"Observe always that everything is the result of a change, and get used to thinking that there is nothing Nature loves so well as to change existing forms and to make new ones like them." Meditations. iv. 36. -Marcus Aurelius

To observe is the process of filtering sensory information through the thought process. Input is received via hearing, sight, smell, taste, or touch and then analyzed through either rational or irrational thought. You see a man beat his wife; you observe that such an action is either right or wrong.

The defining characteristic of observation is that it involves drawing conclusions, as opposed to simply registering that something has happened.

Observing is part of the process of developing a morality.