131. OBSERVING

One of my favorite true stories is about Harvard ichthyologist Louis Agassiz. In an initial interview with Agassiz, his student Samuel Scudder was given a fish, a Haemulon, and was told to study it and report back what he had observed. In ten minutes, Scudder felt he had seen all that could be seen in that fish and was ready to report. However, waiting for his meeting with Agassiz, Scudder drew the fish and discovered new features.

In that next meeting, Scudder reported on his findings only to hear from Agassiz, “You haven’t seen one of the most conspicuous features of the animal, which is as plainly before your eyes as the fish itself. Look again!”

Several sessions followed — each with new discoveries and each with the word that Scudder had yet to discover the most important thing about that fish. Then in one of the sessions, Scudder asked, “Do you perhaps mean that the fish has symmetrical sides with paired organs?”

But that was not the end of it. Scudder was led to continue looking at the entire family of Haemulons noting resemblances and differences. Agassiz pointed out that details were stupid “until brought into connection with some general law.” In other words, first observations are important only when they lead to a bigger, contextual understanding.

Observing is a way to stretch perspective, to enhance awareness, to deepen dialogue, to discover, to learn and more. Pulitzer Prize winner David McCullough said, “Insight comes, more often than not, from looking at what’s been on the table all along, in front of everybody, rather than from discovering something new.”

There is even a branch of psychology called observational learning. We are reminded that from observations a child learns to walk; a youth learns to swing a baseball bat; and a newer employee avoids being late to work after seeing a co-worker fired for being late.

Q: When have your observations led you to a bigger, contextual understanding?