Do We Perceive Everything? (Alan Kay Quote)

Do We Perceive Everything? (Alan Kay Quote)

Do we perceive everything?

“A frog’s brain is set up to recognize food as moving objects that are oblong in shape. So if we take a frog’s normal food — flies — paralyze them with a little chloroform and put them in front of the frog, it will not notice them or try to eat them.

It will starve in front of its food! But if we throw little rectangular pieces of cardboard at the frog it will eat them until it is stuffed! The frog only sees a little of the world we see, but it still thinks it perceives the whole world.

Now, of course, we are not like frogs! Or are we?”

by Alan Kay

Secret Garden (oil) by Polly Castor
I work to amplify good wherever I find it. I love color, texture, beauty, great ideas, nature, metaphor, deliciousness, genuine spirituality, and exploring new territory. I encourage authenticity, nurture creativity, champion sustainability, promote peace, and hope to foster a new renaissance where we all are free to be our most fulfilled, multifaceted, and terrific selves. Read more here.

2 Comments

  1. Julia Orr 15 hours ago

    I think I’m a frog but sometimes, more frequently now, I am a bird drifting on a current of air and then I am a little girl in the Secret Garden back in a magical world where beauty abounds. Sometimes the shadow of doubt creeps in and I am behind a black curtain but then I remember who I am and I am free again. Step out of the ego mind into expansiveness…

    I LOVE your painting , Secret Garden ! Looking at it is an immersive experience —and oh my ,the color!

  2. Darlene Stein 10 hours ago

    It is so true that we only perceive what is in front of us. That’s why wars are fought, because we only see our own perspective, but if we get to know those people one on one, we find that they are just like us, trying to just do the very best they can. Our souls are perfect when we are born, but environment changes our perception. If only…

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