Oct. 15, 2002
Tracing the Flow of the Greek Aesthetic
Professor Studies Ancient Greeks
By Brian
Krause
Standing before her class, Professor Diane Harris-Cline becomes so absorbed
in her lecture that she loses awareness of her surroundings and body
— she forgets about her need to cough and sneeze, and ideas begin
to come spontaneously. She has found her “flow.”
Flow, Harris-Cline explains, is the feeling of total immersion in an
activity to the point where time seems to stand still. It is what many
athletes describe as “being in the zone.”
A visiting associate professor of art history and classics, Harris-Cline
has been studying the phenomenon of flow, first introduced by psychologist
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in his book, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal
Experience. An expert in Greek art and archaeology, she has applied
this concept to develop a unique and interesting new theory about Greek
civilization.
“Once I read this book, it changed the way I understood the arts
in Ancient Greece,” Harris-Cline says. “The Greeks built a
civilization where flow, and flow experiences, were part of everyday
life.”
The Greeks developed a culture rich in sensual stimulation. They used
incense and perfumed oils for smell; the lyre and the flute for music;
and honey, olives, and fruits for taste. They had an appreciation for
the richness of touch, using fabrics hand woven from linen and wool
to create beauty and good taste in their homes.
“They were very aware of color and sound,” says Harris-Cline.
“The Greeks triggered flow experiences from them and after doing
that time and time again, they began to love beauty and beautiful things.”
It is the presence of flow, she says, that allowed the Greeks to reach
epiphanies in political and philosophical ideas and gave them the inspiration
to produce works of art still held in high esteem today. It bred tolerance
and an appreciation for the diverse experiences of human life.
“It was a mutually supporting system that allowed the individual
to find what makes them flow,” says Harris-Cline. “It was
an environment where people were allowed to excel in all areas of human
achievement. We could do well to learn to see and experience the wonders
around us as they did, if only we would take that time.”
Trying to spread her knowledge of Greece as well as supplying practical
ways to apply it to everyday life, Harris-Cline delivered an all-day
lecture for the Smithsonian Associates this summer called “The
Greek Aesthetic: A Sensory Indulgence.” There she examined Greek
artwork, specifically how painters stimulated the imagination by creating
incomplete scenes, forcing viewers to envision the rest.
“She’s a fabulous speaker,” says Melody Curtis, program
coordinator for the Smithsonian Associates. “She never even refers
to a note and could go for days with the knowledge in her head. She’s
just an extraordinarily gifted teacher.”
The lecture focused on the “Greek symposium,” a special evening
dinner party that reached the peak of its popularity around 500 BCE,
where guests created an enriching environment to over-stimulate all
the senses. By burning incense, listening to music, viewing artwork,
and drinking wine, they hoped to stimulate their imaginations to lead
them to a higher order of thinking.
“I tried to help people first recognize this experience, and realize
that it is a path to happiness and help build a community where we can
facilitate this,” says Harris-Cline. “I think Americans are
so exhausted from driving themselves so hard that we see entertainment
as a burden and not something that makes life worth living.”
Harris-Cline first became interested in Greek culture after taking a
freshman seminar about Greek civilization and the aesthetic experience
while studying as an undergraduate at Stanford University. She has her
master’s and PhD in classical archaeology from Princeton University.
Named a Fulbright Scholar two consecutive years, Harris-Cline speaks
eight languages, including Ancient Greek. She has done archaeological
fieldwork and research in Athenian Agora, Rome, and Cyprus.
Harris-Cline was honored for her creative teaching style when she received
the Cohen Award for teaching excellence in 1999 at the University of
Cincinnati. By leaving links to Web sites on her online syllabus from
around the world, she uses the Internet to take her students where they
cannot physically go, like the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD.
She is currently working on a book about flow and the Greek aesthetic.
“I find [her theories] so revealing and very insightful,”
says Professor Elizabeth Fisher, chair of the Department of Classical
and Semitic Languages. “It’s quite a new area she is opening,
and it’s very exciting.”
Send feedback to: bygeorge@gwu.edu
