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More About Edward
Mirza (family origins)

Edward Mirza as Essayist

The distribution of 'I' (essay)
 

info@edmirza.com
07940 073 087

About
Edward Mirza was born in Oxford City, to an upper middle class English Oxbridge family, and also to an immigrant father who worked in the realm of economics.  Edward was a partaker of the scholastic ambience, taking a lively interest in philosophy and fine literature, mixing with the semi-aristocracy and bluestocking.  Edward may be seen to have been part of a broad spectrum of social activity, being somewhat embroiled in Oxford's status as a 'social cross-section of England.'

Edward Mirza is a fully trained classical tenor, and specializes in high Italian and French Romantic Opera (a technique more to be aligned perhaps with an "Italian" approach to singing), and also styles more aligned with western Pop.  Being of Eurasian origin, or because of his mixed ethnicity, Edward does not exactly identify with either definition and often seeks to express him self somehow in between the two.

Classical, African, and even Arab music make themselves felt in music industries all over the world.  This can be found in film scores, and in other genres as part of the industry.  Something of an anterior, or multi-ethnic feeling may be felt in the way that Edward Mirza interprets and delivers well known songs and arias.  Edward Mirza is also starting to write his own songs.  He often sees that a deliberately 'lo-tech' approach may be reflective of feelings and cultures which are not altogether subsidised either by public or private funding.

The songs commonly express feelings of poverty and economic neglect and public and private economic isolation, combined with ethnic estrangement, and emotions of western romantic love, combined also with the inclinations and indications of Transcendent ideas on our everyday lives.

The songs also reflect a consciousness of oriental interaction with the west in the development of various music genres; not only Jazz, but the early baroque, and other inflexions of western classical music.

The songs are an ongoing project, and are as yet, not ready for publication.

For Edward Mirza's music in general, please click here:

Songs

Edward Mirza's paintings explore symbols and how these may be used in a contemporary context, which stands in direct opposition to the theory of semiotics.  Edward Mirza may be seen to embrace earlier versions of the way in which words and pictures work.  This goes along with a sincerity, and a full training in figurative draftsmanship, in which Edward Mirza has sought to express himself in the tradition of the refinement of line.   This may be seen to often combine with a 'narrative' content, which, however, throws up the question of the distinction between narrative and symbol, history and historiography, which expresses itself in Edward Mirza's paintings.  Edward Mirza is an explorer of the notion of 'The Awesome,' in painting.  He may be seen to be a staunch representative of the 'New Sincerity.'

For Edward Mirza's paintings, please click here:

Paintings

Edward Mirza is also interested in dance and clothing and writes a post-colonial critique, in which notions arriving possibly from an informed but quite objective stand-point are expressed, normally pertaining to the ideas expressed, but in particular to the nature of philosophy, AND IN PARTICULAR TO THE SOCIAL EFFECT, of our Transcendent heritage and how this affects our everyday lives.

[Edward Mirza is widely read and informed in western philosophy and eastern religion along with psychoanalysis and how these link, and produces a social critique in which these ideas are accounted for in a non-committal and fully considered force - and sees it as an inevitable part of our language which cannot be ignored]

For Edward Mirza's writings please click here:

Writings









About Ed Mirza continued:

Usman Michael Jalal (Edward) Mirza may be described to be of Eurasian origin, with such diversity in his background as Persian, Turk/Mongol, from the Indus Valley, Greek, Mesopotamian and other origins on his fathers side, and English and French Hugonaught on his mother's side.

On his mother's side, Edward Mirza's Great Grandfather was W.R. Matthews the Dean of Saint Paul's London.  W.R. Matthews was the Dean of Saint Paul's during the blitz in The Second World War, and another interesting thing about Edward Mirza's Great Grandfather was that he took Winston Churchill, the famous Second World War Prime Minister of England his funeral.


Dean Walter Robert Matthews, The Dean of Saint Paul's Cathedral London,  Edward's Great maternal Grandfather in his costume

W.R. Matthews has written a number of books, in which philosophical and theological matters are described, and it may be seen that W.R. Matthews stands as an early representative of those who criticise Dualism (i.e. the modern split between mind and matter), and he explicitly mentions Descartes in this matter:



Matthews, Walter, Robert, The Gospel and the Modern Mind, (Macmillan and co., London, 1925)

The wife of W.R. Matthews was a novelist writing under the name of:

His first son Edward Mirza's Great Uncle, was Michael Matthews, it may be said of him that he exhibited unusual qualities in that he left his philosophy final early in order to get his cricket Blue, and still got a distinction.

