When the soul listens,
it speaks a language that lives
and softly whispers,
making itself heard.
Guido Gezelle
Different observations
These are all observations you can make of a particular tree.
It is an oak, about 10 metres high with a canopy of 8 metres across. The trunk splits up into three trunks quite close to the ground. There are grooves in the trunk. The branches are irregularly shaped. The tree has ample foliage and acorns. The leaves are lobed and a dull, mid-green (neither dark nor light) in colour. It is a beautiful tree. Some branches broke off once during a storm. The tree's surroundings are chaotic. The tree looks vital and powerful, it dominates its surroundings. Seedlings are growing under the tree.
You can categorise the observations:
- Observations about the current state of the tree: it is a European oak tree, about 10 metres high with a canopy of 8 metres across. The trunk splits up into three trunks quite close to the ground. There are grooves in the trunk. The tree has ample foliage and acorns. The leaves are palmate and a dull midgreen in colour.
- Temporal observations concerning the tree in its seasonal course: some branches broke off once during a storm. Seedlings are growing under the tree.
- Observations containing a judgment: the tree looks vital.
- Observations that reveal the impression that the tree made on the observer: the tree looks powerful, it dominates its surroundings. The tree's surroundings are chaotic.
- Observations about the observer: it is a beautiful tree.
An oak
Exercises
Make thirty observations of an object or a situation and divide the observations into categories. Which categories can you distinguish?