Seeing... part 1

One can see, one can look, and one can observe. These three words denote the same action, yet each word suggests something different. By observing we understand something about what we see; by seeing we take full notice of it; but by looking we glance at it without necessarily understanding it or taking notice of it. And so there are three conditions: looking at the surface of a thing, looking at a thing properly, and looking at a thing with real observation and understanding it at the same time.

Everyone notices things in one of these three ways. That which interests a man most, he observes most keenly; that which attracts his mind, he sees and takes notice of; and that upon which his glance happens to fall, he only looks at. And there are, therefore, three different effects made upon man by all he sees: a deeper effect of that which he has observed fully, a clear effect of that which he has seen, and a passing effect of that which had just caught his glance. This is the reason why there are seers, thinkers, and those who have only their two eyes.

There is another side to this question: a person who is walking gains a certain kind of impression of the route he takes; one who drives the same way in a motorcar has a different kind of experience, and the experience of the one who flies in an aeroplane is different again. Perhaps the one who was walking was not able to reach his goal as quickly as the one in the motorcar or the one in the aeroplane, but the observations that he was able to make, the sights that he saw, and all the experiences that he had there, were far beyond those of the other two. And in just the same way our mind works. There is one man whose mind works at the rate of an aeroplane; there is another man whose mind works like an automobile; and there is a third whose mind works at the speed of a man walking. The one whose mind, is working at that speed will not perhaps react as quickly as the others, but what he thinks he will think thoroughly; what he sees he will see thoroughly. It is he who will have insight into things, it is he who will understand the hidden law behind things, because the activity of his mind is normal. Thinking does not always depend upon quickness of the mind; sometimes it is the quality of the mind which is more important.

An intelligent person thinks swiftly too, but that is another thing. There can be a great difference between two stones, for instance between a diamond and a pebble. They are both stones, but one is precious and the other dull. In the same way there are two different qualities of mind: one man thinks quickly and intelligently, the other thinks quickly but is very often mistaken. He is mistaken because he thinks quickly, while in the other case it is the quality of mind which even in quick thinking makes that person think rightly. Nevertheless the rhythm of thinking has a great deal to do with one's life. When the three who have traveled the same way on foot, in the car and by aeroplane, meet together and speak of their experiences, we shall find a great difference in what they tell; and this explains why people who have gone through the same life, who have lived under the same sun, who have been born on the same earth, are yet so different in their mentality. The reason is that their minds have traveled at different speeds. Their experiences are quite different though they have traveled the same way.