Michael Matthews became a captain of a destroyer battleship during world war II which is recognised as having undertaken many heroic deeds before being finally sunk by bombers in _____ Michael was 27 years old.


Image of Edward Mirza's Great Uncle Michael Matthews, Captain of the H.M.S. Greyhound


Edward's Maternal Grandfather was W.B. Matthews who became a world famous Neurological consultant and was one of the first 4 professors of Neurology in the world (University College Oxford).

Another interesting thing about him was that he was the captain of the rugby team at Oxford University.

Edward has seen that Prof. W.B. Matthews his profession of Neurology is interesting in terms of his interest in comparisons between eastern and western religion.

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Image of Edward's maternal Grandfather W.B. Matthews (1920 - 2001)

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Image of Edward's maternal Grandfather W.B. Matthews (1920 - 2001) as painted by Edward Mirza (hanging in the Matthews Ward at Edinburgh Hospital)

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Image of Edward's maternal Grandfather W.B. Matthews (1920 - 2001) (private collection)

W.B. Matthews's wife Margaret Matthews was also a member of the society for psychical research, and undertook many interesting investigations into eastern religion and also attended groups in association with the work of G. I. Gurdjieff.  She is still alive in Botley, Oxford.

Edward Mirza's Uncle Paul Matthews is a teacher of creative writing at the Rudolph Steiner School in Sussex, England.  He is also a poet.

One of his poems is represented below:

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Image of Paul Matthews drawn by Edward Mirza

Edward Mirza's father is an immigrant originally from Narawa, indiginous Pakistan who was educated over-seas and in Oxford and became a chartered accountant.  He has recently retired from a career as a lecturer in management accountancy.

Edward Mirza's Pakistani heritage may also be traced back to merchants in Pakistan, and into Iran.

Mirza is a Persian name inherited from both the maternal and paternal side of his paternal Grandparents.  It will have been part of the complex Islamic heritage in Pakistan who's routes extend to early Arab invaders through Timberlain and the great Moghuls, as well as having descent from Persia through his Grandmother.  Countless ethnic orgins may be seen to have influenced this part of the world including Iranian, Mesopotamian, Turk/Mongol, Greek, and Indus Valley.  Edward Mirza's origins are somewhat unfathomable within these diverse and amorphous nationalities.

Taken from the point of view of the collective unconscious, this may have interesting implications in terms of his 'genetic memory'.



Edward Mirza has taken a lively interest in philosophy and, as stated above is widely read in these matters, as well as in the disciplines of psychoanalysis and both eastern and western religion.

The below may be regarded as the most exhaustive passage within which his considerations are set.

HOW AM I I, AND NOT YOU? - Ed Mirza

Considerations of The 'Distribution of 'I'', Time, Memory, Thought, Consciousness, Intelligence, The Origin of the Universe, Notions of 'Evolution', Mathematics, Quantum Leaps, and the 'distribution of 'I''


Time, the origin of matter, life force, and the sense of 'I'

Time

Objects move and the nature of their movement can be used to predict and actualise meetings and coincidences.

Devices have been developed to break down the nature of these movements of objects and this movement of objects has been called time.

Movement may be seen to result from energy.

The force of the energy creates movement which gives a sense of time.

From this it's quite easy to see that energy and matter produce time, and that everything else simply does not exist.  It just doesn't exist.  It's quite easy to conceptualise this.

The measure of time, as developed by humans, is actually a measurement of movement.  So in this sense, the comparison of the Universe to a watch, is quite apt, a kind of clockwork device, seemingly neither slowing down nor speeding up, but continuing to evolve or regenerate.

That is to say that the origin of objects may be seen to have started from a single [physical] source, and the development of matter regenerating and multiplying itself, itself a general form of energy.

The matter itself must have generated from somewhere, and cannot it seems, have appeared, which is why it seems logical to say that energy must have existed before matter.

It seems right to say it must have been a potent force that could have generated the sheer quantity of matter that seems to make up our universe no matter how many 'millennia' or how 'long' it took.  It seems to imply a very potent force, and to 'move' with a certain force.

