Skip to main content

Authentic Illusions?


I really love a good play on words.  When I see it, I often wonder if it’s intentional or accidental.

When it comes to advertising or marketing, I think the chances of it being intentional dramatically increase.  The other day I saw an electronic billboard that was advertising an upcoming performance of “The Authentic Illusionist”.  So tantalizing!

If you break it down, a common definition of authentic is that which is fully trustworthy as according with fact.

An illusion, on the other hand, is something that deceives or misleads or causes a misinterpretation of something’s actual nature.

So an illusionist would be a person who deceives or misleads by causing our perceptions to misinterpret that which is actually occurring.  In the entertainment word, it’s all fun and games.

But when it comes to how people sometimes behave, take a look at what Isaiah communicated on God’s behalf:  They say to the seers, “See no more visions!” and to the prophets, “Give us no more visions of what is right!  Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions. (Isa 30:10).

A New Testament corollary is this:  “For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.  They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.”  (2 Tim 4:3-4)

Instead of truth and that which is right, we tend to want to be told illusions and myths that seem pleasant and simply suit our own desires. 

Oh, and just in case you didn’t quite catch the play on words (I think there are more than one!), it centers on authenticity.  Assuming the illusionist advertised is the one and only real illusionist (and all others are fake), how can an illusionist ever really be authentic when their function is to deceive?  In addition, pretty much every illusion they present to their audience is done to deliberately deceive or mislead and thus by definition cannot be fully trustworthy or according to fact!


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Worth, Worthy and the Opposite

After reading in the Psalms recently, I was struck by the concept of worth, well, actually worthlessness.   For example, in Psalm 101 we find this:   “I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless (v.3).”   And, in Psalm 119:   “Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways (v. 37).” In order to consider what is worthless, we should consider what has worth.  To that, the Bible speaks clearly:  “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” (Rev 5:12)   If worth is measured by power, wealth, wisdom, might, honor, glory and blessing, which are all pretty good measurements, then the One who has infinite worth is Jesus, the Lamb that was slain.  And if we want to consider what it worthless, it is probably the opposite of all those things.  But perhaps it would still be good to define some words: Worth :   the value of something measured by its qualities or by the esteem
Post a Comment
Read more

New Year Trash or Treasure?

You probably know the old saying:  “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”.  I am not going to try to prove or disprove it, just look at it from a different angle. Cheryl and I were recently walking on a beach in Florida .  A man was walking along with a bag and was picking up trash and putting it in the bag.  Was he picking up things of value? We also saw a different man walking along the same beach with a metal detector.  He would swing it back and forth and would occasionally stop and dig in the sand.  Was he looking for things of value? Both were intent.  Both were focused.  Both were diligent. I’m guessing that the one picking up trash was not looking for things of value.  I’m also guessing that, by picking up trash, he was valuing the beauty of the beach and didn’t want the trash to mar it.  The one with the metal detector, I’m guessing that he was not looking for metallic items of trash but was looking for metallic items of value that were lost or inadve
1 comment
Read more

Don't Get Tripped Up

I do enjoy traveling and I keep an eye out for good prices. I also enjoy looking at trends in travel. For a while, the travel industry focused their advertising on taking those trips that might be on your bucket list.   That faded a bit and I started seeing ads about taking the trip of a lifetime. I guess both those campaigns have been waning since I’ve been seeing information about taking an “epic” trip.   Recently I noticed the phrase “unforgettable trip” in advertising.   More recently, I’ve been seeing promotions about taking “sustainable” trips and even “reconnecting to our roots” trips. As I’ve been pondering these advertising campaigns, I thought I’d consider what their ideas encompass and then look at them from a spiritual perspective: 1.   “ Bucket list trips ” are based on a list of the experiences a person might hope to have before they “kick the bucket” (i.e. die).   While I can certainly come up with a bucket list of trips, I’m thinking a bucket list of spiritual e
Post a Comment
Read more