michael kiyoshi salvatore

i am a millennial with a background in anthropology (b.a.) and fine arts (b.a. and m.f.a.). i have worked in education and art fabrication. i am pursuing a license in counseling.

since i can remember, i have had an interest in metaphysical absolutes and found comfort in the certainty they provided. from my idyllic catholic upbringing and its emphasis on the ultimate polarity of good and evil, to the archetypal japanese cartoon imports of the nineties, i believe i came by it honestly.

by my teenage years i had lost my faith after larping neopagan ideas, and subsequently began suppressing my interest in any ideas that aren’t grounded in physical principles. if i could feel so strongly for god for so long and then consider the possibility of multiple higher powers, it seemed that all metaphysical beliefs, whether they be in souls, heaven, or reincarnation, were groundless and absurd. around the same time, i was first exposed to the reality of global inequities and made aware of the gross extent of my material privilege, bringing shame to my youthful innocence and former belief in a morally clear cosmos.

in college, i was nihilistic. i increasingly came to see consciousness as a mere epiphenomenon of matter, and possessed a bleeding heart and utopic vision that led me to join political circles that sought radical solutions for our corrupt world.

at the same time, anthropology and the study of myth and symbol captured my imagination and led me to again explore metaphysics under the cover of academic legitimacy and self-expressive whimsy in my art. though i understood the inevitably constructed and contextual nature of meaningmaking and the power relations underlying it, i was irrepressibly drawn towards patterns that seemed to persist across time and space as coherent, underlying mechanisms.

upon leaving my undergraduate studies, i put my metaphysical musings aside and political idealism to the test, hoping to become part of a solution for healing the world. it didn’t go that way, leaving me to rebuild my worldview from scratch; i had to resolve my interest in disreputable beliefs with my skepticism and accept the latter aren’t going away, even if entertaining them risked going native.

my work on this project presents the theories, philosophies, and worldviews that have led to my renewed belief in universals, not as a mere salve for the always-relative, particular, and fluid nature of reality, but as credibly, coherently real. at the same time, i don’t want to suffer any delusions, and desire the critique of others to check my excesses.

in our increasingly complex and interconnected world, discovering a credible bedrock of belief that can undergird it could have more benefits than costs, and it’s therefore worth trying.

that’s how i see myself and my intentions at least.