Saturday, August 13, 2011

Lightening Up: The Sense of Sight

Ah, the blog, so full of angst and emotion. I thought it might be an interesting and cheerful diversion to contemplate the five senses.  Today, part one:  the sense of sight.

Herself lives in a household replete with individuals who have great visual acuity.  Her Beloved, in particular, can spot creatures and features from an amazing distance; the Offspring joke that he can see a sky-colored bird flying ten miles away.  Offspring the Second also has a very particular eye for detail, and Offspring the Third will notice small changes in the surroundings as well as tiny differences in individuals.

In contrast, Herself dislikes excesses of visual information.  She is quite adept at purposefully (and practically automatically) not seeing all aspects of her surroundings.  This is oftentimes beneficial -- as she can avoid becoming overwhelmed -- although there are moments when it hinders her, such as when she cannot easily identify the small furry creature or interesting leaf or other object that others attempt to point out to her.

She takes advantage of natural visual filters:  for example, her favorite time of day for walking is twilight, when colors and shapes are muted.  One of the reasons that she is so fond of the desert is because of its visual subtlety -- it does not have the complex, convoluted urgency of the rainforest or the cityscape.  She can view the environment at her own pace, rather than having to take in vast quantities of details simultaneously.  She enjoys caves (such as Carlsbad Caverns) for the same reason.

On what does she like to rest her eyes the most?  The starlit sky.  Moss.  A chestnut. The fuzzy ball of a dandelion or the petals of a single flower. The smooth lines of polished wood.  Rounded stones.  The eyes and hands of her loved ones.

What do you like to see?



No comments:

Post a Comment