Cross-Sensory Consciousness

Unmasking the Neural Mysteries of Transcendent Experience

Spring 2014

Consciousness is one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in science. The 17th-century French mathematician and philosopher René Descartes famously said “I think therefore I am”, introducing the notion of mind-body dualism- which proposes that the immaterial world of the mind, or soul, is fundamentally separate from the world of the body, or physical brain. Are there essential constituents of reality and minds that we that we can experience, but not objectively measure? The very act of doubting one’s own existence arguably proves the reality of one’s own existence, or at least one’s own thought. Yet nobody knows how exactly chemical and electrical brain signaling give rise to the overarching sense of one’s own existence within reality.

In his major work ‘Critique of Pure Reason’, philosopher Immanuel Kant endeavored to revise previously held notions in metaphysics and skeptical empiricism by synthesizing a fundamental framework about the transcendental principles of nature. Emphasizing the limitations of the human mind, Kant proposed there is greater reality past what can be gathered through sensory information; however, we may only understand it as it appears to us.1 If one were born without the ability to perceive using any of the senses, would it negate the existence of an external world? Except for a few radical idealist thinkers, most of us answer ‘yes’ to the hackneyed ‘When a tree falls in the forest..’ question. Using the same logic, how can we be sure that our brains are discerning actual, objective events and not just a speculative idea of them? Is there more to be known that we are normally unaware of? Perception cannot determine reality, only our mental model of it.

Mankind has pondered ontological concepts of nature and being throughout history. Attitudes towards these questions have played a significant role in guiding and shaping spirituality in religions, values in cultures, and personal belief systems about humanity’s purpose in individuals. However only recently have neuroscientists begun exploring these notions systematically. Correlations between neural phenomena and subjective experiences during altered states of consciousness have further advanced our understanding of the brain’s powerful perceptive capabilities. By examining research throughout this field, we may soon come to appreciate a new perspective on not only the beautifully intricate organization of the human brain, but perhaps something fundamental about the ornate workings of the universe itself.

Not one person, even an identical twin, will perceive stimuli the same exact way. Such rich diversity in brain anatomy and wiring stems from both our genetic encoding and differing environments. However, some people are unique in their ability to experience two or more different types of stimuli simultaneously across modalities.2 These extraordinary sensors have a neurological condition called synesthesia. There are many different forms of synesthesia which may involve any modality. For example, sounds might produce sights of different colors, (a dog’s bark may produce the color green, or the note C# could appear pink) the touch of certain objects may produce colors, or the names of people and objects could produce tastes, sounds, or smells. Neurologist Richard Cytowic has even studied a case of a man who can perceive geometric shapes sweeping down his shoulders and fingertips when he tastes or smells flavors of foods. The synesthete reports that he can vividly feel the objects’ weight and texture as if he is actually grasping it while eating.3

Synesthetes have irregular sprouting of neural connections within the brain that leads to a breakdown of the boundaries that normally exist between the senses. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) validated that the degree of white matter hyperconnectivity in the inferior temporal cortex was responsible for the intensity of the multi-modal sensations.4 In addition, DTI studies have demonstrated extensive bilateral white matter abnormalities in temporal lobe epilepsy that extend far beyond the temporal lobe- and these patients report very salient synesthesia-like experiences.5

Cytowic also proposes a disinhibited feedback theory, a reduction in the amount of inhibition along normally existing feedback pathways. In a normal brain, excitation and inhibition should be balanced. If regular feedback were not inhibited as usual, signals sending back from later phases of multi-sensory processing might affect earlier phases such that sounds can activate vision.6,7 Since complex interaction between brain systems enables us to perceive the external world as unified whole, a theory which relies on preexisting neural connections may explain why certain drugs can induce cross-sensory perception.8

