Cultural and Linguistic Communication
FEMININITY IN THE WORK OF IOAN PETRU CULIANU
Noemi BOMHER1
1. Prof., PhD, Dept. of Communication, Public Relations and Journalism, “Apollonia” University of Ia[i, Romania Corresponding author: [email protected]
Abstract feminine dimension in the human and religious The femininity problem, tackled by a historian of associative rituals. religions and world-class writer of Iasi – Ioan Petru The first element would be that regarding Culianu – can be observed either in the Dictionary of the definition of the power concept, a concept History of Religions, or in different articles written between related to adjectives such as: civil, military, 1972-1991, or in his fiction. The gnostic researcher constructs a special system of economic, political, religious, by means of which analysis, structured in fractals, which refer to several I. P. Culianu accesses the relation with the questions about: the Actors: lots of She-s for each He; subjective sphere of power, referring afterwards femininity: a subjective, or an objective prevalent; femini- nity’s relation to aggressiveness; Ioan Petru Culianu: to the objective, cultural sphere of power, with a gentleman, raised by ladies; about body or soul; the no adjectives. qualities of the soul; about a human being either masculine/feminine or a combination of the two opposites; 2. What is femininity: A subjective, the Christian tenet; the game on the truth about femini- nity; about the forms of good; the mandala symbols. or an objective prevalent feature? Keywords: femininity, primary structure, cultural As a subjective prevalent feature, power initiation. implies an internal change of purely energetic transformation, such as in S. Freud (sexual change) and C. G. Jung (psychic change). Another prevalent feature of power is related to nowadays’ society manipulation, announced in 1960, by Elias Canetti, in Crowds and Power/ Masse und Macht,following Gustave le Bon, (Crowd Psychology / Psychologie des foules, 1895), about the individual who, becoming part of a crowd, feels himself/herself invincible in anomy, through the libido hypnotic suggestion of the The Tree of Knowledge described in Edda, crowd upon the individual. by Oluf Olufsen Bagge, 1847. 3. What is femininity’s relation to Motto: aggressiveness: Does aggressiveness depend ”Our being cannot be destroyed, on the ritual? as it is not an organisation stricto sensu. It’s nothing else but thought that binds us and The idea about the intraspecific aggressive- a thought is indestructible”. ness, characteristic of fighting, seen in primates, George Orwell, 1984 with a reaction to the sacred and a rise in the feeling of power, comes along with the development of the oniric, mythologic and 1. The Actors: Lots of She-s for each He; magic imagination, with the variegation of is femininity an essential instance? religious subjectivity2 that has developed other To discuss the relation between the power abilities of the human spirit, such as peoples’ systems and the femininity presence, we have ritualization manifested differently either within selected from Ioan Petru Culianu’s work the the ritual, with double motivation (dancing), with
International Journal of Communication Research 153 Noemi Bomher sexual sociative motivation, with the subservience 6. Does duality refer to the masculine/ and dependence specific of animals, or with the feminine body or soul? alimentary kiss, or with the greeting, but also The dualistic concept of the relationship with innate elements, laughing, crying, dancing. between body and soul is discussed by different systems of religious and philosophical thinking, 4. Is Ioan Petru Culianu: a gentleman, from which we have selected: raised by ladies? • Zaratustra / Zoroaster (probably, X-th The author, Ioan Petru Culianu (1952-1991) century B.C.) comes from an old intellectual family from Iasi. • Plato (427-347 B. C.) in Fedon, about the He was the second child of Elena Bogdan, a material world which is not real, but a mere university professor of chemistry and daughter shadow of the real world: about forms of the “Al. Ioan Cuza” University’s Rector – explaining the notion of universalii. Petru Bogdan (Rector between 1952-1991). His According to Plato, forms are prototypes father was the mathematician Sergiu-Andrei or abstract representations of some types Culianu and his great-grandfather was Nicolai or features (i.e universalii) of the Culianu, member of the “Junimea” circle and surrounding things that we perceive; forms founder of the Medical School (Neculai/Papa, are universalia ante res; Culianu – for a while vice president of the • Aristotle (384-322 B.C.), in his Metaphysics, Romanian Senate, professor of mathematics at drawing on Plato’s ideas about ousia in and Rector for eighteen years (1880-1898) of the Parmenide, claims that universalia in rebus is University of Iasi). the same as universalia ante res. In The Sin Against Spirit, I. P. Culianu suggests Aristotle’s concept, separated from Plato’s that his leaving to Bucharest represented a soul image about man, becomes valid even training for his long exile from 1972 onto his today: man is composed of matter and form; the death – a tough experience that made him then body is not matter but in a metaphorical sense capable of easily adapting himself to any place since, as primary substance, the body must be in the world. He majored in Italian with the paper also understood as a form-matter compound. “Marsilio Ficino and Platonism in the Renaissance” Everything that is perceived by the body is an and his multiple studies are a close-up of a act of the body, i.e an acting form; the relationship with masculine/feminine duality, individual soul4 is, in its turn, a compound in favour of femininity. We know nothing about whose form is intellect, and the soul, which is his death, he certainly was a specialist in magic3. not body, cannot, however exist without the body. 5. Is thinking dualistic: masculine/feminine? From a notional perspective, dualism is a 7. Are the qualities of the soul: masculine / feminine? doctrine considering both matter and spirit as a principle of existence. Dualism as a philosophy Soul’s qualities (nutritious, appetite-related, is the relationship between mind and matter and sensory, of movement or thought) are not equally this relationship is possible because of the found in all beings. Aristotle analyses sensation assertion that, from a certain point of view, and perception with extended theoretical and mental phenomena lack a material basis. gnosiological implications. Plato had removed Dualism describes the state of two parts, sensations from the circle of truth. However, deriving from the Latin word duo / doi. Initially Aristotle distinguishes even unequal degrees of the term was used to describe a co-eternal binary objectivity as far as sensations are concerned, opposition, an idea found in the metaphysical then he analyses their mental genesis, where he philosophical discourses. discovers the intervention of discernment itself.
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8. Is Human Being either: masculine/feminine, creatures, but the inhabitants of the true Earth or a combination: masculine/feminine? live in the Happy Islands (Plato: Fedon, Cratilos, Timaios, Republic For Aristotle there wasn’t any breach between X). The individual soul has the world of sensations and that of perception5 fallen within the prison of the body (Plato: Cratilos (like in Plato). Man is a substance having as form , 400 b), and it can only liberate itself the intellectual soul, a body dependent on through philosophic life, it can be reincarnated Divinity (vertical axis); on the soul (transcendent in more successive bodies, provided it would be axis); and on society, or organic metaphors perfect and contemplate the eternal ideas. applied to the political organism. The concept Philosophy is a religion and religion a changes in time, either as exotic body and space philosophy. These things appear fixed in (India, China, Japan, the Aztecs), or social body literature, religion, and they are reflected in the (the king’s two bodies), or mechanical body duality between Apollo, the brightly shining god (marionettes, machines): of prophecies, ecstasy and healing and the • moral being, capable of actions in the mysterious Dionysus, representing: “The stranger service of goodness within ourselves, the feared antisocial forces that • social being, (zoon politikon/social creature, the divine passion unleashes. The wine-induced having an innate tendency of living in a drunkenness, the sexual excesses, the masks and the theater are just external signs of divine state and using the state as a means for 8 obtaining autarchy, i.e the necessary madness.” condition for practicing dianoetic virtue) 9. How does the human model: masculine/ • aesthetic being (art as an imitation of reality with a cathartic function: katharsis/ feminine appear? purification of the soul through a discipline A collection untitled Mind’s Games9, with a of passions) selection of the works between 1970 and 1991, The dualistic concept of the body and soul identifies in femininity a universal key, clavis originates in the Bible, Genesis 2.7: “God, our Lord universalis, a beloved