Seeing
An axe lays on a table beneath a tree. You can recognize the object as made of steel and wood, has a particular shape for cutting. You may even experience it by holding it and carving on the table with it. You can see past the object’s immediate purpose, its functionality, and enjoy the grace of its design, balance, and strength.
Perceiving
You can understand that the table was fashioned with the axe. That the wood for the axe came from the tree, and that the axe was likely fashioned from another axe that preceded it. That there is a gardener that tends the tree, a carpenter that builds the table, and a blacksmith who fashions the axe. That this tool is a manifestation of need and special knowledge that can be learned.
Knowing
You can also know that the tree will have seeds that will live on past itself, as the knowledge that built the table and axe will be passed on hand to hand over generations as the makers are succeeded. Knowing also that each needs the other to fulfill its purpose, which at first glance may appear separate, but are all part of one life.
Great haiku repeated over many generations have lasting qualities that speak to us not only immediately, but reveal themselves in our own growing knowledge of life.
