Heike Sperling

No aliens in 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY meaning of the monolith revealed (2021 update) film analysis.

Meaning of the monolith revealed

No aliens in 2001: A Space Odyssey
July 23rd, 2026

Via YouTube: "Now some quotes guiding the viewer away from alien plot explanations (emphasis added)... '2001, on the other hand, is basically a visual, nonverbal experience. It avoids intellectual verbalization and reaches the viewer's subconscious in a way that is essentially poetic and philosophic. The film thus becomes a subjective experience which hits the viewer at an inner level of consciousness, just as music does, or painting.' –Kubrick interviewed by Joseph Gelmis (1969)" [...]

"Stanley Kubrick replied, 'They are the areas I prefer not to discuss because they are highly subjective and will differ from viewer to viewer. In this sense, the film becomes anything the viewer sees in it. If the film stirs the emotions and penetrates the subconscious of the viewer, if it stimulates, however inchoately, his mythological and religious yearnings and impulses, then it has succeeded.' Kubrick interviewed by Joseph Gelmis (1969)." [...]

"The Lobrutto and Baxter biographies also explained that Kubrick misled investors at the executive screening by including a voiceover in the film that talked about aliens influencing apes and man. He also included ten minutes worth of interviewers with astronomers, AI 'experts' and other scientists at the start of the movie. All of this forced an 'aliens' interpretations of the film, but Kubrick removed all of that for the actual cinema release, which opened it all up for interpretation and allowed the visual metaphors to become more open to question. Why would Kubrick do this? Because the film needed financial investment and strong public promotion. On the surface the film gave investors what they wanted, while Kubrick made the film he wanted to make. And so the misleading early shooting experiments with aliens and diff monolith shapes undoubtedly would have contributed to investor confidence in the project." [...]

"For those who say all the monolith shaped rectangles, 90 degree rotations and other evidence in the film are all accidental (very few have said this in the comments, but a couple have) try watching Star Wars, Alien or Star Trek TMP. These films severely lack such 'accidental' details, even though all three were massively influenced by Kubrick's film."

Via Medium: "Most of us assume the world outside us is fixed, solid, and independent — something we must navigate, manage, or overcome. We believe our thoughts and emotions are happening to us, and that the 'self' behind them must stay in control. But beneath all of this movement, something quieter is always present: the awareness in which every moment appears. Ramana Maharshi described universes, beings, thoughts, and events as pictures moving across the screen of Pure Consciousness. This insight is not an escape from life. It is an invitation to see where experience actually unfolds. When we see the difference between the picture and the screen, something fundamental shifts. We begin to understand ourselves — and our suffering — in a completely new way."

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"The Heart Said Now I Am Love (Tarabya Blink)" by Sarah Szczesny, 2026, Pigment and textile paint on sile fabric, 80 x 120 cm.

“All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.”

Julian of Norwich (c. 1343 – after 1416)
May 19th, 2026

Via Wikipedia: "Julian of Norwich (c. 1343 – after 1416), also known as Juliana of Norwich, the Lady Julian, Dame Julian or Mother Julian, was a medieval English Catholic anchoress. Her writings, now known as Revelations of Divine Love, are the earliest surviving English-language works attributed to a woman. They are also the only surviving English-language works by an anchoress. [...]

Julian was an anchoress from at least the 1390s. Living in her cell, she would have played an important part within her community, devoting herself to a life of prayer to complement the clergy in their primary function as protectors of souls. Her solitary life would have begun after the completion of an onerous selection process. An important church ceremony would have taken place at St Julian's Church, in the presence of the bishop. During the ceremony, psalms from the Office of the Dead would have been sung for Julian (as if it were her funeral), and at some point she would have been led to her cell door and into the room beyond. The door would afterwards have been sealed up, and she would have remained in her cell for the rest of her life. [...]

Julian of Norwich is now recognised as one of England's most important mystics; according to Leyser, she was the greatest English anchoress. For the theologian Denys Turner the core issue Julian addresses in Revelations of Divine Love is 'the problem of sin'. Julian says that sin is behovely, which is often translated as 'necessary', 'appropriate', or 'fitting'. [...]

In her fourteenth revelation, Julian writes of the Trinity in domestic terms, comparing Jesus to a mother who is wise, loving and merciful. Author Frances Beer asserted that Julian believed that the maternal aspect of Christ was literal and not metaphoric: Christ is not like a mother, he is literally the mother. Julian emphasised this by explaining how the bond between mother and child is the only earthly relationship that comes close to the relationship a person can have with Jesus. She used metaphors when writing about Jesus in relation to ideas about conceiving, giving birth, weaning and upbringing. [...]
She wrote that God sees us as perfect and waits for the day when human souls mature so that evil and sin will no longer hinder us, and that 'God is nearer to us than our own soul'. This theme is repeated throughout her work: 'Jesus answered with these words, saying: All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well. ... This was said so tenderly, without blame of any kind toward me or anybody else.'"

