Animal Space

Time had run-out on the seminar that i totally missed asking the question which brewed in my head but never had a chance to boil. I tried to formulate the question but i supposed i was so distorted with the topic (On Seeing and Being) and that i had very little light to grasp the depths of it all. Or maybe i was just shallow, which is not far from the truth either (admit it Jay, hahaha).

Anyway, after my head relaxed, a little clarity overcame me and i think what i'm trying to ask was how do dreams affects the constructs that people mapped in their brain and then represents in their tools and art. This spark my inquiry after i saw the slides of wall paintings of the American Indians and Australian Aborigines, whose drawings are culturally based on dream-like and hypnotic meditations.

I remembered these animal drawings on the wall showing how their bodies seem to be detached because their masters were summoning their spirits. It was also said that these could be found on the deepest reaches and ceilings of the cave, usually at neckbreaking angles that one may be led to believe that the artist was not only preserving its colors but also preventing the "uninitiated" for viewing it. One has to brave the darkness and carry a torch so one can behold the animated animals floating on it own heavenly space.

On a more concretise treatment of space and animals, i recently read both arguments of a California Proposition for "Standards for Confining Farm Animals". Basically, this measure, if passed by the votes of the people, will allow confined pigs, chickens and the likes to turn around freely and extend their limbs fully in their cages. On the other hand, a study shows that this will eliminate egg production and that Californians may soon be importing eggs from Mexico which are susceptible to threatening viruses.

Clearly, we will designate and even fight for space for the sake of our animals, and in the case of the tribal cultures, the animal spirits that sustain their faiths. Back to my question, i imaginee the major proponent of the Proposition above once had a dream of a pregnant pig sweating in a constricted cage, and chances are he must be sweating profusely too when he wakes up. And so he soon gets out of bed, opens the balcony and breathes some air.