Desert mirage…wow!

On the way back from Abu Simbel we saw our first desert mirage, and it was a strong one.
For us it was simply unbelievable: at the right angle, an entire patch of desert on the horizon line, turned into a reflective surface with watery like appearances.
 

Because the desert had many rocky structures scattered all over the place, the mirage made them look like small islands coming out of water.
It was so convincing that at first, I wanted to ask the driver if we have the Nile river on the horizon; but the angle changed a bit and it was clear to us that it was just an illusion.

When the illusion’s intensity started fading away, I couldn’t stop thinking about other sorts of illusions we experience every day:
– commercials that try to make us buy brands, not necessarily good products;
– political campaigns that rely on carefully chosen words, with little substance;
– fashion, with it’s seasoned colors/clothes; trying to make us buy new stuff just because there’s a new trend out there (a trend that doesn’t exist in reality, but will soon exist after they choose & announce it);
– a path that the society imposes to us, with it’s guidelines, liberties and restrictions (do this and that, but you’re not allowed to do that… Soo transitory, place related and ..maybe.. useless);
– mass-media with it’s way of exaggerating and emphasizing on certain things, just to score more readers count;
– religion, when it is misunderstood or misused and we get: fanatics, hidden & selfish purposes, meaningless rules & restrictions; (maybe I’ll post more on religion, in a separate post – since recently I found out some new interesting things)

Anyway, I think we’re getting smarter and we’re not falling for the same old tricks.
Just watch out for the mirages, enjoy looking at them, learn from them, but don’t start chasing any illusion – like a desperately thirsty Bedouin, tricked into meeting his fate.