Do We Look or Do We See?

Do we look, or do we see?

Confusing isn’t it? Let me explain.

Today, I had an appointment with our ophthalmologist. My wife and I always enjoy going to his office because we enjoy the people who work there – plus, we think he’s outstanding doctor.

And no, this is NOT about my eye exam results!

But it IS about the eye-opening experience we had there. (My wife is definitely rolling her eyes…[I know; I know – I’m punning off the walls today!]

Back to the issue.

We were in the examining room, and the woman conducting the initial exam and verifying the patient information was patiently [ 😁 ] enduring my sometimes protracted answers. [Why say something simply, when I can drag it out for fifteen minutes? 😎]

Anyway, during the course of the exam, I asked a vision-related question, and she returned a question as her answer – “Are you looking at the letter or are you seeing the letter?”

She floored both of us!

We asked what she meant. She succinctly explained that one action uses the past and the other doesn’t. Visually speaking, if one stares at something not quite visable, the mind will construct the image for us. If one glances at something not quite visable, the auto-reflex will return a more true answer of the degree of clarity.

With one, we get the artificial mental construct. With the other, we don’t see more clearly, but we see more truly.

When we returned home, we talked about that as we drank our coffees. It was a very profound question in so many ways.

Do YOU look or do you see?

With the problems facing our nation now, I hope you see for clarity, and look for understanding.

We need both.

Food for thought.

Mac