Bellwrite: What does it mean to see?
We discussed the Bellwrite question in light of Annie Dillard's article "Seeing" (Chapter 2 from her book A Pilgrim at Tinker Creek). We are working on understanding WHAT Dillard is saying. Next week we will follow up with understanding more about HOW Dillard is saying. Ultimately, we will find that the HOW she says is very much the WHAT she says.
We saw that seeing is about both sensation--the data that comes to us directly from our senses--and perception (our conceptualization/verbalization of the data; our minds' interpretations of the sense data of sensation). We recognized that oftentimes we cannot see until we gain more knowledge about a subject (become what Dillard calls an expert or a lover), yet oftentimes it is our knowledge that keeps us from truly seeing our subject, what we called the Other. Seeing is relational, and requires Other-orientation rather than Self-orientation. Although we must love ourselves to see the Other truly, for appropriate self-love is a truthful way of being, true sight also requires a complete lack of self-concern, a forgetting of our preconceptions, agendas, and concerns. We must be like a solar sail and orient ourselves to the light. Thus seeing is very must an expression, or perhaps THE expression, of loving. Is it something we choose to do or is it a gift given to us, like the pennies Dillard finds in life, a gift of grace?
We re-read from pages 31-32 of the essay.
Homework: Spend a minimum of 30 minutes out-of-doors seeing. Take a paper and pencil with you and write your thoughts about your experience.
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