As a little girl, I used to live in a farm in the Philippines. At noontime, we were encouraged to take siestas (inherited from former Spanish overlords), to escape the punishing afternoon sun. Older children do not sleep. We were too hyper!
So we would lie on our back under shady trees and looked up the sky to find shapes from clouds as a way of a game, a noisy game.
Anyway, apparently there is a condition that goes beyond just playing games. It is called pareidolia, from Greek words para meaning besides or instead of and eidolon, meaning image.
This condition is not that unique, it is quite common in fact but some take it to another level altogether. It is about seeing image within another image or object. I remember reading in the papers of someone who toasted a bread and the finished product looked so much like Jesus. I think the toast ended up being venerated. 🙁
Pareidolia also applies to heard sound. Have you heard the controversial way of playing a record backwards? Apparently some record albums when played backwards have some evilish messages to them.
When I baked my yummy cupcake with raspberries, it came out like a chubby alien face!
Can you see it? 🙂
Pareidolia – Yes, I can see it!
Face, photo by PH Morton
I find pareidolia really interesting. Apparently you can see faces in Mars, you can see faces in stones and huge rocks.