The concept of "flow" might be useful here: "Flow is the mental state of operation in which the person is fully immersed in what he or she is doing by a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity. Proposed by positive psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, the concept has been widely referenced across a variety of fields." (From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology))
I believe it's reasonable to suppose that pursuit of the flow experience characterises both the childhood and adult activities that you describe here. I have recently taken up regular guitar practice again, after a lapse of many years, and I find that my experience of that, when I'm playing well -- which is also, invariably, when it is most enjoyable -- fits the flow concept beautifully. Robin Faichney Tuesday, October 7, 2008, 11:31:46 AM, Pedro wrote: > Dear colleagues, > Maybe the social & market aspects of art are inevitable outcomes, given > the curious role it plays in human life. It is similar to what happens > with science itself ---from an aloof "nec-otium" activity in its > historical origins to the R&D +i trite business of today. I would not > enter in those social aspects right now, rather an anecdote on > "movement" may be interesting: > It is amazing how much of the life of a child is centered in challenging > and exciting the system of balance&equilibrium (the "sixth sense"): > crawling, climbing, cycling, rolling, spinning, jumping, skipping, > skying, surfing,... schoolyards are the usual scenario for most of these > exciting activities. No doubt that some of the balance fun persists in > adulthood: amusement parks, tennis, soccer, ping pong, tai chi, yoga... > Evolutionarily, this ontogenetic process of looking for exaggerated > balance system excitations is rather anomalous in its length and > intensity (to my info). The point is that the crave to explore every > aspect of movement and balance in the physical environment of the child > is gradually displaced toward the mental realm in the adult. Using the > same brain & cerebellum system machineries "the movement of the body" > becomes the "movement of thoughts and percepts" (McCredie, 2007). > And here it is the bold question: does the child fascination for those > exploratory-creative physical "disciplines" (crawling, climbing, > spinning, etc.) become redirected so to be the basis of the adult > fascination for the exploration of mental movements in painting, > sculpting, dancing, singing, etc.? > best > Pedro > _______________________________________________ > fis mailing list > fis@listas.unizar.es > https://webmail.unizar.es/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fis -- Robin Faichney <http://www.robinfaichney.org/> _______________________________________________ fis mailing list fis@listas.unizar.es https://webmail.unizar.es/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fis
