seeing 2

Seeing 2

Dillard p. 704

“When I walk with a camera, I walk from shot to shot, reading the light on a calibrated meter. When I walk without a camera, my own shutter opens, and the moment’s light prints on my own silver gut.”

I really like this quote because it is comparable to many people today. Many people are not connected to where they are. They use cell phones, i-pods, and all kinds of other electronic devices. These things pull people away from where they are, and put them somewhere else. They are not able to observe their surroundings. Dillard has a similar situation. When she has a camera she is only worried about how good a picture is, so misses the small things that can be the most important.


Dillard p. 705

“The world’s spiritual geniuses seem to discover universally that the mind’s muddy river, this ceaseless flow of trivia and trash, cannot be dammed, and that trying to dam it is a waste of effort that might lead to madness.”

I thought this quote was great because I love the idea of the mind’s ideas and thoughts as a muddy river. There is a pure and impure thought, and they mix together to create a muddy river. I was not sure if when Dillard said, “dammed” she meant to stop it or just to slow it, and purify it. I think that she meant to try and purify because stopping the flow of thoughts completely would leave just a body and no person.