Ways of Seeing

It is generally assumed that when we look at something we see what is there. With that assumption, because we ‘saw,’ we think we understand. The same assumptions might be had when we listen to something; we assume we ‘hear’ it. Well, we all know it is not that simplc. Can you recall all the details on a photograph you glance at in a magazine or a scene you just looked at out of your car’s window? Can you reconstruct a conversation you just had with someone or a sermon you just heard?

The fact is, you can absorb only so much depending on your degree of attention and the amount of time you spend with something. Even then, our minds ‘fill in the blanks with what they ‘think’ was there or thought they heard. This, more often than not, is not accurate. This ‘filling in’ comes about because of our past experiences with something similar or our preconceptions or what we were really attending to at the time.

Witnesses at the scene of an accident often ‘see’ things quite differently.

With the first photographs of the mid-nineteenth century people reported that they were astonished to observe details that they had never noticed in the original scene. From this, I suppose, came the saying, ‘The camera does not lie.’ Does this mean that our eyes lie? I think that we have selective awareness where we focus on some aspect of what we see or hear and ignore or disregard what does not fit with what is going on in ‘our world.’ But yes, the camera, too, can ‘lie’—witness the wonders of the cinema or animation or publicity photos.

Any educated person knows that the notion of ‘Seeing is believing’ is insufficient or can even be inaccurate as to explaining what is really going on. There is much going on that can’t be seen with the ‘natural eye’ or even the microscope or telescope. Sometimes 'Believing is seeing' would be the more fruitful approach in arriving at truth. It can open up entirely new vistas.

Moreover, one ‘sees’ what he or she is directed to or given opportunity to see. If the object is withheld from the potential viewer or the person is given a view from only one angle it is easy to see that distortions or false conclusions could be drawn. Sadly this happens all the time.

Do you see what I mean?