Page 672 - Atlas of Creation Volume 4

“Distance” has been created for us solely as a sensation. As has already pointed out, there is actu-

ally no distance between us and someone we think is approaching from further away. The person we
behold has been created on a single plane in our brain. Our sensation of distance is merely the brain’s
interpretation. So absolute is our belief that this other person is at a distance that we shout in order to

make ourselves heard and run to catch up with him. In fact, however, that person is at exactly the same
place as ourselves. Every square centimeter we imagine that we run across is actually part of an image
existing in our brain. In fact, we do not move; the other person comes no closer to us and draws no furt-
her away. Everything is observed solely in a minute point inside the brain.
For example, we imagine a plane flying in the sky to be many kilometers away. But it is actually

right alongside us, in our brains.
When we look at a plane we imagine, as a result of the noise it produces and the frequency and wa-
velengths of the light waves it reflects to reach our eyes, that the plane is many kilometers away. Yet if

the brain perceived frequency and dimension as one single unit, the situation would be very different.
In that event, we would have no doubt that the plane we imagined to be thousands of kilometers away
was actually at a different distance and we would be convinced of this reality.
Human beings see many details within the sense of depth that confronts them. They see a book they
are holding fairly close by, the television beyond and the window further away still, and the Sun even

further away. Their hands, legs and bodies are all contained within this visual field. Each object has its
own particular perspective and a distance to the point from where it’s observed. That is how people per-
ceive things; their sense of depth, perspective, shade within the whole visual field convinces them that

they are seeing the actual external world. In fact, however, everything they see, including their own bo-
dies, is the effects of electrical signals inside their brains. There is no distance between the book in front
of them and the Sun that they imagine to be 93 million miles away. And there is no distance between
them and any other object either. Everything they observe is part of an image arising in the brain.
The formation of a sensation of depth on the two-dimensional retina bears a close resemblance to the

technique employed by artists trying to impart a realistic sense of depth on a two-dimensional surface.
There are certain recognized techniques for creating a feeling of depth: objects being placed in front of
one another, one or more vanishing points, variation in texture, diminishing dimensions and height and

movement—the closer an object, the quicker it seems to be moving. The method employed by artists al-
so applies to images arising in the brain. Depth, light and shade are perceived by the two-dimensional

We imagine that a plane is several kilometers
away in the sky from us. The fact is, though, it
is actually right inside our brains. There is no
distance between the plane and us.

670 Atlas of Creation Vol. 4