Why is seeing clearly important to me? What does it mean to me?
I grew up on the rolling hills of Monterey Bay, just outside the small town of Watsonville, youngest in the family with an older brother of eleven years and sister of ten. I loved noticing anything that moved and soon became a hunter, pretending to be Davy Crockett out to feed my family with a single shot a day. I had a dog named Ring. We were best friends and had a lot of freedom to roam. I loved looking, listening and playing, so did Ring. I noticed what was outside and inside, the stories I made up were inside and soft, real things on the outside were sharp and crisp.
We had two original oil paintings in the house from my mother’s family, one of a redwood grove and another of a winter storm on the sea. I liked looking at them and imagining being there. I understood, that was art. It seemed to me they were like my inside world, soft, yet from a distance they were also like my outside real world, but not as sharp and clear. This was the beginning of my love affair with art…what it is and isn’t.
Seeing is a complex thing. On one level it’s largely mechanical, on another conceptual. There are many levels or dimensions to seeing. As the verb, to see, it’s a unitary holistic capability. As the noun, seeing, is a thing. A lovely capability. Seeing clearly is a skill. I am learning to do it skillfully. I hope this course will help.
Recently I went for a routine eye exam, my sight had become cloudy, obfuscated. The Optometrist noticed abnormalities that needed attention by an Ophthalmologist, a retina specialist. A few years earlier my eyes developed cataracts and I had the lens’ replaced surgically, intraocular lens insertion. As it turns out protein grew on the lens’ and were obscuring clear vision and needed to be cleaned off. They do this with a laser in a process called yagcapsulotomy; amazing, fast and voila … clarity. Without clarity we have doubt or obscurity. Without properly working equipment we have distortion or noise in our perceptions and interpretations. With support and feedback, sometimes we can choose to wake up, to change and appreciate what is available right here, right now.
I prefer seeing clearly; knowing over doubting, evidence over bias, data over dogma.
Until I signed up for Seeing Clearly, I didn’t know I was missing so much. Listening, really listening, my oh my, the sounds, well that I didn’t even know I missed hearing, I simply didn’t hear them. As write this I’ve heard a roster crowing and crowing, seagulls squawking, dog barking, blackbirds cawing, songbirds tweeting, (maybe saying ‘you said Vancouver wasn’t hot in June’ HA!) My ears weren’t tuned. Somehow having tuned in ears has led to seeing more clearly with my eyes. In many ways not only my ears and eyes - now seeing with my heart - my heart is more open. Which leads to touching and smelling, feeling and talking. It’s been extremely hot in British Columbia, we’ve set new heat records for hottest place in North America. Two days we surpassed Las Vegas. All to say walking among the trees is a different experience, much more dry. What rainforest! The moss on the trees is dry and crumbling, the colours a dull green with touches of brown. Caressing the now not moist moss and asking the tree how it’s managing? How all the creatures that depend on the tree are managing? Can the sapsuckers get bugs? I’ve never spoken to a tree, it simply never crossed my mind.
I’m like a kid in a candy store. It takes me longer to do everything. Walking to the store to pick bananas, a 25 minute return trip, can take an hour. Walking a forest path can take, well hours depending on how many plants wave for a photo, trees wanting their moss caressed, creatures popping up and out from behind a bush. Photo bombing or posing. There is so much to see.
Ha. Ha. As I signed up I wondered , how is Kim going to keep this going for a year, I see now, this is a lifetime way of seeking, seeing and living. Just love how these classes have gently opened me up to all sorts of possibilities.
My goal right now is to see with my heart and hold space for other beings as they traverse their world. See beings and people exactly for who they are and meet them exactly in that spot. Capturing their magical moment in time. To do this well will take a lifetime
Seeing Clearly helps me to be in the present moment. It diverts my mind, at least momentarily, away from those little ruminating voices inside my head....my thoughts...which dwell on the past or ponder the future. Observing, noticing, appreciating the present moment is all that exists.
I feel so blessed to have discovered you and your online classes so many years ago. Frankly anything you offer, sign me up! That’s because you help me get out of my head, learn new things, and open my eyes (and heart) to what has been hiding in plain sight! I savor each dispatch of Seeing Clearly for all these reasons, and truly believe your insights help to make me a better artist and human.
Thank you for sharing your intellect, curiosity and artistic discoveries with us.
Thanks Colleen. Ditto to meeting you online. Your magnificent photographs help me to see more clearly. Anyone reading that’s on IG, follow Colleen at https://www.instagram.com/what.c.sees/.
- to receive a truer reflection of my sense of self and how I am in relation with what is around me
- to understand how other realities take shape
- to meet each person in front of me with an open heart by simply seeing them
- to rejoice in the spot where I am right now
What does seeing clearly mean to me right now?
- to be aware of my point of view, to notice my lens, my state of mind; to see where I bring judgement and close down; to see what makes my heart sing.
- to pause and pay attention; to appreciate each moment, and not miss out on the present because I’m looking forward or behind.
Where do I most need to see more clearly?
