Thoughts

Seeing Colours

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What we believe we see seems to be a matter for debate. And although I was aware that people have differences in depth perception, and perceive colours differently to a point, I believed if you weren’t deemed colour-blind, then we all pretty much saw the same ‘colours’. There is also the subject of colour synaesthesia, where people will ‘see’ colours for things that you wouldn’t ordinarily have the need or ability to assign a colour for, but when hearing the word, letter or concept, the brain conjures a colour to accompany it. Of course, there are probably varying degrees of that as well, and until someone talks about it, or mentions it as a thing, they may just presume everyone does it. Same with Aphantasia and Hyperphantasia, discussed more closely in my book – Meeting in the Middle of Nowhere, of some people not having visual imagery in mind or an internal monologue. Sounds like a routine thing to acknowledge or understand, but when it’s discussed in real time from each perspective, the real differences in thought processes can be startling.

But it seems there are all sorts of other smaller differences going on too, that most of us still aren’t even aware of. So subtle or unnoticeable that they never get brought up or mentioned as a point of discussion, as it would seem as boring as walking up to someone and trying to start an interesting conversation by observing they have arms. Now, if everyone else was armless, then it may be a conversation starter, but we don’t walk around asking people if they see a blue sky if it’s a clear day. You’ll comment perhaps on that nice day, but not usually to clarify that the other person is also seeing a blue sky. Although, maybe we should be. The below picture is from a documentary I watched recently, and was quite surprised by two things about this image. Firstly, that there is only one colour in the image, and the ‘other colours’ aren’t actually there and your brain is filling it in for you. That confuses my brain, because I believe I am seeing four colours, but the second strange thing, was when the arrangement of colours was read out to go with the image, it did not match what I was seeing, they say the arrangement is as follows –

Top left = red / Top right = blue / Bottom left = green or aqua / Bottom right = orange

However, it is also seen as –

Top left = green or aqua / Top right = orange / Bottom left = red / Bottom right = blue

Yet the only colour available they say, is grey. Quite an odd one, and if there wasn’t a difference when the person on the screen casually explained the ‘colours’ being presented, I wouldn’t have wondered any further than the grey to colour aspect. Now I question how each brain is deciding to rearrange those ‘colours’ and see them differently to another brain. Does using the right or left side of the brain more dominantly determine whether the image colours are seen in reverse? Seems there really can be more to something than meets the eye…

(c) MKW Publishing

Towering

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Not just tall, but towering. There seems to be a need to build extremely tall buildings, but not of a completely logical nature. Unless there is of course something of great value to hide or protect, or you are looking to protect yourself from something, as is said of some of the structures noted below. We have skyscrapers today, so it doesn’t seem to so unusual to our eyes to have massive buildings in cities, not so much in the rural areas though. They would stand out more, just as these remnants of the past do in these modern times.

China – where there are many towers throughout the region of the lower Himalayan mountains, some of them square, some star shaped, but all very tall and looking like a remnant of something industrious. Maybe small components of an old system, like speculated about Star Forts. But it’s said they are ancient from around 200 AD onwards, probably for storage they say and as we do have very large silos today for similar, it doesn’t seem a completely unreasonable explanation at all.

Bologna – the whole city was towers for hundreds of years, with only two towers remaining today. It’s said they were for defensive purposes, but with them taking up to ten years to build each one, and with no real threat put forward as warranting that type of defence, I’m not so sure. But for whatever reason, we like tall and towering structures, in great numbers in some cases.

Water towers and folly’s – there are many dotted throughout England and quite probably Europe and other places too. Mentioned in my article – With Purpose, Or Just Folly?

The Tower of Babel – a famous and disputed tower that was the culmination of one language and a want to break into heaven it is said. with a round tower being built to facilitate this. Although the site of Babylonia is known, and there are ruins of a vast city which are mostly still hidden from view, the small area allocated as the tower doesn’t quite fit. But strangely, there are three circular areas around the city, with spiral designs, and two of then having a very angled edge with one facing water as in the below painting by someone who never visited the site they say. It’s a tantalising myth, and with ruins of a city visible but still have covered and lost to time, who can say for sure.

(c) K Wicks

Patterns or Pareidolia?

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Do we see patterns where there aren’t any? People like to say that we have a tendency to see things even when they aren’t there. It’s been named as pareidolia which in itself is a type of Apophenia, which covers things like seeing shapes in clouds or finding the face of Jesus in a piece of toast. And as someone who likes real patterns as well as actual mysteries and theories, it seems an interesting one to look at.

Especially as I have seen a few things that I ask myself whether they are what my brain ‘sees’ or, in fact, has it employed that mechanism to show me what it thinks I want to see. Keeping in mind, your brain doesn’t see anything itself, it just takes in the imagery before you and then does its thing, whether we are aware of it or not. Below are some images from google earth, of the Grand Canyon in America. With street view you can make your way down the canyon from the comfort of a screen, stopping and zooming in where you would like and taking in the geology as you go. And this is where things stand out from others sometimes, or it catches the eye as one might say as being unusual or slightly out of place. As did the below images to me. And it’s down to each person I guess to decide what they are seeing, or not seeing as well may be the case.

And there are many who claim to see what is there, not what is imagined, so who really knows what we see and how we interpret that. Just as mentioned in A Giant Debate, Devils Tower is debated to be the remnants of a huge tree stump by some people, and others say its volcanic and is just a rock formation which appears to be stump like because of its position in the landscape.

So, is it just our minds playing tricks on us as they might say? Or are we making sense of what we see and our brain will naturally give it an overhaul and use our mental reference library to find a familiar shape or idea to liken it to? Working out its place in the picture before us, just as we try to with ourselves and society. And it may just be a tantalising idea, that there were vast and advanced mega cities and civilisations before us, huge buildings, plants and animals interacting very differently from what we see in this time. Or that there might indeed be some of that still around today, either the final pieces of it left to rot and eventually be hidden by the ages or by information, or just perhaps some of it really does still remain and is just hidden away from us. Places like Shangri-La, Atlantis and El Dorado, the city of gold, do of course make for a good story which seems to last, but I can’t help thinking, what if…

(c) MKW Publishing