Hey there friend,
Are you up for a little non-scientific but rather fun
little experiment?
Yes? Okay. Lets begin.
Observe the above image for 30 seconds.
Then after 30 sec. cover the image totally with
something impossible to see through.
Trust me. Don't cheat. Cheating will spoil it.
I will now ask you questions about the
image.
1. What is it an image of?
2.What is the most striking(vivid) colour?
3. How many splotches are there?
4. What colour are they?
5. Are they all non-figurative(splotches)?
6. Is there an outline of Africa?
I will get back to you with the answers later.
Synonyms, I find, can at times be very helpful when
the ''right word'' lingers on the tip of one's tongue
but refuses to get off it.
Take the the word ''seeing'' for instance.
Is seeing the same as looking?
Is looking the same as observing?
Is ''to see'', ''to look'', ''to observe'' synonyms
of each other?
My ''AI Overview'' says so.
I humbly disagree.
Our eyes are not like cameras.
What our eyes do is pass along fragments
of information that they have acquired and then
the mind fills in the rest. (Meaning, purpose, etc.)
Although we may experience seeing as a
continuity, such is not the case.
We all have to blink and when we do so,
.........we miss ''a bit''.
What we experience as non-stop-seeing is less
''seeing everything'' and more ''seeing with bits missing''.
Which in my view is good. I mean, just imagine
really seeing everything. How would the mind cope
with such a bombardment of new information?
Yikes!
According to those in the know: Every act of
seeing is filtered through and guided by the question
whether we know what ''it is'' or not.
How we answer that question is guided/determined
by the answer we come up with that fits into that
which we call, ''reality''.
Observation and seeing is, so say the wise ones, never
neutral. We don't simply 'see', we select/chose.
However, observation, and what we thought we knew
about truly seeing stuff went out the window when
a clever Dutchman fitted two glass lenses into
a tube in 1608.
He managed not only to make far away things
seem right there in front of us(enlarged),
but he also expanded our way of thinking.
In my view, he broadened observation from 'passivity'
to becoming an 'activity as well.
Observing is more than seeing, or looking as far as
I can ascertain. Observing is revelatory, it's moving
slowly enough to allow for details to emerge, it's
having the patience and making the effort to
set the mind free to search for 'it', the still unknown
and un-named.
Now, lets look at........looking.
Looking is something we can do without actually
seeing. To look, is to direct ones eyes/gaze in
a specific direction.
Someone calls our name in a crowd.
Instinctually we turn in the direction of
the voice and look for who we may think could
be the caller.
Some people go to museums, galleries, exhibitions,
etc. etc. equipped with their phones and with
lightning speed look at their screens, press the
button and then move on to the next exhibit.
Endlessly toggling between screens, objects,
real spaces and real people.
Constantly exchanging an actual experience for
a simulacrum, or an effigy, or a binary code, or........
really???? an A.I. 'doll'?
Why rest content to hand over our precious
and longed for fundamental good 'bits' such
as relationships and communication skills
to an asinine technology?
Why not instead set some time aside every
day and just observe..........reflectively
and sincerely, real life and real people.
'Old ideals are crashing on all sides, and the
precise uncompromising camera vision is, and will be so,
a world force in the revaluation of life.'
(Edward Weston)
(Sorry Edward, but we're already there methinks.)
about the image: Ink, charcoal, acrylics on cardboard
and some editing in Elements
Answers: 1. A baby inside a womb with parts of a map of
Africa and almost USA behind it. (Or whatever you think)
2. Electric blue
3. 14
4. Cornflower blue with white-ish spots
5. The second last splotch on the top right
is an owl's face
6. yes on the right hand side
There's another fun little test you can do: when you're hanging out
with someone, suddenly tell your friend to close their eyes
and then ask them to tell you what colour pants, or shirt,
or jacket you are wearing.
