A personal beef.

[Lou Gold]

This is intended as my personal confession and is not directed toward anyone else (especially NOT our stellar forum moderator Shu).

I'm frustrated that the board index segregates/separates "General Discussions" and "Metaphysically Relevant Art Forms." Why might a liberating Idealism seeking integration with common sense want to do this? Is this a remnant bias toward "intellectual thought" that metaphysicians have not been able to overcome, or what? Is visual storytelling considered as "non-mental" under Idealism.

For your contemplation consider these visual stories from Jerry Uelsmann...

[Soul_of_Shu]

It is the internet of beefs after all ... I suppose I'm not getting how inserting one of the above 'visual stories' into the 'Criticism' thread—currently the dominant discussion here—in lieu of any intellectually reasoned comment, would in some way better clarify why there is, or is not, good reason to take seriously that all expressions of Being are expressions of immanently aware Being, but hey, go for it.

[Lou Gold]

It is the internet of beefs after all ... I suppose I'm not getting how inserting one of the above 'visual stories' into the 'Criticism' thread—currently the dominant discussion here—in lieu of any intellectually reasoned comment, would in some way better clarify why there is, or is not, good reason to take seriously that all expressions of Being are expressions of immanently aware Being, but hey, go for it.

I agree with you Dana but perhaps for a different reason. The currently the dominant discussion here is surely intellectual, an artifact that I believe is also part of a dominant paradigm whether Idealist or Physicalist. It is in this sense that I grok the wisdom of the Steiner folks that there's a difference between thought and Thought. I'm also reminded that in some Buddhist sutras that I read long ago the mind is referred to as the "thought organ." And, as an intuitive, I prefer the "I feel, therefore I am" of Spinoza to the "I think, therefore I am" of Descartes. The point for me is that the intellect and visual imagery are a powerful tools of representation and not an essence.

I've not been reading the "Criticism" thread, so I can't respond in that context but consider BK's chosen whirlpool metaphor for an alter. Can you feel what it is to be a whirlpool of Mind at Large? Quite frankly, I can't get the feel of it. Now, contemplate again the Uelsmann image that portrays a story. Of course, the verbal metaphor and the image are both representations, as you say expressions of Being. When heavenly bodies fall to earth.

[Soul_of_Shu]

The rock suspended in space is reminiscent/derivative of the dreamlike surrealism of Magritte. The feeling it evokes in this psyche is just how likewise dreamlike is that rock suspended in space we call the moon.

[Lou Gold]

The rock suspended in space is reminiscent/derivative of the dreamlike surrealism of Magritte. The feeling it evokes in this psyche is just how likewise dreamlike is that rock suspended in space we call the moon.

Yes, in regards to abstract dreamlike representations but where's the compelling story in the Magritte?

Consider this Uelsmann image that says the rock in our hands can be broken open letting the light in and generating rebirth from the deep unconscious into the here-and-now.

[Soul_of_Shu]

... but where's the compelling story in the Magritte?

I find compelling the intimation of the moon as an archetypal collective dream appearing to the soul-beings of the sole Being, which just like such unique human imaginings expressed as art forms no less speaks to us of transcendent truths. There's a reason why the best artists are so closely related to lunatics

[Lou Gold]

... but where's the compelling story in the Magritte?

I find compelling the intimation of the moon as an archetypal collective dream appearing to the soul-beings of the sole Being, which just like such unique human imaginings expressed as art forms no less speaks to us of transcendent truths. There's a reason why the best artists are so closely related to lunatics

I surely agree about lunatics and this includes the joyous as well as the tortured.

Do you really find the Magritte compelling in a personally experiential sensual way? I do grok the abstract representation as you do. It offers a great portrayal of abstraction. Does it offer a healing? That's where the story must lean toward to be compelling for me.

[Soul_of_Shu]

Do you really find the Magritte compelling in a personally experiential sensual way?

I don't know about sensual, I'm just referring to the juxtaposition of the moon image with the dreamlike surrealism of the rock floating in space, as a way into the artist's understanding of the dreamlike, metaphorical, and metamorphosing quality of the phenomenal Cosmos, which is not abstract to this poet's psyche at all. And yet, Magritte could get quite surreally sensual too in his imagery, such as this role-shifting take on the mother and child ...

[Lou Gold]

Do you really find the Magritte compelling in a personally experiential sensual way?

I don't know about sensual, I'm just referring to the juxtaposition of the moon image with the dreamlike surrealism of the rock floating in space, as a way into the artist's understanding of the dreamlike, metaphorical, and metamorphosing quality of the phenomenal Cosmos, which is not abstract to this poet's psyche at all. And yet, Magritte could get quite surreally sensual too in his imagery, such as this role-shifting take on the mother and child ...

Well, I love Magritte's works and definitely grok what you are referring to. He's brilliant in many ways. I guess I'm reaching toward what makes something compelling in a more commonplace sense in this world of widespread suffering? One storyline is escape to heaven, nirvana or some very nice elsewhere. Another, which I'm calling "compelling" in the here-and-now seems to be about healing -- finding the opportunities for remembering, restoring, renewing, repairing, replanting, rebirthing and more.

[Lou Gold]

Do you really find the Magritte compelling in a personally experiential sensual way?

I don't know about sensual, I'm just referring to the juxtaposition of the moon image with the dreamlike surrealism of the rock floating in space, as a way into the artist's understanding of the dreamlike, metaphorical, and metamorphosing quality of the phenomenal Cosmos, which is not abstract to this poet's psyche at all. And yet, Magritte could get quite surreally sensual too in his imagery, such as this role-shifting take on the mother and child ...

I'm stretching to find right language. I intellectually comprehend that the above image is a sensual representation and I grok what it's about. However, it does not generate a sensual feeling or recognition within me. What would be the poet's term for that feeling? A feeling like the one stimulated by Guernica.