Feeling as a form of thinking

"One of my oldest crusades is against the distinction between thought and feeling, which is really the basis of all anti-intellectual views: the heart and the head, thinking and feeling, fantasy and judgement ... and I don't believe it's true ... I have the impression that thinking is a form of feeling and that feeling is a form of thinking."

–Susan Sontag

As a person that struggles with dyscalculia (numerical dyslexia), I questioned what intelligence was for many years. Ironically, my father whom I was very close to, was a mathematician. Needless to say, I internally grappled with the murkiness between love, numerical intelligence and acceptance.

Having naturally navigated towards feeling-space throughout my life, the pull between notions of intellect and feeling have been a continuous reality. In the western landscape, intellect has always been historically valued above feelings, which has created dis-ease for me. How does one navigate with an open heart amongst intelligentsia, amongst academia, amongst the institution?

Well, one just does.

Reading this quote by Susan Sontag this week was the reminder I needed ... that feeling as form of thinking, is, in itself a navigational compass. As I make my final preparations towards my three-month solo exhibition at Oliewenhuis Art Museum in Bloemfontein, I enter my crusade with an open heart.