Snake/rope - Errors of perception

[swarm]

what would everyone do if it was a snake? Run? Whoop some little snake ass?

What I do when its a snake is identify the kind of snake. If is poisonous and trying to live in my territory we will likely have a snake fatality. If its not poisonous then I'll admire it for a bit and then we each go about our business.

Having non poisonous snakes means a lot less bugs and rodents.

 

[Search & Destroy]

If you have approached it loudly, and it is not moving, it is probably not a snake. In the rain forest I could see 20 snakes a month, and once even stepped on the deadliest one. I would stumble through an hour of dense jungle, pitch black and liquored up, with every single root and vine and stick turning into a snake. But I never cared because I had some big rubber boots on.

Under the influence of Ayahuasca most people see snakes. The images of the drug almost always depict snakes. Great apes have a distinct word for snakes. They will also be scared of a garden-hose, if it is moved like a snake. I think snakes were one of early man's greatest animal threats.

Because of this, there is good reason to believe there is a physiological similarity in all of us that tends us to be specific toward snake-like objects. And hence we often see snakes in our path when they are indeed just ropes.

 

[Cyperium]

A very realistic scenario. On a path, in the dim light you see a snake/ropey object lying across.

You would react according to what you can determine it to be in-a-split-second. But perception in this case can be and in fact is INDETERMINATE. But probability is that you will "think" it is snake, and react as you would to a snake.

But remember, it could very well be a ROPE. But why is a snake perceived?

There is a close relation between mind and organs of perception. The senses convey a certain information to the mind, which forms a mental picture of the "reality". The mental picture of a snake is that of venomously deadly animal. In a split second, the mind imposes its picture of "reality" and you see a snake. Thus, not the sensory inputs modify the mind, but mind too can modify the senses and impose its reality on them.

If brain, buddhi or intellect, was the only player, to the exclusion of "something" higher, then you would immidiately conclude if it is a snake or a rope.

PS: A person who NEVER seen or heard of snakes will not be in a dilemma. He will conclude it is a rope, and may not even live to correct himself if it, indeed, is a snake.

PS: People are known to have died after being bitten by a non venomous snake.

I remember having heard that we all have these old images of dangerous animals that we are all afraid of...so perhaps we would still be afraid of the snake even if we haven't seen or heard about one before.

To the point though; we would know that we are uncertain about the snake, and I think that it is actually a response by ourselves to check it against other objects - which to a rope would be a snake, to see if it actually could fit that image, and we would know all the time that it isn't for certain even if we thought it was safer to impose the snake on the rope.

 

[ili]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_cJ8FwBdaI