Consciousness And Your Brain

Perception Or Deception?

Imagine you’re standing in a crowded city street. Cars rush by, people chatter beside you, neon signs 􀂆icker overhead. You’re alert and observant—or so you think. Now, picture someone in a gorilla costume strolling through this scene, pausing to wave right at you. Would you notice? Or would your brain simply erase that incongruous 􀂅gure from reality, intent on the more “important” details of tra􀂃c and faces? If you’re familiar with the famous invisible gorilla experiment, you know how easy it is for the extraordinary to hide in plain sight, camouflaged not by darkness but by our own expectations. What if everything you see, hear, and believe about the world isn’t the real story but a tale your brain invents—a 􀂆exible, sometimes unreliable, internal narrative stitched together from fragments and shaped by emotions, culture, memories, and quick assumptions? It’s a bit unsettling, I know. Most of us trust our senses almost blindly, staking our choices, relationships, and even our happiness on what we perceive as truth. But what if your sight, sound, and inner voice are only rough drafts, full of edits and omissions you never consciously chose?