Can smoking be an illusion, something that tricks the senses or mind by {appearing|seeming} to exist when in actual fact it does not – or appearing to be one thing when it is, in fact another. Do you believe that your smoking is just a mass of illusions? Illusions are a figment of your imagination and, unfortunately, your mind cannot distinguish between imagination and reality. Have you ever had the experience of sitting on a train at the platform when another train right next to you begins to move? You feel you are actually moving. You get the sensation even though you know your train is standing still.
Illusions dog us all the time. Imagine setting a task for two people. You tell the first that a valuable diamond ring has been lost in your garden and you say; ‘I’ll bet you can’t find it before nightfall,’ You tell the second one about the diamond ring and threaten him: ‘If you don’t find it before nightfall I’ll chop off your right hand.’ Because it’s a mental problem the second person would be in a panic state and would be less likely to find the ring. It’s this kind of situation that confuses smokers and, incidentally, non – smokers. They think that because smoking is slowly killing them they should {stop|quit|give up}. All it does is give smokers a stronger desire to escape the trap. However, what holds them in the trap is the illusion that they enjoy smoking or need to smoke, or that they find it impossible to stop. The good news is that we are about to expose and dispel these illusions so that you can take another step forward.
A little experiment to illustrate the point. Look at a spiral. It’s a great test of tricking the mind. As you look at it, it becomes almost 3D, like a {tunnel|funnel}. Or perhaps it begins moving. Have you been tricked because you know the {image|spiral} is completely flat.
This type of experience can be honed into a fine art. Think of all those professional magicians who amaze and entertain us with illusions. There was a television programme {called|named} Breaking the Magician’s Code: Magician’s Biggest Secrets Revealed. This really angered many magicians. A chap called the Masked Magician would show you how an illusion works. When you knew the secret it didn’t have the same hold over you. It had lost all it’s power – no wonder the man’s fellow magicians got upset!
Smoking is just like the magicians trick. You think smoking does a whole lot of things for you but it performs nothing more than a deception. You just think it does you all these favours and that’s why I say it’s an illusion.
I want to look at these smoking illusions, seven in all.