Hallucinations

What makes an artist see something no one else’s see? What is in the artistic eye or ear to catch something the proletarian missed? Does an artist see or hear the same reality as the rest of us?

When reality becomes blurred with conscience but which is real?

Does the artist experience apparent perception of something not present?

Creativity is a phenomenon whereby something new and somehow valuable is formed. The created item may be intangible (such as an idea, a scientific theory, a musical composition or a joke) or a physical object (such as an invention, a literary work or a painting).

Creativity involves a number of disciplines: psychology, cognitive science, education, philosophy (particularly philosophy of science), technology, theology, sociology, linguistics, business studies, songwriting, and economics, covering the relations between creativity and general intelligence, mental and neurological processes, personality type and creative ability, creativity and mental health; the potential for fostering creativity through education and training, especially as augmented by technology; and the application of creative resources to improve the effectiveness of teaching and learning.

“Are you sure that what you saw wasn’t a hallucination?”

A hallucination is a perception in the absence of external stimulus that has qualities of real perception. Hallucinations are vivid, substantial, and are perceived to be located in external objective space. They are distinguishable from these related phenomena: dreaming, which does not involve wakefulness; illusion, which involves distorted or misinterpreted real perception; imagery, which does not mimic real perception and is under voluntary control; and pseudo-hallucination, which does not mimic real perception, but is not under voluntary control. Hallucinations also differ from ‘delusional perceptions’, in which a correctly sensed and interpreted stimulus (i.e., a real perception) is given some additional (and typically absurd) significance.

Hallucinations can occur in any sensory modality—visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, tactile, proprioceptive, equilibrioceptive, nociceptive, thermoceptive and chronoceptive.

Hallucination symptoms are illusion, figment of the imagination, vision, apparition, mirage, chimera, fantasy; delirium, phantasmagoria; informal trip, pink elephants, etc.

The other night as the sun was going down and a soft summer breeze was causing the trees to dance, I rocked undisturbed by electronics or noise and watched the show. I’ve lived through the 60’s and 70’s with a bit of a reference to hallucinations. I’ve stayed awake for several days and understand the brain trying to compensate the lack of rest.

So in the silence I stare at the leaves move with the shadows and light. There is a face. That is a landscape. There is a body and another face. Like watching clouds and deciding what the shape represents, there was this slideshow of shapes and activity in front of me for the viewing.