Eyes are weird. Most of us are (usually) born with two; nestled gently on either side of our noses, shaped in all kinds of ways, colors, etc. Millions of little cells working in tandem to handle the brightness, making sense of the the light waves, determining sharpness. The very complexness of it demands an entire section of our brain to develop over time! But we see things, eventually. Some of us more than others.
I wanted, at first, to write about hands, and how they guide us through space, making sense of the world in a odd way. We learn lessons (physically) about the world through touch, translating little neurons across complex wiring into feelings about something that has happened to us. Or about smelling, where the small cilia of the nose work, along those same complex wirings to give us information about the pleasant unpleasantries that come with life. But the eyes have come to be more special in my mind. They see what is meant to be experienced and relay it back two ways: the mind to be processed and the body to be judged.
I think before this class, I could not understand what Phenomenology meant. In my mind then, thoughts came first to determine the self; the body a separate process after thoughts have developed. Its then that we find consciousness! An old me might have said. Even as I sit to write this blog now, I still find myself not fully sure. But of all the many neurons working (mostly) the same across many different people, what determines the ultimate difference in experiences? Some might suggest another sophisticated science; to which I may not fully disagree. I’m saying here, that now I understand that there is much more that we learn from our bodied experiences than we give them credit for.
This course of thought, of realizing, of seeing the unseen, is a process I have been experiencing for many years now. Of becoming aware of things, of myself, of the ways my race and privileges that have mapped my path forward into a kaleidoscope of experiences. I am grateful for it, and I hope, as you age you will become grateful for this process too. This, of course, depends on how you see it.
Unruly Bodies 
I really like that you brought up how most of us have neurons that work the same way, yet we experience the world differently. A concept that I think about a lot is the idea of tabula rasa, that our minds start as a blank slate that are shaped by experiences as we go on. While I don’t think our minds are completely a blank slate, I still think that it’s interesting to think about how our experiences shape the way that we experience consciousness especially in terms of our body. Also, as a psych major I really appreciate your perspective on phenomenology because I can really relate to it.
I think it’s such an interesting thought experiment to look back on our old selves, to see the way we thought and spoke and compare it to where we are now. How much did we see without truly seeing then, how much do we miss now that we’ll look back on years from now and just shake our heads and thank the stars that we’ve grown?