The Endless March of New Realities

This variation of a Coffer Illusion is more than just a gimmick made entertaining by the quirks in our visual processes. It’s a metaphor. First, notice how it matters from what distance you initially view the image on whether or not you see the circles out right. Second, notice how once you’ve seen them, you can only for a moment force your brain to unsee them before they appear again in defiance.

The modern version of Eve and the Serpent tells the story of how—much like an optical illusion--a truth is unleashed upon the otherwise naïve. A better tale in this respect is the myth of Pandora’s Box. Each of these stories—both either still or once religious stories—feature the inability to return to the people, the minds, the world as they were prior to this new element. The universe is a different place. Even if one finds oneself attempting a return, the reality of failure always looms. Once delivered, the slightest confirmed doubt casts out stalwart beliefs forever.  

We may not enjoy discoveries and the subsequent changes to our world but truth is indifferent. Hence the platitudinous mantra of the hurt caused by truth. Truth doesn’t hurt. Change hurts. Yet only for a brief time, until the smoke has cleared and the new path laid bare. When we embrace new knowledge and relent to the consequences of the new reality, a world closer to the truth emerges and since the removal of superfluous obstacles, living is easier in this new world.
​
No one describes the world better than Cormac McCarthy. This topic is no exception. 

For some unfortunate reason the maker of this video edited out an astounding moment when Ruben Blades' character, Jefe, quotes the poet Antonio Machado and tells the too tragic to be real story behind the poem... but this is still high grade McCarthy.