What’s in your field of vision?
“The world in which we find ourselves before we set out to calculate and measure it is not an inert or mechanical object but a living field, an open and dynamic landscape subject to its own moods and metamorphoses.” - David Abram, The Spell of the Sensuous
So far, we’ve practiced looking closely and paying attention to details. We’ve looked at things we overlook, including the space around us and the air we breathe. Last week, I introduced relational seeing or seeing in terms of happenings, interactions, or encounters. For the next few weeks, we’ll zoom out to look at the whole field of vision, what Abram calls the living field.
According to the Oxford Dictionary, the field of vision is the entire area that a person or animal is able to see when their eyes are fixed in one position. Everything in the field is part of your perception of the moment, whether conscious or not. Within that field is a web of relationships.
For this week, we’ll go wide, becoming aware of the entire 180 degree field from left to right. We’ll also examine what’s on the periphery. And, we’ll consider how this field changes as you change position. This is your perspective. What you see depends on where you stand.
“Peripheral vision is mountain vision. It's the ability to see far and wide. It captures motion. We experience it as a state of relaxed, alert awareness. The body is calm, the heart rate is low. It allows us to monitor the environment, and to plan and prepare.” ~ The Fearless Strategies, Mountain Vision
Your peripheral vision is that which lies at the sides of your attention, glimpses caught in passing “out of the corner of one’s eye.” Peripheral vision is always a part of your seeing but not always conscious. With our tendency to look straight ahead at screens much of the day, we become myopic and lose the sense of this peripheral vision. Yet, surprising views can be discovered there. It’s also good for your eyes to move them from left to right and up and down, to move from focused vision to a wider perspective for a change.
Your perspective is what you see from where you are. As you pan from left to right, your perspective changes. If you move to a different spot, your perspective changes again. New possibilities for seeing emerge. Even if you stay in the same spot, remember that it is always a dynamic, living field. The things around you are also moving and changing and this changes your perspective.
Practices
What’s in your field of vision right now?
Practice taking in the wide angle field of view at different times throughout the day. Look straight ahead and then slowly pan from left to right and back again. Where does your eye land? What do you notice on a second or third go around that you didn’t notice on the first. What’s in your peripheral vision made conscious by your looking? How does what you find there contribute to your general perception? And finally, what relationships can you identify within the scene?
Take a panoramic photo if you want a visual memento. Do this exercise from different spots to see how your perspective changes.
Or, try this exercise of choiceless awareness, with or without a camera.
Go for a Blur Walk
This is a favourite exercise that I do each season (read about its origin here). It helps me to see “impressions” of the entire scene before me, eliminating identifiable objects. In blur mode, everyday surroundings become colours, shapes, light circles, etc. It’s a brand new world. Here are several options, depending on your time and circumstances - from simplest to more time-consuming.
Go for a walk and occasionally squint your eyes slightly to create a soft focus. Pan from left to right. Notice the light, the colours, and the shapes created when you do this. Take a mental picture of the scene or use a camera. Tips for the camera are under Resources.
If you can’t go out for a walk, this can be done in your backyard or in your home with an entire room view or a window view. Pause occasionally throughout your day and take in your field of vision through soft eyes.
Be Aware of Your Blindspots
As always, you can explore these ideas with your literal vision, while also considering how they apply to real world situations and events and what you think about them. Our views are always partial. What’s missing from your take on things? What are you overlooking? Where are your blindspots? How can you expand your thinking on a particular topic or situation?
Resources
Possibilities Open Up when we Shift Perspectives
Tips for Photographing Impressions
▪ Walk with a smartphone. If you don’t have a camera where you can manually create blur, you can try a smartphone app, like Camera+ (or any app which has a macro or closeup option). Set the app to the macro option, but don’t press on the screen to focus. Photograph the blurry scene.
▪ Walk with a camera. Set your camera to manual focus and set aperture priority as wide open as your lens allows. In my case, I use a 50mm lens (or set the lens at 50 mm) with an aperture of f/1.4. You want as shallow depth of field as possible. Dial your manual focus all the way in as if you were doing extreme closeups. This will give a blurry scene when pointed towards the big picture landscape. Then, go for a 15 minute walk (or longer) and photograph scenes along the way. When you get home, you will have impressions of your walk for that particular time and place.