The Redundancy We “SEEe” [1]— I Really Did See Ghosts
The Blind Men and an Elephant | Phi Phenomenon | The Ghost Experiment
The Redundancy We “SEEe” [1]— I Really Did See Ghosts
The Blind Men and an Elephant | Phi Phenomenon | The Ghost Experiment
Those who believe in God cannot prove the existence of ghosts; those who believe in materialism cannot prove that the soul does not exist after death. If I told you that I could actually see ghosts when I was a child, would you believe me?
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When I was a child, I could always see ghosts appearing beside me just like ordinary people. Sometimes they were passing by, but more often than not, they would deliberately come to meet me. No one believed me; no one was willing to “see” those souls that shouldn’t be wandering this world. Because no one believes those they “cannot see.” Until one day, a kind and gentle soul approached me. He was willing to listen to me and help me. His name was Malcolm Crowe — a man who had just died, a man who didn’t know he had just died.
Redundancy
In the previous chapter, ****The Eye, The World We ‘See’****, we explained Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. We know that the human senses not only fail to reproduce the world fully but also cannot perceive it directly.
Rather, it is akin to a projection: by projecting the “shadow” of an object onto the subjective world, and then refining and processing it through subjective consciousness, we obtain an approximate model of the information about the object within the subjective world. Like a person who has been blind for a long time and has just regained their sight, they cannot connect the environment they see with the real environment, nor can they construct a model of that environment in their subjective consciousness.
Nevertheless, by abstracting data, we can filter out information that our subjective minds deem “useless” and gain an understanding of the fundamental properties of objects. Furthermore, by examining the relationships between different objects, we can acquire knowledge that is useful to us — knowledge that enables us to survive and transform the world.
***The Eye, The World We ‘See’**** demonstrates that although (1) we lack sensory organs capable of fully perceiving the world, at least (2) our subjective cognition possesses a certain ability to penetrate phenomena and reveal the objective world. However, we often overlook a third point: 3. As cave dwellers facing the wall, when we reconstruct the real world through the images on the wall, we may reconstruct too much — resulting in “redundancy”!
In other words, the subjective models we construct to reflect the objective world are both grounded in reality and imbued with “redundant information” that has no objective existence. Few in the history of philosophy have discussed this redundancy, yet it is precisely this redundancy that enables each of us to develop a cognition that transcends reality. Each of us is not merely a meditator facing a wall, but also a “ghost” living in a self-constructed world!
The Blind Men and the Elephant
Buddhism originated in ancient India, and the Buddha often used parables to enlighten his disciples. The *Mahaparinirvana Sutra**(Sanskrit; Chinese: 大般涅槃經; Japanese: Daihatsunehan-gyō; Tibetan: མྱ ངནལས་དསཀྱི མྡོ; Vietnamese: Kinh Đại Bát Niết Bàn)* records a parable about blind men touching an elephant. It tells the story of a group of blind men who, unable to see the elephant, tried to understand its shape by touching it. Because each man touched a different part of the elephant, their descriptions of its appearance differed.
A group of blind men heard that a strange animal, called an elephant, had been brought to the town, but none of them were aware of its shape and form. Out of curiosity, they said: “We must inspect and know it by touch, of which we are capable”. So, they sought it out, and when they found it they groped about it. The first person, whose hand landed on the trunk, said, “This being is like a thick snake”. For another one whose hand reached its ear, it seemed like a kind of fan. As for another person, whose hand was upon its leg, said, the elephant is a pillar like a tree-trunk. The blind man who placed his hand upon its side said the elephant, “is a wall”. Another who felt its tail, described it as a rope. The last felt its tusk, stating the elephant is that which is hard, smooth and like a spear.
— The Parable of the Blind Men and the Elephant
Blind monks examining an elephant, an ukiyo-e print by Hanabusa Itchō (1652–1724).
Based on this fable, the poem “The Blind Men and the Elephant” by the 19th-century American poet John Godfrey Saxe (June 2, 1816 — March 31, 1887) has become widely known throughout the Western world. This poem carries a deeper meaning than the simple story of the blind men and the elephant, so I hope my readers will read through it patiently. Our analysis below will continue from the deeper meaning conveyed in the poem’s conclusion.
I.
IT was six men of Indostan To learning much inclined, Who went to see the Elephant (Though all of them were blind), That each by observation Might satisfy his mind.
II.
The First approached the Elephant, And happening to fall Against his broad and sturdy side, At once began to bawl: “God bless me! — but the Elephant Is very like a wall!”
III.
The Second, feeling of the tusk, Cried: “Ho! — what have we here So very round and smooth and sharp? To me ‘t is mighty clear This wonder of an Elephant Is very like a spear!”
IV.
The Third approached the animal, And happening to take The squirming trunk within his hands, Thus boldly up and spake: “I see,” quoth he, “the Elephant Is very like a snake!”
