We See What We Look For

On the second day of our stay with my friend Chris in his Idaho home, I was up first, badly in need of coffee. I went about collecting the pieces of the coffee pot I’d put in the dishwasher the night before and found all I needed except the lid. Where could it be? I emptied the dishwasher and searched it top to bottom.

Then I searched the counters and cupboards. After I searched every place I could think of, I concluded it must have been put in the trash. The thought of sifting through a deep kitchen wastebasket looking for a black lid wasn’t appealing. In any event, I would need coffee before I could face it. I would have to improvise.

I jury-rigged something using a spoon turned upside down, counterweighted by a towel so that the spoon would trick the filter basket into dripping into the pot. It worked.

Later when Chris was up, he too searched for the missing black lid, but to no avail.

After I’d showered and come back to the kitchen, Chris had a smile on his face.

“We see what we look for,” he said.

And he held up the white lid to the coffee pot.

Seeing what we don’t expect to see

When Chris  had loaded the breakfast dishes, he’d noticed something still lurking in the otherwise-empty dishwasher.  He pulled out the lid, which was just where it should have been all the time.

Can you guess that my coffee pot lid at home is black? In my pre-coffee state, I had been looking for a black lid. The white lid had been in plain sight the whole time. Not only was I blind to what I didn’t expect to see, but I had transferred my blindness to my friend when I told him I couldn’t find the black lid.

 Later that morning, Chris took my son flying in his 1946 Piper Cub. I followed Chris around the plane, inspecting the cables and wires, nuts and bolts. My son was going up in this thing. (And his mother wasn’t around to cancel the escapade.) Now, I hasten to add that my friend Chris, whom I’ve known since 1993, is about as careful as any pilot can be. Meticulous to a fault. But still…

“I judge this aircraft to be airworthy,” Chris announced.

“I just hope there isn’t some white coffee lid somewhere,” was my response. He let out a chuckle. I didn’t.

Fortunately, the flight went perfectly in the blue Northern Idaho sky.

Seeing not with our eyes

Later that afternoon, I was lying in the grass looking up at the beautiful sky, watching the clouds, marveling at their beauty and wondering what I didn’t see. Wondering how my sight is rutted in deep wagon tracks and how I must see the same things over and over, while with just a slightly different perspective, I would see something different.

Corey, my son (and soon to be college cognitive-science student), reminded me that “we see with our brain, not our eyes.” True enough.

And I suppose the same proclivity serves us more than it shackles us. My mind’s vision allows me to enjoy a beautiful landscape out the window of the airplane, while my little camera quite objectively picks up the glare on the window instead. Our mind’s vision lets us see a tiny red traffic light while driving the electric fireworks of the Las Vegas Strip at night.

But with our talent for seeing what we’re looking for, we also miss important discoveries that we’re just not looking for. We miss qualities in people that prejudice screens from our mind’s view.

“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly,” wrote The Little Prince’s Antoine de Saint-Exupery. “What is essential is invisible to the eye.”

I’d like to hear from you, dear reader—what do you see? And what things in plain sight have you missed for a time, only to see later?

Most of all, which books have changed how you see?

Just click on the Comments link below. (If you’re reading this as an email, click here and you'll connect to Comments).

Comments

[Brian Schottlaender]

Hi Steve--

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Annie Dillard. Especially Chapter 8, "Intricacy." Changed my whole way of seeing, and thinking about how and what I see.

Be well, friend,

--Brian S.

[Linda Dolack]

http://www.lindadolack.com/pdfs/DolackUSCathMag.pdf

this was written about a piece of my artwork and about 'seeing' in a similar way to your story...anyway, it reminded me of your little entry. i enjoy the e-newsletter....keep them coming! linda dolack

[John G. Lynch]

I decry, all too often, the low levels of literacy and historical knowledge among young people (O tempora, O mores). But, there is the phenomenon of technical literacy and the sopping up of knowledge that I noted in my sons. Perhaps we are too hasty and belittle those who do not enjoy the tactility of reading. What I have found lacking is any taxonomy or prioritization in that ability to sop up...an osmotic approach to knowledge and learning. If many of these young people have a series of models in which to interpret what they see, I have not been able to detect it. That may be more my problem than theirs.

[Margaret N. Harker]

My favorite for all this is best said by Edna St. Vincent Millay:" The world stands out on either side no wider than the heart is wide. Above the earth is stretched the
sky, no higher than the soul is high."
I have kept this in my wallet and try to remember this when things are not seen. At 66 yrs old, there have been many tough times,and many joyful times. Recently I took up kayaking and each time out has proved the above.

[Angel from Bulgaria]

Good one, Steve - thanks!
Since we are what we are, e.g. it's in our nature to see what we want to see, it's always valuable to see ourselves through the eyes of someone else. This brings the different perspective, but I think it only works provided both sides have acknowledgement and appreciation for each other.
This approach could work on different levels. For example americans could find it valuable to find out how they are viewed from Europe, Asia, etc. And vice versa...

[Sally D]

You bring up a most important observation--the human tendency to overlook what we should be able to see clearly! We look at a simple building and know there's an architect but look at the complexity of organic life and think it all evolved by chance. Talk about missing things in plain sight! The book that opened my eyes was the Bible. Now I see everywhere the evidence of the Master Architect, who is the epitome of what is essential!

[Joan Rice]

Good photographers see all kinds of things that most of us do not - distracting objects, white space, the best composition. It makes the difference between a photograph and a snapshot. (Thanks for your e-mails that are so very interesting and provocative.)

[John W Lewis]

Thanks, Steve, for sharing these great examples of observation. This reminds me of the classic experiment of counting the bounces of the ball and completely missing ... maybe I shouldn't spoil it for anyone!

Presumably: our attention is caught by the things which have meaning; and meaning is only attached to things which correlate with patterns we have in mind.

The opposite effect is also very strong: the brain dislikes cognitive dissonance and tries to make the "picture" fit something that makes sense, and in many more ways than the visual. Pre-flight inspection of aircraft is a procedure which is known to carry the risk that people see what they expect to see, rather than what is there; this is not meant to unsettle you, but might explain your friend's chuckle.

Book: "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain", by Betty Edwards, is a great book about drawing, creativity and seeing. People who have learnt to draw say that they now "see" differently.

(By the way, I enjoyed your GTD interview. I already had the wooden filing cabinet; does that mean that I should write?!)

[Mary Anne Smith]

Jeff Sharlett's book The Family is an interesting study that pulls the curtain back on a political/religious phenomena present in the US and abroad for the past 70 years. One of the most striking comments was that this organization hides in plain sight. I live looking for the roses, not the thorns, but maybe I should also be looking for the snakes?

[Lihsa]

Many, many stories, starting when I was little with the Wizard of Oz.

But I also remember reading the poems of Emily Dickinson. I read them when I was in college and promptly fell in love with her imagery.

Then reading Atlas Shrugged in my 20s and becoming aware of enterprise.

So many, many books.

[John C Miller]

In my 60's, a product of the 60's I often think of Robert Kennedy's "Some men see things as they are and say why. I dream of things that never were and say why not."