.) 13445
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The Organ Part – Lobule

The sinusoids and hepatic cords combine to form a liver lobule which is a functional and structural unit of the liver.  At the center of the lobule is the central vein from which emanate many cords of liver tissue.  At the periphery of the lobule there are 4-5 groups of portal triads consisting of distal branches of the portal vein (dark blue), hepatic artery (red) and biliary radicle (green).  They create the border of the lobule. Davidoffart 13009 W
The Organ Part – Lobule
The liver lobules combine forces to form the segments of the liver, which accumulate to form hepatic lobes and finally the liver itself.  In this instance the central veins are shown joining forces downstream to form a hepatic vein(royal blue) which drains into the inferior vena cava (IVC). Davidoffart 13009 W17

 

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The Organ – Liver

The lobules of the liver combine to form lobes.  The liver has two lobes.  In this anatomical specimen the right lobe is seen on the left side of the image lateral to the stone containing gallbladder, while the left lobe is seen with the branching potal triad surrounded by the whitened connective tissue. on the right side of the image.   (Image courtesy of Ashley Davidoff M.D.) 13456
The Abdomen
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The Abdomen
45920.800 Courtesy Ashley Davidoff MD
Completing the Abdomen – surrounding skin
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The Abdomen Taking a Walk
82744p  Davidoff sculpture Photography by Talya Davidoff
The Body
I came across this man in a store window in Washington DC I think in the spring of 1983 and it brought to mind the idea of the concept of the parts making up the whole.  I show it in the context of the discussion for some light relief.  Davidoff photography 02006p03
The Person – with the bigger picture in the background – part of a team
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The Couple
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The Wedding  – The Family
A large family wedding with 12 children. Note the complexion of the groom is completely different to bride’s and her family. Genetics goes deeper than we know, and the good and the bad surface t intermittantly. However there is no telling when this will occur or become phenotypic. Davidoff phtography. 68494
Couple
Two opposite forces are needed to bring the life about.  82835p.800 Davidoff art
The Group within a Group

The red sweats – the motto on the shirt “You ‘re here- there’s nothing I fear” – 82084pb01.800 Davidoff photography

The Group within the Group
A group of people protesting in London. Davidoff photography. 10371
The Different Groups of People
A collage of some of the people of South Africa. In this image there is a slight male predominance. Davidoff photography. 57728c
The Community
62923.800 Community market in  Peru
 

Units to Unity – A sculpture

The sculpture consists of vertical stones that represent the bodies of members of the group which in this case are reminiscent of a choir. The bodies are toppped with different colored glass and semiprecious stones that give individuality and uniqueness to each member of the group. The group is led by a master who wears a garment of white crystal that faces the audience, but his front side is made of the same material as the members of his group. The group is organized in a semi circle and size is graded from small in front to large in the back. This is done to provide a sense of oneness to the whole that is made of unique individuals. The units to unity concept could just as well have been the organelles of th cell, the notes of a music piece, the letters of the word or the brush strokes a painting coming together in exquisite harmony. code units to unity choir cell power of the group importance of individual Davidoff art sculpture stone marble mineral glass Davidoff art copyright 2009 all rights reserved 90768pbb.8s

Units to Unity – Same Sculpture taken from Above

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The City
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Death in Units
A graveyard – the final journey Davidoff photography. 10863
The Earth
Courtesy of NASA – National Space Science Data Center
The Solar System
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The Atom – The Solar System – uncanny resemblance

Artistic licence has been taken to present a series of atoms in the background of repetitive images of the part of the solar system.  The structure of the atom with its central  nucleus dominates the scene and is shown with orbiting shells containing the electrons  (Davidoff art.)45828b12.800

Where does biology fit in between the atom and the solar system and universe?

The atom is the building block of all structure and is seen at the bottom of the image and the solar system as part of the universe lies as a black mystery above.  Between the two stands my daughter Danielle on the beaches of Newport Rhode island pondering at the age of 9 years where she and the rest of biology fits in the grand scheme of events.  (Davidoff art) 45826b04.800

Microwave Sky

Our Infant Universe

Courtesy NASA Microwave Sky

Other examples of parts to unity

As a literary parallel, the word is more empowered than its individual letters, and the sentence more than the word.   In music the bar is more empowered than the note, while the song is more empowered than the bar.  The genius of Shakespeare, Mozart and daVinci has been the result of how they combined the units of their art to produce a product that spoke genius and truth to us.  Thus it can be said that as similar building blocks combine, they build a product that is more powerful than the individual parts, but the power of the whole is only as good as its individual parts.  Note how in the image above the concept of a central governing body called the nucleus of the cell is surrounded and embedded by the surrounding cytoplasm in which there are submicroscopic structures called organelles embedded within the cytoplasm.  The organelles do not orbit like the shells of the atom or the planets of the solar system (or so we think) but they do circulate freely within the cytoplasm.

Repetive components of the fence give unity and function to the fence
82294p Echo bridge Boston Massachusetts Davidoff Photography