Illusions and Gestalts

Test Your Own Eyes

Perception illusions help to illustrate how easy it is to be "deceived"--to think we see something when we really don't. Since worldviews function as ways of "seeing" the world, worldviews themselves can prompt us to "see" things that aren't really there, and they can "blind" us to what is there.

Gestalts are objects that can be interpreted in two different ways. We interpret them, not by analyzing each part separately, but we see them "as a whole." Only then can we determine what particular parts are supposed to be. Gestalts illustrate that "particulars" are interpreted in light of the "whole." In the image above, do you tend to see "angels" or "demons"?

In this gestalt on the left, people either see a "young lady" or an "old hag." What do you see?

Now notice how the interpretation of the "parts" depends on how you interpret the whole. For example, if you interpret the sketch as a "young lady," how do you identify the part circled in red? If you interpret it as an "old hag," what is the part circled in red?

The same data--or the same piece of "evidence"--is interpreted in different ways, depending on how you interpret the whole thing.

We would contend that "worldviews" function in much the same way. HOW we interpret specific observations or "evidences" is often determined by what LARGER framework or worldview we are using. Have you ever wondered how people can look at the same evidence and come away with such different interpretations? Part of it has to do with the guiding assumptions one uses. Once you understand this, you might begin to understand, for example, that the debate between creationists and atheistic evolutionists is not primarily a dispute over the evidence; it is a radical difference of the basic assumptions one is BRINGING TO the data. This also illustrates why one cannot simply develop the case by "throwing evidence around"; we have to deal with the underlying assumptions--the foundational worldviews--that are involved.

While gestalts help to illustrate some important things about worldviews, one point must be emphasized that makes gestalts very different from worldviews. In the case of a gestalt, it doesn't make any sense to ask, "But is it REALLY a duck or a rabbit?" because it could rightly be just as much one as the other. We might call this an "AMBIGUOUS gestalt"--a gestalt that could "truly" be understood either way.

In the context of worldviews, however, we should see the world as an "INDEFINITE gestalt": we may not be able to determine DECISIVELY the "true" interpretation of the world given our limited human frame of reference and proofs, but this does NOT mean that any worldview is just as good, or just a rational or liveable, as any other. Worldviews cannot be "proven" or "decisively falsified." But we would argue that the Christian worldview is rationally, empirically, and experientially better than its competitors.

Try out some other examples and test your own sight.