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October 06, 2005
Seeing Essay
Seeing, by Annie Dillard, is an eye-opening essay addressing the miracle of perception and the abstract idea that by eliminating depth a world of light, colors, and shapes burst open. By researching stories of blind patients who have gained the ability to see for the first time, Dillard learns that the realization of where objects are in relation to a person is a not born skill but rather a learned technique that the brain takes many years to develop. Gazing over orchards bearing ripe peaches, Dillard regretfully stated that “I couldn’t unpeach the peaches.”
Dillard’s brain, like almost everyone’s, has learned at an early age to appropriately gage distance, therefore making it almost impossible to dissect objects into formless blobs of lines, shapes, and colors. “…I couldn’t sustain the illusion of flatness...Nor can I remember ever having seen without understanding; the color-patches of infancy are lost.” I personally feel a sense of understanding toward Dillard’s wish to see the world as she did as an infant. Staring at the van Gogh, Monet, and Renoir posters on my wall, I envy their ability to detach from the actual figures and display their image through thick brushstrokes of light and color.
“I live now in a world of shadows that shape and distance color, a world where space makes a kind of terrible sense.” Lacking the ability to “unpeach the peaches” is an unfortunate, yet critical part of growing up. In class we discussed methods that organize what we see, such as the law of proximity, law of similarity, law of continuity, etc. These are all examples of why we are unable to detach from our perception. Our brain is trained to rationalize what stimuli our rods and cones sense. We are, at times, victims to our own skills of adaptation. Seeing clearly conveyed both the miracle of perception and regret that few people can actually “unpeach the peaches.”
Posted by lcisowens at October 6, 2005 06:09 PM