Dreams of Origami by Elenor Gill Read Free Book Online

starving.’
    ‘I guessed right then.’ He smiles and looks at her for a moment. ‘Matthew Caxton? Yes, I sort of know him slightly, her as well. Just as neighbours, you know, and he recently joined the cricket team. I’ve met him down the pub a few times—he sometimes calls in for a swift half. He doesn’t stop long, usually keen to get off home. More coffee?’
    ‘No, thanks, I’m a bit full of tea. What did he talk about?’
    ‘Oh, the usual stuff. Houses, furniture. In fact only a few days ago he was asking me if I’d take a look at his roof. He reckoned there’s something wrong with the set-up of the weather vane.’
    ‘What, that thing on their chimney that looks like a pigeon?’
    ‘It’s supposed to be a cockerel. It ought to swing with the direction of the wind, but it seems to have a mind of its own. And the old school bell, it’s in a sort of tower over what’s now his workshop. Apparently it’s rung a few times of its own accord. He was concerned about it disturbing the neighbours.’
    ‘That’s odd, isn’t it?’
    ‘Nah, must be out of balance. He was worried that the roof beams may have shifted, it being such an old place. I said I’d check it out for him.’
    Lacey takes another bite of her sandwich, talking with her mouth full. ‘So you don’t think there’s anything wrong with them, as a couple I mean?’
    ‘Who can tell? They’re quiet, but friendly enough. I can’t imagine him running out on her.’
    ‘No, neither can I. In fact, I don’t believe that’s what’s happened at all.’

Five
    Everything you have ever experienced happened inside your head.
    Think about it. (Yes, that happens inside your head, too.)
    You believe you are seeing the page you are now reading. It is an illusion. What you are actually experiencing is an electrochemical reaction occurring inside your brain.
    Consciousness resides inside the body (although it is not confined there; we will come to that later), while your sensory organs collect signals—light, sound, smell, touch and taste—from the external world and from the body itself. These signals are converted into electrical impulses which are fed, via the nervous system, into the brain where they are unscrambled and processed into comprehensible data. Our minds and bodies train us, from the moment of birth, to respond to these mental impressions as if they were the real thing. They are not.
    The page in front of you, the words you are now reading, are an interpretation of the light signals received by your eyes. What you are experiencing is an illusion.
    This is not an easy concept to grasp, so give yourself a few minutes to think about it.
    The only experience you ever have of the world around you happens inside your head. The same goes for everyone else. How, therefore, do we know that what we think we see, hear, touch, smell and taste bears any relationship to what is actually going on out there? And how do we know that we are experiencing the same thing as everyone else?
    Think about it.
    Extract from The Cosmos of Illusions by Gideon Wakefield
    P ATCHES OF SUNLIGHT have stretched across the floor, enriching the room with deep contrasts. Gideon realizes he has been working most of the afternoon. A new addition to a long line of publications on metaphysical philosophy and the supernatural, this one will bear the title The Cosmos of Illusions. It is a concept that intrigues him, concerned as it is with the convergence of modern science and Eastern religious philosophy. However, that is enough for today. It is summertime and the sun will be lingering low over the horizon until late into the evening. He is invited to dinner with friends at a charming house by the river, and there will be the company of a particular delightful woman, whom he suspects has also been invited with his presence in mind.
    But that is several hours away, and he discovers that he is hungry and that his back is stiff from hunching over the keyboard. Perhaps a stroll in the