I had a great run around Green Lake this morning. In the vein of trying new things, I decided to run it with no corrective eye wear. That's right, no contacts and no glasses. I need to first mention that I am blind as a bat from all the reading from too many degrees and my endless quest to find the end of the internet. What a spectacular experience! (Minus nearly getting hit by a car in the first block)
It was like running in a derranged Van Gogh painting... Corrupted by cars, they just have no place in my running painting. After my visual cortex settled in to the fact that it was not going to be overrun with information on this run, it relaxed. Then I started to notice something... Shit! I can smell it, but I can't see it. Oh there it is! I was able to smell it far sooner than I normally would have.
Then I noticed that I could hear the symphony of the world around me, the robins, the crows, the ducks, I-5. BUT It was different! I was part of it rather than a separate entity. I now have a whole different understanding of "The Spell of the Sensous" by David Abrams. A great book about experiencing the natural world as a part of it.
My feet began transmitting lots of information to my brain. The quality of the gravel, pavement, the wetness of puddles I could not see. It helps that I run in Vibram 5 fingers shoes, but still I was getting more feeling out of my feet than I normally would on a run.
I began to "see" that I normally process the world around me using heavy visual clues, while blotting out most other senses. Cutting down on the amount of visual imput allowed my other senses to come into sharper "focus" to paint/compose a different sensory experience of the same world I have been living in!
I think it would be pretty cool to spend a day blindfolded and be lead around the city to have a different experience... Any takers? Never a dull moment in my mind!
It was like running in a derranged Van Gogh painting... Corrupted by cars, they just have no place in my running painting. After my visual cortex settled in to the fact that it was not going to be overrun with information on this run, it relaxed. Then I started to notice something... Shit! I can smell it, but I can't see it. Oh there it is! I was able to smell it far sooner than I normally would have.
Then I noticed that I could hear the symphony of the world around me, the robins, the crows, the ducks, I-5. BUT It was different! I was part of it rather than a separate entity. I now have a whole different understanding of "The Spell of the Sensous" by David Abrams. A great book about experiencing the natural world as a part of it.
My feet began transmitting lots of information to my brain. The quality of the gravel, pavement, the wetness of puddles I could not see. It helps that I run in Vibram 5 fingers shoes, but still I was getting more feeling out of my feet than I normally would on a run.
I began to "see" that I normally process the world around me using heavy visual clues, while blotting out most other senses. Cutting down on the amount of visual imput allowed my other senses to come into sharper "focus" to paint/compose a different sensory experience of the same world I have been living in!
I think it would be pretty cool to spend a day blindfolded and be lead around the city to have a different experience... Any takers? Never a dull moment in my mind!