Qi, pure experience
In his inspiring blog of December, Yan Schroën reflected on the indescribability of ‘Qi’. And that indescribability also makes it so challenging, because we actually want so much to ‘grasp’ everything, to have a sense of control over the things around us. Taoism, however, teaches us through non-duality the importance of letting go, of accepting who we are and what is and above all to trust in life itself.
In my life, from the passion for nature combined with wonder and curiosity about what is, the step into science followed as a matter of course. My feeling that in nature everything is connected was the starting point. This resulted in the development of systems biology, which initially focused mainly on measuring connections in the human body. It opened up a whole new world to me. Suddenly, for example, cholesterol concentration appeared to be only a minute detail in the dynamic context and rhythm of life. Gradually, my holistic world view unfolded and, in addition to biochemical patterns and regulation systems, I added psychological and social insights, and thus a biopsychosocial model for health and well-being emerged.
However, this proved to be inadequate for the study of well-being and so a spiritual component was added. Systems biology continued to broaden, ultimately resulting in the ‘Sino-Dutch centre for Personalised and Preventive Medicine (SD-PPM)’.
The holistic knowledge of Chinese medicine, with Taoism as the underlying philosophy, connected ancient wisdom with modern technological measurements, and thus we created a bridge between the two worlds.
During this development, I felt the straitjacket of modern science tightening more and more. In the modern scientific method, you study the behaviour of a subject from a third person perspective. This way, you seem to create an objective picture, but it is based on a perspective of separateness. Of course, that did not satisfy me at all, because I wanted to explore the interconnectedness with everything.
Philosophy offered me an important deepening, because the ‘what’ question is central, namely ‘what’ is the essence behind the studied behaviour. I experience the combination of science and philosophy as very enriching, but for me it has the side effect of locking me into my thinking more and more.
An expansion from intuition and experience became an irrepressible desire, so that I further investigated the indescribable and mystical behind ‘what is’ through my feelings and direct experience.
Art, in my case nature photography, offers that possibility with imagination as an infinite source of creation. Thus, symbolic nature photography became my field of interest and from my feelings I could give meaning and depth to existing concepts, especially from Taoism. At the end of 2019, this resulted in my book ‘Beyond Oneness, bridging the seen and the unseen’, in which impressionistic and abstract images form the bridge to the mystical.
For me, the images offer the possibility of visualising Qi, for example, and getting in touch with it. In the image you can see such a visualisation of ‘Qi’ from the theme ‘Birth of life’. It is an image of a small hunter flying up a Norwegian fjord. Expressions that for me point towards the essence behind Qi are ‘freedom in connectedness’, ‘movement in the rhythm of the universe’ and ‘peace that surpasses all understanding’. The form of the sculpture, in my opinion, shows a strong resemblance to the writing of Qi in the Cao Shu period (Song dynasty 960-1279).
Jan van der Greef (1952) is emeritus professor of systems biology in Leiden, was principal scientist at TNO and co-founder of the Sino-Dutch Centre for Preventive and Personalised Medicine. Jan van der Greef’s life is characterised by wonder and curiosity, with pattern recognition in nature as the common thread. He started photographing birds in his teens, despite being stricken with polio at the age of 4. His scientific work in systems biology and his nature photography activities blended together as a matter of course and increasingly focused on the connection between man and nature and the mystical. In the course of time, the boundaries between philosophy, science and art disappeared for him. In the past twenty years, he has specialised in capturing his feelings in nature, which has made his work more impressionistic and abstract. His work has been praised by Sir David Attenborough and frequently awarded at the most prestigious international photo competitions.
The book Beyond Oneness is a masterpiece of fine art by Jan van der Greef, a high-end coffee table book produced on the finest paper and materials available. The mix of enchantingly beautiful figurative, impressionistic and abstract images creates a bridge between the inner and outer worlds. Visual poetry at its best. The flow of themes gives a glimpse of ‘timeless and spaceless’, the indescribable. It is a gateway to eternity, resonating with deep mystical feelings of meaning and connection. The book has an insert with 7 translations including Dutch.
The jury of the ‘Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2018’ described his winning black and white image ‘The Vision’, which is included in this book, as follows: “This is photography written in capital letters, an artistic transition from the ordinary to the otherworldliness”.
His books are for sale at www.janvandergreef.com and www.beyondoneness.com. Lectures can be watched live and as recordings via www.photographyexperts.com
