“I see,” said the blind man. But he didn’t see at all.
We used to chant that to each other at school. Unkindly of course, but who said school children were always the soul of consideration?
‘I see’ has long been taken to mean ‘I understand’.
Look at the words we use to describe how we understand something.
We see the light. We get the picture. We see through a trick.
Understanding can be insight, illumination, enlightenment, vision.
A wise man is a visionary or seer. A student can shine, be bright or brilliant – or the dull one or the dim one in the corner.
You can probably think of more.
We do use all five of our senses to ‘make sense’ of the world, but sight and light are the metaphors most commonly used for understanding. Not surprising when a huge proportion and some 30 areas of our brains are devoted to visual processing.
Hmmm. You may however have noticed that the word ‘understanding’ itself is not a visual metaphor. Actually I was a bit puzzled and tried to find its origins. One dictionary, I forget which, described it as meaning ‘to stand among’ – hence I suppose to get close knowledge of. I don’t quite amongstand what that means, but there we are.
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Yes.
I think seeing is a lot like knowing, as when you see something you are already connected with the subject. And just like knowing, seeing is closely tied to belief, just like the Metaphor ‘seeing is believing’. I think the content of ‘understanding’ is more connected to wanting to be part of something, an experience, a person, an idea or an art and so on. Through that direction, one can easily attain the arrival of understanding, through human reasoning.
Hello Ana. Thanks for visiting my blog. I was interested in your comment. Don’t you think, though, that one can see something and want to be part of it without necessarily understanding it?
Very, very interesting topic. Due to an illness, I lost my sense of taste and smell for a period of time. The old adage “you don’t miss something until it is gone” is so true. Thank goodness they have almost completely returned.
Great topic, thanks for sharing.
Yes — we (I) do see with all our senses.
I feel by seeing. As I paint, or look closely at others’ paintings, or surroundings, I feel the chill or warmth, the attitude, the soul through the eyes in a portrait.
I taste by seeing. If my food doesn’t look good, it already doesn’t taste good, even before putting it into my mouth — if indeed it would even get that far.
Something sheds light on our knowledge, our understanding, our wisdom. Even if that “something” is heard, or felt, or tasted instead of actually seen.
Interesting topic, and good comments…
Oh I think we “see” with all our senses, not to mention with our thoughts, so it was very appropriate imo.
Anita
Well, I suppose artists are good at visual thinking.
As to gender differences in mental representation, I wonder if any research has been done on it. I am listening to several podcasts, for instance from Scientific American and ‘The Naked Scientist’ from Cambridge. I’m fascinated by the new discoveries being made about the way our brains function. That seems to be the kind of subject that would be interesting to investigate.
Actually as its title implies, this blog is just about seeing things. I added the other senses in this post just in the interest of fairness and symmetry. Maybe I would have done better to leave it out.
So how do you “see” or understand things? Do you think that artists do it differently than others? What about as a woman? How does gender play into how we not only “see” the world but how we describe that process.
An interesting post that brings up more questions than answers for me personally. Figures you would find a way to get back at the teacher and make her work!