principle of both the made Man out of earth, blew into his nostrils the medievals and postmoderns, an emblem for breath of life and thus Man became a living I. P. Culianu’s thinking, form of birth of a natural soul.” fractal. Placing the problem at the core of In the Dictionary of Religions, by Mircea Eliade, religion, as an approach to C. G. Jung’s thinking, Ioan P. Culianu6 , one discusses the symbolic in the idea that myth transposes a social code into initiatic brotherhoods of a warrior Iranian society, an exemplary narration (religious phenomena with violent practices, that range from drinking being in general religious “projections” of some haomei, to a monotheistic and dualistic pantheon. social factors), must be interpreted differently, Judgment of the individual soul, an old motive at an “epistemological level”, if we are to get to established in stories, refers to the separation of the meaning and intention of the myth, that are the souls from the body: the good will cross the metaphysical. Rituals help either to fit the norm, bridge with no trouble, the evil will fall into the or to liberate oneself from power by pressure flames of Hell and the ones who are neither good releasing moments (carnivals, orgies). There are nor evil will go to a purgatory, as the soul specialists of the power (shamans) who, in order ascends to heaven in three stages. to access the sacred , need first to die as laymen. Greek religions are caught in the Minoan Thus are explained certain paradoxes and legends7 (XV-th century, B. C.), archaic and antinomies, leading to the relationship with classic religion is the possessor of some myths magic and witches. and rituals to be observed in Iliad, with multiple The authors refer to the transformation of the dimensions, with sacrifices, with echoes in Dionysian excesses into Orphic faith and of the modernity through the individualization system image of the person who, after death, becomes a in religion and philosophy: “we are inferior soul/ psyché, that may turn into a daimon, just as
International Journal of Communication Research 155 Noemi Bomher a famous hero can become heroon, an intermediary source of matter, evil and death; 3. Sophia who heavenly being. Greek dualism was the basis of falls and leaves the heaven, but is forgiven and the Christian concept, as the sanctuaries/temenos and her rights are restored; 4. Sophia who sins became churches and the holidays calendar was and is forgiven without leaving Pleroma; 5. The transfered. inferior Sophia, who remains outside Pleroma, The idea can be upheld within Culianu’s soul but is forgiven and waits to have her rights concept that does not take into account the restored”14 historical origin of these legends, but the universal models that any doctrine concerned 10. What is the Christian tenet? with the limit between body and soul – wherever The Christian tenet was completed within it may come from – can impose. He proposes four decades, The New Testament represents the two models of the original ecstatic patterns: a oldest layer and has Jesus Christ (1-33) at the center Greek one, consisting of Iatromanti’s deeds, of of religion. Paul of Tars’ complex personality Plato’s myths10 and those of Plutarh, mentioned in the Hermetic and Gnostic writings of the (executed in 62) determines the propagation of Middle Ages and the Renaissance. In combination Christianity, Marcion (cca 80-55) deepens the with the scientifical and cosmological theories, breach between Judaism and Christianity, the Greek model becomes extremely complex, gnosticism, with its many spokesmen: Irineu involving a heaven storied in seven spheres, (cca 130-200), Ipolit of Rome (dead in 235), specialized on virtues that condition the soul’s Clement din Alexandria (dead in 215), transform destiny at its birth within the body (descent the Old Testament’s God into this world’s God. through the spheres) and at its leaving of the Origen (cca 185-254), Plotin (205-270) disagree body through death (ascent through the spheres). with the gnostics and believe in souls’ prior The other model, Jewish, comes from existence, without overlapping Plato’s metem- Babylon, developed by the Jewish and Christian somathosis. Ambrosius of Milan’s theology (cca apocalypses; in Arabian ecstatic traditions it 339-397) starts from Origen, and Augustin does not surpass the analogue. Jewish mythology (354-430) asks for absolute moral purity, because conceives the heavens as stages and not as “all humans inherit the original sin” and grace planetary spheres. The Arabian legends depend can only be granted to the chosen ones15 whose directly on the Jewish