Comments on: Chemical Dance

By: Deborah Barlow

Deborah Barlow — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 15:11:30 +0000

I’m provoked by your comment about the role art plays in shifting our mental state. James Elkins references the “Uffizi effect” in his book “Pictures and Tears”–it is the observable phenomenon of people coming to the museum and then feeling faint and weak. Seeing these paintings so overwhelms their bodies that they cannot sustain their strength. I have had many of those moments where I have felt overwhelmed, at the physical and the concsciousness level, just by seeing a work of art that, for whatever reason, hits me at the core. Those are high quality moments with the art, in real time. So I’m leaning to the power of art view…

By: Gloria, Writer Reading

Gloria, Writer Reading — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 04:34:57 +0000

He forgot the long history of the coca plant, marijuana and psychedelic mushrooms to alter emotion and perception. As far as paintings go, I don’t think art simply gives you the highest quality of those moments, I believe art actually changes the perception, emotion and experience of those moments. Colors and the rhythms of patterns certainly have a direct impact on the brain. Paint on!

By: Deborah Barlow

Deborah Barlow — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 13:52:35 +0000

I’ve started looking for the human equivalent of a horse’s snort too. I love the idea that a reboot could be that simple!

And what a line from Pater D. Thank you for sharing that. Makes me want to go back and dig in to his writing again.

By: joefelso

joefelso — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 03:03:43 +0000

I have an office mate who is a tremendous sigh-er. Maybe that’s her snort. I often wonder what we might do to help, but maybe those sighs are all she needs, a momentary readjustment.

Walter Pater was one of my favorites in graduate school. I hardly remember a word of his now, only that every third sentence was something I wanted to write down and remember.

Okay, I do remember one…To burn always with this hard, gemlike flame, to maintain this ecstasy, is success in life.

By: mariacristina

mariacristina — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 15:40:56 +0000

Your opening lines are poetry:

It is a strange and esoteric chemistry that moves the inner dial of our moods. Who hasn’t taken a micro-second whipsaw ride from ebullience to hopelessness?

Speaking of involunarty nerve reactions, when you were a child, did you ever feel an intense need to jerk your entire body? I used get that feeling periodically until my twenties. I wonder if that’s a human equivalent of a horse snort?

I like Pater’s quote about art too. I guess if a thought is universal, it can happen any time, anywhere.

By: dancelover

dancelover — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 13:46:54 +0000

I’m so glad I found your site, deep insight and very interesting, thanks.

By: Elatia Harris

Elatia Harris — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 06:55:07 +0000

Back with a vengeance, I see — good!