"Image is important for our inner life, subjective world, for our mental abilities, because we 'operate' with images, just as we 'operate' with concepts. We have mental images, so some theorists claim that the way we think, i.e. our relationship to the world, is pictorial and conceptual. We think in images in our consciousness and use imagination, fancy, imagination, intuition, everything that is not rational. On the other hand, we also have conceptual thinking, which is rational and rational and belongs to science and philosophy. So, pictoriality is related to what is art and artistic, and rationality to what is conceptual, philosophical and scientific," said Prof. Dr. Sonja Tomović Šundić.
She was a guest at the 15th session of the "Imaginarium" organized by the Public Institution (PU) "Zahumlje". The topic of the "Imaginarium" was "The Image of the World and the Image of Man", and the guest was interviewed by the author of the project and the program editor at the PU "Zahumlje", Kristina Radovic.
As Tomović Šundić pointed out, there are two types of images - one we receive through the media, and the other through fine arts. As eras change, so, according to her, does the understanding of the phenomenon of images change. However, art offers a lasting experience, one that other fields do not offer.
"The only way for a finite, mortal world, and for a transient, corporeal man to have something immortal, permanent, is through art. Art strikes at the heart of reality itself, in a way that we could never decipher, and authors break through the barrier of time."
If I had to define the 20th century with one term, it would be the term meaning.
"Meaning is something that is in the focus of 20th century thinking precisely because we are on the trail of the loss of meaning, because the world we live in has in some way distanced man from a great meaningful, reasonable way of being. This great question is equally raised in philosophy, religion and art. In a psychological sense, a man who has lost meaning is melancholic, depressed, lonely, lost, value-disoriented. In a philosophical sense, a man without meaning wanders among various philosophical theories, failing to find any deeper truth in any of them. In a religious sense, a man who has lost meaning has lost the concept of eternity," explains Tomović Šundić.
She believes that the modern world is dehumanized, and man is exposed to superficial impressions. On the one hand, we have, as she said, enormous progress in technique and technology, the satisfaction of bodily desires and myths, such as the cult of youth, fashion, and technology, while on the other hand, we are increasingly moving away from essential values and freeing ourselves from true needs in order to satisfy current ones.
"We spend our lives without a sense of meaning. If a person is freed from the need for meaning, he has freed himself from his deepest human essence, and at the same time he has come to the situation of a depersonalized person who no longer stands on anything. We are increasingly moving away from what is basic, from our spirituality, and machines are becoming an integral part of our lives. There is less and less emphasis on what is human, meaningful, and a person who has no meaning has no joy. You cannot get joy based on superficial pleasures of any intensity, because they are only momentary pleasures. Joy is a state of the soul and spirit that has meaning, which knows not only what a person lives from, but also why he lives. The essential need of our being is to be rooted in meaning. A person has a mind that wonders about the meaning of human existence, which needs to be given good reasons why a person is between being or not being," emphasized the professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences of the University of Montenegro, whose scientific and research work primarily deals with the consideration of philosophical teachings and the application of philosophical knowledge to social, political and cultural issues. phenomena.
She is the author of several scientific monographs, studies and books in the field of philosophical sciences, as well as dozens of scientific and professional papers. Among them are two books about Petar II Petrović Njegoš, where she tried to interpret the canons of his behavior through art and portraits.
"Njegoš has three faces that together make up one face. One of the faces is the face of the metropolitan, where you see a meditative, spiritual Njegoš looking through space and time, into the cosmos, eternity. The second portrait, Njegoš in Montenegrin national costume, depicts a determined ruler. The third portrait, where he is shown only with a cap on his head, as a secular prince, depicts the Njegoš who goes to the theater, admiring the ballerina Flora," emphasized Tomović Šundić, who also deals with philosophical drama and has published 12 books of drama texts.
Her book about Danilo Kiš is due to be published soon, and she is currently working on a play about him because, as she says, she wanted to bring him to life in a dramatic way.
"When I try to express my understanding of the world rationally, then I use philosophical language. When I try to emotionally, pictorially express some experiences that have a distinctly emotional note, then poetic expression is closest to me. A poetic image has the power to absorb much more than rationality. It can absorb what is emotional, intimate, it has a special energy, because the poetic word vibrates with a special string," she explained, explaining why she also writes reflective poetry.
It is important, she pointed out, that we constantly talk about special identities, but we should not forget that culture does not have special identities – that it is a common good, the heritage of humanity.
There is no education without upbringing.
"Beauty is in the harmony of the soul, which you cannot achieve without mental balance, and mental balance is connected to the spiritual sciences that give us meaning. That meaning that they give us from within is directly reflected in the visual appearance. Unfortunately, in the market, sciences that talk about values have no value. Then it is no wonder that anti-values are being marketed to us, because we have no criteria nor do we know what values are," Tomović Šundić pointed out.
She tries, as she said, to convey knowledge to students, because that is the role of a lecturer, but also to guide them to the meaning of education that has been present since Antiquity - that education is not just about acquiring information, but also about upbringing.
"I'm trying to educate them as personalities, which is more important than grades and lessons that they will quickly forget. The humanities have almost been removed from our educational programs, and these are the sciences that educate our soul, our spirit. My suggestion is that our education should have more of these sciences. Well, ethics is the only subject that teaches a person how to behave, and we don't have that subject in education. We have everything, except for the subject that teaches them why to behave morally. We have education without the educational part of personality formation. And it is not an easy and simple path to achieve personality."
Bonus video:
