Believing is Seeing

[SuzySushi]

Are humans hard-wired to see holy images in chocolate, tortillas, or even a grilled cheese sandwich? Some scientists think so.

LA Times article

[Carrot Top]

From a scientific perspective, the phenomenon is so common that it has been given a name: pareidolia, the perception of patterns where none are intended. And according to Stewart Guthrie, one of a handful of professors who have studied it, such perceptions are part of the way human beings are "hard-wired."

"It's really part of our basic perceptual and cognitive situation," said Guthrie, a cultural anthropologist, retired Fordham University professor and author of the book "Faces in the Clouds: A New Theory of Religion."

"It has to do with all kinds of misapprehensions that there is something human-like in one's environment, when really there's not."

Interesting that it *is* so common. Interesting, too, that it happens often enough in things that one is just about to ingest. Eating God, so to speak - a ritual of hopeful transformation. . .(?)

Christians aren't the only ones to find the holy in the ordinary: Followers of Islam have said they've seen the Arabic script for "Allah" or "Muhammad" on fish scales, chicken eggs, lambs and beans.

I admit I'd wondered about that, what images the followers of other religions would see. Islam has a lot of food icons seemingly showing up, rather than the image of a face. Leads me to wonder if what one "sees" is based on liturgy or based on the art that has represented liturgy in the various religions.

"The church encourages Christians to see the face of Christ in the homeless, the poor, the destitute and the immigrant — not in a plate of pasta," said Tod Tamberg, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. "Imagine showing up on your judgment day in front of God, and he says, 'Where did you see me? Did you see me in the poor and the immigrant and the homeless?' And you say, 'Well, no, but I did see you in a piece of chocolate once.' Doesn't sound so good, does it?"

Hmmmm.

Other supposed miracles have proved profitable: A 10-year-old grilled cheese sandwich with a pattern said to resemble the Virgin Mary sold on EBay in 2004 for $28,000; a pretzel in the shape of Mary cradling the infant Jesus fetched $10,600; and a water-stained piece of plaster cut from a shower wall bearing what some took to be the face of Jesus brought in nearly $2,000.

Profitable, too.

I've always hoped for some sign of something in the food I've made, but so far the only glorious signs I've received have been some smiles, gobbling noises, and compliments. Though I did have a dream once where Tony Soprano was speaking to me from a plate of sauced pasta.

Faith and hope intertwine somehow.

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P.S. On the last paragraph of the article, my finger slid sideways (not enough coffee yet) and I clicked on this. Scared me for a moment - thought I was getting a message about a "calling". Must go have breakfast, and see if any bulldogs appear in my scrambled eggs. I am very excited, and looking forward to finding out.