Every human being is an indivisible entity, and in his very essence he is perception. When this perception takes the form of motion, it is called vision.
Man is sight. The rest is mere skin.
True sight is the sight that sees the Beloved.
_Rumi
In this verse, Mawlana Rumi speaks about the human being: in the realm of Unity, man holds the station of pure perception, and in the realm of multiplicity, he holds the station of vision.
Example:
We stand before a full-length mirror and look at our reflection. Normally we say, we are seeing our image in the mirror. In truth this is an indirect way of speaking, not a direct one. If we speak directly, we will say: the mirror is seeing us, or we are seeing that which the mirror is seeing. In reality we are seeing the seeing of the mirror.
This is the direct expression.
Its explanation is that when we see something, first its conception forms in the mind. In the second stage we see it with the eye. If we have never thought about something, never formed any idea of it, never acquired knowledge of it, then we cannot truly see it.
Example:
A person’s hand is paralyzed and dried. We prick that hand with a needle and ask him,
Tell us, what was done to your paralyzed hand?
He replies,
I do not know.
Why did he answer in the negative?
Because he did not feel the prick. He did not gain the knowledge of the prick. And knowledge is the first stage of perception. If his eyes had been open at that time, he could have seen the act of pricking. In that case his sight would have conveyed the knowledge of that action to his mind.
Therefore, in every condition, the first degree of perception is knowledge.
A human being first acquires knowledge of something. This is the first level of perception. Then he sees it. This is the second level. Then he hears it. This is the third level. Then he smells it. This is the fourth level. Then he touches it. This is the fifth level.
In reality the true name of perception is vision, and vision has five stages.
In the first stage it is called thought.
In the second stage it is called sight.
In the third stage it is called hearing.
In the fourth stage it is called smell.
In the fifth stage it is called touch.
Each level is a further extension of knowledge. Thought is knowledge in its initial form. Sight is an expanded knowledge. Hearing becomes detailed knowledge. Smell becomes broadened knowledge. Touch becomes fully sensory and tangible knowledge.
Primacy belongs only to knowledge, which in truth is vision. Every sense is merely a classification of this one reality. We have already explained the meaning of vision in full.