In visual mode, we sharpen the perceived boundaries between objects and their surroundings and between objects and ourselves. We adjust vision until we perceive a hard line to things. Berendt makes the claim that perception through the eyes encourages more distance, while perception through the ears is more experiential. The closer we edge up on something, he says, the more judging changes imperceptibly into experiencing. Indeed, our assumptions, both phenomenological and philosophical, have been shaped by the process of visual perception, by the nature of seeing.
Light is necessary for seeing.
It is not necessary to any of the other senses. In eye-minded mode, light is associated with seeking consciousness, with seeking a separate stance. So eye-centered are we that, in the metaphors of our language, we actually equate seeing something with understanding it. We really do talk as if we were exclusive creatures of light. We need to notice this domination of the visual mode.