Psychedelic drugs such as Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), psilocybin (psychedelic mushrooms) and dimethyltryptamine (DMT) heavily influence the transmission of serotonin (5-HT), which is well-known to regulate mood and arousal. Highly abundant in the dorsolateral prefontal cortex, where sound and visual input are integrated, are postsynaptic 5HT2a receptors. 9,10 Hallucinogenic molecules strongly agonize these receptors which are located on apical dendrites of pyramidal cells in layer V cortex.11,12 Pyramidal cells are known to play a critical role in complex object recognition within the visual processing and have diverse intracortical projections mediating multiple pathways of sensory and perceptual feedback analysis, implicating them in binding sensory perceptions into a discrete event.13

Though we can see a neural link between the two, reports of psychedelic experiences reach destinations far beyond that of synesthesia. Roland Griffiths, Ph.D., a professor at the Johns Hopkins departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Neuroscience conducted a study investigating the psychological effects of psilocybin on test subjects in comfortable, supportive conditions. About the experiences, he described: “There’s a dimension of awesomeness, of profound humility, of the self being stripped bare. In the psychology of religion, mystical experience is well-described–unity, transcendence of time and space, noetic knowledge, sacredness, ineffability… the sacred dimension of revelation.”14

There are many accounts similar to his, albeit documented by less ‘certified’ experimenters. Their journeys often begin with enhanced sensory integration, then crescendo into deep noetic insights and overwhelming awe for the whole essence of reality, consciousness, and their intertwinement. One “psychonaut” describes “Conscience moves on different layers, melts with memories, visions, reality, and imagination. I have all kinds of visions: …gold rings with turquoise, jade and lapislazuli whirling.. the union of these rings gives me complete comprehension of everything, the absolute conscience.”15 Another reported “Everything regarding the self becomes the earth and all my perceptions are the stars… I have seen every part through my observations and how they fit together, so I was worthy to view the Gestalt, the whole form, one singularity.”16

It has been proposed that the newborn baby is a ‘super-synesthete’. In this hypothesis, newborns fail to differentiate input from different senses because connections between cortical areas are pruned and inhibited later in development. The senses are not separate, but rather sights, sounds, feelings, and smells are one sensual “bouillabaisse”.17,18,19 Could newborns, due to their complete unmasking of sensory boundaries, be feeling a mergence with the ‘all-encompassing absolute’ that philosophers, artists, mystics, and scholars across religions and cultures strive to understand?

The psychopharmacology behind these subjective states is still not well understood, although more so than similar phenomena which may occur even without drugs or a preexisting neurological condition. For example, the flickering Ganzfeld Experiment is a sensory deprivation technique in which a subject receives homogeneous and unpatterned sensory stimulation, typically in the form of white noise paired with halved ping-pong balls over the eyes.20 It elicits vivid colors, complex geometrical patterns, dream-like imagery- even whole scenes. One study hypothesized that mystical experiences were evoked by transient microseizures in the temporal lobe via unusual electrical coherence. It is supposed these induced rhythms generate such out-of-body experiences, space-time distortions, intense meaningfulness, and dreamy scenes.21 Interestingly, the flickering Ganzfeld creates deep states of relaxation, concentration, and altered states similar to those obtained through transcendental meditation in Indian Yoga and Zen Buddhism- techniques which can alter the brain’s electrical wave nature.22,23 Moreover studies have shown that regular meditators commonly report synesthesia, and it has been shown that sense-merging can be cultivated through long-term meditative practice.24

Perhaps the most astonishing of all narratives is that of academic neurosurgeon Dr. Eben Alexander III, who has taught at Brigham’s and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and other prominent universities In his account “Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon’s Journey into the AfterLife” Dr. Alexander asserts that while in a seven day coma brought on by a menigitis-induced seizure, he had undergone a “hyper-vivid and completely coherent odyssey”, impossible according to global cortical involvement documented by his neurological exams.25 He chronicles seeing holy beings on millions of radiant butterflies, meeting angels, and hearing the voice of God. In his book he writes, :“ [there were] waterfalls, pools of water, indescribable colors, and above there were these arcs of silver and gold light and beautiful hymns coming down from them. Indescribably gorgeous hymns. I later came to call them “angels,” those arcs of light in the sky.” 26 He goes on to express, like the psilocybin users, his new revelation of undivided unity throughout the universe, and how the concept is exactly what quantum physics is furiously attempting to unravel. He says “beneath the surface, every object and event in the universe is completely woven up with every other object and event. There is no true separation. Before my experience these ideas were abstractions. Not only is the universe defined by unity, it is also—I now know—defined by love.” 27

