When I binge a fantasy book or a computer game for a couple of days, the fantasy feels more real than reality. I’ll go for a walk and feel constantly out-of-odds when magic fails to happen. The real world feels like a game I’m playing in, people I’m interacting with feel like NPCs, but the game feels like the real world.
I am surprised by this! Could you say more?
My own experience is nothing like yours. After immersing myself in a fictional world it will remain on my mind for quite a while, as I daydream various scenarios, obsess over what will happen next and so on. But I won’t expect magic to occur. Except, of course, when I was a young child and, y’know, actually believed in magic. Or when I awake from a dream and am befuddled to it wasn’t real.
TBC I’m not just interested in your experience because it’s very different to my own. I’m also interested because it sounds like you can reset deep-seated beliefs just by reading a book. Is that as exploitable as it sounds? Both by you and by others who are out to get you?
Rationally I know magic won’t occur, but my unconscious mind is deeply immersed in the fictional world, and feels like magic should occur. Obviously I would be surprised if it did actually occur, and I don’t think you could exploit this easily, but my brain is in a weird state where the world feels… off… by not being the same as the fictional world I was immersed in.
I am surprised by this! Could you say more?
My own experience is nothing like yours. After immersing myself in a fictional world it will remain on my mind for quite a while, as I daydream various scenarios, obsess over what will happen next and so on. But I won’t expect magic to occur. Except, of course, when I was a young child and, y’know, actually believed in magic. Or when I awake from a dream and am befuddled to it wasn’t real.
TBC I’m not just interested in your experience because it’s very different to my own. I’m also interested because it sounds like you can reset deep-seated beliefs just by reading a book. Is that as exploitable as it sounds? Both by you and by others who are out to get you?
Rationally I know magic won’t occur, but my unconscious mind is deeply immersed in the fictional world, and feels like magic should occur. Obviously I would be surprised if it did actually occur, and I don’t think you could exploit this easily, but my brain is in a weird state where the world feels… off… by not being the same as the fictional world I was immersed in.