tradition, but the Arabian souls get in limited number to heaven, the rest writers’ imagination has influenced them very being massa perditionis. Due to translators, the much, so that they can be considered a true bases of scholastic will be found on Aristotle, up product of the Islam. An example of analogy to Abertus Magnus (1193-1280) and Toma of given by I. P. Culianu is the “judgment bridge” Aquino (1225-1274), aiming at a sanctification of (sirat) that the soul crosses to the world beyond purity that leads to nominalism, which opens the in the Arabian legends, having the same function doctrine of worlds’ pluralism and that of the as the “narrow bridge” from the Jewish and non-central position of the Earth, posited by Christian apocalypses of the Middle Ages. The Nicolaus Cusanus (1401-1468). feminine or masculine image needs a bridge Beginning with Humanism, the past is between Plato and the Bible11 . discovered as future, at Francesco Petrarca The “Mind’s Games”12 become important. Ioan (1304-1374) and Giovanni Boccacio (1313-1375). Petru Culianu shows that for the art of memory, What Marsilio Ficino (1433-1499) accomplishes Giordano Bruno used images with erotically regarding the body/soul relationship is a platonic charged fantasies13 , lots of them explained by syncretism, i.e the idea of a primal revelation of Sophia’s myth in the gnostic system, with a God and the true or hidden meanings of other possible Pythagorean origin, later become an religions, for Giovanni Pico della Mirandola explanation in five points: Sophia: „1. Sophia as (1463-1494). The Reform of Martin Luther the perfect match of God; 2. Sophia as main (1483-1546) and Jan Calvin (1509-1564) refers to
156 volume 2 • issue 2 April / June 2012 • p. 153-161 FEMININITY IN THE WORK OF IOAN PETRU CULIANU papal authority and austere morals, found in the 12. Does Good have: masculine / feminine European evangelisation system, as a colonial forms? model. The problem of Good can be argued from the The Christian religious system16 refers to perspective of the Essenes, who were dualists Christ’s divinity, to the relation between the and believed in two spirits, a good one and a Father, Holy Spirit and the Son, to the human or bad one, with the redeeming victory of the divine nature of Christ, or to the relation with good18. Obviously, this complex depends on the the icons or the church language. space and time location and on causality. Man is part of the nature and this duality starts from his 11. Does the Game on the truth about position in the system of thinking, which may be femininity: depend on philosophers, fiction, dual, the feeling of unity being acquired through or reality? the image of the soul within the dream, through In Tozgrec, Ioan Petru Culianu challenges the the symbolic processing of the world, the entire humanity to The Game of Truth, a worship and praise for the divinity being present counterweight to what he considers “sin against not only in sacred ceremonies, but also in lay spirit”, found under different names: activities. Duality, the fight of extremes, contra- “immobility”, “strengthened lie” and “cultural dictions, bipolarities of phenomena (good – evil, genocide”, the last of the three having “the suffering – happiness, light – darkness, interior deadliest effect” and being “immediately – exterior, manifestation – unmanifest etc.) tend visible”. A proceeding of the cultural genocide to become one by means of faith with differences is “the stagnation of ideas, coinciding with related to the symbol. Dualism was not clearly death”, since the people in this stage are, neither concentrated in the religious systems, even in more nor less, spiritually dead, although the philosophical systems it is structured on the physically, they obviousely continue living. One joining of contraries/coincidentia oppostorum, must discuss the connections of the soul’s different from monisms, which admit only one relations within Christian theology with images element and pluralisms, which refer to more of the Christ’s soul, human or divine, and with philosophical solutions. R. Descartes’ contra- the connections within the Trinity, as one may diction between thought and extension from argue the idea of a pre-existing or non Meditations on First Philosophy, shows that while pre-existing soul (created by God/not created dreaming we may even doubt our own body, by God). One must also discuss, theologically, and that is why the essential sentence remains: the Christian attitude toward the body COGITO ERGO SUM! transfigured by asceticism, that doesn’t exclude a powerful soul/body dualism. 