Often times humans have a tendency to never truly appreciate an experience, be it preconceived expectations, a “dogfish,” or even Some structures and things such as the Grand Canyon may be misconstrued for something different. Or even not recognized fully Perhaps we form preconceived expectations when observing something, then receive a contradictory result. For example, it would be as if viewing a movie trailer, where the expectation is eminent, but the reality or result is inadequate. It’s happened numerous times to everyone at one point in their lives. If not a movie trailer then possibly artwork, John Berger claims there "barriers to visions," for all one knows that could correspond to the point Walker Percy is trying to make. People have a tendency to form an opinion regardless if it is intentional or not. …show more content…
Could this be the “creature” he mentions?He depicts a dogfish as something that one has a desire to learn something but has difficulty obtaining the knowledge. Or is the dogfish a euphemism as to how the dogfish is our desire to learn more about a particular subject, but cannot reach because of society? If not then, what stands in our way to comprehend this knowledge we are attempting to obtain? For now, let us imagine that it is society, who shut us down, restrict and monitor what we learn. Another factor could be "inner demons" we have. Maybe there is something inside of us that prohibits us from deciphering somethings. Our "inner demons" could be the "dogfish" that Percy lectures
One summer my parents informed my brother Ben and I we were going on a trip to Yellowstone National Park. I had never been so excited for anything in my life. I had a passion and love for nature, and being that Yellowstone had some of the most beautiful and interesting geological features on Earth, I knew I would have a blast. They said we would be going in a few weeks, and I literally couldn’t wait. I kept asking questions upon questions, and finally, my dad just got annoyed. “Go research it, Juliette.” He said. “The internet will know more than I do.” I took his advice and went to research Yellowstone.
People try to understand the world through perception of experiences that they encounter. These encounters include either living through the experience first hand or the experience being conveyed by another person. Our perception weeds out main ideas from those experiences deeming them realistic and if so labels them truths. However, our perception of the obtained truth from those experiences is not always credible because as a recipient we are restricted to the amount of experience we can retain. Meaning the perceptions of the labeled truths is a result of our translation of incomplete experiences into new perception resulting from what he or she could retain from the original experience. Those incomplete experiences give rise to new
I look up from my phone after the clock turns from 11:59 pm to 12:00 am and gaze upon Honey Pot Lake as it mirrors the pink and gold clouds illuminated by the setting sun’s rays as they bend over earth's curvature. I take in the beauty of the sunset and await the soon to come sunrise. As i, for the last time, experience the beauty of the pristine nature that bethel alaska has to offer, turn my head towards my adjacent friend and proclaim in a gloomy yet glad tone, “I never want to leave this place.” My experiences in bethel alaska from my two school immersion trips truly formed who I am today.
David Foster Wallace wants the reader to realize that the most important and the most obvious realities are often the ones that are the hardest to see and talk about. Seeing what’s right in front of you can be the most difficult thing because you are always looking further and not opening your eyes to see the most obvious parts of life. Wallace is additionally trying to get the reader to tap into the real meaning of life as well as trying to move people away from their “default setting”. The opening of this speech starts out with the story of wise fish and the two young fish. After being asked about the water by the older fish, the two younger fish realize that they don’t know what water is. Fish don’t know water exists until beached;
Humans are naturally curious creatures. One’s inquisitive mindset might lead to all sorts of discoveries or answers to cosmic questions. However, the world and the life one lives inside the world are not always as they seem to be at first glance. What one does know about the world is based solely on their perception of reality and one person’s perspective will differ from the next. How does one know when they look at the blue sky or the green grass that the other people around them are witnessing the same scene they are experiencing? Should the stranger on the street fear another stranger simply because they are unable to know for absolute certainty that other is not a deranged, cannibalistic murderer?
