Visibility

In reference to Dante's Inferno, "Visibility" speaks of the imagination and how powerful it has the potential to be. When Dante was traveling through the layers of hell, he realized that "it is useless at every circle to invent a new form of metarepresentation, and that it is better to place the visions directly in the mind without making them pass through the senses. What I think he means by this, is that, the mind has the ability to represent representations, and to recreate thoughts and concepts based on self-experience and reflection. It is for this reason each person can uniquely interpret art and experiences. The author of "Visibility" goes on to connect how imagination has a similar power capable of "stealing us away from the outer world and carrying us off into an inner one, so that even if a thousand trumpets were to sound we would not hear them." Similarly, visions were presented to Dante in which he saw differently than the objective reality that was right in front of him.

"Visibility" also questions the role of the visual imagination in relation to the verbal imagination. For example, the first process, visual imagination, takes place when we read words then imagine it in our minds. As mentioned in the text, movies are examples of metarepresentations because the process of making a movie is in phases that require several interpretations. But then, even when we witness a movie, it once again goes through the imagination of the viewer. St. Ignatius of Loyola is then cited, making two points about the importance of imagination, representation, and how we must actively choose to see people. The first point he makes is that, in sum, we must see people from all perspectives and put ourselves in their shoes in order to have clarity. Further, the second point reminds readers to understand and have a relationship with the divine without having to physically see them or imagine them as something physical.

The entire concept of the profound imagination is one that is deep and multifaceted. It constantly shocks me how a single piece of artwork, abstract or straightforward, can have so many different meanings and evoke countless emotions for every single person who has the opportunity to gaze upon it. Or, in Dante's case, he thought it be better to place the images he viewed directly into his mind without allowing them to pass through the senses. Whether this would be possible or not, it definitely arises some new ideas about the power of the imagination and our own ability to control it. For instance, this entire reading caused me to think about the process of deep meditation in which people go into a state of being totally in control of all their senses. In the case of the burning monk, 1963, a man burned himself to death while remaining sitting still. This horrific example shows the extent to which the imagination can be controlled by some.

Pictured below: The Burning Monk, 1963.