13. Do the Mandala symbols: depend on the The concept about a new soul created by God combination masculine / feminine? becomes the orthodox concept, or derives from The explanation refers to the fact that symbols the multiplication of the parents’ souls. The have an interior mirroring: “Divinity’s symbols reform deals in fact with the predestination of are no longer felt by humans as existing souls to which Saint Augustine acceded. The separately from their existence, but as a center relationship between the masculine and within themselves.” Dreams in which the feminine soul, as well as one’s survival after mandala symbol appears (Indian term, meaning death in Hell, Heaven or Purgatory, depends on literally “circle”, but also a symbolic picture for a large mystic tradition, related to void and love, meditation, in which the space is organized with no clear distinctions between negative according to certain more or less established theology, love, mystical speculation, eucharistic criteria) indicate the fact that those dreaming mystic, with a certain technical character in “become conscientious of their self, they can Grigore Palamas (cca 1296-1359), spread in accept themselves as they are, they are able to Russia as hesychasm and Philokalia17. make peace with themselves,” and in this case,
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“the symbol of divinity seems to be filled with human wholeness”. This wholeness is technically named “Self” (das Selbst), designating „the wholeness of the human being, the sum of the conscious and unconscious elements. The symbols are fractals19 and they are joined by love. The term mystic is related to the biblical notion of mystery and designates the intimate connection between God and Man. This union is the mystery of divine Wisdom, the sense of His plan concerning the eternal destiny of humans, a meaning that is not even for angels to grasp, but which is revealed by God to the saints. The Gustav Klimt, Tree of Life, combined technique, Eastern tradition has never distinguished very 1905-1909, Kunst Muzeum, Vienna. well between mysticism and theology, the personal experience of the divine mysteries and References the Church tenet. If the mystic experience 1. Anton, Ted (2005) Eros, magie [i asasinarea profesorului internalizes the communal content of faith, Culianu, Ia[i, Polirom. theology orders and systematizes it. Thus, the 2. Aristotel (1969) De anima, Bucure[ti, Editura {tiin]ific\. life of every believer is structured by the 3. Culianu, Ioan Petru (2002) C\l\torii în lumea de dogmatic content of the liturgy and the doctrine dincolo, Ia[i, Polirom. tells the intimate experience of revealed and 4. Culianu, Ioan Petru (2002) Jocurile min]ii, Istoria shared in truth. Theology is mystic, and mystic ideilor, teoria culturii, epistemologie, Ia[i, Polirom. life is theological, i.e the Holy Trinity reflected 5. Culianu, Ioan Petru (1995) Gnozele dualiste ale in spirit. Even from the IV-th century, the Fathers Occidentului. Istorie [i mituri, Nemira. identify the mystery of salvation with the 6. Culianu, Ioan Petru (2006) Gnosticism [i gândire substance of the Sacraments, this fact explaining modern\. Hans Jonas, Ia[i, Polirom. 7. Eliade, Mircea (1997) [amanismul [i tehnicile arhaice why Saint Cyril of Jerusalem named his sermons ale extazului, Bucure[ti, Humanitas. Mistagogic Lectures, why Saint Maximus the 8. Eliade, Mircea, Ioan P. Culianu and H. S. Wiesner Confessor named his meditations on liturgy (col.) (1993) Dic]ionar al religiilor, Bucure[ti, Mistagogia or why Pseudo-Dionysius reunited Humanitas. his treaties under the title Mystical Theology. 9. Florenski, Pavel (1999) Stâlpul [i Temelia Adev\rului, Nicolae Cabasilas continues this tradition, Ia[i, Polirom. entitling his treatise about the Sacraments Life 10. Gavrilu]\, Nicu (2000) Culianu, jocurile min]ii [i lumile multidimensionale, Ia[i, Polirom. into Christ. 11. Gianpaolo, Romanato, Mario G. Lombardo, Ioan Petru Culianu (2005) Religie [i putere, Ia[i, Polirom. 12. Heidegger, Martin (1996) Originea operei de art\, Bucure[ti, Humanitas. 13. Heidegger, Martin (1988) Repere pe drumul gândirii, Bucure[ti, Editura Politic\. 14. Ortega Y Gasset, José (1995) “Not\ despre iubirea curteneasc\” in Studii despre iubire, Bucure[ti, Humanitas. 15. Patapievici, Horia-Roman (2010) Ultimul Culianu, Bucure[ti, Humanitas. 16. Platon (1992) “Banchetul”, 189e–190a in Asupra iubirii, Timi[oara, Editura de Vest. The Tree of Life and Death, from Book of Prayers 17. Ricoeur, Paul (1999) Conflictul interpret\rilor / Eseuri of Archbishop of Saltzburg, 1481, Bavaria State Library. de hermeneutic\, Cluj-Napoca, Echinox.
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Endnotes Aristotle, De anima, Translation and notes by N. I. {tef\nescu, introductory study by N. Boboc, 1 The graphics are taken from the Internet. Scientific Publishing House, Bucure[ti, 1969, p. 93. 2 Ioan Petru Culianu, idem, p. 179. 6 Mircea Eliade, Ioan P. Culianu, in collaboration with 3 Culianu was aiming to radically change the H. S. Wiesner, Dictionary of Religions, translation by methodology of the humanistic studies. At the end Cezar Baltag, Humanitas Publishing House, 1993, of the first trimester of 1990, he found himself for a p. 269-277 short while in a situation he had not met for fifteen 7 Ibidem, p. 159-277. years. He had no contracts for new books, no urgent 8 Ibidem, p. 164. materials to hand in, and no conference tours 9 Ioan Petru Culianu, Games of the Mind, History of coming. He was head of discipline at one of the most Ideas, Culture Theory, Epistemology, edition taken distinguished institutions for the study of religions. care of by Mona Antohi and Sorin Antohi, He had nothing left to prove to anyone. Confronted Introductory Study by Sorin Antohi, Translations by by lots of new theories of religion and history that he Mona Antohi, Sorin Antohi, Claudia Dumitriu, Dan wanted to explore, he stood in front of an unplanned Petrescu, Catrinel Ple[u, Corina Popescu, Anca future, searching for a new career breach. He thus Vaidesegan, Polirom Publishing House, Bucuresti, launched the project Enciclopedy of Magic. He con- 2002. sidered the eight volumes work of Lynn Thorndike, 10 Androgyny has been seen throughout time in History of Magic and Experimental Science, with the different ways: sometimes, a being of two parts, or spirit of which he disagreed, reproaching the maybe a deity; typifying sulfur and mercury, author’s superficial understanding and “disdain” for figuring fire and water, with androgynous images magic. He wanted to write a truly scientific work on symbolizing the union of contraries /coincidentia occultism. oppositorum, meaning the regaining of primordial Apud Anton, Ted, Eros, Magic and Professor Culianu’s oneness. From the French androgyne: Assassination, revised second edition, translation by Primary perfection, Cristina Felea, preface by Andrei Oi[teanu, Polirom The whole, Publishing House, 2005; p. 247. Ioan Petru Culianu, idem, p. 179. The unconditional status, Autonomy, 4 What is the soul, then? Through which coordinates is Aristotle’s view still manifesting its presence? “We Paradise regained, call life the ability of self – nurturing, growth and Reunion of primordial forces: eventually decrease” (p. 37) Each natural body that masculine-feminine, “participates to life” can be considered as “substance The joining of Heaven and Hell, composed,
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today, in the beginning there used to live three kinds the love of God, entitled (Eros -es). This is of people: man, woman and the third sex, that would the meaning that the holy fathers, theologians and ave something in common with the other two. the Christian philosophers will embrace, although Today, only the name survived, the being itself in most cases will be used instead of . disappeared. This gender was then called Philia is generally associated with friendship and androgynous, since its appearance comprised, as its emotion. It means loyalty towards friends, virtue, name did, a part of man and one of woman. Now, its equality, the joy of doing something together. name isn’t but a nickname, given to offend someone. Aristotle devotes an entire book to friendship, in Beside all that, every human’s body had a round Nicomachean Ethics defining it as the relationship appearance, the back and the ribs in the form of a between people who know they have good circle. They had four hands and as many legs. They intentions and wish each other good. Divinity is the also had two identical faces, set on a round neck, a cause of creation, while love is the force that brings single head, on which the two faces were set, one it to perfection. The way is a continuous upward facing the other, four ears, two genital organs and, journey to God, starting with the movement granted in the end, all the other things that one can easily by God, continuing with eros and ek-stasis, until the reconstitute by comparison to those stated so far.” human being unites with the loved one. This way, Plato, The Banquet, 189e–190a, translation by Cezar Eros is the highest degree of human’s love of God, all Papacostea în On Love, The Western Publishing virtues contributing to the divine eros, especially by House, Timi[oara, 1992, p. 21. means of righteous prayer. 