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Living on the Brink of Reality (Part Two)



Another example of the blurring of reality is ESP.  Believers in ESP claim to have the ability to obtain information without using the physical senses.
Although this ability has never been proven by science; most people have experienced hunches, gut feelings, premonitions, intuition or other unexplainable ways of “just knowing” something.
Again, this only adds to the uncertainty of reality.  

Besides these false impressions our senses disregard much of “reality”.  Dogs can hear ultrasound.  This is how 'silent' dog whistles work.
Dogs have a nose approximately a hundred thousand to a million times more sensitive than a human's.   Some bats use ultrasound for echo location while in flight.
Dolphins have their own sonar based sense.
Bees are sensitive to the polarization of light.


Back to optical illusions:


There is no actual movement in the above design.
This illusion was developed by Professor Akiyoshi Kitaoka at the Department of Psychology in Japan's Ritsumeikan University.




Below is the Pinna-Brelstaff Illusion of rotating rings.


Stare at the center.  Move your head towards, then away from the image.
The direction of spin and the speed of the circles will change as you change the direction and speed of your head.

I sometimes have a scary thought.  Considering the physical limits of our perception of reality and the contradictory philosophical disagreements on the actual nature of reality; the possibility of the existence of events and even beings in the brink between what is assumed to be real and what is assumed to be fictitious is not easy to dismiss.

“As to the ultimate nature of things we can know nothing, 
and only when we admit this do we return to equilibrium.”
-Carl Jung


“All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream.”
-Edgar Allen Poe


“Every man’s world picture is and always remains a construct of his mind,
 and cannot be proved to have any other existence.”
-Erwin Schrödinger


“Our dreams are our real life.”
-Frederico Felini


How can I be sure that what I experience is real or if it is only in my mind?
To keep my sanity I must have faith that what I experience is real enough to get by.




Comments

  1. Hi John,
    very interesting, I confess I'm dizzy or hypnotized .... Am I dreaming?
    Continuous reading to learn more, I do not know about this subject.
    Greetings.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Querido Carolina,
    Estoy tan feliz de que les guste mi post.
    Tener una buena semana.

    Dear Carolina,
    I'm so happy you like my post.
    Have a good week.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Love the illusions of movement!

    "How can I be sure that what I experience is real or if it is only in my mind?
    To keep my sanity I must have faith that what I experience is real enough to get by."

    If it's real to me, it's real. (to me) And to be honest, that's all that matters.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hello John!
    Very interesting article!
    I wish you great day!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I have lots to say about this... but first a nice optical illusion link http://mulledvine.com/2009/11/pink-dots/

    Ok, SEO done :), I'm a Christian, and this is an area where fruitcakes abound. Reality takes on a new meaning when one opens the can of worms which is the workings of the Holy Spirit. To add to this, my wife became ill with Bipolar Disorder some years back and her sense of what was real momentarily went crazy (pun not intended).

    The bottom line is that reality, whilst all we have to go on, is as unreliable as a bowl of jelly.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Robert,
      A great analogy, comparing reality to a bowl of jelly!
      Thanks for the comment.
      Have a good weekend.

      Delete
    2. Robert,
      I'm also a Christian (Not too good of a Christian but still a Christian). We have something else in common. My wife was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder about 10 years ago.
      How's that for a coincidence?!
      Enjoy the Labor Day weekend.

      Delete
  6. Well, it looks like everything is really moving to me! I just love the way they do these illusions. You've got to be pretty clever to have thought of doing artwork like this I guess, professor or not, it's brilliant. Maybe there is some sort of trick to it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. For me the strangest thing is that I know it's an illusion but it still feels real to me.
      Thanks for your comment.

      Delete

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