Yes I am saying that matter must have been generated from somewhere and that this urge or thrust must have been (and still be) a very potent force.  It must be very potent when you consider the size (well in comparison to us) and this potency itself must be governed by mathematical laws.

The nature of our movements as humans, seems also to be governed by a similarly universal law of the universe, and we can only move with the speed our organisms will dictate, which itself in turn dictated by the general thrust of movement in the universe.

Universe in itself, 'as a term' seems to imply a single mathematical equation.

Origin of Mathematics

Seems to me to have a binary core related to things being [existence] and not being [non existence], creating an initial duality, from which arises all other equations.  I believe all life and all matter and the the nature of time (therefore) results from this mathematics.  Yes, I am saying that mathematics was discovered.

Evolution of life forms on earth and 'intelligence'

Problem with Darwinian brand of natural selection:

Implies too much randomness possible in humans, which could not be politicised, and which have not been actualised.

Any kind of 'evolution' of animals, organisms, plants, humans, or development, Is likely to be governed by mathematical laws, in correspondence with those of the universe, which would discount natural selection itself as being operational.

We are talking actually about an evolution of life not only from animals to humans but from minerals, to plants, to animals, to humans which implies an extraordinary set of quantum leaps, which I feel must me accounted for by mathematical laws rather than any other organic form of impact.

I feel humans are mathematically related to [their] DNA and that this is a stronger force than their relation to their environment.

So there could be a mathematical explanation of evolution, connected with the nature of DNA, this is the view I am more inclined to take, as the theory of natural selection seems to imply too much randomness and any such process would be most likely governed by certain laws, namely mathematics.

I really feel mathematics is all we have to go by, in the structure of our thoughts, our bodies, and in the nature in which we receive impressions, and hence for evolution 'or the development of life'.

[Our structure is obviously mathematical, so why should not our development be mathematical?]

In this sense, mathematics could be used as a basis for politics.

Memory, thought and the sense of 'I'

[Locus and formation of the sense of 'I'']

The main problem I consider is the sense of 'I'.

Well I have heard it argued that the sense of 'I' as arguably experienced by humans as a result of complex interactions in the brain.

Is the sense of 'I' only possible in creatures with neurons?

If the universe is more complex than humans, could it too have a sense of 'I'?

Could a sense of 'I' be experienced, you could say, in a degenerate form, by a plant?

Aside: You can imagine on another planet, a kind of plant with bones, flesh and neural pathways and a sense of 'I' that is nonetheless linked to the soil, in the same way as plants on this planet.

This again brings the question of quantum leaps and mathematics.

We arguably have plant structures in our vascular and nervous systems.  But could a reasonably complex (or comparatively intelligent) creature have a different relationship between mineral, vegatable and animal within itself?  Of course one is limited here by the consideration of the component factors of life being animal, vegetable and mineral and mineral, but could mathematics (if it is the fundamental nature of things) allow other quantatitive ingredients?

What distribution of sensory factors, or physical attributes, is necessary for certain qualities of a sense of 'I'.

Could a creature exist incorporating one or more senses of 'I'.  Would this be the case with a severe case of a Siamese twin?

Would mathematics allow creatures with a far, far, greater life span, in comparison with the movement of objects, than ourselves?

Can a computer develop a sense of 'I'?  Is it a valid sense of 'I' in the sense that you consider yours to be?  If it were argued to be the case that a computer could have an 'I', would you think twice about killing it?

Could an electrical being exist, with a sense of 'I'?  Given the great size and expanse and 'age' of the universe perhaps other possibilities of qualities of life form 'probably' involving electricity (itself equally organic), could exist.

These divisions of animal, vegetable and mineral also seem to me to follow mathematical laws.

Is the qualities of the sense of 'I' informed by mathematical laws?  I would say it is.  How is the sense of 'I' determined in other objects?  I would say by intelligent reaction.  It could be argued the more intelligent the object the greater it's sense of 'I'.

Thought as something completely biological and unemotional

If thought is taken as a purely biological, and unemotional, is it something that can exist without a sense of 'I', then it can be said that the electronic signals and memories are some form of 'thought'.

Thought, it is argued, is a quality attributable to objects that have a sense of 'I'.  Just how it is quantified, may be seen to link to neural signals, sparked by what ever cause.  Memory also seems to be stored as it were, one could say a kind of crystallised set of neural transmissions however open to distortion, housed in neural structures of the brain.

