What we see

As we look out at the world,
how much of what we see
is blurred and clouded
by the artifacts of seeing?

Through the mind’s eye,
filtered and quantized,
do we only see
what we expect,
or can understand?

Do we look
as through a scanner,
darkly,
filling in
each missing pixel
with memory,
hope, or fear?

Or can we look more deeply,
seeing how we see,
the forest and the trees,
the picture and the pixels?

Only through this inner eye
can we learn to see
both worlds,
the world inside,
and the world around us.