Motivated perception!

I can see a white haired hag clinging on to the tree carrying something on it’s back…

My perception is based on the ‘Vikram and Betaal’ stories I have heard as a child.

According to the legend the King Vikramaditya, in order to fulfil a vow, was required to remove a corpse of Betaal from a treetop and carry it on his shoulder to another place in silence. En route, the spirit of Betaal (in the corpse) used to narrate a story to the king and after completing the story Betaal would pose a query that if he (The king) knew the answer, was bound to respond lest he will break his head into thousand pieces. But if he does speak out, he would break the vow of silence and Betaal would fly back to the treetop, leaving the king inches short of his destination! The king would go after the vampire and start all over again. And so on and so on and so on. As the name ‘Betaal Pachisi’ suggests the Betaal told King 25 stories. (‘Pachisi’ (Hindi) is derived from word ‘Pachis’ in Hindi which means twenty five) . However, looking at the determination of the king Vikramaditya, Betaal finally disclosed the true motive of the mendicant. The mendicant’s plan was to practice certain rites sitting on Betaal but he would kill the King also to get all powers of world and rule the world. This created suspicion in Vikramaditya’s mind. However, he still went to the mendicant, but he was prepared for surprise. Betaal proved to be right and the mendicant tried to kill Vikramaditya. However, Vikramaditya outwitted the mendicant and killed him.

 

Why We See What We Want to See

Think of a time when your eyes saw what they wished to see: a person you were thinking about on a busy street, a heart-shaped pebble you were looking for on the beach…

This phenomenon, called motivated perception, has been explored in psychological research for decades. Indeed, the world as we conceive it in our awareness is not exactly an accurate representation of what it truly is.

Our perception is often biased, selective, and malleable… Even our desires can affect what we see by impacting the way we process visual information!

Have a great day!

A motivated perspective for  SQUAREPERSPECTIVES – 30

and for The Cosmic Photo Challenge – abstract