Seeing faces in the carpet

[Cybernetic_Jazz]

This might be seen as a little kitsch but what the heck - I think it's a good question even if it's a small one!

What do you guys think is happening when a person is kinda zoning out, looking at the floor, and a particularly distinct face jumps out in the pattern? I say distinct because it's not them seeing something that they could kinda-sorta fudge into a stick-figure smiley face but something pretty distinct and high resolution.

On one hand I could see it being looked at as just recognition of rare pattern, at the same time I could think of it as something of accidental scrying.

[Desecrated]

That kinda look like a face = Perfectly Normal.
That is a face = Seek professional help.

[Cybernetic_Jazz]

That kinda look like a face = Perfectly Normal.
That is a face = Seek professional help.

That might be a little extreme - I'd say worry if the second happens super often, if it's once a year or so that's probably also pretty normal, particularly under slightly unusual conditions.

[EternalReturn]

It is perfectly normal if you ask me. I don't see faces (not often though I may have seen one or two in a manner you described) but silhouettes, symbols, and random stuff. Sometimes is just my mind playing tricks on me but sometimes I benefit from it. But what happens I don't know. Maybe the mind tries to process the visual information but it fucks up a bit and replaces it with something from your subconscious. That would be the best explanation I can think of.

[Coffee_and_Burberry]

...
I don't think its strange at all. As far as accidental scrying, I can't say for sure but I'd lean towards highly unlikely. Unless you're getting any activity afterwards. I used to see faces in the wood grain of the den door in an old house I lived in. And they were "demonic" looking, some looked like tortured men. Each night they would be different. But no contact was made to me. So of course I would dismiss it as my eyes just picking up patterns and making them into something. In the same way people see bunnies in clouds.

[RoseRed]

I read an article about this recently. Its a naturally occurring phenomenon to 'see patterns or faces' in things. It went on to talk about the face on Mars pictures and how it no longer looked like a face in higher resolution and a different shadow pattern

[EternalReturn]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareidolia

You mean this RoseRed?

[RoseRed]

Yes, thank you.

Except that the pattern is there and can be clearly seen. It's all about perspective and shadow.