Thanks to Nick Cave's The Red Hand Files !


 

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"Witches going to their Sabbath" or "The Witches' Sabbath" [Spanish: Brujas yendo al Sabbath] is a painting by the Spanish Luis Ricardo Falero, made in 1878.

"Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome" is a 38-minute avant-garde short film by Kenneth Anger. It was filmed in December 1953 and completed in 1954.

„Walpurgisnachtstraum oder Oberons und Titanias goldne Hochzeit“

aus Faust: Eine Tragödie (1808) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
April 30th, 2026

Dogmatiker:
Ich lasse mich nicht irre schrein,
Nicht durch Kritik noch Zweifel.
Der Teufel muß doch etwas sein;
Wie gäb's denn sonst auch Teufel?

Idealist:
Die Phantasie in meinem Sinn
Ist diesmal gar zu herrisch.
Fürwahr, wenn ich das alles bin,
So bin ich heute närrisch.

Realist:
Das Wesen ist mir recht zur Qual
Und muß mich baß verdrießen;
Ich stehe hier zum erstenmal
Nicht fest auf meinen Füßen.

Supernaturalist:
Mit viel Vergnügen bin ich da
Und freue mich mit diesen;
Denn von den Teufeln kann ich ja
Auf gute Geister schließen.

Skeptiker:
Sie gehn den Flämmchen auf der Spur
Und glaubn sich nah dem Schatze.
Auf Teufel reimt der Zweifel nur;
Da bin ich recht am Platze.

Kapellmeister:
Frosch im Laub und Grill im Gras,
Verfluchte Dilettanten!
Fliegenschnauz und Mückennas,
Ihr seid doch Musikanten!

Die Gewandten:
Sanssouci, so heißt das Heer
Von lustigen Geschöpfen;
Auf den Füßen geht's nicht mehr,
Drum gehn wir auf den Köpfen.

Die Unbehilflichen:
Sonst haben wir manchen Bissen erschranzt,
Nun aber Gott befohlen!
Unsere Schuhe sind durchgetanzt,
Wir laufen auf nackten Sohlen.

Irrlichter:
Von dem Sumpfe kommen wir,
Woraus wir erst entstanden;
Doch sind wir gleich im Reihen hier
Die glänzenden Galanten.

Sternschnuppe:
Aus der Höhe schoß ich her
Im Stern- und Feuerscheine,
Liege nun im Grase quer –
Wer hilft mir auf die Beine?

Die Massiven:
Platz und Platz! und ringsherum!
So gehn die Gräschen nieder.
Geister kommen, Geister auch,
Sie haben plumpe Glieder.

Puck:
Tretet nicht so mastig auf
Wie Elefantenkälber,
Und der plumpst' an diesem Tag
Sei Puck, der derbe, selber.

Ariel:
Gab die liebende Natur,
Gab der Geist euch Flügel,
Folget meiner leichten Spur,
Auf zum Rosenhügel!

Orchester(Pianissimo):
Wolkenzug und Nebelflor
Erhellen sich von oben.
Luft im Laub und Wind im Rohr,
Und alles ist zerstoben.

In this context you might also want to check out Kenneth Anger's avant-garde short film Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome.

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The pinnacle of Noise, Light, & Sound tbh. EYE & C.O.L.O graced NYC with a version of their performance from Mutek JP 2025.

DE ∈Y∋ (Yamantaka Eye) + C.O.L.O

Like staring into the sun during a lobotomy on acid
April 23rd, 2026

Via Wikipedia: "Yamataka Eye (山塚アイ, Yamataka Ai) (born Tetsurō Yamatsuka (山塚徹郎, Yamatsuka Tetsurō), 13 February 1964) is a Japanese vocalist and visual artist, best known as a member of Boredoms, Hanatarash and Naked City. He has changed his stage name three times, from Yamatsuka Eye, to Yamantaka Eye, to Yamataka Eye, and sometimes calls himself eYe or EYヨ. He also DJs under the name DJ 光光光 or "DJ pica pica pica" ("pica" means "bright" or "shiny"), and has used numerous other pseudonyms."

