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 Culture and Personality 

(Psychological Anthropology)


  Margaret Mead
 Zhuangzi dreaming of a butterfly
(or a butterfly dreaming of Zhuangzi)

 Wikipedia

 Fall 2018 Calendar
Sunday, 24 November 2024, 19:02 (07:02 PM) CST, day 329 of 2024

Mustard seed.
 
Selected Culture and Personality WebSites
 

Course Information



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(all TR courses and web pages)


Reality

see also

  Optical Illusions

 Culturally Constituted Behavioral Envoronments (CCBE)

and Species Specific Behavioral Environments


 Altered States of Consciousness (ASC)

 "Alternative Facts"

 Bibliography

As to the Question
of the Nature of Reality Itself . . .
an age-old question . . .



There's the . . .

Kung-sun Lung Paradox:

"A white horse is not a horse"

(Fernandez-Armesto, Felipe. Truth: A History and a Guide for the Perplexed.
St. Martin's Griffin, 2001, pp. 88, 104-105.)

 Unidentified White Horse, Wikimedia
Unidentified White Horse
 Wikimedia

 White Horse, Dimitri Kourouniotis
White Horse
 Dimitri Kourouniotis

For an explanation see . . .
Thompson, Kirill Ole. "When a White Horse Is Not a Horse."
Philosophy East and West, October, 1995, Vol. 45, Issue 4, p. 481.



(and something else to think about . . .)
(and people have been thinking about it a long time . . .)

Mustard seed.

In Ancient Eastern Philosophy . . .
there's the well-known . . .


昔者莊周夢為蝴蝶,栩栩然蝴蝶也,
自喻適志與,不知周也。俄然覺,
則蘧蘧然周也。不知周之夢為蝴蝶與,
蝴蝶之夢為周與?週與蝴蝶則必有分矣。此之謂物化。

Zhuangzi dreaming of a butterfly (or a butterfly dreaming of Zhuangzi).
Zhuangzi dreaming of a butterfly
(or a butterfly dreaming of Zhuangzi)
Wikipedia

"Last night I dreamed I was a butterfly."







"How do I know that I am not a butterfly now dreaming I'm a man ?"

"Once Zhuangzi dreamt he was a butterfly, a butterfly flitting and fluttering around, happy with himself and doing as he pleased. He didn't know he was Zhuangzi. Suddenly he woke up and there he was, solid and unmistakable Zhuangzi. But he didn't know if he was Zhuangzi who had dreamt he was a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming he was Zhuangzi. Between Zhuangzi and a butterfly there must be some distinction! This is called the Transformation of Things." -- (2, tr. Burton Watson 1968:49)

[From The Taoist book "Zhuangzi dreamed he was a butterfly" (莊周夢蝶 Zhuāng Zhōu mèng dié) -- Wikipedia]

莊子
Zhuangzi (Chuang Tzu)

(4th Century B.C./B.C.E.)

"Zhuangzi's philosophy was very influential in the development of Chinese Buddhism, especially Chán (also known as Zen)."

The Yin and Yang Symbol with white representing Yang and black representing Yin.

The Yin and Yang Symbol
with white representing Yang and black representing Yin.
Wikipedia

 

In Ancient Western Philosophy . . .

 

Plato's Cave.

 Seminar in Epistemology: Knowledge, Truth and Mathematics -- Russell Marcus

 Allegory of the Cave

  The Republic/Book VII

Plato
428/427 B.C. – 348/347 B.C.

Plato, 428/427 B.C. – 348/347 B.C.

  Wikipedia



Reality Check . . .
Which way is the man looking ? . . .

Man turning head Illusion


Who's holding whom in this picture ? . . .
Optical Illustion: Man turning his head.

In which direction is the dancer turning ? . . .

Can you get her to reverse her direction ?

Spinning Optical Illusion

  Optical Illusions -- Wikipedia




How Many People are there in this picture ? Count them . . .

Wait a minute, then check again . . .
Count-the-people Illusion





And don't forget to check on the "Beer Goggles" . . .

 beer goggles, before and after beer


And check out the Reality of . . .

Optical Illusions

Optical illusion stress test.

  Optical illusion stress test.

 



"Best Optical Illusion I Have Ever Seen" --

"I promise this isn't a scare video. Just keep focusing on the dot. And if you don't get the illusion, watch it again, without looking at the dot."

"The second picture was grey the entire time and your mind just put all those colors there."

For this one you need to use the YouTube version . . . 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7knnO4vKgXg&NR=1

and it will start off like this . . .
stare at the dot (on the YouTube version) at the center of the image . . .

 House Illusion




This photo, colored, should "appear" . . . but you need to use the YouTube version . . .

 House Illusion



 

Go to the "Magic Eye" page and look at the Image of the Week
until you see the 3D image

Click on the image on the magic eye page for help, if necessary

Magic Eye©

 Unidentified White Horse, Wikimedia
  Magic Eye©
(solution)



Take the Selective Attention Tests
(Be sure to take both tests--they're short)

Read and follow the directions carefully

First take #1  Selective Attention Test (1:22)
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJG698U2Mvo>

Then take #2  The Monkey Business Illusion (1:42)
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGQmdoK_ZfY>

 Selective Attention Test
  Selective Attention Test

cf., Rashomon Effect

Rashomon Effect -- Wikipedia


Selective Attention and Lifeguards



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Bibliography

Optical Illusions and Reality
slides: (.pdf) (.pptx)
(Download PowerPoint Viewer Free) (Download Adobe .pdf Reader Free)
[see note on slide formats]


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