then i asked myself: "what is randomness?". i first thought randomness was a natural law that would make any development possible. then from the notion of randomness, i came to chance. i realized that the word "random" was on emergency word [hilfswort], a substitute word to describe our inability to identify the knot of causes leading to such and such events. at that time, i tried to develop and make "models": "models of reality built from thought form" [wirklichkeitmodelle von gedachter form]; large random drawings from programmes of various levels of complexity. meanwhile, i had travelled much and discovered that chance did not exist without change. this led me to write chance & change in 1970 whilst in teheran, and soon after, "the chance of the change is the change of the chance and the change of the chance is the chance of the change."

in 1968, i put 'argumentstellen' [argument place] by wittgenstein into images [note 1. wittgenstein, tractatus 2.0131]. from then on, when travelling, i noticed that in every new place i stayed, i would experience my past differently and in correlation the future too - then i came to speak of chance channels, where one or something finds himself or itself. instead of channels, we could also say ways. i often also use the word stream, which is more dynamic and describes the process better becouse "stream" evokes movement. when you seize a chance, it might lead to a change because you find yourself in a new chance field which range of possibilities [bereich des möglichen] you do not know yet nor can you experience it as a whole. a chance field [chance feld] is very often infinite for it does not exclude the possibility of being related to another chance field. yet, each chance field has its conditions which means conditioning. every chance is unique. there is no repetition, only similarities : different & identic.

all these conceptual developments have been and still are strongly linked to the observation of reality and nature is the primary reality. the complete model of reality is reality itself. thus i started to present "reality as the document of itself". my concrete poetry thus became effectively concrete. i also began research by means of series of photographs. this had always to do with this, this & no thing. each aspect of reality represents the whole - here & everywhere.

reality, especially primary reality, nature, has become a revelation. we do not have any other reality than this one, this. this revelation became more attainable with lsd. hashish has helped me in my contemplative observation. all became a central concept and, connected with it, unity. new chance realisations keep appearing inside this all in unity.

to be all ways to be, to be ways to be to be all to be ways to be to be.

if we become aware [wird gewahr] of our share in this process, then we are filled with joy.

we distinguish between you & me, yes & no, different & identic, chance & change, and so on. all these are aspects of all separated by language. when something is separated, it has to be integrated again. this is re-ligion. the ephemeral is an aspect of change & change. it is included in the whole, in unity. the world cannot be broken up into facts!

the fundamental questions "what", "why", "from where", "to where", are thus answered: this, here - the miracle that is this reality remains; natural sciences do not erase the miracle. the results of scientific research only increase the miracle.

the concepts printed in bold type are key-words, marks, points. everybody can find the links by themselves. it is an open philosophy.

herman de vries. eschenau 16.05.03