See more with your eyes

Poets say that eyes provide a window to the soul. In practical terms, eyes also provide us with a window to the world. If not for our visual capabilities no man will be able to admire and react to beautiful scenes of the sunset or the everlasting beauty of cascading waterfalls. If men had no eyes, there will be no art, architecture, literature or appreciation of beauty found in human beings and other natural creations. So, we must be grateful to the creator or nature for giving us the capacity to see with our eyes.

How do we see with our eyes? In a way, it is a complicated process worth probing. According to human biology, vision starts with light, the physical energy that stimulates the eye. Light is a form of electromagnetic radiation waves. To cut a long story short, our visual spectrum is relatively small compared to some reptiles and fish which sense energies of longer wavelengths. In other words, they can see longer distances than human beings. The eye is the only sensory organ that is capable of responding to light coming from different objects.

Our eyes convert the light to a form that can be used by the neurons that serve as messengers to the brain.

Thus, our capability of seeing things, people and animals is a great miracle. If you ask an ophthalmologist or a neurologist, he will tell you how the eye registers the images of objects and how the brain interprets them. According to psychologists, what we see is coloured by our past experiences and emotions. With all the advances made in science at our disposal, let us find out whether it is possible to see more with our eyes.

I usually read a book or a newspaper while travelling by train. As I am an early bird, I find it difficult to read anything in the semi-darkness in the early morning. I find that daylight is ideal for reading. In the alternative, you need a bright light to do your reading. We have been taught that the eye is like a camera with a dark chamber and a lens. There is a light-sensitive film in the back called the retina. At the centre of the retina there is a tiny spot where the nerve ends meet. It is this tiny spot that helps us to see. It works better when there is adequate light.

When there is inadequate light we strain our eyes to read books.

Eyestrain will produce long-term vision problems. Therefore, it should be avoided as far as possible.

In our waking life we not only read books, but also stare at things and people or scan them with our eyes. The movements of the eyes are very swift and what we see is immediately interpreted by the brain.

Sometimes, we feel that our eyes are funny little organs. For instance, if you stare at something or somebody for a very long time, you will fail to see it after some time. So, to see better our eyes must keep moving all the time.

When you travel on a bus or train, you see trees and houses on both sides of the road moving fast and disappearing. But surprisingly, the road ahead gets bigger as the vehicle moves ahead. According to some authorities, we need trees and houses on both sides of the road for safe driving. However, when you are compelled to use a modern highway with no trees or houses on either side of the road, drivers tend to meet with accidents. Therefore, driving along modern highways can be dangerous because it kills our sense of motion.

There is another strange phenomenon as far as the eye is concerned. We can see better things we have already seen before. For example, we can walk or drive along a familiar road without any difficulty because we already know it.

On the other hand, we see what we want to see. During election times, some people see only posters of candidate 'X'. Others see only posters of candidate 'Y'. Even when you read a newspaper, you see only what you want to see. Your eyes do not see what you do not like to see.

When we talk about eyes we refer to hawk eyes, experienced eyes, and sharp eyes. Experienced eyes or trained eyes can see things that untrained eyes cannot see. For instance, an experienced and trained proofreader will detect even relatively negligible typographical errors in a book or manuscript.

Our eyes take in two separate pictures of what we see. It is up to the brain to fuse them into one intelligible picture. Does that mean we cannot see without two eyes? Probably not. For instance, Wiley Post, one of the great pilots of the 1930s, had only one eye! The trick is that if you have only one eye, you can still use it effectively provided you move your head.

One way of improving our vision is to limit it. When we try to read small print in the Telephone Directory, it makes our eyes squint. When this happens, we limit our peripheral vision to focus attention on a limited area.

Another way of seeing things better is to look at things like a child.

A child is curious to learn and looks at the world without preconceived ideas. What is wrong with most adults is that they look at things with some prejudices. A tourist coming from Germany would see only damaged buildings and malnourished children in Sri Lanka if he had been fed with negative propaganda in his country. But his own son or daughter will see the beauty of cascading waterfalls as they have no preconceived ideas about Sri Lanka.

Look after your eyes and see more with them.