Pure Perception

[Guest guest]

You saw pure perception only once, and only for a few seconds.

That terrible encounter happened at the moment of birth, and

you screamed in terror. And that scream was a cry, a demand

for meaning.

Now, perception is pregnant with meaning. Even direct,

un-narrated, unexplained, thoughtless perception is shaped

by meaning. Form is the outline of visual meaning. Without

meaning form dissolves into chaos- a landscape of blobs,

splotches, and splatters of light and colors. Sometimes, on waking

up, I behold such world for a few seconds. Only the visual color

center of the brain seems to be functioning. The rest of the

brain is not engaged. My room appears as a flat chaotic mosaic

of color devoid of any meaning. There is no clue of being a Pete,

or human, or even an animal. The whole world is a swirling

chaos of colors. Then, a flash of panic jolts the brain, and

meaning returns. I know that's what I saw at birth, and then

the scream came as a cry for meaning, and meaning

came in the guise of a touch- the touch of human hands,

the warmth of blankets, the sound of soothing voices, And

consciousness was rescued from chaos, and sent on its journey

to being human.

 

Pete