The Observer

The Symbols

Red-Tailed Hawk, Shepherd Dog, Calico Cat, Platform Nest, Alder Tree, Poplar Trees, Desert Plain, Afternoon, Summer

Might Mean

Objectivity: focused on big picture, broad context, standing back, seeing things as they are, not interfering, contemplation, witnessing, distance from the world or from one’s individual perspective, impersonal

Sight: visual perception, observations, attention, watching or being watched, monitoring, keeping an eye on things, vigilance, alertness

Distinction: disparity, duality, clarity, simplicity, logic, abstraction, seeing and presenting things through a screen, framing, fragmentation, overlooking, some things or details falling out of sight

For Example

Movie Clips & Videos:

The Neighbor's Window - Oscar Winning Short Film

The magic of television - Being There

Hal's watching – 2001 A Space Odyssey

The Divided Brain – RSA Animate,
The Art of seeing in Schnabel's At Eternity's Gate,
Hidden in Plain Sight – The Science of Symbolism

Podcasts:
Breaking News (Radiolab),
Framing The Story (TED Radio Hour),
Penny For Your Non-Thoughts (This American Life),
Andrew Bird's Explanation Of Roma Fade (Song Exploder)

Writings:
Fables of the Hawk and Crow, The Problem With Mindfulness,
That's Just, Like, Your Opinion, Man: An Argument that Art is Objective

The Blind Spot, Perception, Objectivity, Inference, Visual Perception,
Inattentional Blindness Experiments, Computer Vision, Lens, Audience

"Our problem is that we have three words – the 'seer,' 'sees,' and the 'seen' – for one single activity, the experience of seeing. We then naturally assume that we are 'just' the seer which is totally divorced from the seen."

"Our symbolic map-making is precisely the process which superimposes boundaries on reality. To see a 'thing' is to think; to think is to picture 'things' to yourself–'thinking' and 'thinging' are thus two different names for the net of boundaries we toss over reality."

– Ken Wilber, No Boundary

Songs:
Roma Fade (Andrew Bird), Space Oddity (David Bowie)