"His master's voice" , by Erik Pevernagie, oil on canvas, (100 x 80 cm)

The mix-breed fox terrier, Nipper that gave color and spirit to the music world of the gramophone age, shows with what attentiveness and contentment it is listening to 'his master's voice.' The master's voice brings about a feeling of security and comfort.

However, the master's voice can have many other qualities and effects too. 'Voices' and messages can be interpreted in many different ways. Gazillion people had to die because of a misreading of specific texts or a misconception of unwritten laws.

Literalist explanations of messages of elected or self-proclaimed masters have very often led to disputes. "The master's voice" has frequently been elucidated in a variety of forms and led to many controversial interpretations of religious or ideological issues.

Though contentious topics have sometimes been agreed upon peacefully, they have often generated appalling situations. That's why people should regularly walk out of the inclusive cinemascope of their comfort zone and perceive things from a distance with an external eye to approach matters critically or objectively. They might then get rid of the shadows that are suffocating them with traditional ideas and ossified thoughts.

Sometimes the master's voice has impregnated people's thinking in such a way that they have started seeing, hearing, and thinking things that don't exist. Then, it is time someone came to wake them up. While many find the new clothes of the emperor magnificent, some dare to say out loud that he is stark naked. If the clear-sighted are constrained by the gullible and when the "followers" are browbeating the "knowers," the cat is among the pigeons, and the age of obscuration is underway. Then "something wicked may have come this way ..."

Trustworthy masters should give enough mental tools to their pupils to create an original and independent mind and a spirit of tolerance that can enable them to think for themselves without becoming mere hangers-on.

Finding access to the 'open public space' is the challenge that matters in life. We may know that everyone might feel like an alien to someone else or sometimes even to oneself, whether native, foreigner, or exile, whether assimilated or singular, whether straight or gay.

Be that as it may, a basic premise for the safeguard of self-fulfillment is the availability of a comforting maneuvering ground for one and all and an opportunity to enter a 'space of appearance' with a gate to a 'citizenship of the world.'

Phenomenon: Interpretation of messages and voices

Factual starting point of the picture: Master with pupils