Jeff Young
Post Laureate
Reged: 08/04/05
Posts: 4116
Loc: Ireland
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I was reading an article on the economy (John Mauldin's "Outside the Box") and came across an interesting quote attributed to Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk:
Quote:
Suppose the mind consciousness is observing an elephant walking. During the time of observation, the object of mind consciousness may not be the elephant in and of itself. It may only be a mental construction of the elephant based on previous images of elephants that have been imprinted in store consciousness.
Inquiry means not using the mental creation, but allowing yourself to get in touch, and to try to see how things truly are. We practice not to be influenced by the name, because when we are caught in the name we can't see reality.
The article then goes on to talk about not assuming this recovery will be like any other recovery (just because it's an elephant doesn't mean that this particular elephant is grey -- it might in fact be pink).
But I think the quote has applicability to our endeavor as well. It's very hard to dissassociate one's expectations from what one is actually seeing. I think that perhaps sketching can be a powerful tool here as the expectation (Thich's "mental creation") often doesn't have enough detail to record to paper -- the very act of sketching forces you (to some extent) to take in the current view itself.
Anyway, I found it thought-provoking.
Cheers,
-- Jeff.
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star drop
Guilty as Charged
Reged: 02/02/08
Posts: 16312
Loc: Snow Plop, WNY
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Hi Jeff. Have you seen gray or pink elephants in the sky that are noteworthy enough to be sketched?
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Ted
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Jeff Young
Post Laureate
Reged: 08/04/05
Posts: 4116
Loc: Ireland
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Ted --
It'd be no good anyway as I sketch in black-and-white. 
-- Jeff.
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Nikon 18x70s / UA Millennium Colorado:
Solarscope SF70 / TV Pronto / AP400QMD Coronado SolarMax40 DS / Bogen 055+3130
APM MC1610 / Tak FC-100 / AP1200GTO Tak Mewlon 250 / AP600EGTO
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blb
sage
Reged: 11/25/05
Posts: 215
Loc: Piedmont NC
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Me too! 
Edited by blb (10/20/09 01:07 PM)
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JayinUT
I'm not Sleepy
Reged: 09/19/08
Posts: 948
Loc: Utah
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Jeff,
Great quote. It is one reason I really try not to look at an image of the object until AFTER I have observed and sketched it. To be honest and perhaps this will belong in the sketching form, it is why I prefer my live sketches over a digital recreation, as the live sketch is what I am seeing at the scope at that time. Great quote . . . and I have yet to see the Pink Elephant in the eyepiece.
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Jay in Utah
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Location: Lat: 40.514N Long: -112.032W
Mortal as I am, I know that I am born for a day. But when I follow at my pleasure the serried multitude of the stars in their circular course, my feet no longer touch the earth.
— Ptolemy, c.150 AD
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Olivier Biot
Amused
Reged: 04/25/05
Posts: 16359
Loc: 51°N (Belgium)
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Interesting, although I first had to scratch my head as I really thought I was reading the OTO 
I think this quote particularly well expresses my personal experience when viewing certain objects over and over again. Eventually you start to see things you never ever believed could be there. As opposed to people looking for a horse figure when looking for the Horsehead in Orion...
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Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future. Niels Bohr
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star drop
Guilty as Charged
Reged: 02/02/08
Posts: 16312
Loc: Snow Plop, WNY
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Now I see what you are getting at.  Jay's and Olivier's replies have cleared things up for me. I also thought that this thread would be better served in the Off Topic Observatory.
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Ted
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JayKSC
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 01/01/05
Posts: 985
Loc: Florida
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Thanks for sharing this great quote and perspective, Jeff. From my (admittedly limited) art training, the biggest hurdle for new artists is drawing or painting what they think an object or scene looks like instead of drawing or painting what it actually looks like.
Beyond allowing an observer to notice unexpected details in a deep sky object, sketching can also let him or her view more details in an object. I know that I never would see so many details in objects if I were not sketching them.
- Jay
South Florida
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Refractor manic.
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scopethis
professor emeritus
Reged: 05/30/08
Posts: 636
Loc: Kingman, Ks
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Odd that there are no elephants in the sky. There's a man- horse, a flying horse, a dragon, whale and fish, etc, but no elephant.
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Jeff Young
Post Laureate
Reged: 08/04/05
Posts: 4116
Loc: Ireland
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No constellations, but there's the Elephant's Trunk Nebula (VDB142) in IC1396.
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap081226.html
-- Jeff.
--------------------
Nikon 18x70s / UA Millennium Colorado:
Solarscope SF70 / TV Pronto / AP400QMD Coronado SolarMax40 DS / Bogen 055+3130
APM MC1610 / Tak FC-100 / AP1200GTO Tak Mewlon 250 / AP600EGTO
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