--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If the eyes are open and there is light…" description: "\"If the eyes are open and there is light, seeing occurs; the stimulus is but a condition of the fulfillment of the proper function of the organ, not an ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/963/john-dewey-545_activity_if-the-eyes-are-open-and-there-is-light_536700.png" --- # If the eyes are open and there is light, seeing occurs… ![“If the eyes are open and there is light, seeing occurs; the stimulus is but a condition of the fulfillment of the proper function of the organ, not an outside interruption. To some extent, then, all direction or control is a guiding of activity to its own end; it is an assistance in doing fully…” quote by John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/963/john-dewey-545_activity_if-the-eyes-are-open-and-there-is-light_536700.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/963/john-dewey-545_activity_if-the-eyes-are-open-and-there-is-light_536700.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/963/john-dewey-545_activity_if-the-eyes-are-open-and-there-is-light_536700.png) > “If the eyes are open and there is light, seeing occurs; the stimulus is but a condition of the fulfillment of the proper function of the organ, not an outside interruption. To some extent, then, all direction or control is a guiding of activity to its own end; it is an assistance in doing fully what some organ is already tending to do.” [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. He explains that perception is a natural function of the organ, not an external interruption, and that activity guides itself toward its own purpose. **In simple terms:** Perception is an organ’s natural function, guiding itself. Key Takeaway Trust innate processes. Themes perception autonomy philosophy of mind Mood analytical thoughtful Type philosophical educational When to use this quote - education design - self‑learning - creative work Key Concepts epistemology functionalism self‑direction Questions to Reflect On - How does this view affect learning? - What limits exist for self‑directed activity? A Different Perspective Assumes all organs function optimally, which may not hold. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Activity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/activity/) [Assistance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/assistance/) [Conditions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conditions/) [Ends](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ends/) [Eye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/eye/) [Eyes Open](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/eyes-open/) [Fulfillment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fulfillment/) [Function](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/function/) [Ifs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ifs/) [Interruptions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/interruptions/) [Light](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/light/) [Occurs Stimulus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/occurs-stimulus-4496760/) [Open Light](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/open-light-324738/) [Organs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/organs/) [Seeing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/seeing/) [Seeing Occurs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/seeing-occurs-1589727/) [Stimulus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stimulus/) ## Related quotes > [“Habits of everyday life are lost when traveling around the world; the stimulus of seeing occurs persistently in the foreground.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sir-kristian-goldmund-aumann/habits-of-everyday-life-are-lost-when-traveling-around-the-world-the/) [sir kristian goldmund aumann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sir-kristian-goldmund-aumann/) > [Seeing occurs, of course, through stopping thought. Thought is the fog. When thought stops in meditation, at any point, when there's no thought, we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-lenz/seeing-occurs-of-course-through-stopping-thought-thought-is-the-fog/) [Frederick Lenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-lenz/) > [Interruption, incoherence, surprise are the ordinary conditions of our life. They have even become real needs for many people, whose minds are no longer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-valery/interruption-incoherence-surprise-are-the-ordinary-conditions-of-our/) [Paul Valery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-valery/) > [A pure heart, open to the Light, will be filled with the elixir of Truth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rumi/a-pure-heart-open-to-the-light-will-be-filled-with-the-elixir-of-truth/) [Rumi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rumi/) > [You are so much bigger and so much brighter than you can fathom. Begin to open up to your light.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ritu-ghatourey/you-are-so-much-bigger-and-so-much-brighter-than-you-can-fathom-begin/) [Ritu Ghatourey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ritu-ghatourey/) > [I am Black because I come from the earth's inside now take my word for jewel in the open light.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/audre-lorde/i-am-black-because-i-come-from-the-earth-s-inside-now-take-my-word/) [Audre Lorde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/audre-lorde/) > [“I once saw a small child go to an electric light switch as say, "Mamma, can I open the light?" She was using the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ezra-pound/i-once-saw-a-small-child-go-to-an-electric-light-switch-as-say-mamma/) [Ezra Pound](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ezra-pound/) > [I once saw a small child go to an electric light switch as say, Mamma, can I open the light? She was using the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ezra-pound/i-once-saw-a-small-child-go-to-an-electric-light-switch-as-say-mamma-2/) [Ezra Pound](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ezra-pound/) > [There is a morning inside you waiting to burst open into light.