About Mirage.
I am sure you have seen Mirage at least once, and it is likely many times. Unless you live in Alaska or Antarctica, mirage is pretty common in hot climate, due to our highway systems. We do not have to be in a desert, as the hot carpeted roads, creates mirages all the time. And as I drove, on one such road, I just saw a mirage the other day, and it made me wonder, what is the difference between mirage and water. It is a fascinating thought journey, to revisit.
Mirage is considered as something false. As it deceives our eyes with water. It appears the road is flooded with water. However, there is no water. Hence, we label mirage as an illusion. We even use this to represent when we refer something unachievable, "You are chasing a mirage!" Let's look at this phenomenon carefully to understand how we fool ourselves with a simple truth.
You would agree Mirage is an optical illusion, created by heated air, able to reflect the light. It is a real phenomenon which is happening in front of our eyes. I am sure the science behind it is easy enough to understand. However, the nature, did not do it, to fool us about water. It is only our own eyes, having seen water reflecting the sky for so long, that the brain fools us it is water that we see. So, the Mirage is as real as the road. How real you may ask. I would say, it is as real as water. To understand we just need to know how we see water.
About water.
Imagine an Oasis, not the cruise ship, but a real one with a big pond surrounded by richly grown palm trees and greenery. And if you approach this Oasis, you will see the reflection of the sky. You would see this is how exactly you would see if there was a mirror, as the surface of the water just act as a reflecting surface. However, we do not call this a false message, as we find water where we expect, there is. If we think about the logic behind the thinking behind the mirage, the water should be as false as the mirage, as both do not contain the sky. Both of them just reflect the same sky, even if we keep them side by side from a distance, we wouldn't be able to tell the difference. So, the argument that the mirage is as real as the water holds true. It seems our mind which search for water is at fault searching water in a place that there is mirage. Imagine you keep a large mirror, in a distance in the desert, and it will also reflect the sky, and appear as a mirage, or water. Still, we would not call this unreal, as we find at least something, in this case not water but a mirror.
In all three case scenarios the mechanism behind the reflection was the same, however in the case of mirage we could not find the reflecting surface when we reach there. It was there, which was the hot air, although we could not see this. Hence someone needs the mind's eye and some background scientific knowledge to see what happens. No wonder our ancestors who knew nothing about reflection, were fooled by mirage.
What is false in water.
This is a question I have previously answered, in the article simple truths. As I pointed out water is just a name for a form, which appear and disappear for a blink of an eye. Here I would like to point out false in water relative to a mirage. As we know there is no mirror on a surface of water, yet it reflects light. So, if we go by the logic of mirage, water reflecting light should be a false phenomenon, as we do not find the mirror.
At this point you should question me, saying, hold on. Why are you looking for a mirror in water, obviously you won't find any. And at this rate you will start to look for elephants in a pen. Answer to the first question is, I didn't look for a mirror in water, it's just logic lead me here. The logic which my mind used looking for water in a mirage. And secondly, I have already seen an elephant in a pen. If you would like to red that story, it is here.
What is false in a Scarecrow? Philosophy of self
I didn't give an explanation when I wrote the Scarecrow story. As it seems, the thought process of the wise man in the story is similar to the thought process of above. So, we can apply the mirage philosophy and explain the story. If someone looks for a man in a scarecrow, his thought process is wrong. Because he is looking for something which is not there. Just like someone looking for a mirror in the water. Similarly, if someone is looking for water in a place there is only hydrogen and oxygen molecules, he is also at fault, as there is no water. And fortunately, or unfortunately we can apply same logic to ourselves.
If someone or something (our consciousness in this case) is looking for a self, where there is just an illusion of it, our minds are at fault. And that is a good philosophy of self.
What have you been looking for lately? Happiness? 😉
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