In the preface to the book, Huxley describes how, at the age 16, he had a violent attack of keratitis punctata which made him nearly completely blind for 18 months, and left him with severely impaired sight. He managed to live as a sighted person with the aid of strong spectacles, but readingwas a great strain In 1939 his sought the help of Margaret Corbett, who was a teacher of the Bates method. He found this immensely helpful.
Although his own history fuelled his interest in vision, and there are references in passing throughout the book to his own case, it is written as a general study of the Art of Seeing as he came to understand it.
The majority of the book is devoted to the specific techniques of the Bates method, all designed to bring about "Relaxation". He goes on to analyse the whole process of visual perception, using ideas and vocabulary taken from the philosopher C. D. Broad. He sums the analysis up as follows: * Sensing is not the same as seeing. * The eyes and the nervous system do the sensing, the mind does the perceiving. * The faculty of perceiving is related to the individual's accumulated experiences, in other words, to memory. * Clear seeing is the product of accurate sensing and correct perceiving. * Any improvement in the power of perceiving tends to be accompanied by an improvement in the power of sensing and of the product of sensing and perceiving which is seeing.
Although his own history fuelled his interest in vision, and there are references in passing throughout the book to his own case, it is written as a general study of the Art of Seeing as he came to understand it.
The majority of the book is devoted to the specific techniques of the Bates method, all designed to bring about "Relaxation". He goes on to analyse the whole process of visual perception, using ideas and vocabulary taken from the philosopher C. D. Broad. He sums the analysis up as follows: * Sensing is not the same as seeing. * The eyes and the nervous system do the sensing, the mind does the perceiving. * The faculty of perceiving is related to the individual's accumulated experiences, in other words, to memory. * Clear seeing is the product of accurate sensing and correct perceiving. * Any improvement in the power of perceiving tends to be accompanied by an improvement in the power of sensing and of the product of sensing and perceiving which is seeing.
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