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rumi/there-is-a-morning-inside-you-waiting-to-burst-open-into-light/) [Rumi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rumi/) > [There are many kinds of open. . . Love is a word, another kind of open. . . Take my word for jewel in your open light.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/audre-lorde/there-are-many-kinds-of-open-love-is-a-word-another-kind-of-open-take/) [Audre Lorde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/audre-lorde/) > [Good manners come, as we say, from good breeding or rather are good breeding; and breeding is acquired by habitual action, in response to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/good-manners-come-as-we-say-from-good-breeding-or-rather-are-good/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [A response is not just a re-action, a protest, as it were, against being disturbed; it is, as the word indicates, an answer. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/a-response-is-not-just-a-re-action-a-protest-as-it-were-against-being/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [When words do not enter as factors into a shared situation, either overtly or imaginatively, they operate as pure physical stimuli, not as having…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/when-words-do-not-enter-as-factors-into-a-shared-situation-either/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [Adequate control means that the successive acts are brought into a continuous order; each act not only meets its immediate stimulus but helps the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/adequate-control-means-that-the-successive-acts-are-brought-into-a/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [In general, every stimulus directs activity. It does not simply excite it or stir it up, but directs it toward an object.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/in-general-every-stimulus-directs-activity-it-does-not-simply-excite/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) ## More by John Dewey > [“The deepest urge in human nature is the desire to be important.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/the-deepest-urge-in-human-nature-is-the-desire-to-be-important/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [“Empirically, things are poignant, tragic, beautiful, humorous, settled, disturbed, comfortable, annoying, barren, harsh, consoling, splendid, fearful; are such immediately and in their own right…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/empirically-things-are-poignant-tragic-beautiful-humorous-settled/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [A good aim surveys the present state of experience of pupils, and forming a tentative plan of treatment, keeps the plan constantly in view…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/a-good-aim-surveys-the-present-state-of-experience-of-pupils-and/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [Experiences in order to be educative must lead out into an expanding world of subject matter, a subject matter of facts or information and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/experiences-in-order-to-be-educative-must-lead-out-into-an-expanding/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [A tribe, let us say, is warlike. The successes for which it strives, the achievements upon which it sets store, are connected with fighting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/a-tribe-let-us-say-is-warlike-the-successes-for-which-it-strives-the/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [The phrase "think for one's self" is a pleonasm. Unless one does it for one's self, it isn't thinking.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/the-phrase-think-for-one-s-self-is-a-pleonasm-unless-one-does-it-for/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [Doctrine that eliminates or even obscures the function of choice of values and enlistment of desires and emotions in behalf of those chosen weakens…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/doctrine-that-eliminates-or-even-obscures-the-function-of-choice-of/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [There is no such thing as educational value in the abstract. The notion that some subjects and methods and that acquaintance with certain facts…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/there-is-no-such-thing-as-educational-value-in-the-abstract-the/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [Men live in a community in virtue of the things which they have in common; and communication is the way in which they come…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/men-live-in-a-community-in-virtue-of-the-things-which-they-have-in/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [We can have facts without thinking but we cannot have thinking without facts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/we-can-have-facts-without-thinking-but-we-cannot-have-thinking/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [But progress in knowledge has made us aware of the superficiality of Plato's lumping of individuals and their original powers into a few sharply…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/but-progress-in-knowledge-has-made-us-aware-of-the-superficiality-of/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [Even the alleged benefits of war, so far as more than alleged, spring from the fact that conflict of peoples at least enforces intercourse…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/even-the-alleged-benefits-of-war-so-far-as-more-than-alleged-spring/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [“When the organization called soul is free, moving and operative, initial as well as terminal, it is spirit. Qualities are both static, substantial, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/when-the-organization-called-soul-is-free-moving-and-operative/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [Since in reality there is nothing to which growth is relative save more growth, there is nothing to which education is subordinate save more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/since-in-reality-there-is-nothing-to-which-growth-is-relative-save/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [Creative thinking will improve as we relate the new fact to the old and all facts to each other.