Eyes Searching

“So through the eyes love attains the heart:

  For the eyes are the scouts of the heart.”

Though I first heard the second line from Joseph Campbell, I recently tracked down the original source, a 12^th century poet named Guirant de Borneilh. It’s something I quote frequently because years of teaching art students has shown how differently they can look at the same thing. Through seeing we discover what we care about because in any scene we are choosing where to look. The sight stirs us, enlivens interest. The choice within the scene is the beginning of its significance. Our eyes search out what is most meaningful, beautiful or necessary, alert to our inner priorities, attuned to the dynamics of the moment. Vision leads the way. The choices made from a world on all sides are personal, guided by the heart.

I’ve read the same advice in meditation instruction from both eastern and western religions. To quiet the mind and observe silence also involves “Curbing the eyes”. Images are triggers to worlds of association, so even to glance at a sound is to stimulate and stir up mental processes.

Art opens a very personal channel through this capacity of the eyes. Art shows what matters most to the artists so deals with the deepest levels of being human. When you respond to a painting it’s because you recognize and understand what’s being shown. Something unarticulated is being clarified.  The images that resonate stir the thoughts we need to have.

It’s a largely untapped resource because so many people don’t think art is for them even though they may have themselves taken or been struck by a wonderful picture. The philosopher Susanne Langer once said “Art looks like feelings feel.”  She felt that human psychology would be better expressed by art than by psychological theories. It can be so much more specific to refer to a portrait by Egon Scheile to communicate a complex emotion, than using the same tired words. Spending time with art you like is a way of learning about yourself and a connection to someone who has understood the way you feel.

Much is made of listening to the voice within, but intuition starts before words. We see what fits or doesn’t belong in a scene and how to navigate the terrain. The intelligence of perception is largely taken for granted, but developing the attunement to the whole, the gestalt, is becoming more urgent. Enlarging perspective means including more points-of-view, and not treating issues in isolation without seeing the repercussions.

Self-Portrait by Egon Schiele