Context and Perception

Lately I’ve been making mistakes in what I first think I’m seeing that are likely due to the radical change in what has surrounded me for most of my time since Thanksgiving. Watching Jamie Raskin speak on TV, I thought the metal pole with something hanging behind him was an IV. Longer study showed it to be a grow light. But IV’s have been everywhere in my travels between hospital and cancer center accompanying my husband to endless appointments and treatments, so that’s what I now see. Being alert to these shifts of context remind me of how dependent perception is on the expectations conditioned by the recent surroundings. What we see in the present is always influenced by what we’ve seen the most recently and as that changes so do first impressions. Today surroundings are often on a screen. Spending large amounts of time with media makes what’s on the screen our surroundings and has the same level of influence, the same effect as physical location. When extreme media spends so much time tearing things down it builds a negative outlook. Things seem so much worse than they are. People can snap under the strain. Seeing or hearing negative attitudes repeatedly makes it more likely that we pick up those vibes elsewhere. As the extremes of right-wing opposition push some into a we/they mentality it can be good to remember that both sides worked together to get an infrastructure bill passed that was good for everybody using roads and bridges, not to mention all the many workers hired to do the work. Theses shifts help us recognize the fluid quality of perception as a reflection of our own mind and recent experience more than the world at large. What a person is immersed in is the reality they see. This is worrisome considering that there are people making a conscious effort to create fear and animosity regarding those who think differently. The world needs differences for all the many varied things that need doing. If the standard we’re held to is too narrow, most of us won’t fit. Growing up being judged builds a foundation insecurity that is easy to manipulate by those wishing to factionalize. Many were raised in a critical environment, criticism from teachers, parents, coaches, influencers. This creates a habit of criticizing others and an expectation of being criticized. Most people probably don’t realize that as we break the habit of criticizing others, it also makes us less hard on ourselves. Cultivating an attitude of acceptance may need time to develop, but feeling accepted is an antidote to antagonism.

Re-Enactment

Re-Enactment- The Story

I first posted “Enactment” this past August. As has happened before, once I saw it on the screen I saw I hadn’t taken it where I wanted it to be. Since I had an absorbing painting project underway it didn’t move fast but I was glad to have it when my husband went to the hospital over Thanksgiving. Just challenging enough to keep my attention the minimal thing I'd been working with was soothing to look at. Home from the hospital thinking he had a condition that could be controlled, a few days later we get a call that is much more dire. Meeting with the specialist it became even worse. I felt steamrolled by what he told us. So this drawiing got darker then lighter in what I finally started calling either palliative drawing or therappeutic drawing behavior. I don't know if it's improved but it 's been a safe place to eend each day after endless treatments, scans and doctors appointments. I've finally reached a place where I'm ready to stop and go on to express what's happening now.

Bookmark 2023

Expectational Hazard

Negative Space

Though this has been posted previously it reminded me of the current House of Representatives.

Expansion

Narrowing is happening everywhere. Disciplines of study look at smaller and smaller areas. Specialties in every field create distance from the big picture by the specific detail they study. People are often narrowing their personal group and guiding ideas. This is possibly a response to fear. Even when we know the news story in all its details, wars, shootings, disease, with every dramatic horror, the media swamps every outlet with endless discussion that generates more fear. We may know the primary characters in the drama, but never who is making money off it other than the media and the arms industry. The way it fits into a larger picture and how a broader understanding might lead to better solutions does not feed the machine, so we are trapped in our chairs, hidden from exposure lest we are somehow fingered as the enemy. The destruction industry is very powerful and is now turning attention to important government structures that though far from perfect have given us a framework to work with competing viewpoints. Facts are at war with alternative facts, our sophisticated brains drowning in simplifying contradictory symbols. Yet creating is still happening. Artists all over the world bring insight and the emotional significance of events. Gaining perspective is a task for images. Antagonisms are built from limiting the evidence, avoiding whatever shows how a different group sees things. We need to see more of how things are interconnected. I recently heard someone on the radio say that banning books was an effort to decrease empathy. Stories create context, allows others into the circumstances behind events. Stories about people different from the familiar group help us understand them better, sympathize with a specific situation and recognize an individual as another human being. Art creates a bridge to the minds of others. Expressed with feeling, the feeling connects people even when the content is unfamiliar. This strengthens the ability to see what matters instead of surface triggers aimed at manipulation. Anyone can train their visual, intuitive intelligence by looking at art. With so much now available on the internet, it couldn’t be easier and more urgent. John Dewey once wrote that propaganda was designed to close minds whereas education was designed to open them. Looking at a bigger picture opens the mind to wider possibilities, opening up solutions that bring together instead of tear apart.