Visualization

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When we are born, we can see but we cannot put anything into words. When we’re older we visualize. Visualization is the way we interact with the world. Dillard discusses how some people who have corrected and restored their sight from blindness are delighted with their sight. They see things as they really are in a way that those who always see things cannot. Like an object is seen in shape and color rather than in its name and purposes. Those that have not seen never take the beauty of sight for granted. Both Annie Dillard and John Berger agree that we cannot see clearly. Berger thinks it is because of external influences while Dillard thinks because nature and ignorance won’t let us. It is crucial to realize the significance of the ties between the language we use and how we see because it seems more likely that seeing has a different relationship to language than any of our other senses. For the verb ‘hear’, the noun ‘sound’ is associated with it while the verb ‘see’ has no common noun. It may be, for those things we do see, our language is rich enough that there is no need for any intermediary term to describe what we see than what we hear, touch, smell, or taste. ‘Seeing’ depends on the distinctions we typically use in language. In order to describe our visual experiences, we must first establish in an appropriate language. Language seems to enter into our ‘seeing’ more directly than with the other senses. There is a more developed interdependence between ‘seeing’ and ‘language’. There are many words which can be used to describe the kinds of ‘seeing’ such as ‘see’, ‘look at’, ‘examine’, ‘gaze, ‘scan’, ‘look for’, and so on. Visualization is the mechanism by which we engage with the world around us. In every act of looki... ... middle of paper ... ...n is the key to anything and our ability to perceive opinions by sight is very helpful. Understanding what and how vision works helps us understand what vision is and does so much for us that we do not even know it. By confronting writing about nature, by becoming aware of its vivid descriptions, the writer implicitly becomes more deeply aware of his or her own dimensions, limitations of form and understanding, and processes of grappling with the unknown. The act of seeing is active; it is an act of choice. We see what we look at and so relate to it. We also become aware that we can be seen, and so are aware we are part of the visible world. This results in the understanding that others may see things differently. This reciprocal nature of vision comes before dialogue. The prior sentence agrees with Berger’s proposal that “seeing comes before words” (Berger 7).

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