Four Worldviews

As for worldviews, the four to be discussed here are collectivity, reciprocity, transformation and essence. By collectivity one means that the group is placed above the individual. A good example is the fact that their lives depended on groups working together for the whole, as in when the groups would need to travel across resource lines to trade with one another. As far as art, artists did not sign their pieces as we do today and are just now being separated by modern historians. The acts of individuals often meant very little as well, the art focusing on a person's role or the supernatural.

Reciprocity is very similar to the example previously used of the inter-resource zone trade. It means that one part is connected to and the counter piece of another. Much like the saying "you scratch my back..." Often times the art is focused on opposites that somehow connected. The fact that they viewed the night sky as both dark patterns and corresponding star patterns is amazing and is something I wish more cultures would do.

Transformation is easily seen in the picture provided by the book where the crab with claws included "transforms" as well as connects to the snake. This also includes the cyclical idea, that all things cycle around. The seasons cycle, the stars and planets, and even life and death are seen as a cycling, a transformation from one part to the next.

Next comes the worldview of essence, more specifically the idea of "essence over appearance". I can clearly see this concept in the "mummy" creation by the Andean people. Surely a skeleton sewn into a human shaped case is more a matter of essence than appearance. The basic human instinct is to turn from death and bodies, not transform them into "art" as some would call it and keep it above ground in everyday life. However the essence of the lost, beloved would override the need to turn from death.

Masks

We all wear masks most of the time. Don't believe that? Women wear make-up and often times I see that the less secure the person is with themselves the more make-up they wear. Men will often put up a strong front, even when they truly feel sad or hurt. Parents will hide fights from their children with forced smiles and cheer. Even authority figures put on a uniform, be it a police officer or a politician in his suit or a doctor in her scrubs, to "hide" the fact that they are no more or less than the rest of us. It is part of life to hide behind a mask of some kind. It is hard to understand why we all choose to wear our masks instead of putting ourselves out there, or maybe it's just that simple: we don't want to put ourselves out there. My biggest fear (and I have a strong feeling I'm not alone) is rejection. What could be worse than being rejected and pushed away from our fellow man? So we hide what we really feel, generally to more closely match what the majority seems to feel. But what if everyone is feeling the same way underneath those masks? Maybe it'd be a fun thing to try not wearing a mask so often, to let our true selves out more.