Remembering Max Wertheimer and visual
      perception

      
By Bob Phillips, Jr.
    Columnist

      
Do you know who Max Wertheimer was? If
      you do, then count yourself lucky. If you've never heard of him,
      don't worry.  I'm going to tell you about him. 

      


      Wertheimer was one of the psychologists who founded the practice
      of Gestalt therapy. This school of counseling centers on people,
       their perceptions of the world and how people think about themselves
      and their surroundings. 

      


      Werthiemer did a lot of work on visual perception. Indirectly,
      it's because of him that we have motion pictures and cartoons.
      

      


      But Wertheimer was interested in how people see things. He wanted
      to know about background and foreground optical illusions, about
      ambiguous pictures, and about the phi phenomenon, which is seeing
      motion where there is none to see. Wertheimer studied the way
      people see things. 

      


      And what is life besides seeing things? I am speaking in a metaphoric
      sense, of course. What is life without comprehending the world
      in which you live, what is the point of being alive if you don't
      think about how your actions impact your surroundings in the
      same way your surroundings impact you? 

      


      According to the Gestalt therapists, cognition is the biggest
      hurdle to happiness. These were the fellows who said a person
      is greater than the sum of the individual parts. 

      


      What you think about affects how you feel, and how you feel affects
      the way you act, and the way you act affects everyone around
      you. Of course, most of the time you are thinking about how someone
      else affected your life, either through teaching, romance, or
      an argument. So it's a complex circle, a chain of actions from
      one person to the next. 

      


      Do you see what I'm trying to tell you yet? The basics are terribly
      simple. I don't believe people are looking at their own actions
      in the correct manner. 

      


      It seems to me that more people expect to operate within a bubble,
      that your actions don't affect my feelings. But this isn't true.
      We are all intertwined on this planet, every one action has a
      corresponding reaction, which causes another series of reactions,
      and so on. 

      


      Of course, in order to act responsibly, every person needs to
      understand himself or herself. Not many people bother with this
      anymore. Most people stop looking into themselves as soon as
      their friends judge an action. 

      


      If the action was good, then everyone is happy, and there is
      no reason to dig into the self. If the action is disapproved
      of, then try not to repeat the action, and try to make everyone
      happy as soon as possible. I think most people are scared to
      look into themselves for fear of what may or may not be there.
      

      


      Look at the world. Watch how your actions affect those around
      you, even in very small ways, and see who you really are. 

      


      Understanding yourself is the basis of happiness. And think about
      old Max the next time you're at a movie.
 

      
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