No Longer With the Eyes to See the Land

The art of seeing is sadly being lost - and our landscapes are suffering as a result

Photo by Ivan Bandura on Unsplash

To be able to truly see is a rare and precious skill¹. Everyone can glance at a bird, a flower, or a tree. Everyone can look at something briefly enough to register its existence and to infer if it will be of use to them. But few are those who can truly see a tree, a bird, or a flower, for this involves the act of perceiving it, knowing it, beholding it — and enjoying it. Although we can all, in theory, “see”, too often we have no idea of what we are looking at beyond the bare rudimentaries. To most people, the tree on the street corner is just that — a tree. Its species, history, ecology, health, and condition are all invisible and unknowable to the casual or uninformed observer. Even if the average person desired to know more they often wouldn’t know where to start, and even if they do begin this journey of discovery towards the art of seeing, it may not be them that does the seeing, but an app on their smartphone looks on their behalf and tells them what they are looking at. The art of truly seeing is not developed and nurtured. Instead, the art of mediated seeing through technology is fostered and our dependence upon technology to enhance our lives and ‘field of vision’ intensifies.

For most of us though, this desire to know more, to see more clearly and knowingly, and to slow down long enough to try, is not high on our agendas. Our hectic-paced days are filled with casual glances at nameless objects, unknown species, or homogenous landscapes. Everything seems the same or not worth our “precious” attention (but the vibrating screen in our pockets — now that does warrant our attention!). Rarely do we get the chance to stop and admire what is out of our windows. Thus we rarely truly see and behold what is in front of our eyes.

It is a tragedy of our modern world that this all isn’t really much of a tragedy. We rest content with our ‘seeingless vision’ mostly because we are content to avert our gaze and attention to the little glowing screens in front of us. While all around us the world goes by, and beautiful moments are missed, the “real and exciting world” (as we tell ourselves) goes on inside the pixels and processors of our man-made meta-worlds. And we are content to live our days there — in these places which don’t even exist!

The trouble is these virtual worlds is they are but that — virtual. They cannot give us anything truly of substance. Yes, they may give us dopamine every time the notification ‘pings’, but that is as fleeting and ephemeral as it gets. That which is weighty, of substance, of meaning, and of life is to be found in the created natural world around us and in the human relationships that should envelop us. This is a world that was designed to satisfy us, to provide us with endless beauty to fill our gaze and time, and cherished moments that we will carry with us to our dying day stored and protected inside the confines of our memories.

This world is a joy to behold to those who can truly see. It is a world saturated with beauty and consists of rich dramas and stories both to behold and to be told — dramas that are performed constantly around us in Creation. It is truly an amazing world, but it is ever increasingly a world that is in trouble. In great part, this is a result of our lack of attention and care — and crucially, because we do not see that which is in front of us.

What we do not see, we do not know, and what we do not know we do not care for (or know how to). If we are unable to perceive something, we are unable to understand it and deeply know it. Crucially, we remain ignorant of the condition and health of what we are beholding. Questions such as “Is this a good representation?” “Is this in need of improvement?” “Is this in trouble?” “Is this healthy?” are not asked. And for want of these questions, our natural world is in dire straights.

The art of good medicine is to notice symptoms that lead to a cause, diagnosis, and treatment. Symptoms left unnoticed can lead to incurable diseases down the line. Only when we notice something is wrong will we be able to do something about it. Our landscapes, fauna, and flora have been changing for centuries, heading towards degradation, and in many cases already have. However, generations of people who have lost the art of seeing have failed to notice — and failed to care. The ecologists, agrarians, anthropologists and conservationists who have been crying out for us to see, struggle to get us to look up from our screens long enough to hear their prophetic warnings.