An extremely high dose of psilocybin would likely be almost identical to the effects to DMT, as it breaks down into psilocin (4-OH-DMT), which is very structurally similar to DMT. Though unlike any other psychoactive compound known, DMT has inspired users to report vehement transportation into grand alternate dimensions, where many claimed to have seen intelligent alien beings or prominent religious figures (often outside one’s culture) that do not appear to be projections of their subconscious or memories.28 The report of Dr. Alexander and the account of this DMT user (as well as the psilocybin accounts) are shockingly alike: “..with rainbow colors I felt myself morphing into various species. I was experiencing the unfolding of life itself, and realizing.. life is directed by a simple life force of pure energy which operates on the smallest of conscious, sentient levels…the entire universe is conscious and connected…and we are nothing more than containers of that pre-existing everlasting all-pervading consciousness. The energy, the confidence, the power, the love in me began to surge, I felt it expand around me, encompassing everyone.”29

Dr. Alexander claims that there was absolutely no explanation as to how a surreal adventure of that magnitude could be experienced while his cortex was entirely non-functional. Is the renowned Harvard neurosurgeon missing something here? His story and many others’ raise the question: is the sensation of what people call the spiritual a form of awareness created by brain chemistry, or is brain chemistry a necessary conduit to transcend into higher planes of spiritual existence? The empirical investigation into the mysteries of consciousness and metaphysics is not complete if it omits crucial parts of the human subjective experience of transcendence. Spirituality can be studied as an effort to understand the general principles of the inner world’s own access to reality, and this new frontier in neuroscience continues to grow. Changed by his near-death experience, Dr. Alexander vows to spend the remainder of his life investigating the true character of consciousness and reality, continually professing to both colleagues and the public that we are “more, much more, than our physical brains.”30

