The Visual Images We Look At

Recently I had cablevision removed from my account with a television company.  I did so because the programs were deteriorating in quality and the subjects were so violent.  I don't regret it for one moment.

In my living room I have two books on a coffee table: one is the work of a visual artist who has photographed in color churches all over the world.  The work is beautiful and the churches even more exquisite.

The feeling of having spent an hour with that book, looking at the images and feeling inside all the numbers of people who had given and helped to preserve, maintain the structures, and seal their loved ones in eternity was very humbling and at the same time uplifting.

The second book is also a visual work, again in color, about the castles of the world.  Their grandeur, their beauty and the history of the building of each and the architects, kings, masons, all involved in their structure also was a humbling experience and a lesson in the intelligence of the past.

When I finished, I thought how strange to have such a strong feeling of beauty and peace after observation of the pictures.  Then, I realized that it's the IMAGES  that our eyes see on television and in the world that are so harmful. 

I think maybe many of us who are bipolar have a strong sensitivity to what we see around us, and we probably should be more careful about what we let our eyes look at and read--just for helping to keep  our minds and spirits active in a healthy way.

No offense, world, but there is great beauty and also strong disarray in the world; I wonder if bipolar illness makes us more sensitive emotionally to both things: beauty and disarray.

It's Genetic

 

Post Edited (It's Genetic) : 5/19/2012 8:59:37 AM (GMT-6)

There is a lot I can't watch. Television is too much of a sensory overload for me. Music is worse because I create the imagery myself. And I try my hardest never to step foot into a movie theater. I used to be able to watch horror movies and such but now I can't. I also watch documentaries a lot. Cartoons, comedies, and BBC Masterpiece Theatre are "safe." I don't know when it started but one day I was watching a movie, not even a sad one, but I just couldn't stop crying. And thinking back, I've always been ill effected by traumatic movie moments. LOL. Like movies that leave you just staring for days, buried in depression. That happened often. I blame my dad. I remember being little, trying sleep with a zombie movie on. The zombies were eating people and I could hear all the screaming and terror. I tried to cover my head and block out the sound but couldn't and I could still see it too! I had a ferociously grizzly imagination. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't stop seeing and hearing it. I cried under my Little Blankie (that was the blankets name) He also used to watch war movies at full volume and awful ones where people would beat other people to death. Just violent stuff. As a result I've never been able to watch a seen where someone is getting beet up. I cried during the Karate Kid.
I thrive on pleasant imagery. Being outside is also crucial. When I can be apart of that imagery and really take it in, that is the only time I think I am really truly at peace.