Yaquina Head Lighthouse
This is the lighthouse at Yaquina Head.
This is taken from the ocean side of the Yaquina Head Lighthouse, as my entry in the World Wide Panorama Summer/Winter theme. Not sure it’s the best example of summer, but at the Oregon coast we take what we can get. The region is often cloudy even in summer, but in this case the temperature was warm enough that people were wearing shorts, there were crowds even on a weekday, and there was no rain anywhere to be found. Maybe not a classic summer activity for some, but typical for this region given the cold Pacific.
I was hoping for clear weather to show off the extent of the ocean, because one of the things that intrigued me about this location was the contrast between horizontal and vertical.
In one direction, the focus is clearly the horizon. We’re drawn to look back and forth, as if seeking a distant ship, or some sign of a migrating whale. This is natural if we use a computer display to view the scene because they are wider than they are tall.
However, look the other direction, and the lighthouse jumps out, towering into the sky. Like most tall objects, we’re drawn to look up and up, captivated by the idea of height. While the horizon was viewed back and forth, the lighthouse is viewed up and down, so viewing on a computer monitor is more awkward.
However, that changes when seen on a vertical phone screen. The lighthouse is easily viewed, while the horizon takes a lot of panning.
Sometimes the way we look at the world makes us prefer to see things that match our perspective. A technical term for this is selection bias — focusing on content that agrees with what we already believe. We tend to build simple models of the world and believe that they represent all there is, rather than deliberately test and refine our ideas. The latter takes too much work.
This picture demonstrates how we need to look around, and maybe have different perspectives to look at different types of things. I can look for far away ships, or admire the towering structure that kept them safe. But to appreciate and understand both, I need to be willing to adopt a perspective appropriate to each.
We make this mistake when considering the nature of reality. Some people look at everything through the eyes of metaphysics, and so have a hard time accepting scientific explanations, insisting on spiritual explanations if at all possible. Unfortunately, this can be like trying to do astronomy with a horoscope. On the other hand, some people look at human experience with the belief that only logic and science are necessary. This can end up looking like using physics to manage a personal relationship.
I have no problem with science and tend to approach matters through that lens, but it can seem limiting. There is simply too much in human experience, still beyond the reach of science, that can be explored through art, spiritual practices, and human relationships. It seems that parts of the human experience, what it means to BE human, should be explored through other means, using the vertical perspective. That makes it much easier to appreciate the rest of reality.