Written by Karen D. Swim
The picture to the right is a Rorschach ink blot. I became quite familiar with Rorschach as a Psychobiology major in college.
Rorschach ink blots (developed by Hermann Rorschach) are a projective psychometric test. The theory is that when you show the ink blots to patients, each individual will project his or her real personality into the ink blot via the interpretation. The results were to provide a clue into the person’s psyche.
It is fascinating to see how differently each person will interpret an ink blot. What do you see in the photo to the right – the silhouette of a woman, armadillos crawling along a desert, kidneys? Each person will see something slightly different. As we view the ink blot we impose our own perspective shaped by our life experiences.
The efficacy of the ink blot has been questioned but the underlying theory that we can look at the same thing and see something different is incontrovertible. Law enforcement officers understand this theory well. If multiple people witness an incident, there will be some commonalities but each version will be slightly different.
We bring our perceptions to everything we read, see, hear and touch. For the writer, artist, photographer or marketer it is a truth that we must not only recognize but embrace. The interpretation of our words, paintings, sculptures, and photographs belong entirely to the beholder. This is the beauty and challenge of our work. In a Writer’s Digest interview, Isabel Allende offered these thoughts:
“I’m not the one who invents the stories; I’m like a radio that picks up the waves. Somehow if I move the dial very carefully, I’ll pick up the wave and get the story. But the story doesn’t belong to me; it’s somewhere out there floating. That’s very liberating.” (Writer’s Digest, Oct. 2008)
The story, photo, painting, novel, marketing message or even blog post does not belong to the creator but to those who will shape it, interpret it and experience it through the lens of their perception. As we create we bear the burden of this knowledge. No matter how clearly we seek to articulate our ideas, thoughts and concepts not everyone will see them as presented. Once created, we must find the liberation that Allende alludes to by simply letting go.
I take comfort in knowing that in this way all truth has its own element of fiction. I release the responsibility of attaining perfection and yield myself to being the receptor of the waves intended for me. I am the vessel and not the creator. I can let go and take pleasure watching the work float “out there” free to become what each reader wants and needs it to be. Liberating? Indeed.
Now over to you reader, it’s your post, share your interpretation. The comment box is open and it’s your turn at the mic.
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Thanks for allowing me to comment. I normally don\’t leave them, but I really like what you had to say. This is important stuff!
What fun, Karen. On the sides I see Bisons and in the middle I see butterflies, though one is upside down. At the top I see a new creature that is a cross between a dragonfly and a moth. 😉
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@Melissa, ooh that is a beautiful image you painted there. I was thrilled to find the pastel inkblot too, the black and white ones all look like bugs! 🙂
@Friar, Yay! You’re back! Well I thought it looked like that too so this time you’re not alone. LOL!
@Robert, LOL! You are a funny man!
Speakin’ of digging holes… reminds me of an old joke:
A drunk, walking home late one night, decides to take a shortcut through a cemetery. In the darkness, he accidentally stumbles into a freshly-dug grave. Unfortunately, his inebriated state prevents him from getting out, so he finally gives up and goes to sleep.
Another drunk, also taking the shortcut through the cemetery, happened to stumble into the very same hole. He tried, without success, to climb out of the hole, but in doing so woke up the first fellow.
In the darkness, the first drunk helpfully said to the second, “Don’t try to climb out. You’ll never make it.”
But he did! 😀
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Argh. I’m too literal.
These things always look like vertebrae to me.
Friars last blog post..Travels with the Bear: Northern Ontario
I see a buffalo standing on the land and approaching water. The image is turned sideways and reflected. That’s pretty cool. Most of the ink blots I’ve seen are in black and white and I really like that this one is in color. Adds a whole new dimension to the interpretation.
@Evelyn, it really is an ink blot! Isn’t it amazing how it really does look like a perfect picture of the human anatomy but others clearly saw something different? Really drives home the point about perceptions. I learned a great deal from the comments!