V.
The Fourth reached out his eager hand, And felt about the knee. “What most this wondrous beast is like Is mighty plain,” quoth he; “Tis clear enough the Elephant Is very like a tree!”
VI.
The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear, Said: “E’en the blindest man Can tell what this resembles most; Deny the fact who can, This marvel of an Elephant Is very like a fan!”
VII.
The Sixth no sooner had begun About the beast to grope, Than, seizing on the swinging tail That fell within his scope, “I see,” quoth he, “the Elephant Is very like a rope!”
VIII.
And so these men of Indostan Disputed loud and long, Each in his own opinion Exceeding stiff and strong, Though each was partly in the right, And all were in the wrong!
MORAL.
So, oft in theologic wars The disputants, I ween, Rail on in utter ignorance Of what each other mean, And prate about an Elephant Not one of them has seen!
— John Godfrey Saxe, The Blind Men and the Elephant:A HINDOO FABLE, 1872
Just as the blind men in the parable of the blind men and the elephant each perceive only a part of the object, so too is this similar to Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. However, the blind men’s descriptions of the elephant — using metaphors such as walls, ropes, and trees — have already been colored by their own imagination. The conclusion of John Saxe’s poem offers a further insight: the theological abstractions discussed by theologians do not actually belong to the elephant at all; they are merely superfluous constructs of subjective perception.
Blind men and the elephant, 1907 American illustration.
Phi Phenomenon
The reason we perceive the “excess” in the world — and even construct a “superfluous” world for ourselves through this excess — may stem not only from the perceptual errors of “the blind men and the elephant,” but also from a mistake akin to the satire directed at theologians in the closing lines of John Saxe’s poem: an error in viewing the projection of the world. This error comprises two parts: first, the two projections produced when two light sources shine on a single object. Second, the composite projection is produced when a single light source illuminates two or more objects. — What I’m saying is a kind of metaphor: what we think we see may be just a part of something, multiple reflections of a single thing, or even a composite of several things.
Max Wertheimer (April 15, 1880 — October 12, 1943) was a psychologist born in Prague during the Austro-Hungarian *Empire* (1867–1918). Kurt Koffka (March 12, 1886 — November 22, 1941) was born in Berlin, German Empire (1871–1918). Wolfgang Köhler (January 21, 1887 — June 11, 1967) was born in the Governorate of Estonia (1796–1917) during the Russian Empire* (1721–1917)*. The Governorate of Estonia existed from 1796 to 1917 during the Russian Empire, which lasted from 1721 to 1917.
In the early 20th century, three notable figures established Gestalt psychology. This psychological approach suggests that we perceive entire forms, or “wholes” (Gestalts), rather than just isolated parts. The characteristics of the whole are not merely the sum of its individual components; instead, they depend on the relationships and structure among those parts. The founders believed that the psychological “whole” is more significant than its “parts,” as the latter are defined by the configuration of the whole and not the other way around. In simpler terms, we do not first notice individual elements; rather, we perceive the entire entity before recognizing its components. Our understanding of the parts is shaped by our perception of the whole.
The origin of this theory is similar to the projection of light in the Allegory of the Cave. Max Wertheimer discovered that when two light beams flash in succession at the right interval, people perceive not two beams, but a single beam in motion. This “motion” is a holistic experience created by the brain that does not exist in any single light stimulus. He called this the phi phenomenon. This phenomenon demonstrates that the whole is not only greater than the sum of its parts, but also distinct from the mere aggregation of those parts.
This perspective was articulated earlier by Aristotle (Greek: Αριστοτέλης, Aristotélēs, June 19, 384 BC — March 7, 322 BC) in his Metaphysics:
In the case of all things which have several parts and in which the totality is not, as it were, a mere heap, but the whole is something besides the parts, there is a cause; for even in bodies contact is the cause of unity in some cases, and in others viscosity or some other such quality.
— **Aristotle, **Metaphysics
In that case, perhaps we should write a new fable: “The Elephant and the Men Who Could See.” This fable teaches us that the elephant you see is different from the sum of all its parts. This is what is meant by “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” Or, to put it another way, the whole is the sum of its parts plus something extra.
The Ghost Experiment
Of course, it is impossible to definitively prove whether ghosts are simply “redundancies” produced by the human perception of the world. Personally, I have little interest in proving the existence of ghosts. I have drawn on people’s experiences with ghosts to illustrate the biases inherent in human cognition — biases that include both deficiencies and excesses.
As I mentioned at the outset, the prevailing view in the scientific community is that, while ghosts may not actually exist, people’s “ghost experiences” are very real.
Richard John Wiseman (born September 16, 1966) is a professor of the public understanding of psychology at the University of Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom. As a member and chief investigator of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI), he has conducted numerous studies and experiments on supernatural phenomena.
