In his essay, he states, "the sightseer measures his satisfaction by the degree to which the canyon conforms to his preformed complex," and "the highest point, the term of the sightseer's satisfaction, is not the sovereign discovery of the thing before him; it is rather the measuring up of the thing to the criterion of the performed symbolic complex." Whenever we approach an experience, rather than perceiving it based on its own merits, we compare it to what we have already learned about the subject, or to what we h

Percy discusses that the surprise of discovery can be obtained by "leaving the beaten path." This is partly true, but should actually go a bit further. In order for a person to truly experience the surprise of discovery, one must return to the mind set of a child where preconceived ideas do not exist. I am reminded of the day I was walking with my son on the beach. He had run ahead of me and was examining something in the sand. When I approached him, he jumped up and cried "look at this mommy!" and held out his hand, showing me a small black stone. My first thought was that it was just a rock. It was his comments and questions which brought back the surprise of discovery. "Look how smooth it is mommy, how'd it get that way?" and "look how shiny it is and how round it is, can I keep it?" Immediately, my thoughts ran with his questions, how, where, when, why . . . and so forth. The item no longer had the status of 'just a rock,' but was an unknown tickling my curiosity. It was when I began to see through his child-like eyes and mind, that I was able to experience the surprise of discovery. It is in this child-like innocence that we can do as Percy writes, "find an 'unspoiled' place . . . . not encrusted by the familiar."

The student thereby learns more, by not knowing they are learning, as Percy showed with the man finding the dogfish on the beach, or the professor digging through the carcass with a 'broken fingernail' instead of using the tools of the laboratory. Percy writes, "the difference lies in the fundamental placement of the student in the world, a placement which makes it possible to extract the thing from the package." Again, it is the mind set which holds the freedom. Is the mind filled with preconceived ideas about what the experience will be? Does the student say "I am going to learn something today" or do they 'stumble' across the experience like my son on the beach?

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1524
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)