looking vs. seeing

I sat out on my deck yesterday afternoon - glass of wine in hand - and watched the clouds play in the sky, shifting the pattern of light and shadow on the Sandias. 

I grew up looking at the Sandias, and have always loved any view of them. However, I have to say that I never really saw the mountain until a few years ago. It was December 2006, a few days before I graduated from UNM. I was driving east on Montgomery on my way back to work after getting my hair done, when I took my eyes off the road for a moment and looked up toward the Sandias – and actually saw them. The jagged rocks. The trees, some of which appeared to be hanging on for dear life on rocky ledges. The colors I’d never recognized there before. 

It was like seeing with new eyes – the details pressed themselves into my mind as if I’d never seen this mountain in my life. I suppose that in a certain sense, I really hadn’t – it was one of those things I’d looked at, but had failed to truly see. 

Have you ever had an experience like that, and realized you'd been looking at something for so long, but failed to truly see it? Or him, or her? Perhaps you've had a similar experience in your journey of faith, realizing you've been looking at some aspect of faith, but missing its deeper meanings... or finding out the things you thought were so important are only a small part of a much larger story.

Do we go through life "just looking"? Or do we really see?