Edmundson

In his essay, The Loss of the Creature, Walker Percy discusses how through preconceptions and the surrender of our sovereignty, humans lose the ability to experience life, and its elements, in fresh and innovative ways. He argues that humans have lost the surprise of discovery because of the preconceptions they bring to experience. He begins with an example of the visitor who, after many years of wanting to see the grand canyon, gets there and …

…laboratory environment with preconceived ideas through the information presented on what is being seen. As Percy says, "the thing is lost through its packaging." It would be better, as he says, "to keep it in his pocket and show it then to strangers" because the awe would remain in the discovery. The viewer would be as I was on the beach, looking at the stone through the innocent, questioning, and unknowing eyes of my son.