Ways of looking

A personal example catalog #

Unintentional #

• Caffeine filling the brain — Optimism about current and potential endeavors
• In a squabble — Annoyance and nervous, malaise-ridden preoccupation
• Preoccupation with leisure — Used to get into a positive feedback loop here when there’s nothing urgent and I’m already behind schedule.
• Work anxiety — A stressful project, or conflict with coworkers, or getting pings from those with more power.

Lenses used to construct meaning #

• Marxist
• Feminist
• Neo-liberal
• Tradition-oriented
• Informally, life experiences × upbringing × culture × …

Coloring perception #

In fact, it might be that there is always color.

And in fact, it might be that there is only color.

Closely related: causes and conditions.

From others #

It means being conscious and aware enough to choose what you pay attention to and to choose how you construct meaning from experience.

— DFW, This is Water

… in the end, what we’re left with is just this range of ways of looking, and this kind of possibility of play and art to conjure, to weave, different experiences, different senses of self, of world, knowing that it’s all empty. Because it’s all empty, we have that freedom.

— Rob Burbea, interview with Michael Taft