this is something that most of us lose as we get older: some in small pieces here and there; others in huge chunks in very short order. we lose these happy illusions that shelter us from the complexity of adult life, that help make it easier to see things as only black & white, as only 0 or 1.
when we’re children, life is very simple, after all: friends are friends, dogs = happiness, your behavior is based upon schoolyard rules or some adaptation thereof. it’s a nice way to live…for a time. then we learn that these are illusions, stripped away from us by the act of just living. it’s before the first betrayal by a friend, before you learn that your dog didn’t really go away to live on a farm/in the country, before someone cheap shots you that first time.
these are all illusions that help protect us from the complexity of reality.
samuel taylor coleridge wrote in the rime of the ancient mariner:
a sadder and a wiser man
he arose the morrow morn.
the jaded among us will point to this as a good thing, to see the world with fewer illusions. unencumbered by sentiment, we can get a more accurate view of what transpires all around us, they might say. sounds great, doesn’t it? but there’s the other side of this coin and it isn’t exactly pleasant.
there’s an interesting expression in some circles: “option paralysis”. it refers to the situation of being unable to act due to having too many possible choices. if you aren’t familiar w/ the expression or phenomenon, imagine executing a google search w/out having a relevance percentage. you would have no idea what results are meaningful, would you? so how would you begin sorting through the one million+ search results? you wouldn’t.
these illusions serve to limit the options, helping us to avoid option paralysis. the more quickly you can eliminate certain choices, the more quickly you can evaluate them, after all. that is to say: these illusions serve a valuable purpose: to permit us to make decisions quickly.
so when i hear people talk about being able to see the world without illusions, i kinda sigh inwardly.
b/c i think they’re wrong.
i believe that certain illusions are useful and good things. consider:
you get into a taxi. now, you don’t know the cabbie: indeed, if you’ve ever laid eyes on him or her before, that would be shockingly unusual. but you’re giving a complete stranger money in exchange for subjecting you to his or her driving skills (or lack thereof). on one level, you know that’s precisely the nature of this transaction.
now, the practice of riding in a taxi seems utterly insane when viewed in that light. and sure, actual car accidents involving taxis are extremely rare, relative to other car accidents—when’s the last time you heard about a car accident involving a taxi? but the truth is that you either rationalize the risk by looking at the percentages i mentioned or you just don’t think about it. most of us don’t do that so the only possible conclusion: it’s basically a happy little self-delusion. or phrased differently: an illusion.
not, mind, that there’s anything wrong w/ that. indeed, my point in mentioning this example is merely to illustrate the fact that we all employ certain illusions in order to function in daily life. it’s ultimately impossible to function otherwise.
now, you might very reasonably object to the phrasing, saying: “these are really self-delusions, rather than illusions, silver: it’s different.” and to some extent, that’s a fair objection…as far as it goes.
but ultimately, how is a self-delusion not an illusion? it’s a belief in something that isn’t strictly speaking true, isn’t it?
so if illusions are necessary, is not innocence also necessary?
so does this make any sense or am i just unusually undercaffeinated this morning? is this just naïve and goofy, or is there some element of logic to this? comment and let me know.
ed
