My best friend and I always laugh because we seem to ALWAYS spot faces in things, wherever we go. Plug sockets, cloud formations, murky drains — anything. I loved this piece, as always, your posts are fascinating. That ‘Thinking Tree’ is amazing!
The New Hampshire (USA) state emblem is a silhouette of the Old Man of the Mountain, which hung off Cannon Mountain. After years of rigging, shoring up, and precarious repairs, the rock hanging fell off in March 2003. I was born and raised in Exeter, NH, and this event was very sad to me (though I did find the calls to replace the monument rather impractical, let him lie in peace (pieces?)). I’ve always seen patterns in randomness, and have been delighted to discover the media covering this phenomenon. Thank you for your post!
Always fun to see patterns in nature. Squirrel Island in Boothbay Harbor, Maine, from above looks like a squirrel holding an acorn (and there are no squirrels on the island!).
I never knew there was a name for this. In my bedroom, a nightlight silhouettes certain objects that cast a shadow of a 9 foot tall grim reaper, scythe raised, on the opposite wall. Glad I’m not superstitious. 😬
WOW!!! What a wonderful mind you have Mr. Lucas. Thank you so very much for sharing your beautiful thoughts and findings with us! Very sincerely, Mary Stearns 🤟
We are innately, makers of meaning - expression is ethereal, eternal.
"The unreal is more powerful than the real. Because nothing is as perfect as you can imagine it. Because its only intangible ideas, concepts, beliefs, fantasies that last. Stone crumbles. Wood rots. People, well, they die. But things as fragile as a thought, a dream, a legend, they can go on and on. If you can change the way people think. The way they see themselves. The way they see the world. You can change the way people live their lives. That's the only lasting thing you can create."
Pareidolia maybe the cause of the development of religion. It was originally a survival trait to be able to spot what might be threatening creatures in the bushes. If they were really there’re, and you run, you survive. If you don’t run - not such a good outcome. However , on the other hand, if you run and there was nothing there, you still survive. So if you saw a shape in a tree that might be a spirit, give it respect. Our propensity for pattern recognition is one of our best survival strategies. But it causes some weird superstitions and misconceptions as well as some interesting folklore.
I wonder if there is a connection to anthropomorphism, projecting human like qualities on to objects or animals. Both meet some deep need not fully understood.
Molto interessante e affascinante questo articolo sulla mente umana. Mi capita spesso di andare in montagna e notare che alcune rocce hanno le sembianze di un volto umano o della sagoma di un animale.
My best friend and I always laugh because we seem to ALWAYS spot faces in things, wherever we go. Plug sockets, cloud formations, murky drains — anything. I loved this piece, as always, your posts are fascinating. That ‘Thinking Tree’ is amazing!
Thanks so much, Holly! The Thinking Tree is truly breathtaking. It’s the closest thing to a real-life Treebeard I’ve ever seen.
fascinating as usual james, thank you for continuing to expand my mind with a focus on natural wonders. and let us add the human brain among them!
Absolutely! Thank you so much Skott!
The New Hampshire (USA) state emblem is a silhouette of the Old Man of the Mountain, which hung off Cannon Mountain. After years of rigging, shoring up, and precarious repairs, the rock hanging fell off in March 2003. I was born and raised in Exeter, NH, and this event was very sad to me (though I did find the calls to replace the monument rather impractical, let him lie in peace (pieces?)). I’ve always seen patterns in randomness, and have been delighted to discover the media covering this phenomenon. Thank you for your post!
Always fun to see patterns in nature. Squirrel Island in Boothbay Harbor, Maine, from above looks like a squirrel holding an acorn (and there are no squirrels on the island!).
I never knew there was a name for this. In my bedroom, a nightlight silhouettes certain objects that cast a shadow of a 9 foot tall grim reaper, scythe raised, on the opposite wall. Glad I’m not superstitious. 😬
WOW!!! What a wonderful mind you have Mr. Lucas. Thank you so very much for sharing your beautiful thoughts and findings with us! Very sincerely, Mary Stearns 🤟
Loved this article. Great references, pics and info 🙂
We are innately, makers of meaning - expression is ethereal, eternal.
"The unreal is more powerful than the real. Because nothing is as perfect as you can imagine it. Because its only intangible ideas, concepts, beliefs, fantasies that last. Stone crumbles. Wood rots. People, well, they die. But things as fragile as a thought, a dream, a legend, they can go on and on. If you can change the way people think. The way they see themselves. The way they see the world. You can change the way people live their lives. That's the only lasting thing you can create."
- Chuck Palahniuk
Pareidolia maybe the cause of the development of religion. It was originally a survival trait to be able to spot what might be threatening creatures in the bushes. If they were really there’re, and you run, you survive. If you don’t run - not such a good outcome. However , on the other hand, if you run and there was nothing there, you still survive. So if you saw a shape in a tree that might be a spirit, give it respect. Our propensity for pattern recognition is one of our best survival strategies. But it causes some weird superstitions and misconceptions as well as some interesting folklore.
I wonder if there is a connection to anthropomorphism, projecting human like qualities on to objects or animals. Both meet some deep need not fully understood.
Interesting 🙏❤️
Molto interessante e affascinante questo articolo sulla mente umana. Mi capita spesso di andare in montagna e notare che alcune rocce hanno le sembianze di un volto umano o della sagoma di un animale.
Cool.