In today’s society we praise the abnormal, the different, the strange. We get pleasure and satisfaction from seeing the bizarre, the unusual, the wacky. In essence, what we
In context to reverting the process of habituation, Alain de Botton states,” I forced myself to obey a particular kind of mental command; to look around me as though I had never been in this place before. And slowly my travels began to bear fruit. Under the command to consider everything as of potential interest, objects released latent layers of value,” (De Botton, ). Here, he states that it is necessary to adapt a mindset in which you look at your surroundings and familiar objects from a way that one had previously not seen it before. By this, an individual can develop,” latent layers of value,” (De Botton, 63). Familiar objects in a habituated surrounding can exhibit deep, hidden meanings that one may not have realized before. At times it may feel like there is nothing to be discovered because one has become so habituated to one’s surroundings. Changing one’s perspective can reveal the true value of an object that had been long forgotten about. It can also remind an individual of the memories and experiences related to the object. When adapting an “open-minded mindset,” an individual can help differentiate between the ordinary and the extraordinary
When you have background information provided to you, you form an opinion or idea in your head of how that place will be and if it doesn't live up to that then you are let down by that experience. A great example of this happened to me when I went to visit Cooperstown, NY to see the Baseball Hall of Fame. I hadn't seen any previous pictures of the town but had built up images in my head prior to getting there. I was 12 years old and had never traveled to NY. My parents had never driven there either, and were lost most of the trip. This was accompanied by a steady rainstorm as well as 10 hours of riding in the wrong direction. When we finally arrived in Cooperstown, there was not much to see. It was a small time consisting of a few restaurants, one road in and out, a baseball field, a large lake, 1 golf course, and the Baseball Hall of Fame which did not look so special from the outside. The gloomy weather kept up for the full week I was
In life, what we perceive tends to show misconception in how the thought plays out. A good example would be the character Jay Gatsby in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s American classic: The Great Gatsby. Gatsby was unable to distinguish between his love for Daisy, a reality, versus the illusion that he could recapture her love by establishing and inventing a fraudulent past. He believed he could repeat the past, and acquire a flaunting wealth. In the novel, Jay Gatsby seems incompetent in establishing a difference between the realities of his life versus the illusion he made out.
He wanted his students to look deeper into the fish. He wanted them to find the most conspicuous features of the fish. Sure, he could of just told them, they were wrong, but that would not teach them the true meaning of observing.
interpretations it is stated that what we view within our minds are just rifts between reality and
It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words, but maybe they are worth far more than that. Pictures, although seemingly simple in nature, are extremely complex. Far too often, people overlook what a picture truly is. When a person looks at an image, they most likely see only the image, nothing else. Many people do not look deep enough into an image to fully comprehend the true meaning of it. However, when an individual begins to truly study an image in an attempt to understand the true complexity of it, they will be surprised at what they overlooked before. As stated by French Realist Painter, Gustave Courbet, “Fine art is knowledge made visible.”
“Good morning! Today we will be going to Yosemite National Park. I hope you are prepared…” Eddie, the tourist guide, announced a little too enthusiastically for an early morning after my family and I entered the bus. Taking a seat by the window, I tried drowning him out with my music, and then proceeded to sigh when I could still clearly hear him through my headphones. I was annoyed, but not because I did want to go to Yosemite; I just did not want spend time with the group of loud and obnoxious tourists on the bus. When my family and I first agreed to go on a tour of Yosemite, I was excited because I had never been there and I had heard many positive reviews about its scenery. That day, however, it was hot, I was worried about starting college soon, and all I wanted was to sleep comfortably without a Chinese tourist behind me complaining about the American government. “Great,” I thought sarcastically to myself, “what a fun trip.” When we reached Yosemite, however, my attitude completely changed. Although I was still with the group of loud tourists, I was able to mentally escape from them and my worries for the short duration in Yosemite. The immense cliffs, everlasting sequoias, beautiful waterfalls, and abundant wildlife were mesmerizing and for the first time in a while, I felt humble and small, as if I were just a tiny ant in an incredibly huge world. We, as humans, often forget our relationship with Mother Nature, but this trip to Yosemite had reminded me of this
“The more often we see the things around us - even the beautiful and wonderful things - the more they become invisible to us. That is why we often take for granted the beauty of this world: the flowers, the trees, the birds, the clouds - even those we love. Because we see things so often, we see them less and less.” - Joseph B. Wirthlin (American businessman)
Life consists of constant cycles of spontaneous outbursts of joy and unexpected disappointments; there is an upside to this repetitive tug of war. On this rock we call home, we are surrounded by the most gorgeous creations, structures, and landscapes that add a touch of serenity to our miserable existences called aesthetics. Aesthetics as an adjective is defined as concern with beauty of the appreciation of beauty. As a noun it means a set of principles underlying and guiding the work of a particular artist or artistic movement. The surrounding beauty that we take for continuous granted is significant towards our existence. In everyday interaction, we straddle the line between aesthetic judgement, where we appreciate any object, instead