The average person’s perception of sight can possibly be credited or blamed for many of their moods and feelings as they move through their days.
How a person actually sees can help create a happy and fulfilled life – or the opposite.
Recent scientific findings indicate that for the average person ninety(90%) percent of the perception of vision takes place in the brain. Average refers to people who have near normal vision with or without corrective lenses and normally healthy brains.
The remaining ten percent (10 %) of the process of vision occurs through the eyes. happens in the eyes, which receive perceptions of light that they send to the brain.
People have been rendered blind, or blind in specific ways by damage to their brains. For instance, one brain injured man can see, but is not able to recognize any faces.
The majority of the complex processes that we call vision happens as the brain decodes the perceptions of light received from the eyes. It does this by comparing and contrasting the perceptions to visual memories it has of prior perceptions.
The more visual memories a person has of different sights, including people, places and things, the more perceptive a person is, especially in relation to what has been seen previously. These memories are stored variously in a person’s brain and can be interconnected or cross referenced.
Some of this information was discovered when medical breakthroughs for a few conditions allowed surgeons to restore the eyesight of adults who had been blind since birth or early childhood. While the procedures were a success, the patients were completely unable to see how many fingers were held up, recognize faces or see anything more than impressions of light.
The newly “healed” patients were effectively blind as they lacked any visual memories. Newborns lack visual memories, which is why they seem to see, but do not respond to visual information at first. Over time, with increased visual experience, the patients created visual memories. Eventually, much in the way that children do, they learned to see and understand complexities of color, space, form, density, etc.
When an average adult sees something, the brain decodes the impressions of light sent by the eyes to make it usable and relevant. The similar memories that the brain uses may have additional meanings and understandings that are irrelevant decode the impressions of light, but are understood as relevant by the brain.
When the brain decodes impressions of light, it is decoding impressions of energy and pre-matter or basic particles. This is what light is. So, to the brain, data memories that are similar to the impressions received are relevant, and if those memories include more data of energy and basic particles it could be relevant, too.
Actually, the brain is bringing up many, many memories seemingly simultaneously, and even from different areas of the brain to decode a complex image that contains a lot of data that involves unfamiliar people and things. These memories can include emotion, which is energy and basic particles and like all memories is stored as such.
If I person has a history of being upbeat or happy, beginning with a comfortable, supportive and healthy childhood and continuing into adulthood, any emotional energy attached to the visual memories used for decoding are likely to be happy or at least neutral. These emotions may seem relevant to the brain as a part of the visual data since they offer additional information of energy and basic particles. Or, they can simply be brought up as part of the memory package.
However, people who have childhoods and/or adult lives filled with stress, trauma and unwanted emotion are unconsciously reminded of emotions and unresolved memories as the brain decodes current impressions of light of people places and things that should be easy to encounter and non- threatening.
The memories used as the decoding data are not usually brought to consciousness, but emotions, being emotions, can be felt.
People who have a tendency to be sad, angry, fearful, guilty, or any other unwanted emotion, may be experiencing these emotions on an ongoing and constant basis as their brains decode the impressions sent by their eyes. This is why going away, to someplace new and strange can seem so uplifting—no memories to re-stimulate.
Thoughts are things – or more precisely energy and pre-particles (matter). Memories are thoughts that are stored. Emotions, which are usually produced by thought, whether conscious or unconscious, are energy and pre-particles, too. Both can be seen and measured through brain imaging.
If the brain is taught to visually recognize emotional energy as just energy when it decodes perceptual impressions, emotional subconscious re-stimulation would abate for most people.
For example, when decoding a light impression of a cup that is similar to a cup used by an abusive older relative in one’s youth, the brain would select visual memories of the original cup to use in the visual decoding process. Like post it notes attached to a memo, negative and unwanted but experienced energies and pre-particles of the emotions of fear, anger, sadness, etc, would all fleet by unconsciously as attachments to the memory. These could be experienced, and even then misunderstood as a part of the individual’s personality.
Ironically, we refer to people’s positive or negative, glass half-full or half-empty world views as their “outlooks”. This could be literally correct.
If the brain uses the same memories, but learns to “view” the energies of the emotions as just energies and particles (without adding or attaching the significances of fear, anger, sadness, etc.), which are irrelevant to decoding visual information, the emotional information is not felt, even unconsciously.
This may seem impossible but it is already being accomplished by scientists through brain imaging. The brain’s emotional centers, and even specific thoughts are being seen as energy. However the scientists and doctors have lack knowledge of the actual specific content of the thoughts – but they can see the energy of the thoughts in brains.
It is also being accomplished through a new form of art, Post Conceptual UnGraven Image, founded by artist and author Judy Rey Wasserman. The brain can be taught to see more energy through specific visual images that purposefully use strokes to symbolize energy, which form pictures, just as traditional artists form imagery. This gives the brain a way to create and accumulate visual memories with information it previously lacked, but which human eyes are capable of perceiving.
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Intense exposure and looking at these works of Post Conceptual UnGraven Image Art and through various Visual Exercises/Techniques that use the images in a new e book, The Art of Seeing The Divine , seem to be able to change the way an individual actually sees the world.
Simply, thanks to the new visual memories more energy is seen everywhere. After this is established the brain seems to understand emotions that are attached to memories it uses for visual decoding as simply energy and particles. The emotional significance of that energy is now irrelevant. Thus, fewer unwanted emotions are experienced.
