I believe that it was a shared idea in many different cultures that the process of seeing was one of grasping. That the eyes would reach out and grasp what they were seeing.
Of course this is not the modern way of thinking; we now have the idea that the eyes are simple receptors and take in whatever they see in a neutral way. That light travels from the world and hits the back of the eyes.
The idea that the eyes reach out and grasp seems odd, old fashioned, when coming across the idea its easy to think of those simple pre-science folks, did they know nothing?
On the bus the other day I became aware of my eyes grasping, I was actively looking, reaching out, searching. It felt exactly like my eyes were indeed grasping.
So is what previous thinkers were reflecting on, the feeling of the process of seeing, did they really not understand or did they see the bigger picture?
I realised that it was taking quite a lot of energy to do all this grasping. It was also making my mind quite agitated
So I thought I’d stop, after all I’d become aware of the feeling/action/behaviour and normally when I become aware of a mental process I can change it quite well (if only for a short time)
And I found it really difficult. I tried lowering my eyes, I tried not lowering my eyes but not grasping, I tried softening my eyes and just allowing what came to come. It was really difficult.
So no conclusion, I just thought I would share and let you into what goes through my mind on the bus sometimes
