Sometimes the error becomes more palpable, as, for example, when we
visit another country. A foreign language, when heard, provokingly
suggests all kinds of absurd meanings through analogies to our familiar
tongue. Thus, the Englishman who visits Germany cannot, for a time, hear
a lady use the expression, "Mein Mann," without having the amusing
suggestion that the speaker is wishing to call special attention to the
fact of her husband's masculinity. And doubtless the German who visits
us derives a similar kind of amusement from such involuntary
comparisons.
A fertile source of illusory insight is, of course, conscious deception
on the part of others. The rules of polite society require us to be
hypocrites in a small way, and we have occasionally to affect the signs
of amiability, interest, and amusement, when our actual sentiment is one
of indifference, weariness, or even positive antipathy. And in this way
a good deal of petty illusion arises. Although we may be well aware of
the general untrustworthiness of this society behaviour, such is the
force of association and habit, that the bland tone and flattering word
irresistibly excite a momentary feeling of gratification, an effect
which is made all the more easy by the co-operation of the recipient's
own wishes, touched on in the last chapter.
Among all varieties of this deception, that of the stage is the most
complete. The actor is a man who has elaborately trained himself in the
simulation of certain feelings. And when his acting is of the best
quality, and the proper bodily attitude, gesture, tone of voice, and so
on, are hit off, the force of the illusion completely masters us. For
the moment we lose sight of the theatrical surroundings, and see the
actor as really carried away by the passion which he so closely
imitates. Histrionic illusion is as complete as any artistic variety can
venture to be.[108]
I have said that our insights are limited by our own mental experience,
and so by introspection. In truth, every interpretation of another's
look and word is determined ultimately, not by what we have previously
observed in others, but by what we have personally felt, or at least
have in a sense made our own by intense sympathy. Hence we may, in
general, regard an illusion of insight on the active side as a hasty
projection of our own feelings, thoughts, etc., into other minds.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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