Sight and Optic

These two friends, VP and Devakumar were out in the garden shooting. As I watched them for a while  I noticed them shooting different sights. One was shooting children playing in the garden and the other some flowers. That made me think. Being a nature enthusiast and fond of photography, I kept pondering over this issue: what makes us view sights or events differently or selectively!

Yesterday, a eight year old child who came for consultation played with a toy train for a long time ignoring all the other fifty toys in the toy shelf. I asked him, why was he fond of the toy train. He said, 'My father works in the Railways and bought toy trains for my birthdays. Recently we went for a pleasure trip on the tourist train from Mettupalayam to Ooty'. His interest came from his habituation.

Another child, a nine years old girl, while waiting for her parents to complete the shopping in  a supermarket, was sketching the busy road on her note book. On enquiry, I  found that from the age of five years, she was fond of pencil sketching and has several note books with scores of her sketches. That was her natural inclination. 

What determines why we do what we do, is is often influenced by our habituation or inclination. The educational psychologists would refer to the former as the effect of nurture and the latter as natural instinct or nature.

All of us would see the same sight, but would draw different meanings from them, which is our optic. We interpret events and happenings through the insights we have of them, from our past experiences. Our past experiences are seasoned with pleasant or unpleasant memories. They influence the way we view the sights. 

Our optic is a decisive factor for our behaviour, temperament and responses. Even in photography, most photographers shoot sights which inspire or fascinate them, guided by their optic.

Anyone can learn to revise the optic by some help. If someone is a prisoner of a fixed optic or feel controlled by one way of viewing or analysing things, it is necessary to broaden or enlarge the optic. This has to be an ongoing process for allowing inner growth. Our opinions are direct expressions of our optic.

A medical student who bypassed five us standing in the queue at the coffee bar, whom I befriended later told me, that he did not mind doing it, because he was already late for the next lecture. His optic, although socially unacceptable, drives his behaviour. 

Jesus of Nazareth, heard the cry of Bartemeus, a blind man sitting on the wayside for help, while all those travelling with him ignored him or asked him to be quiet. Jesus reached out to him and restored his eye sight.

It is a blessing to have an optic that makes us more humane and wholesome.

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)