The Secret of Secrets (Robert Langdon, #6)

by Dan Brown

“It’s no surprise we see occasional points of congruence,” Langdon told them. “We all want to believe in magic or something beyond this world, so our minds often trick us into seeing things that are not really there.”

Social media, Dana thought. The biggest intelligence boon since the Catholic Church invented confession.

The faithful considered these experiences to be actual encounters with other realms, but Langdon quietly believed they were something else—vividly persuasive visions brought on by a profound spiritual longing. There is a reason, Langdon often reminded his students, that mirages of oases are seen only by thirsty travelers in the desert—and never by college students walking on the quad. We see what we want to see.

Faukman thought for a long moment. “You’re saying consciousness is like a streaming service to which our brains subscribe?” “Very close…more like an immeasurably large radio dial. Think of consciousness as an infinite cloud of radio waves in this room. Your brain is a receiver…tuned to its own unique station. In your case, it’s tuned to the Jonas Faukman station.”