Concept in Definition ABC

The concept that concerns us has several references in our language.

Image that arises in our senses but is not real

To the image that is suggested by our senses and that lacks reality is called an illusion, the famous optical illusion.

An optical illusion is any illusion that results from our sense of sight and that leads us to perceive a reality in different ways.
They can be physiological and be linked to excessive stimulation in the eyes or in the brain.

The mirage is one of the most popular optical illusions and one that almost all of us have experienced at some time in our lives.
It consists in that the objects that are located in the distance appear reflected as in a smooth and liquid surface that in reality is not like that. As we get closer to that illusion of Water disappears. This is very common to appreciate when we go on the road.

The concept of illusion comes from Latin, a language in which the verb illudere meant 'to mock'. Thus, the concept evolved into the idea that illusion is a mocking or altered form of what is truly observed or perceived. Illusions can be for example in relation to the senses: optical illusions, auditory illusions, taste illusions, olfactory or even tactile illusions. All of them assume that the person receives a type of sensory information but processes it mentally in a different way than it really is for a first time.

impulse or sensation, for example when a bird is heard and the illusion is generated that this noise was produced by a human being.

The difference with hallucination

Although many times they are linked, associated or confused, we must clarify that illusion and hallucination are not the same in any way, since in illusion the stimulus that triggers it is perceived in effect, that is, it is real, interpretation that is made from it is distorted or inconsistent.

The illusion consists of a distortion that is generated in our perception and that many times it can be accompanied by an intense emotional state of the person who suffers it but that does not necessarily imply a pathology.

Meanwhile, as far as hallucination corresponds, the stimulus does not exist per se but can be the product of a delusion of the person who experiences it, either as a result of taking a medication, drug or suffering from a disorder psychiatric.

Many drugs, especially hallucinogens, such as marijuana or LSD, tend to trigger hallucinations in those who consume them, that is, they believe that seeing things that do not exist in reality, images, hear voices, among others.

Hope that someone feels but without real sustenance

Another of the most common uses allows to refer to that hope that one has but that in the reality lacks all kinds of sustenance, that is, what is expected is practically impossible for happen.
It is a feeling that a person can have that something is not as it really is. In this sense, the term is related to the perception that the senses have of the different elements that run through reality. However, the idea of ​​illusion is not merely a physical matter of the senses but also has to do with the mental space in which the reality can be seen distorted from psychological structures also altered such as visions or creations of realities alternated.

Wish of someone

Illusions can also be, leaving the space of altered reality, hopes or desires that a person may have about something, in which case the term takes on a more positive meaning and not so much confusion.
In this sense, hope and a happy predisposition prevail that makes the person hope happily and hopefully for something to finally happen.
These are generally things that have been wanted or have been waiting for a long time.

The illusion, thus, is for example to wish for something to happen, for something to change, etc. In this sense, the illusion is something that has not happened yet but the person, either due to superstition or prior knowledge, may consider it possible to be realized, for example when it is said that someone has the illusion that his team will be champion.

Themes in Illusion