Change --- with an intention to appreciate each moment, which also means to witness the impermanence of life, and to practice not attaching. What change? - the passage of time reflected in the natural world around me, my grandchildren growing, my body aging, my husband’s aging - and siblings and friends, my old dog, how my children need different things from me
Seeing Clearly reminds me to look at the essence of things. It inspires and encourages me to let go of "baggage" and judgement. This is key for simplifying my photographs and my life.
As is often the case, I’m a little late to the party, but I always arrive with cheerful enthusiasm.
I’m not as eloquent as some of the wonderful responses to your question, but here goes.
First, bless you, Kim Manly Ort, for bringing us along on this journey. I am grateful.
When I describe Seeing Clearly’ to friends, I say it’s a series of offerings rooted in exploring aspects of mindful awareness. I think that’s still right but doesn’t get into how much I’m getting out of it.
So, I love the offerings — different things to focus on, things to pay attention to. I love the readings, the podcasts, words, and pictures that in themselves teach me or provide me with ways of living in our world.
I’m not sure I will ever see clearly, but I enjoy the process of ‘seeing’ more clearly. The opportunity to focus, to take in, and, hopefully, be more mindful in my responses, whether with people in my life or the natural world around me. Being mindful, or ‘seeing clearly,’ helps me get more out of the world around me and, hopefully, approach it differently. I’m not sure yet where I need to see more clearly (I do not know what I do not know).
Sometimes I’m reminded how important things can be (sound being one), or doors opened (writings about how we perceive the natural world). Sometimes I struggle, such as when I try to pay more attention to, say, the hidden language of rocks.
Sometimes things feel important, there’s a desire to get ‘at’ something. I love epiphanies, but I probably get more out of pulling at knots, when I keep approaching things from different directions until they make sense to me. Or, at least, more sense.
Timothy, your cheerful eloquence is always welcomed. And I’m so glad that you’re getting more from these emails than can be explained in a sound bite. You bring up several important points that I want to highlight.
First and mostly, that this is a process, a lifelong journey if you will, to see more clearly. I think it’s pretty exciting that there is always more to see. Secondly, it’s a matter of being as open as possible to what’s being offered and responding accordingly. Third, I loved your analogy of pulling at knots. Seeing clearly, to me, has a lot to do with noticing nuance, the small things that tie everything together.
Why is seeing clearly important to me? What does it mean to me?
I grew up on the rolling hills of Monterey Bay, just outside the small town of Watsonville, youngest in the family with an older brother of eleven years and sister of ten. I loved noticing anything that moved and soon became a hunter, pretending to be Davy Crockett out to feed my family with a single shot a day. I had a dog named Ring. We were best friends and had a lot of freedom to roam. I loved looking, listening and playing, so did Ring. I noticed what was outside and inside, the stories I made up were inside and soft, real things on the outside were sharp and crisp.
We had two original oil paintings in the house from my mother’s family, one of a redwood grove and another of a winter storm on the sea. I liked looking at them and imagining being there. I understood, that was art. It seemed to me they were like my inside world, soft, yet from a distance they were also like my outside real world, but not as sharp and clear. This was the beginning of my love affair with art…what it is and isn’t.
Seeing is a complex thing. On one level it’s largely mechanical, on another conceptual. There are many levels or dimensions to seeing. As the verb, to see, it’s a unitary holistic capability. As the noun, seeing, is a thing. A lovely capability. Seeing clearly is a skill. I am learning to do it skillfully. I hope this course will help.
Recently I went for a routine eye exam, my sight had become cloudy, obfuscated. The Optometrist noticed abnormalities that needed attention by an Ophthalmologist, a retina specialist. A few years earlier my eyes developed cataracts and I had the lens’ replaced surgically, intraocular lens insertion. As it turns out protein grew on the lens’ and were obscuring clear vision and needed to be cleaned off. They do this with a laser in a process called yagcapsulotomy; amazing, fast and voila … clarity. Without clarity we have doubt or obscurity. Without properly working equipment we have distortion or noise in our perceptions and interpretations. With support and feedback, sometimes we can choose to wake up, to change and appreciate what is available right here, right now.
I prefer seeing clearly; knowing over doubting, evidence over bias, data over dogma.
Where do I most need to see more clearly?
Everywhere I go.
What a beautiful reflection and reverie too. Thanks, Jerry.
Until I signed up for Seeing Clearly, I didn’t know I was missing so much. Listening, really listening, my oh my, the sounds, well that I didn’t even know I missed hearing, I simply didn’t hear them. As write this I’ve heard a roster crowing and crowing, seagulls squawking, dog barking, blackbirds cawing, songbirds tweeting, (maybe saying ‘you said Vancouver wasn’t hot in June’ HA!) My ears weren’t tuned. Somehow having tuned in ears has led to seeing more clearly with my eyes. In many ways not only my ears and eyes - now seeing with my heart - my heart is more open. Which leads to touching and smelling, feeling and talking. It’s been extremely hot in British Columbia, we’ve set new heat records for hottest place in North America. Two days we surpassed Las Vegas. All to say walking among the trees is a different experience, much more dry. What rainforest! The moss on the trees is dry and crumbling, the colours a dull green with touches of brown. Caressing the now not moist moss and asking the tree how it’s managing? How all the creatures that depend on the tree are managing? Can the sapsuckers get bugs? I’ve never spoken to a tree, it simply never crossed my mind.
