Have you ever looked for shapes in clouds? Hey, look, an ice cream cone, and there's a heart! If so, you know something about pareidolia which, according to Wikipedia, describes how sometimes "the mind responds to a stimulus, usually an image or a sound, by perceiving a familiar pattern where none exists."

 

Pareidolia can lead to some strange perceptions and reactions. In November 2004, for instance, a decade-old toasted cheese sandwich said to bear an image of the Virgin Mary caught attention on the Internet and sold on eBay for $28,000. The combination of the unusual medium and the monetization of it make us raise our eyebrows skeptically, even if we can't claim to be authorities on toasted-cheese visions.

 

But "not all wonders and marvels are the result of pareidolia," points out Rob Brezsny in his book Pronoia. He gives the example of looking at an oil stain and seeing in it "a horse imprisoned in a cage with a ribbon wrapped around it, and that spurs you to realize that lately you've felt trapped by something that is supposedly a gift." He notes that such an experience "may really be a communication directly from an angel of mercy to you" and that striking a balance between skepticism and open-mindedness can help us tell the difference between a real message and something random and faulty.  

 

This week, stay open-minded about surprising symbolism in your surroundings that might be more than merely random. At the same time, trust that straightforward miracles like sunshine, rain, and your next breath are of inestimable value.