Strong Mind Research Articles

Sheng‐Gui He

Angewandte Chemie International EditionVolume 57, Issue 43 p. 13964-13964 Author ProfileFree Access Sheng-Gui He First published: 06 June 2018 https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201805999AboutSectionsPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Graphical Abstract “The natural talent I would like to be gifted with is a strong mind that never stops thinking. My motto is ‘failure is the mother of success’ …” Find out more about Sheng-Gui He in his Author Profile. Sheng-Gui He The author presented on this page has recently published his 10th article in Angewandte Chemie in the last 10 years: “Catalytic CO Oxidation by O2 Mediated by Noble-Metal-Free Cluster Anions Cu2VO3–5−”: L.-N. Wang, X.-N. Li, L.-X. Jiang, B. Yang, Q.-Y. Liu, H.-G. Xu, W.-J. Zheng, S.-G. He, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2018, 57, 3349; Angew. Chem. 2018, 130, 3407. The work of S. G. He has been featured on the cover of Angewandte Chemie: “Formation of Gas-Phase Formate in Thermal Reactions of Carbon Dioxide with Diatomic Iron Hydride Anions”: L.-X. Jiang, C. Zhao, X.-N. Li, H. Chen, S.-G. He, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2017, 56, 4187; Angew. Chem. 2017, 129, 4251. Date of birth: February 9, 1974 Position: Professor, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences E-mail: shengguihe@iccas.ac.cn Homepage: http://shengguihe.iccas.ac.cn/ ORCID: 0000-0002-9919-6909 Education: 1997 BS, University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) 2002 PhD with Prof. Qing-Shi Zhu, USTC 2002–2005 Postdoc with Prof. Dennis J. Clouthier, University of Kentucky 2005–2007 Postdoc with Prof. Elliot R. Bernstein, Colorado State University Awards: 2009 Young ScientistAward, Chinese Chemical Society; 2013 National Natural Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars Current research interests: Cluster chemistry; bond activation; ion–molecule reactions; mass spectrometry; photoelectron spectroscopy Hobbies: Hiking; reading The natural talent I would like to be gifted with is a strong mind that never stops thinking. My motto is “failure is the mother of success”. The greatest scientific advance of the last decades was artificial intelligence. When I was eighteen I wanted to be a scientist. I am waiting for the day when someone will discover alien life. The biggest challenge facing scientists is the opinion that scientists can solve all our problems. The most significant historic event of the past 100 years was the establishment of the People's Republic of China. If I could be anyone for a day, I would be an astronaut. My first experiment was to burn a piece of paper. My favorite way to spend a holiday is to go fishing. My favorite painter is Xu Beihong. My favorite composer is Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. My favorite book is Tao Te Ching. My 5 top papers: 1“Activation of Multiple C−H Bonds Promoted by Gold in AuNbO3+Clusters”: X.-N. Wu, X.-N. Li, X.-L. Ding, S.-G. He, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2013, 52, 2444; Angew. Chem. 2013, 125, 2504. (Cationic gold stores electrons and drives bond activation.) 2“Reactivity of Atomic Oxygen Radical Anions Bound to Titania and Zirconia Nanoparticles in the Gas Phase: Low-Temperature Oxidation of Carbon Monoxide”: J.-B. Ma, B. Xu, J.-H. Meng, X.-N. Wu, X.-L. Ding, X.-N. Li, S.-G. He, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2013, 135, 2991. (Reactive atomic oxygen radical anions were captured by isolated nanoparticles and characterized by mass spectrometry.) 3“CO Oxidation Catalyzed by Single Gold Atoms Supported on Aluminum Oxide Clusters”: Z.-Y. Li, Z. Yuan, X.-N. Li, Y.-X. Zhao, S.-G. He, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2014, 136, 14307. (The mechanism of single-atom catalysis can be very well understood by studying doped atomic clusters.) 4“Thermal Methane Conversion to Syngas Mediated by Rh1-Doped Aluminum Oxide Cluster Cations RhAl3O4+”: Y.-K. Li, Z. Yuan, Y.-X. Zhao, C. Zhao, Q.-Y. Liu, H. Chen, S.-G. He, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2016, 138, 12854. (A single atomic cluster can cleave all four C−H bonds of a methane molecule under thermal collision conditions.) 5“Formation of Gas-Phase Formate in Thermal Reactions of Carbon Dioxide with Diatomic Iron Hydride Anions”: L.-X. Jiang, C. Zhao, X.-N. Li, H. Chen, S.-G. He, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2017, 56, 4187; Angew. Chem. 2017, 129, 4251. (The CO2 hydrogenation intermediate HCO2− was directly observed by mass spectrometry.) Volume57, Issue43October 22, 2018Pages 13964-13964 ReferencesRelatedInformation

