The sun was shining outside and through the crack at the top of the door there came a sunbeam. From where I stood that beam of light, with the specks of dust floating in it, was the most striking thing in the place. Everything else was almost pitch-black.
I was seeing the beam, not seeing things by it.
Then I moved, so that the beam fell on my eyes. Instantly the whole previous picture vanished.
Then I moved, so that the beam fell on my eyes. Instantly the whole previous picture vanished.
I saw no toolshed, and (above all) no beam. Instead I saw, framed in the irregular cranny at the top of the door, green leaves moving on the branches of a tree outside and beyond that, 90 odd million miles away, the sun.
Looking along the beam, and looking at the beam are very different experiences.
But this is only a very simple example of the difference between looking at and looking along..."
But this is only a very simple example of the difference between looking at and looking along..."
C.S. Lewis' Meditation in a Toolshed
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