Seeing Not A Passive Act

Seeing is not a passive act: the grid that was formed in the past plays an active role in shaping what we see in the present and how we see it. We see what our grid has predisposed us to see. For example, a middle-aged male staying at a nice hotel gets on an elevator at the eighth floor to go to the lobby. He doesn’t “see” the same thing that a young woman sees when she enters the elevator at the seventh floor. He may barely notice who is on the elevator, she invariably will notice, and she will find a space that feels the safest from prying eyes or groping hands. The man never gives a…