Music Education Mode Optimization and Vocal Training System Construction from the Perspective of Cultural and Aesthetic

Music education mainly cultivates some basic qualities, such as the sense of morality, aesthetic taste, strong mind and creative power. Music education improves personal comprehensive development through psychological counseling and music therapy. With the deepening understanding towards the role of music education, offering music classes is supported by many non-professional music colleges in China. The music education in colleges is not only a way to teach eastern and western musical knowledge, but also a way to enhance students ‘comprehensive quality. The ultimate purpose of music education is to develop and improve students’ personality, and provide a platform to cultivate top - notch talents. However, there’re still some problems in music education, such as the music classes are not taken seriously, curriculum is backward, the system of music education is incomplete, which severely restricted the role of the music education playing in improvement of students’ comprehensive quality and cultivation of top - notch talents. Facing these problems, based on the aims of people oriented and cultivating talents, we need to persist with our struggle in strengthening music education in the proportion of personnel training process with the result of college students’ comprehensive quality, which can provide a strong supporting backup for developing top - notch talents.

Attitude of Agents towards the Services of General Insurance Corporation Subsidiary Companies in Madurai, Tamilnadu – A Study

General Insurance Corporation was given the status of a company in 1972 and it commenced its business on the 1st of January of 1973. The Government of India subscribed to the capital of GIC. The organization today is on the point of opening up of new vistas, striving and straining to reach new heights and is surging ahead in quest of excellence. For the economic growth of the country, insurance provides a strong base and mind, protection against loss of property and adequate capital to produce more wealth. Insurance agent being an individual who receives or agrees to receive payment by way of commission or other remuneration in consideration of his soliciting or procuring insurance business including business relating to the continuance, renewal or revival of policies of insurance. In the present study the researcher has made an emphasis on the role of agents and problems faced by them of general insurance companies. The agency service is a vital organ of marketing of general insurance policies. The agents are the heart of the General Insurance Corporation. In the present study, the researcher has identified 18 variables and an attempt has been made to find out the factors influencing the agents in utilizing the four general insurance companies namely, NIAC, OIC, NIC and VIIC. The principal competent method of factor analysis has been employed to study the pattern of mutual inter-dependence among those variables using Kaiser’s Varimax Criterion.

Intensive and Critical Care in the Situation of Emerging Infectious Disease: What to be Considered?

There are many new emerging infectious diseases in the present day. With the continuum of several new emer ging infections within the past few years, there is a great concern for medical practitioners for intensive and critical care service [1, 2]. The basic concept is how to provide the best service that can help the patient cured or limited for possible complications and disabilities. Nevertheless, another important issue is the safety in medical practice of the medical personnel. Finally, all procedures should be no harm and should be useful to the external society. To correspond the mentioned mission, there are several requirements for the intensive and critical care team. First, the update on knowledge on the new emerging diseases is recommended. There must be the system to promote continuous education and verify the proficiency of the practitioner towards practice in the situation of new emerging disease outbreak. Second, the preparation of the facilities to correspond to the problem is needed. The high effective tools and safety protocols must be well prepared for the situation. Finally, the practitioners have to have the strong service mind and should not loss power to work in the conflict situation. During the conflict period, there can be many dilemma problem. As noted by West and von Saint Andre-von Arnim “among other ethical issues, patients' medical needs must be carefully weighed against healthcare worker safety and infection control concerns [3].”

