Which is More Real, the Illusion or the Mechanism, the Imagined Concept or the Details?
Our minds and our brains involve that same duality
“Real” is a slippery word. Its meaning eludes our grasp. That’s ironic, because it’s supposed to be in contrast with “imaginary” or “illusory”, yet those are just two sides of the same metaphorical coin.
Most of us love a good magic trick. We enjoy being fooled by an illusion when we know that is what’s going on. Yet if we are deceived without our prior awareness, we feel cheated.
Works of fiction activate our imaginations, often with minimal sensory input. Words or simple drawings are often enough. The evocative power of a short poem or a simple cartoon sketch can be surprising. Plays and movies involve more of our senses, but they still require us to use our imaginations.
Our dreams are our ultimate fictions, requiring almost no sensory input at all. And they can have powerful emotional and even practical impact on us and our behavior.
Yet we have all had the experience of meeting people or arriving at places that we have only known about by description or by partial experience such as hearing them on the radio. We may say they are “not how I pictured” them.
