Pareidolia

Pareidolia. Sounds like an exotic island and a dreaded disease at the same time. But it’s neither!

According to the Skeptic’s Dictionary, Pareidolia is a type of illusion or misperception involving a vague or obscure stimulus being perceived as clear and distinct. In other words it’s the phenomenon whereby your brain tries to make sense of things by recognizing patterns. Or more simply, “that familiar thing you’re seeing ain’t real.”

However the best way to explain it is by way of example. Here is the photograph of the Face on Mars from the Cydonia region, taken during the Viking missions to the red planet.

But there are many examples with a religious theme, this one being the funniest by far:

And off course the more mundane:

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Finally this one, strictly speaking is not an example of Pareidolia, but a head banging song about it.

So the next time you see something on your toast that looks like a deity or Pope WhatsHisFace, don’t go telling everyone you’ve experienced a miracle. It will only be a miracle if nobody laughs.

And the devil’s response…

Remember the post I made way back in July 2008, exposing religious fraud? Well off course you don’t, so let me remind you. It concerned a hoax e-mail that was doing the rounds at the time called the Hands of God, which claimed that a picture that was attached,  was that of a supposedly Christian god holding some puffy-looking clouds apart.

Hands of God

Well, I may have found a response to that e-mail and picture which is also doing the rounds, but it seems that Satanists are too busy with other things, to have staked a claim to it. Which leaves mischievous me to do the honours.

The Devil's Response

Now, I don’t want you to read anything into this, but which one looks more natural to you?