Visional Comfort Zone

Diana Eck starts her book by saying that “in India’s own terms, seeing is knowing.” (Eck 11) However, she also talks about how we all see differently. She writes how we “reach out and grasp the ‘object we see, either in our immediate range of perception or through the medium of photography, is dependent upon who we are and what we recognize from past experience.” (Eck 15) 

Chicken tenders that make me
very happy when I see them. 

It’s true that seeing is incredibly important. It’s important for religions, life, love, and

everything in between. It allows us to register what other people feel when they don’t voice it. Seeing allows us to see the story the stained glass in a church tells. However, Eck’s point of how we all see things and how we attach ourselves to visuals that we are familiar with is very important. Whether we know it or not, we are all stuck in our comfort zone. We all like our little bubble that we sometimes burst out of to try new things when we get the courage to. Now some people, like my brother, are a lot more courageous than others. If I had two options in front of me and one was very much in my comfort zone and one wasn’t, I would most likely pick the one that I saw that fit most into my comfort zone. For example, if you put a squid or chicken tenders in front of me, I would most likely choose the chicken tenders. My brother would most likely pick the squid.  

My dog, Chocolate Chip 

There is nothing wrong with a comfort zone. Visuals help us remain in that comfort zone. Seeing blue calms me. Seeing a fuzzy blanket makes me feel warm. When I see my dog, it fills me up with joy. When I see the people I used to sit around in church, it brings me great comfort.  Except, it is when you don’t ever step out of your comfort zone to inform yourself about how other people live that turns your visional comfort zone into a bad thing. A vision comfort zone can lead to ignorance. 

Eck introduces the term hermeneutics and connects it to sight. She writes, “we need to set for ourselves the task of developing a hermeneutic of the visible, addressing the problem of how we understand and interpret what we see, not only in the classical images and art forms created by the various religious traditions, but in the ordinary images of people’s traditions, rites, and daily activities which are presented to use through the film-image.” (Eck 13) 

Holi, the Festival of Colors

It should be important for everyone to be able to understand the visional forms a culture displays. For when someone sees “India’s display of multi-armed images, its processions and pilgrimages, its beggars and kings, its street life and markets, its diversity of people..” (Eck 10) they are not shocked in discomfort because of their ignorance, but they are amazed and appreciative of what they are seeing. When a visitor goes to India and is greater with "an overwhelmingly visual impression... beautiful, colorful, sensuous.." (Eck 10) they are not overwhelmed by the acts, but by how much beauty they are seeing. 

                           

Going back to Eck’s earlier point about how in a religious context, “in India’s own terms, seeing is knowing” (Eck 11), I think that seeing, in a general context, can help people stop that ignorance if they truly want to see all the good that is in other cultures.