Pareidolia is not the only instance where people see things that are not there.
For instance, I find Apophenia to be slightly more interesting mental disorder.
Apparently Swedish writer, August Strindberg, suffered from it and because of it thought he was in contact with supernatural powers, so in his "Occult Diary" he noted seeing sticks on the ground as forming Greek letters which he interprets to be the abbreviation of a man's name and feels he now knows that this man is the one who is persecuting him. He then sees sticks on the bottom of a chest and is sure they form a pentagram.
Or he thinks that his pillow in the morning is giving him messages by the shape it has, like a marble head in the style of Michelangelo," and he considers that "these occurrences could not be regarded as accidental, for on some days the pillow presented the appearance of horrible monsters, of gothic gargoyles, of dragons, and one night ... I was greeted by the Evil One himself".
For instance, I find Apophenia to be slightly more interesting mental disorder.
Apparently Swedish writer, August Strindberg, suffered from it and because of it thought he was in contact with supernatural powers, so in his "Occult Diary" he noted seeing sticks on the ground as forming Greek letters which he interprets to be the abbreviation of a man's name and feels he now knows that this man is the one who is persecuting him. He then sees sticks on the bottom of a chest and is sure they form a pentagram.
Or he thinks that his pillow in the morning is giving him messages by the shape it has, like a marble head in the style of Michelangelo," and he considers that "these occurrences could not be regarded as accidental, for on some days the pillow presented the appearance of horrible monsters, of gothic gargoyles, of dragons, and one night ... I was greeted by the Evil One himself".
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
