civilized ku # 473 ~ eye see nothing / closed

Interstate exit chain store oasis somewhere in Kentucky or Tennessee • click to embiggen

To look at a thing is very different from seeing it. ~ Oscar Wilde

In yesterday's entry, I mentioned that most people have eyes that simply do not see. They might look at something but they rarely exhibit the ability and/or desire to actually see it with any sense of depth, meaning, studied comprehension, or insight. IMO, this is true not only when they are looking at the actual world but also when they are looking at pictures of it.

Fortunately, there are those who do possess both an ability and a desire to see in a manner that goes beyond just looking. That is not to say that those see-ers actually experience all of the actual world all of the time as a complex tableau of deep meaning and insight. But, at the very least, they do seem to intuitively recognize the many possibilities for investigating such meaning and insight - getting beneath the surface if things - that can emerge (if pricked, coaxed, and prodded) from much of the actual world that surrounds them.

And, once again, fortunately, those see-ers make pictures. Pictures that not only evidence what the thing pictured looks like when pictured but also allow the viewer to pass through the window on the-world-as-it-appears and go down a rabbit hole of associated cultural and societal connections and implications which may not render up precise meanings, insights, and understandings but which certainly does instigate the formation of some pretty damn interesting and pertinent questions.

Of course, in order to hear the questions, one must not just look but also have the desire to see.