Page 247 - For Men of Understanding

to a tiny spot in the rear of the brain known as the vision centre. After a series
of processes, these electrical signals in this brain center are perceived as an
image. The act of seeing actually takes place at the posterior of the brain, in
this tiny spot which is pitch dark, completely insulated from light.
Even though this process is largely understood, when we claim, "We see,"
in fact we are perceiving the effects of impulses reaching our eye, transformed
into electrical signals, and induced in our brain. And so, when we say, "We
see," actually we are observing electrical signals in our mind.
All the images we view in our lives are formed in our centre of vision,

which takes up only a few cubic centimetres in the brain's volume. The book
you are now reading, as well as the boundless landscape you see when you
gaze at the horizon, both occur in this tiny space. And keep in mind that, as
noted before, the brain is insulated from light. Inside the skull is absolutely
dark; and the brain itself has no contact with light.
An example can illustrate this interesting paradox. Suppose we place a
burning candle in front of you. You can sit across from it and watch this can-
dle at length. During this time, however, your brain never has any direct con-
tact with the candle's original light. Even while you perceive the candle's light,
the inside of your brain is lightless. We all watch a bright, colourful world
inside our pitch-dark brain.
R. L. Gregory explains the miraculous aspect of seeing, which we take so
very much for granted:
We are so familiar with seeing, that it takes a leap of imagination to realize
that there are problems to be solved. But consider it. We are given tiny dis-

torted upside-down images in the eyes, and we see separate solid objects

Stimulations coming
from an object are
converted into
electrical signals and
cause effects in the
brain. When we
"see", we in fact
view the effects of
these electrical
signals in our mind.

Matter and the External World 245