Illusion

Read an interesting MSNBC article: Strange experiments make body-swapping ‘real’

“This shows how easy it is to change the brain’s perception of the physical self,” said Henrik Ehrsson, who led the project. “By manipulating sensory impressions, it’s possible to fool the self not only out of its body but into other bodies too.”

This tells me only truth is real, but we can put our faith into fear based on the judgment of the law or self-imposed law. In Christ, we are not given over to a spirit of fear unto bondage. In Christ, this kind of fear is more like an illusion described in this article, a vain imagination. In other words, it is not really there. Godly fear is real because God is truth and real.

It also tells me if our faith is based on what we see then our faith is not very strong either.

“The subjects see themselves shaking hands from the outside, but experience it as another person,” said Valeria Petkova, who worked with Ehrsson on the study. “The sensory impression from the hand-shake is perceived as though coming from the new body, rather than the subject’s own.”

This reminds me of the “knowledge learned through experience” or epignosis of Christ that Peter said to grow in, 2 Pet. 3:18.