Page 126 - Miracle in the Eye

rom the moment a person is born, he becomes sub-
ject to the steady indoctrination of the society. Part of
this indoctrination, possibly the most persuasive, holds
that reality is what the hands can touch and the eyes can see.
This understanding, which is quite influential in the majority of
the society, is carried without question from one generation to another.
But without being subjected to any indoctrination, a moment of objec-
tive thought would make one realize an astonishing fact:
Everything we confront from the moment we come into existence—
human beings, animals, flowers, their colors, odors, fruits, tastes of fruits,
planets, stars, mountains, stones, buildings, space—are perceptions presented
to us by our five senses. To further clarify this, it will help to examine the
senses, the agents that provide us with information about the exterior world.
All of man's sensory faculties—sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch—
function in the same way. Stimuli (lights, sounds, smells, tastes, textures)
from objects in the external world are carried through nerves to the sensory
centers in the brain. All these stimuli that reach the brain consist of electric
signals. For example, during the process of vision, light rays (or photons) ra-
diating from sources in the exterior world reach the retina at the back of the
eye and, through a series of processes, are transformed into electric signals.
These signals are transferred along nerves to the brain's vision center. There,
a colorful, bright and three-dimensional world is perceived within the space
of a few cubic centimeters.
The same system applies to other senses as well. Cells on the surface of
the tongue transform chemical traces into electric signals that become tastes.
Odors are transformed into electric signals by cells in the epithelium of the
nose. Special sensors lodged beneath the skin transform impulses of touch
(such as the sensations of hardness or softness) into electric signals, and a
special mechanism in the ear does the same with sound. All these signals are
sent to appropriate centers in the brain, where they are perceived.
To clarify the point, assume that you're drinking a glass of lemonade.
The hard, cool surface of the glass you're holding is transformed into electric

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