Two eyes, a gaping mouth, a full head of braided hair: That’s what I saw when I picked up this shell on a beach last year. The human features seemed so clear, it was like carrying someone with me when I tucked the shell into my pocket to bring home.
The technical name for this phenomenon – when we perceive a face, an animal or other subject in a random image or pattern – is pareidolia (pronounced "par-i-DOH-lee-a".) A noteworthy example: A woman had a 10-year-old grilled cheese sandwich that she says bore the image of the Virgin Mary. She sold it on eBay for $28,000.
Some scientists believe that our ability to detect faces within patterns developed as a survival mechanism for our early ancestors, enabling them to quickly identify faces and threats in the natural world. That may be true. But on a completely different level, I would suggest that there’s a deeper, less literal way to contemplate the face of nature.
The renowned photographer Wynn Bullock said, “When I feel a rock is as much of a miracle as a man, then I feel in touch with the universe.”
To Bullock, the face of the ultimate mystery is revealed in everything around us – even though we don’t literally see facial features in the textures of every rock, shell or tree. John Muir, the pioneering naturalist and conservation advocate, described this presence another way: “God’s love is manifest in the landscape as in a face.”
I don't know about you, but I think that's a beautiful way to see nature.
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