This is the first property of the Intellect I am to point out; the mind detaches. A man is intellectual in proportion as he can make an object of every sensation, perception and intuition . . . 

The world consists of discrete objects because of this property of the intellect. Through the intellect we detach things from their context, and then project them into the sensory world as objects. There is nothing in the things that requires that they be seen as objects. We could, and sometimes do, see them in their context. Mystics call this the experience of oneness. Kant called the power to detach “intellect” and contrasted it with the synthetic power of reason. The intellect sees distinction, reason, unity. In more contemporary language we might call these modes of thought analytic and holistic[1], and relate them to research in cognitive psychology[2]. Analytic perception is the propensity to view an object as composed of parts, to focus on the parts in opposition to the whole. Holistic perception is the propensity to see the whole in contrast to the parts. The technical definition of holistic perception is even more surprising. Holistic perception is the inability to focus on a part of an object even when specifically instructed to do so. That human beings possess this capacity has been shown experimentally.

[1] Henri Bortoft, The Wholeness of Nature (Edinburgh, Scotland: Floris Books, 1996).

[2] Isabel Gauthier and Michael J. Tarr, “Becoming a ‘greeble’ expert: Exploring mechanisms for face recognition,” Vision Research 37, no. 12 (1997): 1673-1682.

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