If thought is considered to be the intelligent interactions of an intelligent being through it's electronic components, resulting in memory, could it be considered that DNA, or other cellular structures are 'intelligent' and containing 'thoughts'.

If thought is taken as a purely biological, and unemotional, is it something that can exist without a sense of 'I', then it can be said that the electronic signals and memories are some form of 'thought'.

I suppose it is only logical to wonder whether 'thought' patterns or comparable actions can exist in other forms in the universe, whether, memory can exist in different forms, and formed by other means, in different dynamics in the universe (as it were composed of electrons in exactly the same way as DNA).

If thoughts are to be defined as electronic signals relating also to memory banks as stored electrical pathways, is a kind of thought taking place in lower organisms (plants minerals etc.)?

If thought is a series of electrical transmissions, and let us say with some emotional content, could these result in similar brain impulses in different people?

Can it be said that DNA is intelligent?

Quality of Thought, Electrical charges, neural registers, and neural processes

I was lying next to an epileptic person and felt an electric twinge in my head just before they had a fit.

Let's say that an emotional charge in a person, has an electrical quality (probably governed, by this analysis, by mathematics) could such a spark as activated by whatever process, activate a similar spark in another person?

Could such transmission happen in any way with thought?  If thoughts are results of electromagnetic energy then it could be they have similar equations and be 'as it were' shared?

Being as memory

If a being, such as a memory, or an entity is possible, as a result of a kind of crystallised form of electronic signals and promptings, could this thing be called a being?  Could this things be said to have a sense of 'I'.  Could such a being exist as 'memory' somewhat existing somewhat as space time.

Well it could be argued that a human being is a physical organism held together by memory.  It is not only, memory that keeps our cells in the same structure but also [keeps intact] our function and conception of self.

A basic model of psychology is the formation of different 'I structures' based on memory (or crystallised neural structures).  In exactly the same way this could be seen to be different life (if a life form is taken to be an 'entity with a sense of 'I') forms formed in one being.  This also, in a certain way promotes what is known to us about life generating 'life'.




Part 2:

Problem of when 'time' 'begins', the mathematical fulfilment of possibilities, problem of chaos theory, and the main problem - the 'registering' of 'I's.

The Other Problem, 'Who 'registers' the sense of 'I''

This notion of mathematics as set out above, without any doubt, implies that only one possibility is possible, that things could only have unfolded in one way, and that humans were bound to exist, and that everything you do and see was bound to exist.

- that the universe could only exist in one way and must exist in one way, and also that it must exist, and in a funny kind of a way that it must always have existed, since, although we can start to measure 'how long' things take to move (since 'time may be seen to be based on the measurement of movement), we cannot measure or pinpoint the exact point [starting point] at which it started, [or relate 'when' it started, since nothing was moving] - which is exactly the problem of chaos theory, there was no when, which can be measured, that it actually started which implies it must have always existed (have just 'appeared')...

In spite of the problems of chaos theory, their observations do not imply that the above is not true, it is just that humans cannot develop equations and tools to predict events because 'they don't know quite where to start'.

This points to exactly what I say against the theory of natural selection for example.

Then if you consider that other possibilities for the universe were possible, other combinations and equations possible, it can be seen that these possibilities are finite in number (though great in multitude) but also governed by mathematical laws.

The law of mathematics may allow for other possibilities within any given moment.

This point of view may also be used to consider that if you are not 'part' of a universe you don't know about it.  So that if any other great unfurling of matter and energy and 'time' happened of which we were not part, we would not know about it.  We said it was easy to conceptualise 'nothingness' in paragraph 5 above.  But this conception of nothingness implies that almost anything is possible in the combination as we know it of matter and energy - this implies nothing other than what it says.

But I would say these possibilities are governed by mathematical laws.



The distribution of 'I' - the main problem

Though it possible, from the outside, to consider how a being, or collection of memories, can develop a sense of 'I' it is not possible to understand what it was that, or how it was, or by what random, or mathematical chance, decided you were not that creature or being, as it were, the 'register' of their 'I', came to be subject, to that 'I'.  The difference between your 'I', and that of other people is that you register your 'I', for some reason you became identified with that consciousness and not another - this is the main problem indeed.

Though all this may be or may not be possible about the distribution of senses of 'I', it seems it incredibly hard to consider why it is one, or 'you' are the 'register' of one of these 'I's and not another - could this too be governed by mathematical laws, I would say so.