How to experience the world more fully

In the late 1970s a book came out by a writer named Susan Sontag. The book was called On Photography.

 

One of the things she talks about in the book is that with the advent of cheap accessible cameras (and this was long before smart phones), and with more and more people taking pictures all the time, the camera — which was designed as a way to artistically capture and record a moment in time — had tended to become a barrier between people who constantly take snapshots and the real world — the things that they were taking pictures of.

 

Let me give you a personal example of what I think she was talking about: A few years ago, while visiting Rome, I was walking through the Basilica of St. Peter in the Vatican, wandering and gawking as one does. At a certain point, while walking along the row of papal graves, I came unexpectedly to the place where Pope John XXIII was buried. He was a pope from the 1960s who was a radical reformer and my favourite pope. (I know, only real religion nerds would even have a favourite pope.) I stood there, having a moment, when suddenly I felt myself being shoved. I looked over to see another tourist with a phone camera in one hand while he was pushing me out of the way with the other one. In shock, I stood aside and watched as this man took a quick picture of the tomb of Pope John and without even lowering the camera from his face went to the next grave, snapped another picture, moved to the next grave and snapped another picture, and so on until he was out of sight. He never actually looked at anything with his naked eye. It was like he was so determined to show that he was there by collecting photos, that he never really was there at all. Have you seen this? Maybe you have done it.

 

Why do I share this story? Because I think that it is a metaphor for how we in this culture all too often fail to allow ourselves to engage fully with life as it really is, to see the world as it really is, to hear and smell and touch the world as it really is.

 

So much of the world we experience is mediated (translated) to us by apps, social media, phone cameras, TikTok, YouTube videos, etc.

I am not interested in trying to convince anyone that any of these things are bad or unhealthy. I myself occasionally find the internet useful. And I am not suggesting that photography as an artistic pursuit is any less important than any other art form, and I was so pleased to see Melody W.’s initiative to organize a student photography exhibit and to raise money to support women who are survivors of domestic violence at the same time. Bravo!

 

That’s what I don’t want to say. What I do want to say, is that there are many ways in which we are separated from the real world these days and I suspect that one of the important tasks that you might have at 13, 14, 18 years old is to develop habits and patterns and disciplines that connect you and allow you to engage with real human beings and with the real world, rather than having everything transmitted to you via a screen of some description.

 

This, by the way, is work that adults, including myself, need to do as well.

 

So in order to hopefully make this clear, and offer some food for thought, I have come up with a few suggestions for all of us to consider, of specific ways to appreciate and enjoy the world more immediately (that is more directly), and without technology always in the way; to feel ultimately, more a part of life and less isolated, more alive and less lonely. Maybe. But here is something to think about in any event.

 

And it is ultimately all about observation.

 

I know that many of you often take pictures with your phones of your friends and classmates, not as an art form, but for fun. So, my first suggestion is this. Whenever you take a photo of other people, take a moment (and it doesn’t have to be a long moment) to look first with your naked eye at who you are about to photograph. See their beauty, their energy, their life force. Imagine how they are feeling as they are getting ready to have their picture taken. Notice their posture, their clothing, the way their bodies tell you what is going on in their minds.

 

Does this sound woo-woo? I don’t think it is. I think it actually will result in a better picture, a better experience for them, and a more enjoyable moment for you. It could turn the experience of snapping a quick photo into a meaningful connection between and among people.

 

You might notice that this is what Ms. Gill does before she takes a photograph, before she puts the camera to her eye. She looks at what she is about to shoot, composing it first in her eye and in her mind before framing it in the camera lens and committing it to film. I’m not suggesting that you all have to be as amazing as Ms. Gill at taking photographs. This is a metaphor for how to approach the world, taking the time to see, hear, smell, feel what is in front of us, experiencing reality as it is.

 

There are simpler examples, and my second suggestion is simply to use the transitions — from class to class to lunch to Chapel to House — to enjoy through your senses the beauty of this place, to take a moment to look at the maple or Douglas fir that you have passed a thousand times, and to see its beauty and complexity. Mr. Lamont made a video for the grads a couple of years ago about the trees on the Shawnigan campus. We have some of the most beautiful trees on Vancouver Island right here; we walk past them every day. How often do we take a moment to experience their beauty and energy? Likewise, the gardens that are so lovingly tended by Mr. De Melo and his staff. We will be able to witness these gardens beginning to come to life in a few short weeks. How often do we actually take the time to do so?

 

To really see the world as the miracle that it is, is a discipline and a practice. It is difficult and it is worth the effort.

 

My final suggestion is about our relationships with one another; both existing ones and potential ones. And this is another simple one, to take the time — time to listen, to ask questions and to come to know the amazing people around us better. To engage in more conversations with people about who they are and who we are. This is one that I am working on as a kind of new year’s resolution.

 

It might sound as though everything I am suggesting is about taking more time, and you may be thinking, “I am already too busy. I don’t have time to experience reality any more than I already am.” But I am not really suggesting adding anything to your already full schedules. What I am suggesting is that we might do everything with more attention, more focus; to look and then to look again; to listen and then listen again; to really experience the world around us using the incredible senses that we have been born with and with patience, care and attention.

 

In the words of Susan Sontag herself: “Be clenched, curious. Not waiting for inspiration's shove or society's kiss on your forehead. Pay attention. It's all about paying attention. Attention is vitality. It connects you with others. It makes you eager. Stay eager.”