@Alex, your interpretation sounds like somewhere I’d love to visit too! Hmmm, I suppose that could reveal our need/desire to vacation. 🙂
@Robert, LOL! Don’t go, don’t go! 🙂 You know you are so right! I always read the entries and am amazed at how people interpret the project. The Zone is kind of like an ongoing inkblot, I love it! Um not to imply that you just splat stuff on the page. Oh gosh, now I will go quietly before I dig myself into a deeper hole. 🙂
One of the things I love about writing at the Zone is the many ways my own writing sparks other folks’ thoughts. for instance, I am continually amazed at the totally different interpretations we get for our monthly WILF projects.
Oh, and regarding the ink blot –
Having spent over a year working in Aruba, I see two iguanas perched above Mt. Hooiberg (the one prominent mountain on the island), spreading two Aruban flags wide and spraying water hoses above to get that nice rainbow effect.
As for the butterfly… well, there IS a butterfly farm there.
(Don’t worry; I’ll go quietly.) 😀
Robert Hruzeks last blog post..Well-Lettered
I see a city-crest – a blue phoenix figure in the middle with two bears/wolverines climbing up the side with a butterfly pointing down under the phoenix and the space where the city lettering etc.. would be above the phoenix.
What that would mean, I have no idea, but I think I’d want to visit a city with this crest…
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I find the many interpretations of what this picture may be, very interesting. Is this really an inkblot? It sure looks like a watercolor of a human anatomy to me. The colors look pleasant, nothing bold. I’d even venture to say that this human is a perfectly healthy one!
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Amy!!! Welcome back! Guinea pigs, eh? LOL! Hmmm, will have to mull that one over! I love what you said about the permission slip – yes, yes, yes! Cheers to possibilities! 🙂
Roland, I can think of nothing but pink elephants, lol! Roland, I love what you said about not judging so hastily, wise words indeed!
Wendi, yes perfect scripture, thank you so much for bringing that out! Yes! The other part of this as you have so beautifully said is that we can color our own perceptions by what we feed our inner man. Me, you and E would truly make a good team in impacting the world with grace and kindness, hey luckily we don’t even need a title to do it. 🙂
Brad, I initially saw a pelvis too! Isn’t it amazing though how everyone saw something different. Blows me away!
Reading the different interpretations is stimulating to the imagination. I really like Amy’s vision! My first thought was the x-ray of a human pelvis, but that’s probably because my nephew just broke his pelvis. Then I saw a helmeted, robot warrior coming at me with each hand reaching for a sidearm. Do I need psychoanalysis? Karen, your little ink blot exercise proves the truth of your idea that creation is a two-way proposition between creator and beholder!
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It reminds me of the tiny but important part of 1 Corinthians 13 “For now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror, then we shall see face to face.”
It always reminds me that everything we see and do is clouded by our own interpretations and perceptions and that there really is very little that we can call an absolute truth.
This is why kindness and grace should rule the world. In the Karen as Queen/President and Wendi and Ellen as co-VP’s world I am sure it would. 🙂
Wendi Kelly- Life’s Little Inspirationss last blog post..Anniversary Stew
Actually first I saw a colourful blob, then two bulls, then two elephants dancing with two tigers.
Now I see a weird bedhead with colourful pillows – probably ’cause I am sleepy.
The leguans I never saw until you wrote about them – please, for the next 2 minutes do NOT think about the pink elephants. Thank you.
“We bring our perceptions to everything we read, see, hear and touch.”
I wish people would remember it, and not only when they think of something, but when they see others react to something.
There would be a lot less problems if we remembered that the other will see it differently.
Maybe we would jump to conclusions less hastily.
I see a pair of guinea pigs ascending a volcano – don’t quite know what that says about me!
I love this concept of the creator as the vessel or the receptor. It is extremely liberating as it is essentially a permission slip to create, whether that’s a story, a painting, a photograph, a sculpture or whatever. The sense of possibility is palpable, isn’t it?
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