Remember the first time you fell in love? Remember how bright and colorful the world seemed to be? Remember that the annoying thing that always bothered you did not bother you the day you had your first kiss, or your first…something else? That is what Percy is talking about. The analogy of the Grand Canyon can be substituted for anything-anyone we consider truly beautiful. Lacan called this phenomenon the “gaze.” Powerful, inebriating, bewitching… For those of us who are blessed to have a child, or two, remember what it felt like to gaze into that newborn’s eyes for the first time?
Percy asks “how can man truly enrich his life? How can he/she truly, honestly enjoy and understand the surrounding world and all it has to offer? I would suggest that is how his article ties in to ethnography and teacher research; by the power of “the gaze” do we appreciate, absorb, blend in. We covet what we see…and, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.
I still believe that just because I already knew the Grand Canyon was spectacular before I went, it didn’t change my experience. I believe that it was just like a first kiss. I have seen the canyon and many other fabulous sites many times and still am amazed at the site. It is almost as though I see each for the firt time every time I see them.