Since sixty percent (60%) of the average person’s brain is allocated to the perception of sight, lowering the amount of ongoing memories of negative or unwanted emotions offers a great deal of relief!
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Ironically, one of the unheralded benefits of most meditative practices happened when the practitioner closes his or her eyes. This effectively ceases any and all visual stimulation or decoding, and therefore no emotional memories are brought into the experience this way. Of course a person may remember images or envision at will, but once a person’s eyes are closed any outside visual stimulation ceases.
Visual perception is a basic and effective way to navigate the world. We rely on our sight so much that it is the only sense that must be “turned off” in order to sleep. It is also the sense we have the most control over, simply because we can and do close our eyes. We cannot as easily shut out any other sense. We are just beginning to discover the benefits of additional conscious control through purposefully adding visual memories.
Tags: art, blond, brain, control, e book, emotions, energies, energy, eyesight, impressions of light, memories, memory, mind, moods, negative emotion, particles, perception, renew, restore, unwanted emotion, vision, visual, visual memories, visual perception, visually decode
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Do We Need Religious Art?
November 10th, 2008 by Admin | 12 Comments | Filed in UncategorizedIs religious art relevant in Contemporary Art? Do we need it? Does it do more harm than good?
There is a lively discussion on religion and art over at Art News Blog , one of the blog sites I frequent for news of the art world.
Essentially, Carol, the intrepid blogger-journalist went on a self professed rant, more about problems that seem to stem from organized religion, like wars, and questioned whether artists should promote religious views, or moreover dogma.
To be fair, Carol then backtracked as many of the Western World’s greatest artworks are religious.
This was posted on Sunday and by the time I checked in on Monday, the comments were flying back and forth, again more dealing with religion than art.
As far as I know, I am the only founder from the USA with an original theory of religious art, Post Conceptual UnGraven Image . Being uniquely American, although Judeo-Christian based the theory is fully inclusive of most of the world’s religions and paths (see the manifesto). So of course I chimed in with a comment, adding to the original post and the comments up to that point.
It is a topic that deserves many posts, comments and dialogue. A polite discussion is healthy. It may seem corny, but communication really does build understanding, and that includes the special visual communication of art.
One of the problems with any of the current discussions about religion is simply defining the term, “religion”. People who line up against organized religion are more against the abuses that have occurred by leaders and followers who have twisted the message or been two faced for their own gain.
When a person gets an egotistic benefit, such as thinking they are superior to others, by belonging to a group or following a spiritual path that is a perversion of the intended purpose of the path. This kind of abuse, whether it happens on a one-to-one personal level or on a large scale (war), is always a perversion. It is no better than common prejudice or its extreme of ethnic cleansing.
The purpose of a spiritual or religious path is to assist a person to be closer to The Divine (my catch-all acceptable term, please substitute the name you prefer for the One). Being closer to The Divine is transformative as coincidentally this means becoming more of one’s essential self. As just about every religion, certainly the major ones teaches, we are spiritual beings who have physical forms (bodies), thus being more of who we are means being more spiritual.
Psalm 19 (Andy Warhol)
Fine artists were the shaman, the religious leaders of the early tribes and groups. Most great artists have always spiritually led through their work. Towards the end of his life, Andy Warhol began a series somewhat based on Da Vinci’s Last Supper, in which commercial logos were substituted for religious components. For instance, the Dove Soap logo symbolized the Holy Spirit. Having brought art into the supermarket with Campbell ’s Soup cans and Brillo boxes, Warhol flipped the Pop focus to bring religion into the commercial world, too. The profane becomes holy, the holy profane.
Warhol predated the selling of religion that we have seen through the media. Depending on the message sold and how the power and profits earned are used, as individuals we approve or not. It was an artist to point out the then current links between business as religion and religion as business.
Personally, I would not wish to live in a world without the religious art that has been so meaningful to my own spiritual quest.
Van Gogh, a former preacher who considered himself to be a religious painter, has inspired me with his energy that presents a dance of dichotomies; pain, suffering, fury swirling with joy, lust and glory. What could be more religious?
Pissarro and Monet, the Jew and the Catholic (among others) who knew they were painting, “Let there be light…”
Chagall, with his enchanting mystic villages of simple tradition and love overcoming life’s trials
Dali, who investigates the spirituality of time and quest inspiring unexpected insights.
My list it too long. I have just begun.
But notice that none of the artists were actually promoting one group over another, and that even when a specific theology is presented, such as in Da Vinci’s, Warhol’s and Dali’s Last Supper works, the theology is universally transcended by what the artist conveys.
Psalm 22 (Rembrandt)
Being an artist is a responsibility, as much as a gift. My appreciation of the gift I have been given to be a religious artist is equaled or surpassed by my appreciation of the gifts I have received from seeing the works of those artists previously mentioned along with so many others.
And since we can all learn much from a discussion – please comment!
Tags: art, art blog, Art News Blog, art world, artist, artists, Brillo, comments, Da Vinci, Dali, Dove, inspirational, inspire, Last Supper, Michaelangelo, Monet, Pissarro, portraits, religion, Religious art, religious debate, Rembrandt, van Gogh, warhol, Western Art