The Olympics are coming soon and I happened to be perusing an article on the skeleton. I had never heard of the sport. From what I understand, the participants ride these sleds down this ice track going up to 90 miles an hour. Horrifying. But what interested me most was that the most minute action can influence the direction of that speeding sled:

“Even when I just use my eyes”, says Tannenbaum,”that tiny movement can alter the direction. Where you look, you go.” (New York Times mag., Feb. 4)

Amazing, right?

It’s the eyes that matter. When you hear something your ears don’t move. When you smell, your nose stays in place. Your eyes: they move. They direct. And the body follows.

When I was under three years old, I did not have muscular control over my eyes. They wandered. In the photo taken before my eye operation, the musculature on my face was flaccid. Limp. Within a year after the operation when my eyes were now in sync and focusing, my face now showed the attention. I looked alert. My eyes had gained connection to my body.

Eye-body coordination. Eye-hand coordination. Eyes leading us on. Totally.

Small wonder we are so affected by art.