11 As the Bible says, the first man was created in God’s Apud Pavel Florenski, The Pillar and Ground of the appearance. Adam, a man made of clay, is created Truth, Polirom Publishing House, Ia[i, 1999, p. 257. by God in the sixth day of Creation, symbolizing the 17 Mircea Eliade, Ioan P. Culianu, in collaboration with absurdity of freedom. He was banished from Heaven H. S. Wiesner, Dictionary of Religions, translation by because he wanted to identify himself with God. The Cezar Baltag, Humanitas Publishing House, p. 127. original man, symbolizing God living within Man is 18 Ibidem, p. 215. even now Adam Kadmon, the synthesis of the 19 Let’s say, the squares of a mathematics sheet of Universe (made in the center of the Earth/Mount paper... are colored in a certain way (blackened or Zion, conceived and forged out of the elements of marked with little crosses), according to a rule that the cardinal points, eternal symbol of love between takes into consideration color (or the presence/ God and earth, the primordial man). absence of the crosses) from all the neighbouring Jacques Collin De Plancy, Diabolic Dictionary, vol. I, squares (in the “primitive” cellular automata used to selection and translation by Rodica Rotaru, House of count only the immediately adjacent rows, possibly Publishing and Press “Via]a Româneasc\”, Bucure[ti, 1992, p. 16-15. just in one direction). curves with tangent 12 Ioan Petru Culianu, Games of the Mind, History of Ideas, Culture Theory, Epistemology, edition taken care of by Mona Antohi and Sorin Antohi, Introductory Study by Sorin Antohi, Translations by lines, Sierpinki’s Mona Antohi, Sorin Antohi, Claudia Dumitriu, Dan Petrescu, Catrinel Ple[u, Corina Popescu, Anca t r i a n g l e , Vaidesegan, Polirom Publishing House, Bucuresti, 2002, p. 95. 13 Ibidem, p. 109. 14 Ibidem, p. 121. Sierpinki’s sieve, 15 Mircea Eliade, Ioan P. Culianu, in collaboration with H. S. Wiesner, Dictionary of Religions, translation by Cezar Baltag, Humanitas Publishing House, 1993, p. 105. 16 Although the words , almost never appear in The Old Testament and are not acknowledged in Sierpinki’s carpet, the books of The New Testament, they are found in snowflakes Koch. the ascetic writings of mystic fathers such as Gregory The mathematician Benoît Mandelbrot proposed a of Nyssa, Nicholas Cabasilas or Simeon the New simple algebraic rule to construct a connected Theologian, to express superior love for God. Simeon two-dimensional figure, that highlights an incredible the New Theologian has even an extensive work on richness of complex details when examined at
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smaller and smaller scales. The Strange attractors area. The adjective strange is due to the difficulty refer to a regular regimen that becomes irregular or one has when presenting them and to their curious turbulent, as a consequence to the actions of the aspect. Attrators are usually fractals characterized strange attractors. In the chaos theory, attractors are by an irregular, complex geometrical structure. (just as the influnce of gravity) sets of values towards Fractal forms are any part of a fractal, enhanced, which the system migrates in time, also named reflecting the whole. In management, it is assumed “islands of stability”. Within a formula, an attractor that the different levels of organization are similar may be a single fixed point, a collection of points, a to others, as a fractal in the managerial hierarchy. complex orbit or an infinite number of points. One form of the social structure can be examined in Attractors can be ressembled to lakes, that gather all relation to the overall system characteristics at macro the rivers from a determined hidrographic basin, or and micro level. Fractals can be used to build useful to the processing (consumption) centers that models of some unpredictable and chaotic systems, concenter the traded goods currents from a certain where linear equations fail.
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