Illusion

Day 364: A mirage is a visual illusion, but an illusion is not necessarily a mirage. As I rounded the bend at the top of the Golden Gate Trail and began my descent into the valley where the trail joins with that to Paradise Glacier, my eyes told me there was water in the basin. My head disagreed. "There is NOT a lake there," it insisted. "You know that." But I was seeing a lake, spanned by a short section of raised trail, the surrounding hills clearly reflected in the water. "No, that's NOT what you're seeing," my mind persisted. With some major effort, I pushed the visual register aside and forced myself to perceive it as the gravelly slopes of reality, but the illusion returned in full force if I blinked or looked away for a second. Dark shadow turned to water, light rocks to reflection. Eventually, my feet settled the debate once and for all, kicking up dust as I climbed out of the dry basin. Who was it who said, "Don't believe anything you hear and only half of what you see?"