Health & Fitness Tools

How Would You Define Vision? There Are A Number Of Different Interpretations And Uses Of The Word, From Scientific To Spiritual And Many More

11th March, 2011 - Posted by health news - No Comments

The word ‘Vision’ has many definitions relative to your opinion, but the predominant theme which they have in common is seeing or sight. Of course, due to the various opticians who use the word as part of their title or in their promotional information, a lot of people will immediately assume it refers to being able to see, and one of the most obvious meanings is exactly that – how the eye views and interprets what is in front of it so that we can see what is there and deal with it accordingly.

Taking a step closer to the realm of opticians and ophthalmologists, ‘vision’ can also be used to articulate how the eye functions – the whole complex process that takes place between varying shades of light hitting the front of our eye, followed by the inner eye and optic nerves translating it and then sending the data to our brains – all the mechanics behind simply being able to perceive what we see in terms that we comprehend. So some of those specialists promoting eye tests, prescription lenses and Laser eye surgery have adopted the word to make it clear to the public that they are referring to sight and how their various prescriptions for glasses, surgery and Laser eye treatment can help the patient.

Often the word can be utilised in a less exact way. Whether we believe them or not, we have all heard tell of those often dedicated religious individuals who maintain that they have witnessed inspirational visions featuring icons of their faith. No matter how intangible these may appear to others, those who experience such visions can often treat them as defining moments in time. And this is where ‘vision’ takes on a less scientific meaning. Whilst we can all check whether we can see well or not, and we can generally understand that the eye itself is a complex piece of kit which has a scientific explanation for how it works, nobody else can either substantiate or disprove the fact that an individual has had a spiritual vision as it is outside the area of our own rationale and understanding, and no amount of medical enhancement or Laser eye treatments can facilitate us seeing what they have seen.

Another example of this type of vision (though not necessarily such a spiritual one on a lot of occasions) is the ‘hallucination’ which, broadly speaking, is seeing or perceiving something whilst awake without there being any physical reason to prompt this. Or put simply, seeing and hearing things which which are not real. Hallucinations are often related to disorders of the brain or excessive use of drugs or alcohol. For this reason, they seem to get a disproportionate amount of negative press, although, in truth, anyone can experience a hallucination and suffer no bad effects afterwards.

The very concept of having a vision (generally of the spiritual and uplifting type) has led to various musicians and bands writing songs incorporating the words Vision or Visions in the titles, or employing the word in the names of their albums. I’m sure there are numerous examples to be quoted, but see how the word is used in these album titles: Foreigner’s ‘Double Vision’, Michael Jackson’s ‘Vision’. Iron Maiden’s ‘Visions Of The Beast’ and Stevie Nicks’ ‘Crystal Visions’. I’d propose that each of them uses the word with a slightly different spin on it, but in the end all of them believe that you will ‘see’ something if you hear the music – an interesting concept in itself!

And then, there is the corporate jargon application of the word. The ‘Vision Statement’, the ‘Vision For The Future’ – all those bullet point phrases dreamed up by management to motivate ‘the team’ to get on board with their plans for the company’s future. How much you are taken in by the hype will be dictated by how much respect you have for the management. Employed in a good way in the right environment, motivational buzz words and phrases can have a great positive effect on performance, but only if workers already trust and believe in the business and what it wants to do. Several of my previous managers would have done well to remember this important fact, instead of believing that a list of meaningless bullet points would have had as positive an effect on their employee’s appetite for work as Laser eye surgery would have had on the same worker’s eyesight!