Being spoken to by abstract symbols, art, and artefacts

Being Spoken to Meaningfully by Constructs (Part #5)

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Sacred geometry: It is difficult to challenge the extent to which particular forms of sacred geometry are valued as "speaking to" individuals or those associated within a belief system. This is readily claimed to be evident in the design and construction of religious structures such as churches, temples, mosques, religious monuments, altars, and tabernacles. The process may also be associated with sacred spaces such as temenoi, sacred groves, village greens, pagodas and holy wells.

Whether perceived as "sacred" or not, mathematicians readily recognize a form of being "spoken to" by particular equations and problems -- most simply expressed in terms of their beauty, as in the case of the Euler's identity, often cited as an example of deep mathematical beauty. Modular forms are described as one of the most beautiful and mysterious objects in mathematics (Jordana Cepelewicz, Behold Modular Forms, the â-"e;Fifth Fundamental Operationâ-' of Math, Quanta Magazine, 21 September 2023). How is the experience of interestingness to be understood from that perspective?

Sacred relics: The experience of a relic deemed sacred is an important aspect of some forms of Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, shamanism, and many other religions. Considerable controversy is associated with perceived misappropriation of relics valued in affirmation of identity of a culture.

Symbols, insignia and flags: Notably in the form of insignia and flags, these may be upheld as "speaking to" individuals and collectives -- to the point of being intimately associated with their sense of identity, as discussed separately (Symbolic Insignia Indicative of Global Health, 2021). Their importance in "speaking to" others is especially apparent in the controversies regarding the wearing of religious symbols and religious clothing, and notably the display of the swastika (Swastika as Dynamic Pattern Underlying Psychosocial Power Processes, 2012).

As with flags and insignia, music is be recognized as having a particular capacity to speak to peoples, whether in the form of anthems, hymns, military music, or advertising jingles. With the European Union employing the Ode to Joy as the Anthem of Europe , it is somewhat incredible that little corresponding effort is made with respect to global governance and its challenges (A Singable Earth Charter, EU Constitution or Global Ethic? 2006).

Advertising symbols: Clearly considerable effort is made to ensure that marketing messages "speak to" potential consumers -- to the point of offering them inspiration. Message marketing obviously extends beyond products and services to policies and opinions promoted by politicians and religions. It includes bumper stickers, by whomever they are made. It is intriguing the increasing extent to which people voluntarily purchase products bearing brand names by which they are "spoken to" (Rob Meyerson, Every type of brand name in one simple chart, How Brands are Built, 16 December 2019). Â*

Whatever the ultimate intent, individuals may well be "called by" the promotional focus, although the degree to which an initiaitive it "speaks to" them is necessarily confused with assumptions regarding how they may be persuasively "spoken to". The distinction is especially poignant in the case of the efforts by many non-profit initiatives to present the worthiness of their endeavours -- in the quest of vital funding support to ensure their survival. Being meaningfully spoken to by such appeals is then quite another matter.The collective implications are evident in the reduction in funding of disciplines (Rachael Scarborough King and Seth Rudy, The Ends of Knowledge: outcomes and endpoints across the arts and sciences, Bloomsbury, 2023).

Art: The sense of being "spoken to" by a work of art is widely accepted in appreciation of art. Under the heading Grief Speaks, a depiction is offered by the statue of Albert Gyorgy (Melancholy), a sculpture portraying the void that grief leaves us with. For one commentator: This statue speaks to me, always has since I first saw it. I am now profoundly focused on the hanging head, looking back through the emptiness left behind.

A particular example is offered by the famed Picasso painting of (Guernica, 1937), evoking speculation on the possibility of renewing the manner in which it has spoken to people since its creation (Reimagining Guernica to Engage the Antitheses of a Cancel Culture, 2022). Artistic creativity might readily be understood in terms of being "called to" produce an envisaged work.

The process of being "spoken to" by art is especially intriguing in the case of Richard Dawkins as an arch-materialist and author of The God Delusion -- given his later promotion of the Poetry of Reality (2023). As an artform in its own right, the appeal of humour may offer a much-valued sense of being "spoken to", especially evident with respect to integrative processes in politics and religion (Recognized Role of Humour:, 2005; Humour and Play-Fullness, 2005).

Memorials: The construction of memorials is obviously such as to ensure that they "speak to" individuals and future generations. They include:

• War memorials: More generally these may be understood both the heroic dead and their victims (Towards Inclusive Multi-Massacre Memorials to Victims of Conflict. 2022).
  
• Animal memorials: Intriguingly various statues of dogs are specifically recognized as effectively "speaking to" passers by, having been faithful to their owners after their death, including
  • Greyfriars Bobby: a Skye Terrier who was known in the 19th century for spending 14 years guarding the grave of his owner until his death. For one commentator: This statue speaks to me a lot because I love animals so much and the fact that they would give the dog his own monument for watching over his dead owner is so heart warming.
  • HachikÅ*: November 10, 1923 â-- March 8, 1935) was a Japanese Akita dog remembered for his remarkable loyalty to his owner, HidesaburÅ* Ueno, for whom he continued to wait for over nine years following Ueno's death.
  • Kostya: is a monument to a faithful dog in the Russian city of Tolyatti. In the mid 1990s, citizens of Tolyatti noticed a stray, unnamed dog surveying a bypass road. Passersby would offer to the dog shelter to which the dog would always refuse.  Kostya would always return to the street, looking for his master regardless of the weather or season.Â
    

Artefacts: There is clearly an important sense in which artefacts "speak to" people, especially as facilitated by marketing and peer group pressure. The artefacts obviously include dress, jewellry, furniture, vehicles, and accommodation.

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