1. Kant, Immanuel. Critique of Pure Reason. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. 1998.
2. Cytowic, R. Psychophysical relations in the synesthesia of geometrically shaped taste and colored hearing. Brain and Cognition. 1(1): 36-49. 1982.
3. ibid.
4. Rouw, R., Scholte, HS. Increased structural connectivity in grapheme-color synesthesia. Nature Neuroscience. 6(10): 792-797. 2007.
5. Gross, DW. Diffusion tensor imaging in temporal lobe epilepsy. Epilepsia. 4(32): 1528-1167. 2011.
6. Hubbard, EM., Ramachandran, VS. Neurocognitive mechanisms of synesthesia. Neuron. 48(3): 509-520. 2005.
7. Hubbard, EM & Ramachandran, VS. Synaesthesia: A window into perception, thought and language. Journal of Consciousness Studies 8 (12): 3–34. 2001.
8. ibid.
9. Heim, R. Synthesis and pharmacology of potent 5-HT2A receptor agonists which have a partial N-2-methoxybenzyl structure. PhD Thesis, Institutional Repository of the Freie Universität Berlin. 2003.
10. Hansen, M. Design and synthesis of selective serotonin receptor agonists for positron emission tomography imaging of the brain. PhD Thesis, University of Copenhagen. 2011.
11. Jones, EG.Synchrony in the interconnected circuitry of the thalamus and cerebral cortex. Disorders of Consciousness: Ann NY Acad Sci. 1157(1): 10-23. 2009.
12. Jones, EG.Thalamic circuitry and thalamocortical synchrony. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 357(1428):1659-1673. 2002.
13. Elston, GN. Cortex, cognition and the cell: new insights into the pyramidal neuron and prefrontal function. Cereb. Cortex. 13(11): 1124–1138. 2003.
14. Griffiths, RR & Richards WA.. Psilocybin can occasion mystical-type experiences having substantial and sustained personal meaning and spiritual significance. Psychopharmacology. 187(3):268-83. 2006.
15. Andrash. 2005, September 30. First Trip in Chiapas: Experience with Mushrooms. Retrieved from http://erowid.org/exp/19711
16. FantomeCiel. 2010, March 23. Juxtaposition of All Selves into Singularity: Experience with Mushrooms. Retrieved from http://erowid.org/exp/8142
17. Maurer, D. Neonatal synesthesia: implications for the processing of speech and faces. Developmental Neurocognition. 69: 190-124. 1993.
18. Maurer, D., Mondloch, CJ. Neonatal synesthesia: a reevaluation. Synesthesia: Perspectives From Cognitive Neuroscience. 193-207. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005.
19. Neville, H.  Developmental specificity in neurocognitive development in humans. The New Cognitive Neurosciences. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press. 219–234. 1995.
20. Wackermann, J. Ganzfeld-induced hallucinatory experience, its phenomenology and cerebral electrophysiology. Cortex. 44: 1364-1378. 2008.
21. Persinger, M. Religious and mystical experiences as artifacts of temporal lobe function: a general hypothesis. Perceptual and Motor Skills. 57:1255-1262. 1983.
22. Herbert, R., Lehmann, D. Theta bursts: an EEG pattern in normal subjects practising the transcendental meditation technique. Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology. 42(3): 397-405. 1977.
23. Gellhorn, E., Kiely WF. Mystical states of consciousness: neurophysiological and clinical aspects.Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease. 154: 399-405. 1972.
24. Walsh, R. Can synaesthesia be cultivated?: Indications from surveys from meditators. Journal of Consciousness Studies. 12: 5-17. 2005.
25. Eben, A. Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon’s Journey into the Afterlife. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster. 2012.
26. ibid.
27. ibid.
28. Rodriguez, MA. A methodology for studying various interpretations of the N,N-dimethyltryptamine-induced alternate reality. Nat. Neuroscience. 21: 67-84. 2007.
29. Netrunner. 2004, July 7. The Power and The Glory: Experience with Harmaline, 5-MeO-DMT & DMT. Retrieved from http://erowid.org/exp/34866.
30. Eben, A. Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon’s Journey into the Afterlife. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster. 2012.

A Paradigm of Faith

For most of us, there comes a point in life when we begin a quest for reality. On this journey is where the framework of our philosophies are built. The more pensive of us might persist in our search for truth each day, while others will keep steadily along, adhering to a system that’s always worked well enough for them. But everyone will make the decision to diverge down a particular road of thought and walk in accordance with the conclusions they draw along the way.

On your journey some people will tell you there is nothing permanent. Voices will declare, like Hume had, that the core of their being is merely a collocation of different sensations and perceptions in perpetual flux and movement. They’ll tell you we live in a world of arbitrary natural processes, unpredictable, undirected- and ultimately, meaningless.

Still others will reject that idea with vehemence, eagerly clutching onto dogma, doctrines, and creeds. They’ll have confidence in the guidelines within straightforward theologies, and coax you in the manner of their methods. They’ll offer no explanation, because no explanation can be given- it’s just a matter of faith. And they’ll claim to have found freedom in a religion that compensates for the absurdity of their lives.

Does faith mean being able to believe anything you want to believe? Embracing this kind of ‘faith’ would mean you stop thinking; as faith increases, reason and all meaning eventually disappear. No explanations can be given, and none are expected. With this view, living in faith means living in the dark.

There is a metaphysical rivalry in our culture revealing itself in the clash of two opposing claims: that the intrinsic nature of ultimate reality is either spiritual or physical. Many emphasize the intangible quality of the spiritual as something too ethereal to be grasped, something supernatural. Some dismiss it entirely. But there’s no denying spirituality’s influence on the narrative of humanity. So why do we compartmentalize?

Consider that the ‘spiritual’ doesn’t negate the significance of the ‘physical’ if there is only one realm, one whole all-encompassing and all-uniting Kingdom universe knit together by the same phenomena underlying all things. The realism of today has a strong aversion to what the human heart undeniably aches for- those inner and deeper fundamental truths on mysterious and inaccessible planes. We can feel them strongly during experiences of awe. During these experiences there is a sense of reverence, even dread, a respect for genius and power, and a torrent of permeating beauty and sublimity. They demand an explanation, one that autonomy alone won’t provide satisfactorily.