Via rewire: "A swarming bundle of chaos and fun surrounds Yamantaka Eye, aka ∈Y∋, the visionary founder of legendary avant-noise groups Boredoms, Hanatarash, and Puzzle Punks. Working since the 1980s, ∈Y∋'s output has influenced and shaped experimental music in his native Japan and across the globe. From noise and psychedelia to performance art and visual art, ∈Y∋'s career is a collage of creative mischief and devilish collaborations. He has performed with the iconic Sonic Youth, on John Zorn’s Naked City (1990), and with the influential South Korean artist Nam June Paik, among many others. Expect a face-melting and mind-warping audiovisual battery as the mutant cyberkinetic noise of ∈Y∋ is combined with the rampant visuals of C.O.L.O from Osaka’s Cosmic Lab to birth an immersive audiovisual performance. Through projects such as FINALBY( ) with ∈Y∋, C.O.L.O has developed integrated systems in which visual structures generate and shape sound, treating audio and image as a single, inseparable medium to create site-specific, transformative experiences."

Thanks to Marcus Schmickler!

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"Grave of the fireflies" by Slava (Thisset) Semeniuta.

Glück

April 11th, 2026

Glück (1907)
von Hermann Hesse

Solang du nach dem Glücke jagst,
Bist du nicht reif zum Glücklichsein,
Und wäre alles Liebste dein.

Solang du um Verlornes klagst
Und Ziele hast und rastlos bist,
Weißt du noch nicht, was Friede ist.

Erst wenn du jedem Wunsch entsagst,
Nicht Ziel mehr noch Begehren kennst,
Das Glück nicht mehr mit Namen nennst,

Dann reicht dir des Geschehens Flut
Nicht mehr ans Herz - und deine Seele ruht.

Thanks to Claudia Jericho!


In this context you might want to consider this conversation on The Power of Awe too.

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70’s Soda Sparkly, Malibu, 2023 (Archival Pigment Print) by Todd Weaver.

Values

My pyramid
December 9th, 2025

Lightness
Music – Honesty – Freedom
Humor – Intuition – Integrity – Love – Humility – Patience

Take another step toward what matters.

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"Heaven" is a song by the American new wave band Talking Heads, released on their 1979 album "Fear of Music".

Heaven

Talking Heads, Fear of Music, 1979
August 28th, 2025

Via Wikipedia: "Cover versions:
In 1995 the song was covered by Iva Davies and Icehouse on The Berlin Tapes, the soundtrack album accompanying the ballet Berlin, for which Icehouse performed live on stage.
In 1996, the song was covered by Jimmy Scott on his album of the same name.
The song was covered by Eric Burdon on his 2004 album My Secret Life and in 1985 by Simply Red for their album Picture Book.
A German-language cover of the song, Der Weg in die Ferne, was recorded by Joachim Witt for his 1980 album Silberblick.
In 1986, Thomas Di Leva made a Swedish-language adaptation of the song, named Himlen. It was recorded for his album Pussel, and was also the B-Side of his single Snurra bakåt!.
Singer Q Lazzarus covered Heaven for the 1993 film Philadelphia (directed by Jonathan Demme, who had filmed Stop Making Sense). Her version was not available in its complete form until the release of the soundtrack from the documentary Goodbye Horses: The Many Lives of Q Lazzarus in 2025.
k.d. lang covered Heaven for her 2011 album Sing It Loud.
The National contributed a cover of Heaven to the 2024 Talking Heads tribute album Everybody's Getting Involved: A Tribute to Talking Heads' Stop Making Sense."

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From the series "Alphabet of Daisy" (2025) by Sarah Szczesny.

An odds ratio of about 4

Increased Prevalence of Synaesthesia in Musicians
June 17th, 2025

Via Center for Open Science: "There is convincing evidence for a relationship between synaesthesia and engagement in the visual arts, but the evidence with regards to music is sparser and mixed. For example, Rich et al. (2005) did not find that synaesthetes were more likely to be actively engaged in music as a hobby and did not report it as one of their strengths. Other studies have pointed to greater engagement in music by synaesthetes (Lunke & Meier, 2022; Ward et al., 2008), albeit with a qualification that the effect is particularly pronounced in certain synaesthetes (e.g., those synaesthetes for whom music, and other sounds, elicit visual experiences). The present study takes a somewhat different approach of investigating the prevalence of synaesthesia in musicians considering grapheme-color, sequence-space, and music tone - color. There are far fewer prevalence estimates for the latter owing to a lack of well validated methods for this type (i.e., based on an optimised cut-off between synaesthetes and non-synaesthetes), and we use a recently published approach (Ward et al., 2024). In brief, we find an increased prevalence of all three kinds of synaesthesia amongst musicians. In a secondary analysis we show that synaesthesia is particularly prevalent in people who engage, at a high level (supplementing their income), in multiple creative pursuits (i.e., music + art) relative to one or none of these domains.

