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Among the writings of Henry David Thoreau, I came across this statement: “Many an object is not seen, though it falls within the range of our visual ray, because it does not come within the range of our intellectual ray.” In other words, there are many things that exist in our world that we don’t see because we are not looking for them or perhaps not even capable of looking for them. So, in the largest sense, the world we see is only the world we look for. If you show two people, the same picture each will see a different scene. Each will extract from what he sees that which he happens to be predisposed to look for. The world presents to us every day that which we seek. Opportunity is only limited by the viewpoint of the inhabitant, joy and excitement can be found un our daily lives when we learn to look at our world as Thoreau looked at his. Surrounded by miracles and limitless opportunity, whereas some people manage to find only boredom and insecurity.
“Many an object is not seen, though it falls within the range of our visual ray, because it does not come within the range of our intellectual ray, i.e., we are not looking for it. So, in the largest sense, we find only the world we look for.”