Learning to See
Gathering Information
Unsorted Discovery
Observation has been a major part of scientific discoveries. Observation by eye, by eye and microscope, by eye and telescope give us visual clues. Listening, touching, tasting, and smelling each gives information for comparison and perspective.
Observation. The bare facts. The naked truth. Unabridged reality. The uncritical assessment. Information without judgement. A first step to knowledge.
Through observation we first learn and then know as we go forward in discovery. As we discover we differentiate, say between an oak and a pine, and further still the difference between a yellow pine and a klinki pine.
We can learn to hear so that we hear to learn. Observation via the ear helps a mechanic know conditions of spark plugs, motor parts, and chassis. On a walk through the woods the ear can record sounds of animals, birds, insects and the movement of plants. A musician can detect a difference in minuet frequencies.
"There are 2500 receptors in a square centimeter of fingertip skin!”1 "According to the literature, the human skin can perceive the surface roughness in micro-scale level. The perceptual sensitivity is ranging from 300 nm to 90 µm with amplitudes between 7 nm to 4.5 µm on a series of fabricates surfaces with wrinkle wavelengths."2
Our skin detects changes in temperature and humidity as well.
By observing letters on a page, those who read can decode the words into meaning. Those who want to understand turn the meanings into thoughts. The wise place the thoughts alongside God’s desires and act accordingly.
Observation is the sister of discernment.
And what about the observations of our spirit? Our conscience can warn us away from the evil, coarse, and crude. We observe the struggle of another and because of observation we can act in mercy or cause justice.
Be liberal and generous in making observations. Be reserved, conservative and cautious when deciding how to classify and label the observations.
Who is your explorer? To you, your explorer is at least two things: God’s child (reality) and your observations (partial reality).
Many of the Proverbs are based on acute observation. It is not so much about philosophy as about facts. Its conclusions are the principles that are based upon observation.
But discernment at its best is based on spiritual insight.
Now the natural man doesn't receive the things of God's Spirit, for they are foolishness to him, and he can't know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
I Cor 2:14 World English Bible
To go from a natural observation to a spiritual conclusion there is need for God’s intervention.
It takes time to make observations. Making multiple observations in various setting supplies a larger pool of information from which to gain reliable data. This is where your patience gives opportunity to find and see the potential in your explorers. With Scripture as your guide see through God’s eyes.
1 https://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/pdf/mmtg.pdf
2 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405451816300447
Go to the next section: Skills - Listening
