Reading Bunk's journal

A few months ago, I visited an optometrist. After a myriad of tests involving letters and lenses, he assured me that taking into account a slight stigmatism in my right eye, my vision was excellent, beyond 20/20.

The technical examination of the eye reveals the anotomy: the iris, pupils, retina, glands and ducts and nerves. In my opinion, the eye is the most amazing product of nature and evolution. The brain is magical yes, but it's really just a big grey blob; the eye, the eye is art pure and simple (And the lord when he created the eye, lean'ed back upon his work bench and said unto himself, 'Oh yeah. I'm good.' ;p). Intricate, colourful, layered. And fundamental to the modern existence.

We are in the age of the visual. Everything is appearance, every ad designed to catch our eye for more than a fleeting glimpse, every entertainment made to excite and overload what we see. And like being in an ever brighter room where a single light must be shown brighter and brighter to stand out, this visual input must be made constantly more intense as we become desensitized. What surprises me is how amazing it can be to simply consider the simplest of sights like a snowflake or the texture of human skin. The things we miss.

And when I close my eyes, how it all melts away. Creepy, in fact. When I close my eyes, the opportunity for doubt presents itself. All of a sudden I can begin to convince myself that it isn't real. It's all just a vision. All just a dream. It's takes some convincing then to make it all real again.

But taking your sight in context as just another sense can be useful too. I used to be afraid of the dark. No more. All I need to do know is say to myself, "What? Everything that was there in the light is there now. Nothing more, nothing less. You just can't see it. What difference does it make?"

Sometimes when it's quiet I just stop and stare at things. I like to watch people. Not in a voyeur fashion, but simply a study. I find you can see in a persons eyes almost more than they can with them. All the subtle things, the shift of focus, the shape, the direction. You know they are alive when you see their eyes, as though you could see inside and flip through glimpsing at the pages as if their soul was for a brief moment an open book.

It's interesting what can happen when you make eye contact with people. With strangers. It's a symbol of my own openness maybe. I try it sometimes.

Most avert their eyes. I'm sorry if I scared them.

You're here, aren't you? You're talking to me, aren't you?

This post was edited by Bunk on Jan 04, 2005.

I am also quite amazed with the eye. In fact, I'm afraid I'd lose everything I cared about without my pair...

Anyway, I too like to watch people. For instance, when I let my father use my laptop, I watch him; not because freecell is that interesting, but because I'm seeing how somebody else does something. It's an interesting sensation that overcomes me when I watch, I become totally enthralled with something so unexciting and so everyday. It's creepy...

I should be ashamed of myself.