Physics Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for active researchers, academics and students of physics. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
If, from any given point on an object, light is scattered in many directions and all of these light waves (within the visual field) pass into ones eye, then how do objects appear distinct?
Why does the visual field not appear like a blend of light waves from these points as they are dispersed across the retina?
You describe what you would see if you did not have a lens in the eye. The job of the lens is to take all the rays that come from a particular point, and focus them onto another point - regardless of the direction in which they were traveling. By putting your sensor (retina, film, ...) in the right plane, objects at a certain distance will appear "in focus" - not blurred, but sharp.
Google "how does a lens work" for many excellent descriptions. Here is a picture to get you started (source):
