Apparently, humans love to see and interpret things simultaneously. This, of course, is a very bad way of perceiving reality.

When you see and interpret simultaneously, you end up not seeing things as they are, but as what you think they are.

Evidently, ‘just seeing’ is a very hard thing to do. Humans tend to interpret while seeing because we are impatient by nature. If we are patient enough to wait until the ‘seeing’ part is done before we start the ‘interpreting’ part, we’d be able to perceive things clearer.

Failure to be patient enough while seeing will lead us to hasty (and wrong) conclusions.

It’s one thing to have bounded cognition due to not being able to see all things. It’s another thing to have non-functioning cognition due to not being able to see anything at all.

See first. Think after.

This interpreting while seeing phenomenon is what makes stage magic, well, magical.

You see a small, cute bird in a small, square cage. The cage is then covered with clothing. And, BAM! The magician hits the cage from above and flattens it! You shriek in horror, as you realize the bird must die a painful, sudden death. But then, a small, cute bird magically appears from the magician’s hat!

As you see that little bird flies, you think that the magician must somehow take that bird from inside the cage and put it in his hat somehow. Probably by magic, isn’t it? Well, if you don’t try to think and interpreting while you are seeing, you’ll realize that what you are seeing is: a bird in a cage that is flattened afterward, a bird that comes out of the magician’s hat. And then, you can start interpreting. Once you finished interpreting, you may start crying for the unlucky bird that’s crushed inside the cage while his identical friend is flying around. OK, I’ll stop with the gross example.

This interpreting while seeing phenomenon is also one of my pet peeves. I hear this sometimes from other people: “I thought you are this kind of person (a good boy, a bad boy, a playboy, etc.)!? WTH! You’re apparently not!” I’m always tempted to reply sarcastically with: “Well, you know, if you stop thinking and start seeing, maybe you can see me for what I am.”

But, I always end up just smiling. Because, you know, just seeing is very hard. I don’t have any rights to expect people to be able to do hard things like doing one arm push up, or, you know, just seeing things for what they are.