We are spiritual creatures.

Within a grand scheme, there is no need for the dissolution of essence seen so often within materialistic thought. Part of mankind’s essence is that we’re all on a search for the ‘sacred’, where the sacred is that which is worthy of veneration. We’re constantly seeking what deserves our praise; we idolize many things. Humans come into this world ‘spiritually’ hard-wired. But can there still be spirituality without a degree of faith?

What exactly is faith? Some claim faith is believing what you want to believe, but cannot prove. But what I believe in my heart must make sense in my mind: faith is confidence in reality.

The author of the book of Ecclesiastes, or the Koheleth, writes “As you know not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so you know not the works of God who makes all.”

Scientific advances have considerably lifted the veil from the mysteries of the natural world. People have always regarded the formation and quickening of the fetus as an enigma until research in developmental biology and embryology gained momentum. But even now, it remains a virtually limitless field to be explored. After the rise of modern genetics, scientists began investigating cellular differentiation through patterns of gene expression, looking at details like transcription factors and protein signaling cascades involved in self-perpetuating circuits. You could spend a lifetime dedicated to the discovery of how bodies “do grow in the womb”.

Who knew of DNA just a little over two centuries ago? Who knew of radio waves or nuclear energy?  Even today, what do we know of dark matter or consciousness? The Koheleth was pointing out man’s ignorance of natural facts and processes as analogous to the mysteries of God’s sovereignty. Just as we do not know the hidden things, we also do not know the works of God in any entirely comprehensive way. It brings the reader to a place of humility and submission to ask a question like, “What is God doing and why?”

“Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” writes the author of the book of Hebrews. Our hope is not wishful thinking. Faith does not make God real. On the contrary, faith is the response to a real God who wants to be known to us. An intellectual knows that in order to gain wisdom, we must surrender satisfaction in our own breadth and depth of knowledge. Ignorance is often due to stubbornness in one’s own judgement rather than a mental inability to grasp fundamental concepts. So does any one person, so small in the grand design, have the credibility to claim knowledge that there is no being in existence with infinite knowledge?

Fyodor Dostoevsky illustrates the inner conflict of Ivan Karamazov, a brilliant young man with a keenly analytical mind, in his novel The Brother’s Karamazov. Dignified and of moral character, Ivan struggles to logically resolve a Godless idea that emphasizes the potential value and goodness of mankind while simultaneously rejecting its depravity. At one point in the novel he states:

“And so will I here state just plainly and briefly that I accept God. But I must point out one thing: if God does exist and really created the world, as we well know, he created it according to the principles of Euclidean geometry and made the human brain capable of grasping only three dimensions of space. Yet there have been and still are mathematicians and philosophers-among them some of the most outstanding-who doubt that the whole universe or, to put it more generally, all existence was created to fit Euclidean geometry; they even dare to conceive that two parallel lines that, according to Euclid, never do meet on earth do, in fact, meet somewhere in infinity. And so my dear boy, I’ve decided that I am incapable of understanding of even that much, I cannot possibly understand God.”

Artistry beyond human understanding is ingrained in everything around us. God has painted His masterpiece on the heart of humanity, but there is no purpose unless we assume design.

As we might have heard Plato argue, figures we create within art and architecture represent the abstract ideals of perfect forms. Think of a circle for instance. We see circles, spheres and ellipsoids in the shapes and orbits of planets and stars, we see them in the roundness of berries, eyeballs, in the rippling of water, cell nuclei, the bells of jellyfish, and the cycles of time. Is there anything remarkable about a circle? Pi is the ratio of the circumference of a perfect circle to its diameter, and it’s ubiquity makes it one of the most widely recognized mathematical constants both inside and outside the scientific community. Because Pi an infinite irrational number with digits that never settle into any conceivable pattern, it’s a prime mathematical model of organized chaos. You cannot create even the simplest shape without the most complex and bewildering of numbers.

