Observation may be considered as the process of seeing with the mind rather than with the eye. It involves an analysis of the object beheld and the effort to sense or conceive its intrinsic nature. The end of observation is the ability to cognize the life behind the form, the fact behind the fancy, the truth behind the symbol, and the Self behind the not-self. Through observation one is able to discover wisdom in the words of fools and foolishness in the words of most wise men. Observation, furthermore, is the ability to comprehend the pervading wholeness. He who sees may see the parts, but he who observes closely may glimpse the divine cement that binds the fractions together. We live in a world of men who see in part and are seen in part; who think in part, hope in part, fear in part. The universe is regarded as fragmentary or partitive because we lack the faculty of seeing the wholeness of things. Observation is that transcendent faculty which is able to grasp the wholeness of things in its span of comprehension, whereas ordinary sight is simply the ability to analyze the fragments. Thus sight differs from observation as widely as analysis differs from synthesis. Excerpt from Lectures On Ancient Philosophy, The Disciplines of Salvation, page 131 Manly Palmer Hall Artwork by Ivor Richards