I finally invested in a decent pair of binoculars last year. And surely yes, I can see all kinds of things now, with these, that I’ve never been able to see before. Like birds I never noticed before in the woods near our house. Or small details on the surface of the moon. But then the more unusual and interesting thing is that even when I don’t have the binoculars with me, I still see (and hear, and notice) things I hadn’t been able to pick out before, because my senses have become more attuned to such things, to such details, through the practice of looking, the habits of paying attention I’ve picked up. Is there a name for this kind of phenomenon, this kind of effect? Things that make you more capacious in their absence, rather than more empty and dependent and melancholy without them? Seems to be an interesting opening into intelligent design.