Gestalt Principles
At the rescue
Intro
So, we are here to help our friend Little who got stuck in a frame. You are welcome to come along, may learn a thing or two in the journey. So, let’s jump right into it, don’t worry I have help from Gestalt principles, they are going to come in handy. If you are not familiar with them here is your guide —
Gestalt Principles
They are based on our perception of the world, all is a game of mind. Ok answer this; How do you know that certain things belong together or are related to one another, even though they are individual entities? let me give you some examples for better understanding;
- You see a dog and you know that it is a labrador, you put tiger, lion, and your small kitty all in one group as ‘cats’, you are able to pull weeds out of your garden(due to the similarity among them).
- You make funny figures with the fragments of clouds in the daytime, and creepy ones out of twigs and trees in the dark( due to good form and closure).
- when the dinner is served to multiple people on a table and you know which plate is for you(due to proximity of it).
- You can make out ants following a trail(due to continuity).
- You perceive the sky as background and stars as your main collection of figures(figure/ground relation).
- You are able to distinguish between different flocks of birds going in various directions. (due to common fate within a group).
- In the dark sky among countless stars, you spot a moon due to the great contrast of size and form. (odd one out or something out of place creates focus).
- You perceive some groups of buildings, as one society(due to common region).
So, these are some principles that explain how we place individual things in groups and perceive them as one entity/get an understanding that they are related.
Now, as you all are well equipped, let’s go and find our friend.
The city of frames
I stand in front of an enormously big gate made of black marble, with words engraved on it “The City of Frames”.
Walking on the cobblestones there was a strange feeling, building inside me. ‘There is something wrong with this place’ I said to myself, there are no people in the city, not even a single sound, just dead silence like the whole place has been abandoned.
After quite a distance I noticed one more peculiar thing everything here has frames on it, all the walls, trees, and even the paved path I was walking on were full of paintings and stuff mostly figures like circles, squares, lines, etc. There was a continuity in the placement of the frames and I followed.
Something got my focus a tree to which five frames were hanging the biggest one of them was empty. Experiencing a hypnotic connection, I started stepping toward it. Gradually I reached near it, maybe a five steps distance, failing to stop I felt terrified. It was then something held my hand, goosebumps ran through my whole body, the strange touch broke the hypnotism and I saw a boy around 12, holding my hand.
The boy was Tim, he told me how a frame sucked his parents in, it was then I realized that all the figures I saw till now had a similarity they had a closure of humans. They were all living people. Coming to my senses I asked the boy to take me to his parents.
I could make out two humans a male and a female. the male figure was pointing towards a path. Tim lost his composure and got emotional to see his parents, I consoled him and we started our journey to the path his father was pointing in. In the path, there were more figures, showing us the way.
Finally, we reached a dead-end in front of us was a wall on which we saw a composition with a house in it, got a creepy vibe from the red window of the house. As I got in the proximity, I lost my senses everything seems to revolve swiftly, everything blur. I lost consciousness.
When I woke, was inside a house, it was red due to the fireplace in one of its wall, a shock ran through my spine, trembling with fear I started figuring a way out, there was no door only a window through which I could see Tim standing, he was huge, with a wicked smile on his face, then he ran away. I cried for help but he got smaller and smaller and lost to the horizon.
Shouting and beating the walls for a long time I was exhausted, dropped my body on the floor, started to lose hope. After sitting there for hours, I heard someone calling out my name, reaching out to the small window I saw my friend little, standing out, with him was the boy, hands tied behind the back. I could still see a grin on his face. Little shouted “are you in there”
‘Yes! Yes… Help Me!’ I replied. “What are you doing here?” he asked, ‘came to rescue you’ I replied. He told me that he cannot help me I have to do it on my own. He also told me that there will be a frame in the room through which the evil is keeping an eye on me. I have to find it and destroy it to break the hex. But the problem was, there were frames all around me on the walls, on the ceiling, and on the floor. He again shouted, “don’t go in its proximity”.
I ran my eyes all over them again and again confused then I asked Little “how to find the right one?” He told me that all other frames will have a closure of people caught in the hex, they will all be kinda similar, all had a common fate. If I could see the similarity in all, the odd one out will automatically emerge as the focus. I saw again and this time my eye stuck at the one, on the ceiling, looked like an eye, deep red in color ‘this has to be it’ I said to myself.
But how to destroy it without going near it? I took a smaller frame on the front wall and with my full force thrown it to the ceiling but it just went inside the eye. Shocked, I took more of them the smaller and bigger all I could reach, thrown them relentlessly till my arms started to ache, I gave up. I heard a hoarse whisper, the voice came from the eye “ you will never leave this place”.
I suddenly noticed warmth in my body, ‘the fire’ I said to myself. Running to the fireplace I took a burning piece of wood and gave my all in the throw. It too went inside and I heard sinister screams, coming out of the frame, the fire spread out, all over the room, my vision blurred and I lost consciousness.
When I came back there was no city, people were all around me. I recognized Tim standing with a couple, looks like his parents. Little was sitting near my head.
Little told me, that Tim was possessed and all of these people were trapped into frames like me. I asked him how he got free in the first place?
He smiled and said “it’s a long story, maybe, another time”
So, I hope you enjoyed the story
Thank you friends till next time…
