Looking And Seeing

Difference between looking and seeing

As per dictionary to look means to turn eyes to gaze in a particular direction and to see means to feel the presence of a person. He looked at me or he saw me, may mean the same in a polite way. But there is a difference, depending upon how you were looked at. Being looked at may have a annoying connotion, bordering at staring at or even stalking. There are ways and ways of looking. Some bordering discourtesy, some very rude. When I say I looked into his or her eyes, it may sound as if I challenged him or her or I tried to understand him or her better.

Seeing is different. It's like meeting some one, close to shaking hands and even hugging. I saw his or her face. It means I saw the happiness or sadness in his or her face. I saw her eyes, means I could read her feelings or at least I tried to understand her better. Poets have coined so many romantic words for this. This possibly explains why ladies wear kohl or Kazal.

Seeing may also mean overlooking. I saw him may mean I just glanced at him or I think that was he. It's like seeing people in crowded bus or train. Most of the time this is what we do. This amounts to indifference. We do not want to look because it may be branded uncivil. We do not want to see because it does not concern us. Given a choice we would like to look than see. Men are more prone to this. May be this helps in starting a friendship.

Now what do you do when you meet a person and shake hands with him? Do you look into his eyes or see his face or simply look beyond his shoulders? Looking into his eyes may suggest he is a equal. Avoiding his eyes may suggest, eye contact not needed. Seeing his face may suggest, reading his mind. Looking beyond over his shoulders may mean, who cares?

This is in real world. What about virtual world? How can we look or see a person? By his words? May be. But that may simply be clouding. By looking or seeing a person face to face may help in reading his mind, though some guys are very good actors. I think in both cases it's a wild guess.

Is it possible to understand a person by his looks or his words? God has given us eyes, ears and mouth for this very purpose but how inadequate and helpless we feel aftermath of some cheating and deceit.

 

Shri Thyagarajan,
Thanks. If in fact your take on the subject is much deep. I was trying to explore in worldly affairs. It's so complex. A blind person sees or looks through his other senses hearing or touching or just feelings. A saint has a very spiritual angle. We can see within, near, distant, beyond and what not. As I said it is more complex than I comprehended.
Thanks and regards.

 

Dear Viswa ji,
That's another angle. In our everyday talks there can be many such examples, like I will look into it or I will see. Yes same applies to hearing and listening as Shri Thyagarajan indicated.
I am not sure if same thing applies to the corresponding words in other languages also. As far as I can figure out in Hindi there is only word for both - dekhna.