What is the difference between looking and observing?
I can look at a tree and immediately say, tree. I can look at another person and immediately recognize them, remember what they’ve done, what I think about them, whether I like them.
But am I actually observing, or am I mostly seeing through memory?
Can we actually discover whether thought interferes with observation, rather than simply accepting that it does?
What is it to observe something without thought?
What do we actually observe?
Can we observe reality?
Can we observe a fact without immediately interpreting it?
When we recognize something, are we observing it—or remembering what we already know about it?