(Prints 95x110 cm, 61x70 cm)
At the core level, we are all connected with hundreds, maybe thousands of people, we do not know almost anything about. We borrow their experience and often act relying on it, bearing the burden of their lives. The voices of our ancestors wove into a silent choir, which often humbles to us our aspirations, thoughts and decisions. Many of these decisions help us to survive and succeed, but this is not always true.
Each person is born with an inherited knowledge maintaining direct contact with it until 2 years old. As own mind builds up, genetic memory is pressed out into the structures of the "collective unconscious." The memories of our ancestors sometimes reveal in dreams, in a state of trance or deep meditation as events, we could not witness during our life. The experience of these events and resulting emotional injuries affect our behavior, as if we were real participants. Scientists call it “genetic memory”. The word "memory" here is rather a metaphor, demonstrating an epigenetically encoded tendency to certain types of behavior.
In 2013, after conducting a series of experiments on mice, scientists proved the fact of transferring experience at the gene level. They taught mice to be afraid of the smell of bird cherry, which has the substance acetophenone. The offsprings of these mice were just as afraid of the smell of bird cherry as the offsprings of their offsprings.
Perhaps, recalling your ancestors, you are able to take a fresh look at yourself and your life! Wars, famine and repressions can hardly be called a pleasant experience. It helps us to be invisible, to fear, to live in tension, to hide our thoughts and feelings, to suppress our individuality, to ignore our needs, dissolving in the crowd.