Dang, that's rough.
> I realize that part of the reason I have not been able to appreciate a work of art before is because my mind tends to anxiously attempt to absorb information, without slowing down to absorb visual work in a linear fashion, rather choosing to keep track of as many details as possible from the image it perceives, then move on.
I would actually recommend not trying to ingest linearly (as in a raster scan) but as a Breadth First Search. Try to unfocus a bit (your eyes or your mind) and not analyze anything at first. The key is to maximize perception. Only after you are able to "feel" the piece should you dive into the details.
> profundity
word of the day?