Vision and Touch
In Professor Nelson’s lecture, he explained that vision can be a synesthetic experience. One of these connections is between vision and touch is expressed many times through language, using specific phrases such as, ‘I felt his/her gaze’. This expression uses language of touch to express the feeling of being watched or observed by another individual. Diane Eck discusses the connection between touch and vision in her book Darsan: Seeing the Divine Image in India . She explains that the eye of the devotee touches the deity to understand what is being touched; in fact they are ‘touching truth’. The Vision group spoke extensively on this subject during their presentation, describing it as ‘an exchange of glances’. The exchange is a contact between devotee and deity that takes place through the eyes of both individuals. Eck describes the eyes of Gods as unblinking and there are ceremonies that surround the ‘opening’ of a deity’s eyes. She des...