On every scale, every natural pattern of growth and movement and change inevitably conforms into one of the ideal geometric forms. Each shape represents a unique problem-solving strategy with which we can learn the way the universe operates. Hexagonal shapes manifest in honeycombs, snowflakes, sea foam, crystals, mud cracks, and the benzene rings in organic molecules. These kinds of symmetries result from matter arranging itself into positions of highest possible potential energy. Most viruses display full icosahedral symmetry, arguably the highest and most aesthetically pleasing symmetry in nature. Their design is extraordinarily adaptable in that it allows for the lowest-energy configuration of particles interacting isotropically on the surface of a sphere.

The archetypes of nature, number, and shape are not mystical and separate from us. There is a cosmic calligraphy we generally don’t recognize, a secret language in plain sight.

So what does this mean for us? The essence of a number does not allow for misunderstanding. It is pure, whole, non refutable. Truth is inherent in the nature of mathematics. And truth fastens together fundamental concepts that generate the reality we all share. The numbers, shapes and patterns around us symbolize greater omnipresent principles like wholeness, polarity, balance, rhythm, and harmony.

Possibly the most astounding proof of all is Euler’s identity, where e^{i \pi} + 1 = 0.

We have both 0, the additive identity, and 1, the multiplicative identity. It includes pi, ubiquitous in trigonometry, the geometry of Euclidean space, and analytical mathematics (π = 3.14159265…). It contains the number e, the base of natural logarithms, which occurs widely in mathematical and scientific analysis (e = 2.718281828…). Like the constant π, e is irrational: it is not a ratio of integers; and it is transcendental: it is not a root of any non-zero polynomial with rational coefficients. e is used in calculating exponential growth rates, compound interest, probability value, but it has a wide variety of alternative characterizations.

Finally, Euler’s identity also accommodates the number i, defined as the number we get by taking the square root of -1. The imaginary unit’s core property is that i^2 = −1. The term “imaginary” is used because there is no real number having a negative square. Therefore i is used as the ‘imaginary’ unit of the ‘complex numbers’, a field of numbers that contains the roots of all polynomials (that are not constants), and whose study leads to deeper insights into many areas of algebra and integration in calculus.

The equation represents the golden standard of mathematical beauty. It leaves you standing both perplexed and captivated by it’s truth. It’s capable of paralyzing our rational powers in an instant as it faces us in stark contradiction; it’s all at once absurd and indisputable. Harvard philosopher Benjamin Pierce said “It is absolutely paradoxical; we cannot understand it, and we don’t know what it means, but we have proved it, and therefore we know it must be the truth.”

The plants, the animals, the landscape, and even the dynamics of human relationships are all governed by the same unbreakable law. Just as hurricanes, hair curls, pine cones, whirlpools, and galaxies all unfurl as calculable spirals, we are all linked by the same codes of number. Separate ‘things’ are systematic processes meshed harmoniously into a grand embroidery. But to say these processes occur and develop in the absence of any obvious design is to miss something vital about reality.

How do we know that math is fact? How do we know that 2 + 2 always equals 4? We are equipped with a sound mind, with logical intuition. Self-evident truths are written on our heart; we can know something true about math, or morality, or love, through introspection alone. We were able to discover truth simply by thinking about it. All of creation is designed to reveal itself. And in the same way God can reveal Himself to us through our spiritual nature, which we only have yet to provide a full ‘physical’ translation for.

It was Albert Einstein’s astonishment at the rational intelligibility of the universe which prompted him to make the famous comment, `The most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible.’ Without this, the scientific method cannot be valid.

Theologian John Haught writes:

“At some point in the validation of every truth claim or hypothesis, a leap of faith is an inescapable ingredient. At the foundation of every human search for understanding and truth, including the scientific search, an ineradicable element of trust is present. If you find yourself doubting what I have just said, it is only because, at this very moment, you trust your own mind enough to express concern about my assertion. You cannot avoid trusting your intellectual capacity, even when you are in doubt. Moreover you raise your critical questions only because you believe that truth is worth seeking. Faith in this sense, and not in the sense of wild imaginings and wishful thinking, lies at the root of all authentic religion – and science.”

