Take a gander at these two dice. What is the first thing that jumps out?
The first thing most people notice is the dice are two different colors. This happens often; when two things are more alike than they are different, the difference stands out. This phenomenon is often useful to us: it helps us spot a bad apple in a bag of healthy fruit, we can see the slower athlete among the faster, and we can find Waldo’s blue pants in that barber pole factory. Thus our perception is successful, and we swiftly assess these items as “red and white.”
However, stark differences can overcome our ability to notice similarities. Look at the above dice again. They are roughly the same size, shape, share the same function, come in the same board game, are made from the same materials (albeit with different paint & dye), and they’re even positioned in the same way. They are more like one another than they are unalike. But since the difference is so stark, all their sameness is lost to us without a second look.
Yet extreme similarities can blind us too. Take a third (and last) look at the dice. While they are nearly the same in shape, the red dice is slightly sharper in its angles and lines. Maybe internally they are different as well. They could be varied in weight. Perhaps one of them is simply a cardboard cutout, or a mimic (well, that’s probably not a mimic). But, it is true that with precise enough instruments we could determine a large number of differences between the two objects. In short, extreme sameness and poignant difference are both likely to give us false impressions of reality.
To paraphrase Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, “you see Watson, but you do not observe.” Sherlock Holmes is perhaps the most successful hero to use the power of observation. His eye could discern more than Odin’s, and he used tactics that we can apply to our own lives. Any one of Holmes’s stories gives us great examples of how to sharpen the skill of observation. Holmes approaches all observations objectively, carefully, and without rushing. By imitating these practices, we can begin to improve our own observations.
The eyes are (usually) the first sensory engagement we have with the world. After all, opening our eyes is the portal by which we return from the world of slumber to the realm of the awakened. Therefore learning to observe is the first skill any hero should learn. For the more we are able to perceive, the greater our understanding of the world around us. And the greater our understanding, the better we can handle the challenges of our respective lives.
God bless.
“Nothing has such power to broaden the mind as the ability to investigate systematically and truly all that comes under thy observation in life.”
—Marcus Aurelius