"I enjoy confounding people," said Otto Muehl, the provocative German artist who passed away this week.  "That is my big idea.  I have nothing more."
     While we may disagree with the content of some of Muehl's art (much of his work is very controversial), we can nonetheless learn from his fundamental intention.  When we are confounded, when we are challenged in what we know or what we consider to be conventional and normal, or when we are asked to examine things we would rather not examine, we are forced to look at life from another angle, another perspective, one that we otherwise would not even entertain.  We broaden our horizon of human variation.
     Moreover, we come to realize how committed we are to our starting points.  If we are firm in our beliefs, we realize that in defending them we become stronger in them.  We embrace the challenge because we emerge more richly embedded in what we believe to be true.
     Sure, we may not like Muehl's work, but we cannot argue with the necessary challenge they present:  if our belief systems do not stand up to confounding, perhaps we need to rethink them.  Perhaps we need to ask ourselves whether they are really true.
     Thanks, Otto Muehl, for showing us how vital confounding is to the human imagination.  In your purpose, we see greater purpose still.
     Such a marvel is the human being.