Body and Mind in Early China: An Integrated Humanities-Science Approach

This article argues against the strong “holist” position that the early Chinese lacked any concept of mind–body dualism, and more broadly against a “neo-Orientalist” trend that portrays Chinese thought as radically different from Western thought. In the first half, it makes the case against strong mind–body holism by drawing upon traditional archeological and textual evidence. In the second, it turns to resources from the sciences, arguing that large-scale quantitative–qualitative analyses of early Chinese texts suggest that they embrace a quite vigorous form of mind–body dualism, and further that a huge body of evidence coming out of the cognitive sciences suggests that this is not at all surprising. In this section, the role that deep humanistic knowledge can, and should, play in scientific approaches to culture is also explored. The article concludes by suggesting that a mutually informed, humanities–scientific approach to religious studies is the best way for our field to move forward.

Engineering Education Combined with Engineering Skill and Strong Mind

Engineering Education Combined with Engineering Skill and Strong Mind

Strong body, strong mind, strong culture

Strong body, strong mind, strong culture

Night in Novalis, Schelling, and Hegel

THE ABSOLUTE NIGHT INVOKED BY THE GERMAN ROMANTIC FRIEDRICH von Hardenberg, better known as Novalis, might well have been more influential at turn of nineteenth century than previously acknowledged. This image saturating his dithyrambic cycle Hymnen an die Nacht [Hymns to Night], published in 1800, continues to be read by some in terms of obscure private experiences despite twentieth-century work of Kate Hamburger, Martin Dyck, and others that show scientific connections. (1) This construal is especially popular in Enghsh-speaking world and has followed long tradition of interpreting Novalis that began with reviews of essayist Thomas Carlyle. In late 1820s, Carlyle had tied this poet not just to medieval German mystic Jakob Bohme but also to what he regarded as tenebrific constellation of Immanuel Kant and Kantists. (2) Common readers today tend to merge Novalis's night more with state of spiritual loneliness Christian mystic St. John of Cross had called the dark night of soul [la noche oscura del alma]. This inclination is not merely result of religious metaphor's familiarity; it derives its understanding from an incident linked to poem's inspiration, an epiphany Novalis experienced at grave of his first fiancre, Sophie von Kuhn, on 13 May 1797. (3) The subsequent view that Novahs's spiritual insight was inextricable from his vulnerability has led several critics to identify wide range of literary influences. Suggestions include August Wilhelm Schlegel's essay on Romeo and Juliet of 1797, Johann Gottfried Herder's mythic poems, religious writings of Karl von Eckartshausen and Johann Patti Friedrich Richter, or Jean Paul, and Edward Young's Night Thoughts of 1742-45. (4) Young's poem, which had numerous European translations by end of eighteenth century, is often cited in view of its thematic resemblance to Novahs's poem and its reputation among German writers such as Herder, Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, Christoph Martin Wieland, and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. (5) Novalis might have turned to this reflection on mortality weeks before his graveside experience, but it seems rather excessive to proclaim Young's direct and deep impact. The British surrealist David Gascoyne expresses same doubt in his introduction to an English edition of Hymnen an die Nacht translated by American poet Jeremy Reed and published in 1989: Gascoyne notes that Young's poem exudes disgruntlement--its other tide being, after all, The Complaint--while Novalis's achieves a serene transcendence of bereavement and mourning through resolution of into rapture rather than resignation. (6) This distinction between two otherwise comparable nights demands that we not only make better sense of Novalis's design but also check our own assumptions about lyrical intensity. Well-meaning critics who rehash point of his anguish inadvertently perpetuate tiresome picture of sentimental artist so devastated by loss that he could barely order his thoughts, let alone argue for them. Even esteemed Friedrich Hiebel seems to have contributed to this impression when he found Hymnen an die Nacht deeply rooted in those months of grief and its emotional depth reached only after three years of recuperation. (7) Such views present an obvious interpretive problem: what ultimately saw print in Schlegel brothers' journal Athenaeum is taken to manifest both profound mystical self-transformation and contrary rehance on overcoming of trauma. Novahs's poem becomes both product of strong mind able to integrate and transcend thoughts and mark of irresolution and maladjustment to life, product of weak mind. The inconsistency here is wholly illusory; in what follows I will show that Novalis's main ideas reflect distinct intellectual currents of his time. His image of night is no casual aesthetic plaything and in fact provided heretofore uncharted series of reactions from both philosophers Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. …

