I sometimes read with a particular focus or goal and don"t remember the things outside of my focus/goal even though I've read them. What is this phenomena called?
For example, you can read a religious text focusing on one subject and not notice the symbolism, then switch focus to symbolism and the symbols come to light. Switch your focus to numerology then you begin to notice the numbers in the story. That is three different things literal, symbolic, numerologic, and this phenomena is not limited to those things but also topic switching changes what you see in a story.