1. For example, Gu Song in the garden, whether you, me or anyone sees it, is said to be Gu Song. But you look at it from the front, I look at it from the side, you look at it with the mentality of a baby, and I look at it with the mentality of a middle-aged person. These differences in situation and personality will affect the face of Gu Song you see.
Although Gu Song is only one thing, what you saw in Gu Song and what I am seeing are two things. If you and I each paint a picture or write a poem about Gu Song, although our artistic skills are neck and neck, there are many important differences between your poem and painting and mine. What is the reason? This is because perception is not completely objective, and the images of things you see are somewhat subjective.
2. If you are a timber merchant, I am a botanist, another friend is a painter, and three people come to see this Gu Song at the same time. It can be said that the three of us "perceived" the tree at the same time, but the three of us "perceived" three different things. You can't get rid of your carpenter habit. All you feel is how much a piece of wood costs to do a thing.
I can't get rid of my botanist's thinking. What I perceive is just a flowering plant with needles and spherical fruit, which is evergreen all the year round. Our friends, painters, only care about aesthetics. All he perceives is a lush and vibrant old tree.
The three of us have different reaction attitudes. You are thinking in your mind whether it is suitable for building a house or making utensils, thinking about how to buy, how to cut and how to transport. I put it in a certain category, pay attention to the difference between it and other pine trees, and think about why it lives so old. However, our friends are not so considerate. He just looked intently at its green color, its curved body like a dragon and snake, and its lofty and unyielding spirit.
It can be seen that this Gu Song is not a fixed thing, and its image changes with the personality and interest of the viewer. The image of Gu Song that everyone sees is a reflection of everyone's own personality and interests. Gu Song's image is partly natural and partly artificial. Ordinary perception is somewhat creative; There are subjective things in everything that is extremely objective.
4. The same is true of beauty. Beauty can only be seen from an aesthetic perspective. This Gu Song is beautiful to our painter, because he has an aesthetic attitude when he goes to see it. If you and I want to see its beauty, you have to abandon your practical attitude as a woodcutter, and I have to abandon the scientific attitude of botanists and look at it aesthetically.