A Representative of the New Female Image—Analyzing Hester Prynne’s Feminist Consciousness in The Scarlet Letter

The Scarlet Letter is generally considered to be Nathaniel Hawthorne’s best work and one of the indubitable masterpieces of American literature. The heroine of the novel—Hester Prynne, though on a binary position as a woman in Puritan society, defies power and puts up a tenacious fight against the colonial rule combined by church and state. From her rebellious actions, we can see Hester’s feminist consciousness. With this noble character, she becomes totally different from the traditional women who are always obedient to the unfair rules enacted by men. It can be sensed that a new female image is born. This paper tries to analyze Hester’s feminist consciousness at the respect of her rebellious spirit, self-reliance and strong mind, in this way to evaluate Hester Prynne as a representative of the new female image. Through this kind of analysis, we can better dig in the figure of Hester, and regarding her as a new woman also has a positive social meaning in encouraging women today to strive after the lofty ideal— an equal status between men and women.

Strong Body, Strong Mind: Self-Efficacy as a Function of Exercise

Strong Body, Strong Mind: Self-Efficacy as a Function of Exercise

Interview with Stefan Seregard

Interview with Stefan Seregard

Gender and Universal Fluid in Théophile Gautier

Theophile Gautier is sometimes accused of misogyny. Critics have assumed that his view of women is identical to that of d'Albert in Mademoiselle de Maupin (1834), who conceives of woman as une belle esclave destinee a nos plaisirs ... C'est toujours pour moi quelque chose d'inferieur et de dissemblable que l'on adore et dont on joue, un hochet plus intelligent que s'il etait d'ivoire ou d'or (372). (1) D'Albert's remark evokes the belief common in the nineteenth century that women are physical beings who lack men's intellectual and spiritual development. However, Gautier's own conception of women is far different from d'Albert's, as seen in the fact that Madelaine de Maupin represents an ideal marked by a strong mind and a developed soul. In Mademoiselle de Maupin as well as in later writings, Gautier explores the basis on which men and women possess intelligence and spiritual love, alluding to the and pantheistic notion of as a foundation of these traits, core attributes of his androgynous ideal. Gautier believed in mesmerism, as seen in his review of Tronquette la Somnambule: magnetisme animal est un fait desormais acquis a la science et dont il n'est pas plus permis de douter que du galvanisme et de l'electricite. (2) Franz-Anton Mesmer holds that the universe is filled with a that is the medium of influence between living beings, the earth, and celestial bodies. He also attributes to human and animal bodies poles similar to those of a magnet, which determine susceptibility to influence. (3) What Mesmer often terms universal fluid is thus also commonly called fluid. Mesmerists claim to use magnetic influence to heal the sick and bring others under their control. In addition, A.M.J. Chastenet de Puysegur suggests that those magnetized, termed somnambulists, can achieve clairvoyance. (4) Robert Darnton notes that postrevolutionary mesmerists developed their own version of the ideas that characterized spiritualism in general, including pantheism. (5) Gautier's pantheism exemplifies such a connection between mesmerism and spiritualism. In Le Pantheon, his 1848 collection of articles on Paul Chenavard's mural paintings for the Pantheon, Gautier characterizes God as an omnipresent an image dovetailing with the notion of fluid: Jehova, Brahma, Jupiter, Allah, qu'importe le nom, c'est toujours l'infini, l'eternel, l'incomprehensible, le jour sans ombre, la sagesse sans erreur, le torrent de vie, le fluide imparticulaire qui traverse les univers compacts, qui se meut dans nous et dans lequel nous nous mouvons, le supreme amour, la supreme intelligence et la supreme justice! (6) Gautier's writing testifies to an on-going interest in fluid, which he evokes in recurring images of light emanating from his characters. (7) Although he often alludes specifically to mesmerism, he also draws on pantheism, as seen when he associates with spirituality. He identifies the with love and intelligence not only in Le Pantheon but also in Mademoiselle de Maupin and other writings, providing a foundation for men's and women's shared intellectual and spiritual traits, as I will show. While the notion of common to pantheism and mesmerism supported a belief in characteristics available to both men and women, the roles of the and somnambulist had certain gender associations in the nineteenth century. Mesmerists were often conceived as masculine, as seen in the widespread belief that they used their power to seduce women. (8) Robert Darnton notes that mesmerist followers of Lavater spread the belief that the mind's faculties, especially the will ... could bring others under one's influence by projecting from the eyes. (9) The notion of the mesmerist's dominating mind and will corresponds to conventional images of masculinity. By contrast, the person being magnetized assumed a role often considered submissive and feminine. …

AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR PREVENTIVE CARDIOLOGY

AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR PREVENTIVE CARDIOLOGY

A Quantum-Mechanical Argument for Mind–Body Dualism

I argue that a strong mind–body dualism is required of any formulation of quantum mechanics that satisfies a relatively weak set of explanatory constraints. Dropping one or more of these constraints may allow one to avoid the commitment to a mind–body dualism but may also require a commitment to a physical–physical dualism that is at least as objectionable. Ultimately, it is the preferred basis problem that pushes both collapse and no-collapse theories in the direction of a strong dualism in resolving the quantum measurement problem. Addressing this problem illustrates how the construction and evaluation of explanatorily rich physical theories are inextricably tied to the evaluation of traditional philosophical issues.

Mind change efficient learning

This paper studies efficient learning with respect to mind changes. Our starting point is the idea that a learner that is efficient with respect to mind changes minimizes mind changes not only globally in the entire learning problem, but also locally in subproblems after receiving some evidence. Formalizing this idea leads to the notion of strong mind change optimality . We characterize the structure of language classes that can be identified with at most α mind changes by some learner (not necessarily effective): a language class L is identifiable with α mind changes iff the accumulation order of L is at most α . Accumulation order is a classic concept from point-set topology. We show that accumulation order is related to other established notions of structural complexity, such as thickness and intrinsic complexity. To aid the construction of learning algorithms, we show that the characteristic property of strongly mind change optimal learners is that they output conjectures (languages) with maximal accumulation order. We illustrate the theory by describing strongly mind change optimal learners for various problems such as identifying linear subspaces, one-variable patterns, and fixed-length patterns.

Strong minds, healing hands, and compassionate hearts: Developing a contemporary and creative twist on tradition.

