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2 The Visual World
This penchant for the vivid and picturesque is most apparent in the style of
the perceptual world that we experience. For mysterious reasons, the sensory
systems of living creatures have evolved in such a manner that the external
world is experienced in ways that are vivid, intense, almost theatrical. The
world reaches our consciousness in bright colors, shapely forms, and melodious
sounds. The way the world appears to us is painstakingly embellished: Out of
a lackluster external reality, the animal senses have created a carnival.
The most clear-cut difference between the reality we see and the objective
world “out there” is the way we decorate and enhance the character of objects
we perceive. Though we understand logically that there is such a difference, it
is hard to convince ourselves that the reality which surrounds us does not have
all the froufrou of what we see.
What I shall demonstrate in this book is that much of what we assume to
be the material world is actually created by the animal mind. The mind plays
no part in the production of matter and energy, but on the other hand, all
material objects have form and structure, and these are non-material things
which emerge in minds.
One of the most ancient dichotomies is that between form and substance.
Intuitively, it seems indisputable that every material thing has two orthogonal
aspects: It has matter and form—and these two things jointly determine what
an object is. This belief is another example of naïve realism—for in actual fact
form cannot exist except in the purview of a Gestalt observer. Form does not
inhere in brute matter but emerges in Gestalt observation.
The material universe is dynamic and consists of processes unfolding and
evolving. A process is like a form: In a process, material bodies move and undergo
change. But process, like form, exists only in the purview of a Gestalt perceiver.
Process is radically separate from matter, just as form is. Loosely speaking,
matter and form are mutually unrelated components of reality, though we
naïvely believe that form is an aspect of matter.
In conventional thinking, it is assumed that the animal senses have the
function of apprehending the shape of material objects and the patterns in
which they move. It is known today that the senses do a great deal more:
Because of the Gestalt nature of all perception, it is the senses that create the
forms of all complex things that we perceive. It could be said, with only a touch
of hyperbole, that the cosmic function of the mind and the senses is to bring
to light the holistic, Gestalt side of reality, that is, the side where form and
structure emerge.
2 The Visual World
This penchant for the vivid and picturesque is most apparent in the style of
the perceptual world that we experience. For mysterious reasons, the sensory
systems of living creatures have evolved in such a manner that the external
world is experienced in ways that are vivid, intense, almost theatrical. The
world reaches our consciousness in bright colors, shapely forms, and melodious
sounds. The way the world appears to us is painstakingly embellished: Out of
a lackluster external reality, the animal senses have created a carnival.
The most clear-cut difference between the reality we see and the objective
world “out there” is the way we decorate and enhance the character of objects
we perceive. Though we understand logically that there is such a difference, it
is hard to convince ourselves that the reality which surrounds us does not have
all the froufrou of what we see.
What I shall demonstrate in this book is that much of what we assume to
be the material world is actually created by the animal mind. The mind plays
no part in the production of matter and energy, but on the other hand, all
material objects have form and structure, and these are non-material things
which emerge in minds.
One of the most ancient dichotomies is that between form and substance.
Intuitively, it seems indisputable that every material thing has two orthogonal
aspects: It has matter and form—and these two things jointly determine what
an object is. This belief is another example of naïve realism—for in actual fact
form cannot exist except in the purview of a Gestalt observer. Form does not
inhere in brute matter but emerges in Gestalt observation.
The material universe is dynamic and consists of processes unfolding and
evolving. A process is like a form: In a process, material bodies move and undergo
change. But process, like form, exists only in the purview of a Gestalt perceiver.
Process is radically separate from matter, just as form is. Loosely speaking,
matter and form are mutually unrelated components of reality, though we
naïvely believe that form is an aspect of matter.
In conventional thinking, it is assumed that the animal senses have the
function of apprehending the shape of material objects and the patterns in
which they move. It is known today that the senses do a great deal more:
Because of the Gestalt nature of all perception, it is the senses that create the
forms of all complex things that we perceive. It could be said, with only a touch
of hyperbole, that the cosmic function of the mind and the senses is to bring
to light the holistic, Gestalt side of reality, that is, the side where form and
structure emerge.