The practice of suspending belief while seeing: Lessons from art and ecology

Evolutionarily, we are visual hunters, believing what we see, but habit often causes us see what we believe. My springs ecosystem research continually forces exploration of blurry connections between underworld aquifers and the surface world. By occasionally relaxing our relentless scientific pursuit of measurable pattern, we can suspend bias and belief when viewing the natural world. This practice clarifies vision, circumventing biased perception, and opens windows into new dimensions of inspiration, insight, and creativity. Here I present environmental abstract imagery from various ecosystems for the audience to practice suspending belief while seeing and deciding about the nature of reality.