Page 143 - The Truth of the Life of This World

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
candle at length. During this time, however, your brain never has any
direct contact 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 in
surrounding space. From the patterns of simulation on the retinas we per-
ceive the world of objects, and this is nothing short of a miracle. 15
The same applies to all our other senses. Sound, touch, taste and smell
are all transmitted as electrical signals to the brain, where they are per-
ceived in the relevant centres.
The sense of hearing proceeds in the same manner. The auricle in the
outer ear picks up available sounds and directs them to the middle ear; the
middle ear transmits the sound vibrations to the inner ear by intensifying
them; the inner ear translates these vibrations into electrical signals and
sends them to the brain. Just as with the eye, the act of hearing takes place

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

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