The fact of sight as a physical phenomenon is one thing, and how what is looked upon is seen is quite another. One individual looking at a certain spotted salamander sees a loathsome slimy crawly thing; another sees the beautiful living vestige of an entire eco-system. One is seeing around the thing; projecting imagination upon it as if covering it with paint. The other is seeing within the thing; imagination drawing up meaning like an old-fashioned hand pump draws water.
Sight is a physical phenomenon, but seeing has a meaning component that is wholly dependent on how one looks at things. How one looks at things is wholly dependent on the training (or lack there of) of imagination.
Spring Talks on Spring Walks
With friends I walked an Ozark hollow
In the time of spring flowers
Seeking a place to sit we had to laugh
For there was none
And scarce room for feet
So luxuriously had the warm days awakened the earth to life
Perched on a moss-covered limestone ledge we mused
How odd
Where one can’t find a place to sit
Another will go with a bulldozer
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