As Bono highlighted in this chapter, the mind’s ability to create and recognize patterns is valuable to us as a survival tool. When I read about how patterns become increasingly established and rigid, shaping our attention and causing anything resembling a standard pattern to be perceived as such, it reminded me of a paragraph I had encountered before. This particular paragraph consisted of words where the first and last letters were in place, but the letters in between were scrambled and rearranged. For instance, “I cnduo’t bvleiee taht I culod aulaclty uesdtannrd waht I was rdnaieg…” According to research from Cambridge University, the ability to still read and comprehend this sentence demonstrated the incredible power of the human mind. It revealed that the order of letters within a word doesn’t matter as much as the placement of the first and last letters. The rest can be a total mess, yet we can still read it without difficulty. This example really exemplifies the efficiency of our pattern creation and recognition system.
Another thought that crossed my mind was the act of reading in general. I recall reading somewhere that once you acquire the ability to read in any language, your brain automatically reads words when you encounter them. It’s an involuntary process, and it remains a constant presence, unable to be eliminated. I believe this goes to show how pattern creation is an unconscious ability of the mind.