Wednesday, March 12, 2008
subliminal, liminality and the sublime
I haven’t been able to find a direct connection between them, but it makes sense that the etymology of Limen (meaning threshold) is the root of subliminal, liminality and the sublime, as it relates to visual perception. If we can think of these as levels of perception then the subliminal perception is visual content perceived below a cognitive level. This content could be signals or messages that are indiscernible by the conscious mind, similar to messages used in propaganda. Then liminality would be the state of indeterminacy or at the threshold between subliminal and the sublime. At this place, or placelessness as it would be, one is neither “at” the sublime or subliminal but rather both, “both-and-neither” simultaneously. Sublime then is the highest level of perception, in that one is said to have complete understanding of something, this, to me, is unknowable.
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2 comments:
Hey! Blog some more, Michael!
i wouldn't say that a threshold between one and the other, both and neither, is very much a place. it is very much an important place, often a significant point in our understanding of things. it is often a point of awareness, where our intuitive understanding is held to the light of actual experience or empathy. i would be curious to see how if there is any relationship between this limen and the tacit nature of things. good food for thought.
-michel
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