In the eighth grade I read a bad fantasy novel about the fight between the good and evil forces being fought by strong and valiant warriors against decrepit and tortourous sorcerors. What, you ask, does this have to do with percieved reality or the eyes? Well, when the good guys were fighting the black magic, they had to enter some sort of meditative state which, after they left it, caused them to be able to see and feel more of the natural world, and broadened thier perception of reality. When we discussed the visual feild and how it shows jsut one area of reality, whereas we are not equipped to sense all things in nature, it reminded me of these daring warriors.

The analogy is even deeper. Scary. The increased ability of the good guys to perceive other realms of reality did not help them, but caused them to have trouble fighting. They were unable to focus on their actions and were left impaired until the strange ability lessened. If we were able to have the ability to see like hawks, smell like dogs, sense electromagnetic poles like horses, hear like owls, or have any other seemingly advantageous increased sense of reality, we wouldn't be able to focus very well. Our ability to concentratate our senses to produce our personal reality would be strained, and the world would appear to be a cacophony of sensory input. By having limited sensory capabilities, we are able to make a somewhat concrete picture of what we do sense. The limited world that we perceive may be different than that of all others, but it is nonetheless much more real, in that it can be understood, than if we were able to sense all aspects of reality.

Very interesting, in both directions. Yes, is probably true that our nervous systems would be overwhelmed by too much information. At the same time, it is nice to have the capability to appreciate the existence of alternate realities ... and to make use of them ourselves at times. One might make an argument that that is what science is all about. PG