Angle of incidence is a fancy way of describing the relative positions of the lens, subject, and light source(s). This photo shows the same subject and lens giving a different amount of glare on the spine of the books, based on the position of the lens in relation to the window. About 10 feet to the right of these books is a window letting in the western sky this morning. Even though the sun is still in the east, it is this nearby window at the opposite end of the house that is providing light for the books. Rather than to use this observation as the starting point to discuss optics and the geometry of light, instead the pictures can be used to show how a shift in lens position relative to the light source can increase or decrease the glare from shiny reflection.
By extension to the wider world of thinking and moving through the pathways of social life and the trajectory of a lifetime of years, something similar may be true: shift your lens position (standpoint for thinking or the angle of view for your eyes) and the resulting image may be easier to see; or the reverse – things may increase in shininess, making it hard to read the situation clearly. In other words, when faced with conditions in which it is hard to get a clear understanding of the situation, consider shifting your standpoint (for eyes) or way of regarding the matter (for thinking) to discover if the resulting view becomes better than before or worse; more glare or less. Sometimes there really is a direct analogy from seeing with light and optics on the one hand and understanding things more generally with one’s mind.
see2think 