Hampton Court Palace
Hampton Court Palace is located in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, on the banks of the River Thames in southwest London. It served as the royal residence of the House of Stuart (Scottish Gaelic: Siol Na Stiubhartaich; ruled Scotland from 1371 to 1714; ruled England and Ireland from 1603 to 1714) and the House of Tudor (1485–1603). The palace is naturally steeped in folklore and has become one of Britain’s most famous haunted sites.
In 2000, Wiseman led a team in conducting a large-scale experiment at Hampton Court Palace. A total of 1,027 volunteers were recruited for the experiment. As these volunteers walked through the palace, they all experienced strange sensations, such as sudden chills, the feeling of being watched by a living creature, or dizziness. The locations where volunteers reported these unusual sensations coincided remarkably well with the sites of historical ghost stories associated with the palace. All incidents occurred in specific areas of “The Haunted Gallery.” This corridor serves as the main passageway connecting the King’s Private Apartments and the Chapel Royal.
The Haunted Gallery
According to historical records, in 1541, Catherine Howard (c. 1523 — February 13, 1542), the fifth wife of Henry VIII (June 28, 1491 — January 28, 1547), was accused of adultery. When the guards attempted to arrest her, she broke free and ran screaming down this corridor toward the chapel, trying to beg the king for forgiveness, but before reaching the door, she was intercepted by the guards and forcibly dragged away.
During her marriage to the king, Catherine may have had an affair with Thomas Culpeper (c. 1514–December 10, 1541), Henry’s most favored male courtier. Most scholars believe the two may have had political collusion but did not engage in a sexual relationship. Catherine was ultimately beheaded. Rumor has it that after her death, her restless spirit lingered in this corridor, hoping to see the king and clear her name. That is why this corridor came to be known as the “Haunted Gallery.”
South Bridge Vaults
In Wiseman’s experimental records, the anomalous phenomena experienced by volunteers were attributed to drafts or localized magnetic field anomalies. In 2001, he led a team in conducting the famous South Bridge Vaults experiment in Edinburgh. Approximately 45% of participants experienced unexplained phenomena in these vaults. He subsequently conducted numerous other experiments at well-known haunted sites. He attributed these anomalous perceptions to dim lighting, psychological suggestion, and even infrasound. However, these are clearly speculative conclusions rather than scientific proof.
However, one thing that Weisman’s experiment does confirm is that ghostly experiences are real for most people. This also indirectly proves that “redundancy” in the cognitive process does exist. But it is important to note that cognitive redundancy is not limited to ghostly experiences; it also encompasses various “illusions” in human perception of reality. Of course, worlds born of imagination cannot be considered cognitive redundancy — as exemplified by John Saxe’ satirical portrayal in his poetry of the “superfluous worlds” invented by theologians from the “surplus of the world” (cognitive redundancy of reality).
A Tribute to The Sixth Sense
We now understand that our understanding of the world is not only insufficient but also superfluous. Perhaps the soul exists; perhaps it is simply this world’s “superfluity.” The ghostly incident I described at the beginning is actually from the film The Sixth Sense (1999; IMDb: tt0167404). It is the young protagonist, Cole Sear, who can see ghosts — not me. The one who helps Cole is Dr. Malcolm, the psychiatrist played by Walter Bruce Willis (born March 19, 1955). As the “indestructible” tough guy on screen, Bruce Willis is also skilled at portraying emotional roles, making him a truly great actor. Let’s take a moment at the end of this film to appreciate one of his famous lines:
Live and let live.
Hair loss is God’s way of telling me I’m human.
You can’t undo the past… but you can certainly not repeat it.
Unfortunately, in March 2022, Bruce Willis announced his retirement from the film industry due to aphasia. The final words he left us with were as brief and powerful as the tough-guy characters he portrayed:
Live it up.
Arno Will, March 31, 2025; rewritten April 16, 2026.
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Idea and Action
**The Eye, The World We “See”**
The Eye, The World We “See” [1] — Allegory of the Cave
The Eye, The World We “See” [2] — Misplaced Love
The Eye, The World We “See” [3] — From Data to Information
The Eye, The World We “See” [4] — How We See the World: From Knowledge to Wisdom
The Redundancy We “SEEe”[1] — I Really Did See Ghosts
The Redundancy We “SEEe”[2] — Descartes’ Evil Genius
Theory of Relativity in Economics — The Coase Theorem Under the Mass Critique
How Corruption-Ridden Socialism Triumphed Over Regulatory Capitalism?
When Capital Substitutes Labor, Where is Our Future?
Liberty is Not ‘Negative’, Only ‘Exist’ and ‘None’
Redistribution? Why is the Government Spying on My Wallet
Immoral Property Taxes Infringe on Personal Liberty
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