STRUGGLING TO ADAPT TO CHANGING SOCIAL FORCES and hold on to core values that confirm his identity, Tevye, dairyman and father of five daughters in well-known play Fiddler on Roof, notes that without tradition, our lives would be as shaky as a fiddler on roof Tevye's experiences reflect challenges faced by nurse educators who must prepare students for an ever-changing health care environment while affirming core values of profession. This article tells of development of a tradition designed to celebrate student efforts in a baccalaureate nursing program and affirm their commitment to nursing profession. has had a long tradition in nursing. Familiar examples include capping and pinning rituals, recitation of Nightingale pledge, and graduation ceremonies where students' accomplishments are recognized. Such traditions strengthen ties to an institution and serve as connecting experiences for students and teachers. The adaptation of traditions to contemporary nursing education can be meaningful. O'Brien, noting that continued use of Nightingale pledge, albeit modified by today's schools of nursing, reflects a connection between tradition and modern views of nursing and points out that while the outward appearance of nursing students has changed, inward commitment to profession ... is as strong as ever (1, p. 26). Kuh and Whitt contend that rituals, rites, and ceremony on college campus are important to collegiate experience in that they enrich campus ethos and allow interpretations and meanings to be made of special events (2, p. 67). As part of a class on history and traditions of nursing, students viewed a video in which school faculty described their experiences as nursing students. Faculty, now expert clinicians and educators, reflected on their education and spoke of meaning that their school traditions held for them. Following video, students reflected on differences between then and now. They observed that their nursing program lacked traditions that might enhance their socialization into nursing and would be equally meaningful for them in future. They were clearly intrigued by concept of tradition. In response to this conversation, student representatives on undergraduate Student Affairs Committee worked with faculty to plan and implement a Rising Senior Ceremony intended to celebrate transition to senior year of study. Virginia Henderson's words, that an effective nurse needs a strong mind, healing hands, and a compassionate heart, were selected as theme for ceremony. For both students and faculty, these words reflected both art and science of nursing. Faculty supported students in planning ceremony. They obtained funding from school and alumni association, and one faculty member designed invitations, certificates of recognition for each student, and certificates for winners of peer nominated awards. The student representatives developed criteria for each element of theme--strong minds, healing hands, and compassionate hearts--as well as for leadership, and assumed responsibility for holding an election on who should receive these honors. Each honoree would receive an engraved silver frame. A late afternoon reception was planned to enable students to attend with their families. Faculty and students offered welcoming remarks and presented awards. After each student was recognized individually and presented with a certificate, event concluded with a candle-lighting ceremony. Together, students and faculty formed a circle and recited readings selected by students about important work of nursing. …

Rollins, Representation and Reality

Rollins, Representation and Reality

Everyone is beautiful.

Everyone is beautiful.

Increased incidence of senile dementia in the Hansen's disease sanatoriums of Japan

In 1973, Narita reported that the rate of demented patients above 65 years was about 2% at the sanatorium--Tama Zenshoen, which was much lower than that of the average aged people (4-5%). The reason for that was thought to be due to the acquirement of strong mind under loneliness and difficulties faced by the patients through social enforcement to live in isolation. From that report on the low percentage of dementia among the Japanese Hansen patients reemed to be widely accepted. Fifteen years later in 1988, Narita reported that the rate of demented patients above 65 years was 3.2% in males and 3.6% in females indicating still a low rate at Tama Zenshoen. In 1994, however, Narita found unexpectedly that the percentage of dementia among patients above 80 at Tama Zenshoen was higher than the average aged population. Therefore in this report, we tried to analyze the reason for this difference. In addition to Tama Zenshoen patients, we also investigated those of another Hansen disease sanatorium namely Nagashima Aiseien which has similar structural organization as Tama Zenshoen. A comparison of dementia between these two was carried out, taking patients above 65 years as the study group (Used GBS scale based on Karasawa's method). In Tama Zenshoen, the rate of patients with dementia was 18.6% in males and 31% in females. Above 80 years those were 54.4% in males and 75.9% in females. The reason for the above high rate of dementia may be probably due to the passage of long years (40 to 50 years) after the enforcement to live in isolation causing the weakening of the spirit. The patients might have got some mental support if they had offspring, but they had no way to have any under the forced contraception. On the contrary, in Nagashima Aiseisen, the percentage of patients with dementia was low, namely 3.6% in males and 9.1% in females. In those patients above 80 years, it was 2.7% in males and 6.8% in females, those were almost similar to the average normal population (6%). Such a big difference was quite surprising. The reason behind this difference, may be due to the construction of the houses for the disabled persons. Both Nagashima Aiseien and Tama Zenshoen, have small individual rooms. In Tama Zenshoen, patients are able to visit their close neighbor, only after changing their shoes or with the aid of wheel chairs, but in Nagashima Aiseien, the corridors connecting quarters allow the patients to move easily to his neighbors with bare feet or even with crawl. Therefore, in Nagashima Aiseien, the number of patients who have social contacts with their neighbors is much greater in number which make them mentally active, thus eliminating the major factors affecting dementia. We can conclude that such communication between friends and co-mates make them alert and keep the spirit in the aged.