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/creative-thinking-will-improve-as-we-relate-the-new-fact-to-the-old/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) [Explore all 486 John Dewey quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) ## More Activity quotes > [Where I grew up, learning was a collective activity. But when I got to school and tried to share learning with other students that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-giroux/where-i-grew-up-learning-was-a-collective-activity-but-when-i-got-to/) [Henry Giroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-giroux/) > [It must be assumed and established as a principle, that the right of private property must be regarded as sacred. Wherefore, the law ought…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pope-leo-xiii/it-must-be-assumed-and-established-as-a-principle-that-the-right-of/) [Pope Leo XIII](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pope-leo-xiii/) > [Each man is capable of doing one thing well. If he attempts several, he will fail to achieve distinction in any.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/plato/each-man-is-capable-of-doing-one-thing-well-if-he-attempts-several-he/) [Plato](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/plato/) > [And also I think the rise of other, you could say, destinations for international jihadis mean that Pakistan isn't necessarily the place where people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mohsin-hamid/and-also-i-think-the-rise-of-other-you-could-say-destinations-for/) [Mohsin Hamid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mohsin-hamid/) > [To evoke in oneself a feeling one has once experienced, and having evoked it in oneself, then by means of movements, lines, colors, sounds,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/to-evoke-in-oneself-a-feeling-one-has-once-experienced-and-having/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [Fighting's fun, man. It's a great activity, it's a great sport.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-mitrione/fighting-s-fun-man-it-s-a-great-activity-it-s-a-great-sport/) [Matt Mitrione](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-mitrione/) > [There were books everywhere in my house. Books were very present. I just loved books. I never understood reading as anything but a pleasurable…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lisa-lucas/there-were-books-everywhere-in-my-house-books-were-very-present-i/) [Lisa Lucas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lisa-lucas/) > [For war to man, like childbirth to women, is simplifying in its emotions and activities. All the real problems of life can be put…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pearl-s-buck/for-war-to-man-like-childbirth-to-women-is-simplifying-in-its/) [Pearl S. Buck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pearl-s-buck/) > [The only activity a cynic will find contagious is yawning, that is, with other people, at other people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/criss-jami/the-only-activity-a-cynic-will-find-contagious-is-yawning-that-is/) [Criss Jami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/criss-jami/) > [For the longest time, neuroscientists were forced to be passive observers of brain activity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gero-miesenbock/for-the-longest-time-neuroscientists-were-forced-to-be-passive/) [Gero Miesenbock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gero-miesenbock/) > [Enjoyment is not a goal, it is a feeling that accompanies important ongoing activity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-goodman/enjoyment-is-not-a-goal-it-is-a-feeling-that-accompanies-important/) [Paul Goodman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-goodman/) > [Once an activity has been socialized, it is impossible to point out, by concrete example, how men in a free market could better conduct…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-read/once-an-activity-has-been-socialized-it-is-impossible-to-point-out-by/) [Leonard Read](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-read/) > [“Fun is not an activity, it is a state of mind.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bryant-mcgill/fun-is-not-an-activity-it-is-a-state-of-mind/) [Bryant McGill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bryant-mcgill/) > [I have to consider everything I eat; I consider every activity I do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlie-kimball/i-have-to-consider-everything-i-eat-i-consider-every-activity-i-do/) [Charlie Kimball](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlie-kimball/) > [Almost all good businesses engage in 'pain today, gain tomorrow' activities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlie-munger/almost-all-good-businesses-engage-in-pain-today-gain-tomorrow/) [Charlie Munger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlie-munger/) [Browse all 3,263 Activity quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/activity/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "If the eyes are open and there is light, seeing occurs; the stimulus is but a condition of the fulfillment of the proper function of the organ, not an outside interruption. 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