Interacting with art and ideas

To be perfectly clear about my intentions (as clear as I have ever been, which is mud like), I would like to start out with a little bit about my ideas of art and the what and whys of art according to me.
As I view art I ask a few questions; What was the intent? How am I reacting? How do I feel about this piece both from a distance and up close? Does the artist make me question myself, both on a positive and negative level? A better question than that could be, Does this piece of art work make me feel something and does it help me in my progression as a human? These feelings do not by any means have to be positive, happy, spiritual, or enlightening. They might be boring, dark, depressing, surreal, or even sad. The feelings that a viewer gets may or may not be the same feelings or intent of the artist.
The progression as a human does not mean that each work of art has to impact you so deeply that you feel like you must change the world. The feelings that a viewer or even the artist gets because of a work of art, can be small and may not even leave a visible impact. It is then up to the artists to create enough work and get that to the audience to view to allow these works to slowly impact a viewer until one piece does make them want to change the world.
I feel that when the exchange of ideas happens either verbally or through any other media and your whole body gets excited, then true communication is being accomplished. That excitement can then be turned into action, whether it is in an artistic pursuit or not, your excitement and energy will prove to be a universal display of your interactions within yourself and with those people and ideas around you.