THE LIMITS OF LITERALITY

Expressionists began to approach the theodidact/prophet who speaks directly from the wellspring of all nature. While many artists have interpreted the Bible, these illustrations of narrative episodes are as challenging— being textually dependent—as the non-contingent abstract works of the modern period. In such art we encounter painting (and sometimes sculpture) that consciously or sometimes inadvertently approached Biblical domains of sensation and occasion. Particular sanctions for this art are difficult to find in Torah but are nevertheless incipient, finding the opportunity for their expres sion only in recent times. Imagery does require the structure of representa tionalism. For the most part, New York School painting (despite what we may learn of its autobiographical sources) was unintelligible to its audience. In its non-objectivity Abstract Expressionism was alone. Many sorts of conception are non-symbolic. As a (perhaps doctrinaire) modernist corol lary to representationalism, non-objective art so clearly participates in dialogue with representationalism that it might simply be considered one aspect of it, a response. (That is, non-objective art defines itself as not realist. Likewise, atheism is a strongly held religious belief.) Our standards of quality still derive from representationalism, although, paradoxically, the substrate for those emotions may reside in configurations beneath realist attributes. Schematic imagery represents no continuous visual field but solicits a conceptual understanding non-spatial in origin. Thus, the Tabernacle in the Desert, an architectural form dictated by God, is believed to present some sort of incomprehensible image, divinely projected into this world with human agency to reify it, but without explanation to justify its components. The literal, that is virtual form, is the letteral, which in the arts is the realm of content. It appears that something of this non-discursive, and perforce, mystically holy, power of imagery was either sought or attributed to the New York School. In New York School art we encounter the response to a long history of literality deflected by letterality. The Egyptians inspired the early Greeks with an urbane standard that the Greeks—rude provincials when they encountered the civilization of the Nile—altered to their own tastes. The Romans, forever indebted to, and admiring of, the Greeks, fashioned their material culture within the shell of Greek forms.13 Generation after generation, antiquity expended vast energy and capital on the plastic arts, artifacts whose perfection staggered barbarian or medieval finders and which continue to ehcit our greatest admiration untinged by condescension for the otherwise cruelly primitive peoples who made these sculptures and building.14 When the tide of Roman culture returned to the mother city as the Empire contracted, massive Roman creations remained sprouting from the countryside. Within the former empire's limits, especially in Europe, the huge ruins taunted the native inhabitants to compete in emulating Rome. At first, cathedrals, then the This content downloaded from 157.55.39.99 on Sat, 26 Mar 2016 07:17:19 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 132 THE LIMITS OF LITERALITY whole panoply of renaissance art and architecture, rehearsed ancient forms. These antique forms perdured into the twentieth century when, after being briefly banished by modernism, they were again borrowed for post modernism's accoutrements. The history of western art revives a more-or less limited repertory, a canon of forms. Likewise, the history of western morals is, more-or-less, an ever-renewing revival and examination of Jewish values. Dubbed the Judeo-Christian heritage this letteral system is to Judaism what modem buildings literally are to Greek architecture. In Judaism, the healthy mind in the beautiful body, if individually admir able, are cleft and exist independently, with a distinct accent on a strong mind seeking the ways of righteousness amid complex daily exigency. That is, literal behaviour, virtual action with little discussion of exigency is gov erned by letters, passion. Circumstances vary but moral relativism never arises. The theory of beautiful behaviour at the heart of Jewish life flows as a parallel stream beside the tradition of plastic form, of physical beauty. In such an aesthetic domain absolutes are unknown and all is derived from comparison. Both strivings, toward a superlative of aesthetics and ethics, account for the distinct culture of the west. Under the right conditions of tolerance which arose in the post-war world, Judaism's aesthetic of conduct is also capable of producing visible manifestation of powerful aesthetic effect. That is, virtual forms, the literal arose under the spiritual governance, and as illustrations, of the letteral. National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution