For some other reason I happened to open Jane Jacobs 1961 work ‘The Death and Life of Great American Cities’.
Leaving through the Contents overview my eye fell on the heading ‘Illustrations’. Of which the book actually contains none at all.

Underneath the heading it reads

The scenes that illustrate this book are all about us. For illustrations, please look closely at real cities. While you are looking, you might as well listen, linger, and think about what you see.

What an awesome call to action. In my work we often try to encourage our clients to go outside, or it is our actual work to bring them outside.
Go out, look around, experience what happens around you. Hear it, see it, smell it, touch it. Sense it.
Watch the stories unfold around you, be part of the complexity they represent.

As a necessary element of thinking. As the much needed phenomenological stimulant for thinking, having the world or other subject matter in front of your eyes.

The quoted phrase seen in the Contents section of the book