What is pareidolia?

I've experienced a few things over the years like the Indian God Shiva made up of coloured particles in the sky you know like in the Simpsons

I've also seen a Greek God or from Greek mythology in the clouds sitting down Ive also seen a whale and a swordfish but they weren't as prominently in.focus as the Greek God

I've also seen Chinese faces from historical figurines or ancestry in my sheets and linen like quilts and things I'd wake up and they would be made up out of the creases and things

All of which were a very surreal feeling and something I'm sure has made up many historical stories and past metaphors etc etc etc to believe in our elders being with us a sense of being having more to this world than meets the eye

Hi @supermodel

This is a fascinating topic! It does make you wonder why our brain does this, how we can relate information to this and how far down the rabbit hole of reality we can fall, in terms of how real is our reality due to the construct of our brains! 😃

According to the science, our brains tend to look for forms or patterns and 'fill in' the necessary gaps to form pictures. Some people's brains do this more easily than others, in particular it's been shown to go hand in hand with creativity. https://anniemurphypaul.substack.com/p/seeing-things-that-arent-really-there

I have definitely seen pictures in clouds, and trees, and have no qualms in stating that I believe that the brain will collate information and find forms like symbols, pictures and patterns (like dreaming) to convey that information, when the micro-data is too fine, complicated or incomplete to use more refined processing, like language.

Interestingly, it's even a common practice to use in forms of divination, like scrying.

Long considered a sign of mental illness, ‘pareidolia’ or seeing patterns in randomness might be a useful measure of creativity..

Most of the explanations around this type of thing relate to the brain, make believe, perception or having a mental illness.. there doesn't seem to be much room for the alternative surreal anomalies yet the consistencies around peoples visions weather they be reality, perceived or hallucinated all seem to be to a varying extent similar in form and/or function..