The Second Look: “You”-turn Into Presence

I was driving from Atlanta to Blue Ridge for my annual fall foliage trip when I noticed what looked like two men bent over the hood of an old truck, as if fixing it. I almost passed by without a second thought. Something about the scene felt ordinary, even forgettable.


But then I turned around.


What I had taken for two men were actually scarecrows. Their backs faced me, their posture convincing enough to pass as human at a glance. And then the detail revealed itself, almost playfully. Their pants sagged just enough to expose what looked like bare backsides, but were in fact pumpkins. A quiet joke placed in the landscape, waiting for someone to notice.


I would have missed it completely if I had not chosen to look again.


There is a saying often attributed to Zen: first thought, best thought. Or in another form, first look, best look. But this only holds true when there is presence. When the mind is still, not rushing ahead, not filtering the world through habit and assumption.


Because most of the time, we are not really seeing.


We move quickly, naming things, categorizing them, reducing them to what we already know. Two men fixing a truck. Nothing to see. And in that instant of recognition, the living moment is gone. The mind has closed the door.


Zen points to something subtler. It is not about the first look or the second look. It is about seeing without the weight of conclusion. It is about meeting what is in front of you before the mind rushes in to define it — Maya.


In that sense, the second look becomes a kind of grace.


A return.


A soft undoing of certainty.


Perhaps life offers these small invitations more often than we realize. Moments where, if we pause or turn back, something hidden reveals itself. Not because it was concealed, but because we were not fully there to receive it.


In Zen, there is also the idea of beginner’s mind, the ability to see the world as if for the first time, free of preconception. The scarecrows were always pumpkins and straw. It was my mind that turned them into something else.


And then, briefly, it let go.


The lesson was simple. Pay attention. Be present. And when you are not, do not despair. Sometimes, if you are fortunate, life gives you the chance to turn around and look again. 

— Saad

Blue Ridge, North Carolina.
November 2024.

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