SHERLOCK HOLMES TEACHES MINDFUL DECISION MAKING

Posted on August 28, 2011 by Jeffrey Newman

In Arthur Conan Doyle’s A SCANDAL IN BOHEMIA, detective Sherlock Holmes instructs Watson on the difference between seeing and observing: “When I hear you give your reasons, ” I remarked, “the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each successive instance of your reasoning, I am baffled until you explain your process. And yet I believe tha my eyes are as good as yours.” “Quite so,” he answered, lighting a cigarette and throwing himself down into an armchair, “You see, but you do not observe. The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen the steps which lead up from the hall to this room.” “Frequently.” “How often?” “Well, some hundreds of times.” “Then how many are there?” “How many? I don’t know.” “Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, because I have both seen and observed.” Homes taught himself to observe every day, using all of his senses.