The fact that sequence-space synaesthesia (for days, months, and numbers) is over-represented in musicians may seem surprising given that it is not directly relevant to music. It suggests instead that there are skills and traits within most, if not all, types of synaesthesia that facilitate engagement and success in music. This has sometimes been referred to as a synaesthetic disposition (Ward, 2019) or a general synaesthetic trait (Rouw & Scholte, 2016). These differences might include greater mental imagery across multiple senses, greater attention-to-detail, and higher openness to experience. There is also evidence that heterogeneous groups of synaesthetes (not just those with sound/music inducers) perform better in tests of auditory perception such as detecting a tone in noise (Del Rio et al., 2024) and in memory for musical phrases (Mealor et al., 2020). It may still be the case that those individuals with music-color synaesthesia have important differences relative to other synaesthetes in measures that we have not been able to capture here. Previous research suggests that these music-color synaesthetes gravitate to certain music genres that are musically complex and layered (Ward et al., 2024). It may also be that they occupy different roles within a band or orchestra (e.g., leading or composing versus following), are more commercially successful, or more able to detect nuances missed by others (e.g., how a current performance differs from a previous one). The latter could be directly aided by being able to 'see' the music. These would be important measures to collect in future research.

There is a paucity of research on the prevalence of sound-color synaesthesia, but it is generally considered to be rarer than grapheme-color synaesthesia in both self-selected samples of synaesthetes (Ward & Simner, 2022) and from screening of opportunistic samples in the general population (Simner et al., 2006). Here we do not find that to be the case which requires further discussion (in non-musicians the prevalence of sound-color was 1.3% and that of grapheme-color was 0.2%). Firstly, our approach for classifying a person as having this type of synaesthesia does not rely solely on consistency but takes into account other measures (e.g., the overall palette of colors). This was necessitated by the fact that consistency is a less reliable discriminator for this type than others. Rather than a simple pass-fail, one could interpret this as different degrees of evidence for having this type of synaesthesia. Importantly, the finding of increased prevalence in musicians is robust against this. Whilst it is also conceivable that some participants are false positives (i.e., do not have synaesthesia) we minimised this by only sending the tests to participants who indicated that they had these kinds of experiences in the first place. Another possibility is that our non-musician control group are not truly representative of the general population (i.e., they contain more people engaged in music than might be expected perhaps at a hobby rather than semi-professional level).

In conclusion, we provide convincing evidence that synaesthesia, in various forms, is more prevalent amongst musicians."

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Typeface Transito (1931) designed by Jan Tschichold.

Tattoo

Wear life like a loose garment
June 3rd, 2025

Via ChatGPT: "The phrase wear life like a loose garment is often attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, reflecting his teachings on detachment and humility. However, the exact origin of this saying is unclear, and it may not be directly traceable to his writings. Some sources suggest it encapsulates his philosophy of living lightly and without attachment to worldly possessions.

In the realm of spiritual teachings, a similar sentiment is expressed by Gautama Buddha, who is quoted as saying, 'Wear your ego like a loose fitting garment.' This advice encourages individuals to approach life with humility and flexibility, avoiding rigid attachments to one's sense of self.

The phrase has also been embraced in various contexts, including Twelve-Step recovery programs, where it is used to promote emotional resilience and detachment from material concerns. In this setting, it serves as a metaphor for not allowing the world to bind or define one's sense of self.

In summary, while wear life like a loose garment is often linked to St. Francis of Assisi, its precise origins remain uncertain. The concept resonates across different spiritual traditions, emphasizing the value of living with openness, humility, and a light touch."

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Into Eternity

Constructing Onkalo (Finnish for "hiding place")
May 25th, 2025

Via Wikipedia: "Into Eternity is a 2010 Danish documentary film directed by Michael Madsen, released in 2010. It follows the construction of the Onkalo waste repository at the Olkiluoto Nuclear Power Plant on the island of Olkiluoto, Finland. Director Michael Madsen questions Onkalo's intended eternal existence, addressing an audience in the remote future."

Via The Guardian: "'I'm interested in what this topic tells us about the world we live in," says Madsen. 'This timespan – 100,000 years. What does it mean? It is so incomprehensible that you have to film something different to create an experience in which people can relate to it.'"

Via The New York Times: "There is something apocalyptically awful about Onkalo, to be sure, but the impulse behind it is noble, and the installation itself has an undeniable grandeur. That theologians, engineers, ethicists and bureaucrats spend so much time and effort trying to protect the distant future from the consequences of present folly speaks rather well of our current civilization, or at least that sector of it devoted to clear thinking and rational problem solving.
But the fact of Onkalo points in the direction of mystery and paradox. If it lasts as long as it is supposed to — and every precaution is being taken to fortify it against earthquakes, political chaos and the ice age predicted in 60 millenniums or so — this enormous feat of engineering may well be the only thing that survives us. It may, in other words, constitute the whole of the human legacy for a long, post-human time to come. And this will be especially true, and especially fitting, if the place is forgotten and never found."

Consider watching Into Eternity as a double feature with Cave of forgotten Dreams by Werner Herzog.

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