When we stand in front of an art work that changes our state, we become activated… we are in presence. We begin to attempt meaning making by projecting our experience onto both the state of somatic feeling and the object itself that triggered the state change. Consciousness affected by the interaction between our internal state of arousal and the overlays of meaning that we give to the experience. What we choose to do with that initial state of arousal is a product of this consciousness, not the art work. It’s when we recognize incidental activation and move to integrate the experience with the conscious mind rather than aggressively resist, that the conscious mind can find understanding of itself, relaxing back into a restful state of safe and social.
The Mind is Within and Between
Zygote Blum 