The more you think about it, the more interesting she becomes.
After I could see her spinning both clockwise and counterclockwise, I realized this: she isn’t spinning one way or the other, she’s spinning both ways at the same time. So what changes? Your mind changes.
If you go with that, it’ll blow you away with the implications.
Think about it for a minute. Most of us couldn’t see her spinning but one way at first. The possibility that she might be spinning the other way or that you could switch the direction of her spin seemed like poppycock to some of you. And yet, many readers later were able to see the opposite spin and then switch back and forth.
What changed and allowed you to see her spin the other way? You kept an open mind.
You didn’t have to believe, but then you couldn’t be firmly convinced that it was impossible either. If you were, you wouldn’t even look.
So it wasn’t about belief. That’s an important lesson.
Another lesson is how often we look at things from one point of view, completely ignorant that there’s another or multiple ways of seeing the same event. “There is no subjective reality. Only objective” some people say. Really? When you can see her spin in a way that you didn’t first see, I believe that you may have opened the door to looking beyond surface appearances.
People see (or don’t see) different things depending on their dispositions. If you’re the type to say this is all nonsense, then you cut yourself off from a world of knowledge. When you use visual or tactile tools like the spinning lady, you can crack open that door of consciousness a little wider. But you have to be open to the possibility that such things are possible for it to happen.
One final point I want to make is that all of you that were able to see her spin in the way opposite to your initial impression did so by NOT looking directly at her.
Did you notice that?
When I was in the US Army, they taught us an interesting technique for seeing objects in the pitch black of night. They taught us to not look directly at something that we think we see, like a tank, but to look around it. You use a completely different part of your eye than you would if you stared straight at it. If you stare, you can’t usually see a tank with the lights out in total darkness. But looking around it allows to you form a picture of it in a different way than you are normally used to looking at things.
All of this can be directly related to qi and meditation.
How many times in the past have people demanded a 100% air-tight definition of qi? How many people call for definitive scientific proof before they will even consider the remote possibility that qi or higher conscious states might even exist?
The idea that the more directly you look at something, the less you might see never seems to cross the skeptics minds.
Working with qi and meditating demands this type of non-direct work. Many people simply can’t handle it. I’ll talk about why later. But for now, realize that the spinning lady may have much to teach you about how your mind works. 
7 responses so far ↓
1 jonathan liljeblad // Nov 12, 2007 at 12:17 pm
isn’t this “indirect observation” stuff similar to quantum physics concepts of Schrodinger’s Cat? you know, the one where they say that any attempt to directly observe quantum phenomenon invariably affects the phenomenon, thereby disrupting your observation of it…in which case, the only way to gather information is to do so indirectly.
2 Dave Chesser // Nov 12, 2007 at 12:44 pm
Jonathan,
Yes, I think that theoretical physics seems to tie into this stuff quite a bit. But you’ll notice that type of physics really hasn’t penetrated most people’s daily understanding of how things work.
I also find the correspondences interesting, but I don’t rely on them.
3 Casey // Nov 12, 2007 at 12:57 pm
Haha… you’re right. The way I was able to get her to change was by looking at her shadow instead of her. However, she always goes back to rotating clockwise for me when I’ve been away from it. I guess I’m more of an artist than I thought.
4 neijia // Nov 12, 2007 at 10:33 pm
Dave, totally agree with you, but some of my more stubborn friends still couldn’t see her going the other way from what they first saw. I got a bit obsessed with how the illusion works and broke down the animation. I put the first frame in the link above. The funny thing is that one of my friends still insisted she is going in a certain direction and there is not even simulated movement in the frame. I still immediately saw her going one way but could see her the other way with some deliberation. The mind is quite powerful in filling in a pattern and then people really get locked in to a particular point of view and can’t get out of it. I definitely agree that’s what happens with people getting too caught up in one definition of qi or the other, and then can’t “see” what’s happening. Of course there’s more to it. Looking forward to your post about it…
5 Blake // Nov 13, 2007 at 1:41 am
Excellent post Mr. Chesser!
Very interesting things with this animation. I have been showing my employees all week to see their perception of her. One person in particular could not see her spinning clockwise and was quite adamant that it was not possible for me to see her spinning both/either way!
I think this animation can open many interesting dialogues, that you covered; objective vs. subjective reality, “only my view is right” syndrome, etc.
Somewhat off topic: many times I use a similar example to illustrate why there are four gospels in the new testament. Each one provides a slightly different (subjective) perception to (objective) events that happened, thereby painting a more complete picture.
One interesting question: Is it possible to see reality objectively or is it always through our subjective “lens”? Or, put another way, “Is Shrodinger’s cat really dead or alive?”
-Blake
6 Bernard Chhun // Nov 13, 2007 at 7:28 am
hey Dave & co.
yup “indirect observation” is interesting indeed.
That is also how I improved my pushing hands techniques and my qi feeling in general.
When doing pushing hands, I just look through the opponent and try to feel him.
When meditating or during qi gong, I’m not focusing on the qi feeling at all. I just let it go.
your blog’s awesome by the way Dave
Bernard from Quebec City, Canada
7 SHIFTING CONFIGURATION INSTEAD OF MOVING « TaiJiQuestion // Sep 6, 2008 at 4:11 pm
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