Heroes Not Zombies

This clever huge sculpture carved out of the rock face seems to peel back the surface layers to reveal a girl making her way up a hidden staircase, following the steps, deeper and deeper into the Earth.

I wondered, as I stood transfixed before this art in “Les Lapidiales”, where she was going, and why do the stairs seem to lead upwards as she heads deeper into the world from the surface. But then I thought….if the turn is within, then we enter the world of the subject.

We are all, every one of us, unique subjects. My experience as a subject can only be known to me. I can only know about your experience if you tell me.

This universe is a community of subjects and only imagination fuelled empathy allows us to step out of our world view from time to time in order the catch a glimpse of that of others.

As a doctor I explored the invisible worlds of others. Pain, nausea, dizziness, blurred vision, altered sensations, exhaustion and all the emotions are invisible. There are no machines which can measure any of them.

My blog title of heroes not zombies is based on my belief that a conscious life, an examined life, is the only one worth living. We all need to pause from time to time in order to peel back the surface layers, step inside and explore what we can find in our depths.