Where the light comes in....

Met a woman, a few weeks ago, who is revising her photography career.  In our chat, I happened on the concept of how photography happens.  How it is a matter of light. She is looking at photography as a healing practice, moving away from the emphasis on technology and on inner movement. 

She got me thinking of the nature of light and sight. And wondering what other perceptions might happen when you don't have sight, when you are surrounded by light but don't have the means to perceive it. The normal way.  I am still thinking about that.

Part of the conversation included someone asking if her photography was spiritual, used just the mind and body.  That got me thinking....

Then I remembered. I remembered reading a cool story that I did not understand most of. It's called "The Blind Geometer" by Kim Stanley Robinson.

I work with kids with special needs of all kinds.  Reading this story, when I did, helped expand my recognition of what is possible. Ask the parents of my kiddos and you might hear that echoed in how I treat their kids.  I expect them to be more than their disabilities. Not just to look past them, but to look through them to see what else might be possible.

For one, it was seeing through to the possibility of life in space. Confined to a wheel chair and held captive by gravity, how might he be perfect in the realm of no gravity.  He did inspire a flash fiction piece. I inspired him to read more, to engage math and science through reading: Rowling of course, then Crichton. He was heading to U.C.Davis when I saw him last. 

This is where and how the light comes in, by seeing with more than our eyes, and looking at more than what the light reveals.  Who have you seen inspired by what they have learned to see differently?  What writers have you seen influencing friends and family? Any recommendations?