There is an article in the most recent Scientific American that speaks to this very tendency to see what we believe to be true, not what is really there. We project meaning onto life and based on our perspective and perceptions, this colors our experience. Apparently, this is means to continue the species that we have developed over time. And who hasn’t seen a stick or rope in the road and at first glance thought it was as snake? Jumped back in fear, only to realize, sheepishly that it was just a ‘trick’ of our minds. After all, what do we really see? It’s not as if we have windows in the front of our heads. The perceptions that we call our sight, is the function of synapses and neurotransmitters and flashes of electrical activity deep in our brains where no light can even penetrate!
Small wonder that some enterprising humans have thought to use this tendency to create ‘slight of hand’ illusions that have mesmerized us for eons.
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