Chagrin

Susanne Langer

Philosopher Susanne Langer stood alone in her emphasis on the correspondence between art and human psychology. She felt there could be no better way to understand the human psyche than what is revealed through art. The variation, nuance and emotional range available in art enables a person to identify qualities of feeling far beyond verbal description. Literature needs to conjure mental images to capture depth of feeling as is reflected in Booker Prize winning Richard Flanagan line, “Words were and are inadequate to all that we felt, all that we knew, all that I have lost. Words were part of it, but they were also cages in search of a bird.” When Carl Jung wrote “Image is psyche” he was recognizing that only images can touch the mind with feeling. That words are a tool for gaining distance and a sense of mastery over something and useful in that way, paring down the fullness to what suits our current purposes. But to understand the life of feeling in all its contradictions, images can contain and clarify emotions as a whole. Langer’s book, “Mind: An Essay on Human Feeling” describes how much of our thinking is led by feelings as representations of overall judgments. Feelings indicate what matters most and shade attitudes and overviews. Art is able to examine and express feeling more accurately and specifically, a representation of the whole. In all of her books she describes how the structure and movement in each of the arts resonate with inner structures of feeling. Her essential idea, that the mind starts with feelings was later confirmed by neurologists. Antonio Damasio stated bluntly that feeling leads thinking, makes the determination of what is important to think about. Feelings are guided by personal significance. The art your eyes are led to helps you see the feelings you may not have noticed that uncover values and anxieties we may be unaware of that point to the worldview that organizes opinions. Everything we see reflects something about us. Unlike a mirror or camera that passively reflects what’s in front of it, our eyes are directed by our purposes, are actively scanning for personal and hardwired priorities. For humans, the mental life has goals and challenges with their attendant stresses and time constraints. It takes the inner awareness of our entire situation to guide progress through linear time. Looking for art that rings true gets to the center, opens a deeper personal reality. Langer was pointing the way. Brain science confirms the connection. The modern world needs comprehensive big picture thinking. Looking at art is a pleasurable way to build sensitivity to the whole and learn more about our minds.