I’m like a kid in a candy store. It takes me longer to do everything. Walking to the store to pick bananas, a 25 minute return trip, can take an hour. Walking a forest path can take, well hours depending on how many plants wave for a photo, trees wanting their moss caressed, creatures popping up and out from behind a bush. Photo bombing or posing. There is so much to see.
Ha. Ha. As I signed up I wondered , how is Kim going to keep this going for a year, I see now, this is a lifetime way of seeking, seeing and living. Just love how these classes have gently opened me up to all sorts of possibilities.
My goal right now is to see with my heart and hold space for other beings as they traverse their world. See beings and people exactly for who they are and meet them exactly in that spot. Capturing their magical moment in time. To do this well will take a lifetime
Thanks Kim, you rock!
🙏 no you rock! Seeing clearly is clearly not just about seeing.
Wonderful!
Seeing Clearly helps me to be in the present moment. It diverts my mind, at least momentarily, away from those little ruminating voices inside my head....my thoughts...which dwell on the past or ponder the future. Observing, noticing, appreciating the present moment is all that exists.
Thank you for going first!
Hi Kim!
I feel so blessed to have discovered you and your online classes so many years ago. Frankly anything you offer, sign me up! That’s because you help me get out of my head, learn new things, and open my eyes (and heart) to what has been hiding in plain sight! I savor each dispatch of Seeing Clearly for all these reasons, and truly believe your insights help to make me a better artist and human.
Thank you for sharing your intellect, curiosity and artistic discoveries with us.
I am grateful!
Colleen x
Thanks Colleen. Ditto to meeting you online. Your magnificent photographs help me to see more clearly. Anyone reading that’s on IG, follow Colleen at https://www.instagram.com/what.c.sees/.
Why is seeing clearly important to me?
- to receive a truer reflection of my sense of self and how I am in relation with what is around me
- to understand how other realities take shape
- to meet each person in front of me with an open heart by simply seeing them
- to rejoice in the spot where I am right now
What does seeing clearly mean to me right now?
- to be aware of my point of view, to notice my lens, my state of mind; to see where I bring judgement and close down; to see what makes my heart sing.
- to pause and pay attention; to appreciate each moment, and not miss out on the present because I’m looking forward or behind.
Where do I most need to see more clearly?
Change --- with an intention to appreciate each moment, which also means to witness the impermanence of life, and to practice not attaching. What change? - the passage of time reflected in the natural world around me, my grandchildren growing, my body aging, my husband’s aging - and siblings and friends, my old dog, how my children need different things from me
I resonate with everything you wrote, Susan.
Seeing Clearly reminds me to look at the essence of things. It inspires and encourages me to let go of "baggage" and judgement. This is key for simplifying my photographs and my life.
You’ve gotten to the essence of seeing clearly so succinctly!
This is an on going challenge!
As is often the case, I’m a little late to the party, but I always arrive with cheerful enthusiasm.
I’m not as eloquent as some of the wonderful responses to your question, but here goes.
First, bless you, Kim Manly Ort, for bringing us along on this journey. I am grateful.
When I describe Seeing Clearly’ to friends, I say it’s a series of offerings rooted in exploring aspects of mindful awareness. I think that’s still right but doesn’t get into how much I’m getting out of it.
So, I love the offerings — different things to focus on, things to pay attention to. I love the readings, the podcasts, words, and pictures that in themselves teach me or provide me with ways of living in our world.
I’m not sure I will ever see clearly, but I enjoy the process of ‘seeing’ more clearly. The opportunity to focus, to take in, and, hopefully, be more mindful in my responses, whether with people in my life or the natural world around me. Being mindful, or ‘seeing clearly,’ helps me get more out of the world around me and, hopefully, approach it differently. I’m not sure yet where I need to see more clearly (I do not know what I do not know).
Sometimes I’m reminded how important things can be (sound being one), or doors opened (writings about how we perceive the natural world). Sometimes I struggle, such as when I try to pay more attention to, say, the hidden language of rocks.
Sometimes things feel important, there’s a desire to get ‘at’ something. I love epiphanies, but I probably get more out of pulling at knots, when I keep approaching things from different directions until they make sense to me. Or, at least, more sense.
Timothy, your cheerful eloquence is always welcomed. And I’m so glad that you’re getting more from these emails than can be explained in a sound bite. You bring up several important points that I want to highlight.
First and mostly, that this is a process, a lifelong journey if you will, to see more clearly. I think it’s pretty exciting that there is always more to see. Secondly, it’s a matter of being as open as possible to what’s being offered and responding accordingly. Third, I loved your analogy of pulling at knots. Seeing clearly, to me, has a lot to do with noticing nuance, the small things that tie everything together.
Thank you for being here.