candace robb
walking the Mean Streets of Medieval York
The Mind’s Eye
My husband just paused in my office door. “If I ask you to close your eyes and imagine a pine tree, do you see a pine tree?” I closed my eyes, saw a beautiful long-needle pine swaying gently in a breeze. “Yes. Why?” He’d been reading an article in the issue of Shambhala Sun I’d left open, in which Thich Nhat Hanh gives the instruction to imagine a pine tree, which then moves into the realization of interconnectedness. But my husband was stuck on the initial instruction. “When I close my eyes I see the elements of the pine tree–needles, cones, the shape, the type of limbs, and then I have to assemble them. But I know how easily you see things in your mind’s eye. I had a hunch you’d close your eyes and see the whole tree.” He’s an engineer. I’m a story-teller, story–seer. We’re a great team.
A friend recently confided that she doesn’t read fiction because she can’t see the story in her head, not the actions, not the people, not the places. She always wondered what people meant when they talked about getting lost in the world of the book, and when she finally understood she felt so sad that she lacked that gift.
Another friend, one of my first readers, describes her reading experience as “movies in my head,” which makes her an immensely helpful editor, because she gets a hit as if the film’s been poorly spliced when something’s amiss in a scene, someone shows up in a room without having entered, a character jumps locations or changes outfits in mid-scene.
I love learning how differently we think. When you close your eyes, can you see a pine tree?
candace robb 
Hi Candace,
Happy New Year!
Interesting post – Yes – I can always visualize clearly. So ask me to see a pine tree and I can see it in my mind’s eye immediately, and then see various species of pines.
Thinking of the comparison you made between your thought processes and those of your husband – I seem to bridge the two. If I try to visualize how something mechanical looks and works, I can bring to mind an ‘exploded’ view that displays the elements spread out and then think about their interaction. The same process can be applied to working out the steps of a scenario which needs working out carefully to get the flow correct.
I am reading my Owen Archer books again, just approaching the conclusion of The Apothecary Rose and really hoping to see a resumption of the series one day. You bring both the characters and their locale to life so vividly, A truly amazing gift. As a historian who researches into medieval times, with your words I can always see myself there and ‘then’.
Thank you!
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