Faith is confidence in ultimate reality. Philosopher Keith Ward supports this notion well:

“The continuing conformity of physical particles to precise mathematical relationships is something that is much more likely to exist if there is an ordering cosmic mathematician who sets up the correlation in the requisite way. Far from science abolishing God, it would seem that there is a substantial case for asserting that it is the existence of a Creator that gives to science its fundamental intellectual justification.

Einstein and Christ were speaking of the same universe defined by love and unity in their very different ways. When we earnestly seek God in our search for truth, we will find Him. Knock, and the door will be opened. There’s no greater discovery than seeing God as the author of your destiny.

The Fairy Catastrophe

An excerpt from French architect Le Corbusier’s 1936 book When Cathedrals Were White – I thought it was a strange and beautiful depiction of New York City, specifically how it feels to be captivated and inspired by the vision of Manhattan at night.

…The sky above the city flashes with one deep jewelry of cold stars, the whole city, no matter how ugly its parts may be, becomes a proud, passionate, Northern place: everything about it seems to soar up with an aspirant, vertical, glittering magnificence to meet the stars. One hears the hoarse notes of the great ships in the river, and one remembers suddenly the princely girdle of proud, potent tides that bind the city, and suddenly New York blazes like a magnificent jewel in its fit setting of sea, and earth, and stars.

There is no place like it, no place with an atom of its glory, pride, and exultantcy. It lays its hand upon a man’s bowels; he grows drunk with ecstasy; he grows young and full of glory, he feels that he can never die.

A hundred years have been enough to makes cities inhuman. Monday morning, when my ship stopped at Quarantine, I saw a fantastic, almost mystic city rising up in the mist. But the ship moves forward and the apparition is transformed into an image of incredible brutality and savagery. Here is certainly the most prominent manifestation of the power of modern times. This brutality and this savagery do not displease me. It is thus that the great enterprises begin: by strength.

---

A hundred times I have thought: New York is a catastrophe, and fifty times: it is a beautiful catastrophe.

At about six o’clock, I had cocktails with James Johnson Sweeney- a friend who lives in an apartment house east of Central Park, over toward the East River; he is on the top floor, one hundred and sixty feet above the street; after having looked out the windows, we went outside on the balcony, and finally we climbed on the roof.

The night was dark, the air dry and cold. The whole city was lighted up. If you have not seen it, you cannot know or imagine what it is like. You must have had it sweep over you. Then you begin to understand why Americans have become proud of themselves in the last twenty years and why they raise their voices in the world and why they are impatient when they come to our country. The sky is decked out. It is a Milky Way come down to earth; you are in it. Each window, each person, is a light in the sky. At the same time a perspective is established by the arrangement of the thousand lights of each skyscraper; it forms itself more in your mind than in the darkness perforated by the illimitable fires. The stars are part of it also- the real stars- but sparkling quietly in the distance. Splendor, scintillation, promise, proof, act of faith. Feeling comes into play; the action of the heart is released; crescendo, allegro, fortissimo. We are charged with feeling, we are intoxicated; legs strengthened, chests expanded, eager for action, we are filled with confidence.

That is the Manhattan of vehement silhouettes. Those are the verities of technique, which is the springboard of lyricism. The fields of water, the railroads, the planes, the stars, and the vertical city with its unimaginable diamonds. Everything is there, and it is real.

The nineteenth century covered the earth with ugly and soulless works. Bestiality of money. The twentieth century aspires to grace, suppleness. The catastrophe is before us in the darkness, a spectacle young and new. The night effaces a thousand objects of debate and mental reservation. What is here then is true! Then everything is possible. Let the human be written into this by conscious intention, let joy be brought into the city by means of wisely conceived urban machinery and by generous thinking, aware of human misery.

The Fairy Catastrophe. That is the phrase that expresses my emotion and rings within me in the stormy debate which has not stopped tormenting me for fifty days: hate and love.

New York Night in Blue – Jeremy Mann