Thus, it is not really the phantom limb that is the illusion, but the sense of ownership of our actual limbs. Phantom-limb syndrome is a puzzling phenomenon, but focusing too much on the mystery of phantom limbs distracts from the real puzzle: how the brain creates conscious awareness of our body to begin with.28 Similarly, focusing on the slow-motion effect in life-threatening situations distracts us from the real mystery: our “normal” perception of the passage of time.
