Rorschach Roads

I was driving down a country road this morning and saw a paper napkin stuck in the lower branches of a scraggly tree. At first glance it looked like a white paper cut out of a duck. And this got me to thinking about how we see things that aren't really there. Like a cloud shaped like a rocket ship or a line drawing of a rabbit in the bare branches of a tree. During moments of total isolation and concentration (sitting on the toilet) I often see pirate faces and Taj Mahal type buildings in the patterns of the wallpaper or the flooring tiles.

Does this mean I'm nuts? Probably not. Does this mean I'm not nuts? There is not enough data from the example to answer that question. However, it does mean I am human and like the Rorschach inkblots of legend our subconscious minds like to fill in the gaps. Call it psycho-babble or imagination, we should be grateful for it.

This ability is the human version of a gyroscope. It allows our minds to go to other places when it is difficult to cope with reality. Such as soldiers in combat or hurricanes or plane crashes. I also believe that this ability (or one closely related to it) allows us to see the good in people as well. Sometimes a human connection (respect, friendship, love) is made because one or two people can look beyond the obvious tangle of string in the junk drawer of life and see the petals of a rose.

The antithesis of this can also be our undoing. I have been guilty of looking at things and people so closely that all I see is the dirty napkin stuck in the lower branches of a scraggly tree. But an open mind (or heart) allows us to see the duck or perhaps the swan that has come into our lives.

Life is funny and there are lessons to be learned everywhere. I am learning to dream a little more each day and I am grateful for others that are willing to look beyond the obvious reality and abstract patterns of my life to see the person they believe I am.