Nick {he he }

I am willing to agree with you on the point that the individual man is increasingly dependant on his particular environment, however, humanity as an interbreeding specias of mammal is {If we limit our concept of environment to those found on a healthy biosphere} merely from the fact that he is present everywhere {independant of that environment} in so far as he as able to survive in nearly every climate on this earth. Consider for instance any breed of reptile, such animals are not capable of survival in an arctic tundra because of their inability to regulate body temperature. Man is dependant on environment in as much as he needs one in which to survive, however, we do not need any particular duration of light, heat, or other factors which have been found to contribute to the extinction of most species.

...................... NOTE OF BEAUTY
Nothing Is

A look at a painting...

When I first look at this painting, that is all I see, a painting. There is nothing more to it than this, an image which was created. That is the abstraction which sets upon the mind and reduces all that I perceive to a category which trips up the mind with the illusion of understanding. The category is the projection of abstraction upon the thing, the projection of meaning and purpose. Yet the painting in this object, the painting I perceive, that painting is not present before me. What is present before me is a thing apart from painting, a thing with being in and of it's own.

When I look upon this painting further I see a landscape set out in front of me. A painting is an image of something, and I ought to be content in thinking that this painting is an image of an olive grove. Yet there is more to this image than I at first am aware of. The painting is of a real place, a place that one artist once gazed upon. This image shows that reality is the only source of strength, that is why this image appears to be an olive grove. It is painted with light strokes of the brush, unusual for this particular artist. The light brushing shows that this olive grove is comfortable for the artist, that nature comforts him, that the strength of reality comforts him. The artist in his comfortable real place is free from the tormenting facade of humanity. The artist is free from his pain so long as he is gazing upon the real, upon the face of the world he has found himself lost in. That is the real image of this painting, the seemingly paradoxical human experience of life. That we find comfort in being, in reality, in the reality that torments us we find our peace in moments of solidarity. The colors of this painting are worm and balanced capturing the artists solidarity. The brushing seams to flow from the earth to the sky endlessly. If it were not for the changes in color I would only be seeing a page of light brush strokes that blend from one to the next. This captures the connection between the earth and sky, and how the olive trees seem to reach into the sky and become lost in it. The artist feels this uniformity in life, where dreams and reality mix together and reality cannot be found to end and dreams never seem to begin. And the artist is the olive tree, reaching into the sky and becoming lost in his dreams. All this I see, and this is not a painting.

When I look at this painting there is much to be seen. An artist, tormented, comfortable, searching for meaning in a world which seems to have none. Yet many do not see this in a painting, for it is merely a painting. To appreciate what I see, to appreciate this painting, I must not see merely a painting, I must see this one particular thing in front of me. I must see the being of this being, the nature of it, before I understand it, before it has meaning. This is the acclimation of art, the point of being human. In this painting I see and feel my own humanity raging within me. In this particular thing I find the beauty of life and true meaning, true value is the image of this painting. Yet how much value would it have if it were nothing more than a painting ? Olive Orchard {Van Gogh}.............