we approach the world with a lens to understand it. We take in information through our senses, process to make sense of it - either fit it to an existing mental model or categorize it relative to one. This is natural, needed for survival.
However there are a few things that happen before this - they happen so fast that we barely notice them.
we perceive - aided by receiving inputs through the senses
we feel - the stimulation that the input creates in our body
we recognise - process of familiarity against stored knowledge
we understand - filtered through the mind to categorise
we then react/respond
Upon reflection, it can be remembered from experience that there is a process of feeling & recognising before understanding. It is the ‘perceiving’ that is difficult to wrap our head around. Yet there are moments in which we have known this and they come in two kinds.
Extreme fear or shock - often stated example would be a potentially life threatening accident or situation. We often find ourselves in a heightened sense of awareness here and see things happening around us in slow motion.
Or in a moment of immense and unexpected love, kindness or beauty - say looking at a wildly beautiful sunset. That first moment when one feels overwhelmed and at loss of words - before calling the words 'beautiful' or before wanting to pull out the phone and capture it.
What happens in perceiving is a sort of receiving and responding at the same time - without words or even thoughts. It is devoid of the filtering through the baggage of the mind. It is true experiencing and knowing - not limited by understanding. You don't need to understand color theory or technique to feel those goosebumps when you stand in front of Monet's lilies, or you don't need to understand notes and scales to feel a composition from Bach.
I find what i treasure the most are these fractional moments collected together over time. Moments of experiencing great work, moments of immense love, moments of innocence and beauty. It is like a sanctuary or a source of inspiration. Also interesting is that in this perceiving many things seem to fall away - what is the subject (art, music, sport, architecture, design, science, etc), who the creator is or what is the object of creation. What remains is just the essence of what is experienced. This then is not limited - available everywhere.
But how to experience this?
The only way seems to be to build awareness. Be more often, more aware of the process of experiencing. Higher awareness is like a high frame rate camera. A high frame per second camera is able to capture more fractions within a time, letting us see things better - like in slow motion. Being more aware is like having a higher frame rate camera to experience life.