I’m a member of a Facebook page that is concerned with the afterlife type of subjects, and there can be no real doubt that folk are often getting great comfort from being there, whether or not they post. Often, on there, I see somebody post a photo of some living person, event or some place. They swear that they can see the face of somebody they knew and lost, in one part of the photograph or another, and there is absolutely nothing there that even resembles a face.
It’s sad that we are sometimes reduced to what is, in the end, a human tendency called “pareidolia” - seeing patterns where others would not, inspired by the desperate need to believe that the passed over person chose to visit the scene, just as the photo was being taken. If they derive comfort from such imaginings, then I understand why they post their pictures, the way they do.
I just wish that there was a way of helping them grieve at a faster rate. I’d like to do the faster-grieving-boogie, too, come to think of it.
It’s pretty pointless, me wanting to comfort every grieving person, but I still feel that…I still want to do it. A part of being human, I suppose.
Hi Ian yes I know we can see anything if we want to , I see faces animals flowers in lots of things and realise it’s just my imagination being sparked , I like It . My sister comes to stay and often tells me she sees a face in one particular area on my lounge wall , I’ve never seen it but she’s adamant it’s there yet can’t describe it .
Grief is a strange thing, there’s no comfort you can give really, it runs it’s course, then you internalise it but it never goes away, it just becomes a part of your life experience and you adapt
I’ve never seen faces in photos but sometimes I think I see mum and dad’s faces in a crowd, on a passing bus or someone walking towards me and my heart lifts to see them before I realise it’s not them
I sometimes see faces in my minds eye. Sometimes I can make the face out clearly sometimes I can’t. I don’t talk about it to anyone coz I sometimes wonder if I’m bonkers.
I’ve suffered from this for some time now - no not the first two the P thingy! I think I first noticed it a few years back when I was sitting on the throne and straining in deep thought with my eyes open. once it started it didn’t stop - pictures on the ceiling ; pictures on the walls and on the floor !! - then a little while later found I could see it in nature as i sat with me beer mug in hand [ no I never get pissed!] and puffing on the puffing billy [pipe]
I have been meditating or ruminating on this huge magnificent boab tree [bifucated] which may have been standing for a few hundred years and is in my back garden of 8 acres. it does not stand alone but surrounded by smaller bushes and growing trees that move in the breeze and thus cast shadows in the evening sunlight.
the general scene often reminds me of my youth in the Cheshire countryside for various reasons but then there are the faces - never grim ; never smiling but often tranquil. There is the ancient one who just looks wise and mentorish and a few evenings ago I saw a beautiful transcript of what for me was the face of Christ - that was rather comforting ; previous girlfriends have appeared usually or always just neck and heads [whatever that is called in art]. It’s all a great comfort some may called it a psychosis but I like it anyhow!!
The mind can do some amazing things if you just stand still for a moment and let it do it’s stuff.
It can even influence those around us, and in time they will see it too. Could it be some kind of psychological communication, aura, or sixth sense with those around us?
Whole groups of people have been affected. Mass hysteria can be the result…
Are we not programmed from birth to recognise faces? And we do, in clouds, patterns in the wallpaper and any other random shapes.
The view you are referring to of the head and shoulders Bret, is a ‘Bust’…no, not that sort…
let’s go and ‘bust’ a few then OGF!! - I have two older cousins in uk in their 90’s and fully compus mentos the last time we spoke. They hold the last repository of family history knowledge - if I win a few million with my lottery ticket this week I will be over there to record them for ever. their knowledge is priceless and i will spend a kings ransom to record it for ever. nothing else is more precious than this - once they have gone it is lost for ever!!
