Heroes Not Zombies

Have you ever noticed how we like to complete what we see?

This photo which I took turns a semi-circular bridge into a complete circle by including its reflection in the water. I like it better that way!

That makes me think of two things – how our vision works, and what kind of symmetry pleases us.

The simple way to think of the eye is that it is a kind of prism….that the light enters through the pupil and then casts an upside down image onto a screen – except where is the screen? At the back of the eye ie the retina? Or at the back of the skill ie in the brain? Whoa! Not so fast! Because that’s already NOT what happens.

Light enters the eye through the pupil and stimulates specialised cells embedded in the retina – rods and cones. When they are stimulated they send electrical signals along the “optic nerve” directly into the brain where different parts of the signal are processed in several different regions scattered across the back of the brain. The brain then merges all the processed information and, somehow, (we’re not quite sure how) turns it into a complete image. So we have the experience of seeing the world as if its a photo or a video.

Now, quite honestly, I think that is mind boggling. I think it is utterly incredible. But it’s even more weird than light being turned into electricity then split up, processed and merged, apparently instantly, to create whole images. Because for all the signals to travel from the retina to the brain they have to pass along the “optic nerve” and this “optic nerve” obviously doesn’t have the rods and cones which the rest of the retina has. It’s literally a blind spot. In other words, at no point does our eye, or our brain, “see” a whole image the way a prism, or a mirror would. We literally create what we see. Moment by moment, second by second. Astonishing huh?

Symmetry. In Western civilisations it’s common for people to prefer symmetry. By that I mean the typical “classical” symmetry of whole circles, balanced pillars and so on. But in Japan, for instance, such symmetry seems too static for most folk. They prefer things to be left a little “incomplete” or “asymmetrical” believing that such a view is more dynamic, and more TRUE because reality is never static or complete. You can read more about that if you explore “wabi sabi“.

I can find both pleasing. Lucky me, huh?!

But when I stop to think about it, the Japanese idea of leaving the mind (including the imagination) to “complete” an image is actually a more true representation of our vision functions.

How about you? What do you find most pleasing? The symmetry which looks balanced and “complete”, or the symmetry which encourages you to “complete” the vision with your own creative mind?