The Matter of Vision. Peter Wyeth

is inferior to the Visual

      Culture protests the opposite.

      Consciousness is a tiny part of brain activity.

      Man’s ego cannot believe that to be the case.

      Reason needs Emotion.

      Emotion does not need Reason.

      Reason is unthroned.

      Language, Consciousness and Reason

      as we presently conceive of them

      conceal rather than reveal

      the truth.

      vii

      Vision

      Knowledge is Vision

      Show not tell

      Knowledge is Vision

      All true knowledge resides in Vision

      and in Vision alone.

      What we cannot see we cannot fully know

      Vision can exist without Consciousness

      The eye sees more than Consciousness knows

      We see more than we know

      viii

      Thought

      Vision is the medium of thought

      Thought is produced in images

      Thought is not produced in Language

      Thought does not originate in Language

      Thought is translated into Language

      Thought exceeds Language

      as

      Vision exceeds Language

      Poetry aspires to the condition of Vision

      Language is specific to man

      But man existed without Language

      (And perhaps will so again)

      Vision is not specific to man

      But man cannot exist without Vision

      Vision sees everything

      ix

      Emotion

      Man’s attention is captured only by Emotion.

      Man grants significance only to what arouses Emotion.

      Emotion is the dimension of survival.

      The survival instinct is a continuum

      from life or death, love or hate, to like or dislike . . .

      The raw material of the brain is Emotion.

      Emotion ignites the brain, sets it in motion.

      Motion/Emotion.

      The brain and the body are set in motion only by Emotion.

      The brain and the body respond to threats to survival, near or far, with Emotion.

      Without Emotion man’s interest quickly wanes.

      Emotion is the motor of fascination, the engine of interest.

      For Spinoza, mind and body are one.

      Against Descartes, who has them (mainly) distinct.

      Man is a system that integrates mind and body

      through the fuel of Emotion.

      Their common element is survival.

      Survival is Emotion.

      The narratives of meaning in the mind are wordless.

      They are images, visual mainly, but not solely.

      Sound comes next, and some distance beyond

      taste and feel.

      Wordless storytelling is natural

Language is not necessary for the self⁷⁵.

      The self is pre-language, composed

      of images,

      memory, reason.

      Language is not required.

      Objects of attention become subjects through the magnet of Emotion.

      Without Emotion man does not pause but passes on.

      From all possible object of attention

      Man selects only those with affect (with Emotion)

      Objects without Emotion are without meaning.

      Meaning and Emotion are one.

      Meaning is Emotion

      Without emotion we don’t care

      the emotion-engine is not engaged.

      Care is subjective.

      We care about what has engaged our Emotions.

      Emotion is life in motion.

      Motion is the founding moment of Life.

      Life seeks survival.

      Emotion is the reflection of that desire.

      We care about things only insofar as they are related to survival.

      Disinterested caring does not exist.

      Selflessness is selfish as mutual interest aids survival.

      Altruism has evolutionary purpose.

      We are altruistic only better to survive.

      Morality cannot be superimposed on evolution

      nor extracted from evolution.

      Evolution is disinterested.

      It is.

Emotion is the engine of life⁷⁶.

      x

      The Automatic

Consciousness handles ten bits per second⁷⁷ The brain absorbs eleven million

      Eleven million minus ten

      with no word of its own.

      Conscious and unconscious

      ten v eleven million.

      Un-conscious not just not conscious

      but automatic all the time.

      Automatic.

      We are not aware of it.

      Without our knowing

      a billion tasks a second.

      The Automatic.

      If most of a film enters the brain

      outside consciousness

      enters the Automatic.

      Then

      Cinema a treasure-trove

      of the Automatic.

      experimental design

      untangles

      Conscious from Automatic

      a priority for

      Affective Neurobiology & Cinema

       III. Cinema

      i

      Cinema is nature

      Cinema is a matter of Vision

      Vision is a matter of Emotion

      Emotion is a matter of survival

      Survival is a matter of nature

      Nature becomes Culture in cinema

      Cinema