Some are telling us that black is the new white.
Anton–Babinski Syndrome is a rare form of Anosognosia. It can evidence itself when damage occurs in the occipital lobe of the brain from a stroke or blunt force trauma to the back of the head, causing blindness. But then something unexplained happens.
According to one of the world’s leading neurologists, V.S. Ramachandran, it is not only the visual cortex that allows us to see. In fact, about 30 distinct areas of the brain are involved. These regions contribute to our seeing color and shade, movement, form, texture, distance and depth. Linked to these are stored “files” indicating what these objects mean to us. One malfunction, called Prosopagnosia, or Face Blindness, allows a person to recognize every other object but human faces. Sufferers not only cannot recognize the faces of loved ones, but even their own image. It seems face recognition is so important to our consciousness that there is a unique part of the brain dedicated to this one significant function.
It’s hard to believe, but those suffering from Anton–Babinski Syndrome not only convince themselves that they can still see, they give patently bizarre explanations to try and cover up their obvious missteps. According to neurologist Macdonald Critchley:
…not only [does] the patient ordinarily…not volunteer the information that he has become blind, but he furthermore misleads his entourage by behaving and talking as though he were sighted. Attention is aroused however when the patient is found to collide with pieces of furniture…and…describe people and objects around him which…are not there at all (“Modes of reaction to central blindness,” 1979, p. 156).
The New Atheists seem to be suffering from a spiritual form of this syndrome. They are blind not only to the revelation of God “clearly” displayed in creation (Rom 1:20) but to every other thing of value in the cosmos. As Richard Dawkins writes: “The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil and no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference” (River Out of Eden, p 133).
After healing the man born blind in John 9, the Lord had this to say: “For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind. Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, Are we blind also? Jesus said to them, If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, We see. Therefore your sin remains” (vv 39-41). The Pharisees suspected that the Lord’s miracle was in fact a parable and that He was making the point that they were also blind: “Are we blind also?”
Ah, said the Lord, blindness is not the problem. This man was blind and I fixed him. Your problem is deeper than that. You are blind, but you have convinced yourselves that you can see (note the “we know” statements). As long as you pretend, how can I help you? Their “sin remains” not for being blind, but for claiming their darkness to be light. No surprise that one of the New Atheists, Daniel Dennett, thinks a better name for atheists is “brights.” He writes, “We brights don’t believe in ghosts or elves or the Easter Bunny — or God.”
But the Lord Jesus has the last word: “If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Mt 6:23). Even “brights” could come seeing if they acknowledged their darkness and came in believing faith to the One who is the true Light (Jn 9:5).