Friday 18 June 2010

The Sense of Being Stared At

I recently read the book The Sense of Being Stared At, by biologist Rupert Sheldrake:

"In his latest book, biologist Rupert Sheldrake explores the intricacies of the mind and discovers that our perceptive abilities are stronger than many of us could have imagined. Most of us know it well - the almost physical sensation that we are the object of someone’s attention."

A couple of nights ago driving home from work, I stopped at traffic lights on a roundabout. I noticed that just over one a carriageways width away from me was a kestrel hovering looking for food on the island, at roughly my head hight. I watched it with interest, when whilst staying precisely in its aerial position it turned its head, looked directly, with a great intensity, at myself, then realized I was no threat, and returned to viewing the ground intently. The kestrel did not look at any of the other cars/drivers, just me. Was I the only person staring at the kestrel?

Certainly the kestrel appeared to support the idea of a Sense of Being Stared At.

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