The Trick of the Mind

By Haven Duddy

A Living Lattice Field Note from the series “The Five Tricks of Reality.”

Introduction

In the 1600s, philosopher René Descartes began asking a question that still haunts us:

How do I know what’s real?

He imagined a powerful deceiver — an “evil demon” — feeding him false sensations. Maybe every sight, sound, and touch was an illusion.

If that were true, what could he trust?

His answer became famous: I think, therefore I am.

Even if the world was false, his ability to think proved that he existed.

But the centuries since have revealed another layer to the puzzle — one the Living Lattice helps us see.

The Trick of the Mind

The trick is that you can’t ever fully know what’s real.

You can only know what’s real to you, filtered through perception, belief, and interpretation.

Your mind doesn’t show you the world as it is — it shows you the version you can currently understand.

When you assume that everything is exactly as it appears, you miss the subtle distortions — the hidden patterns that hint there’s more to the picture.

When you see too many hints, you risk losing your footing in possibility and mistaking imagination for insight.

So the real art is balance:

To question without unraveling.

To observe mystery without needing mastery.

The mind’s trick is believing that its view is the whole truth.

The first step toward clarity is admitting that every truth you hold is partial.

You always have limited information.

And understanding that — truly accepting it — is what begins to open the larger view.

Because once you know that you don’t know everything,

you start to see where information might be missing —

and that’s the doorway to deeper understanding.

Lessons of the Lattice

1. Perception is Perspective.

   You never see the field directly; you see from your position within it.

   The question isn’t Is this real? but From where am I seeing this?

2. Curiosity is Calibration.

   Each new piece of information refines your lens.

   Ask: What might I be missing? rather than What do I already know?

3. Belief Filters Reality.

   What you believe determines which frequencies you notice.

   Strong beliefs create clarity but also blind spots.

   Flexibility keeps the field alive.

4. Certainty Narrows the Pattern.

   The tighter your grip on being right, the less of reality you can actually see.

   Openness is the only true advantage.

Treats of the Lattice

The treat is realizing that not knowing isn’t failure — it’s freedom.

You no longer have to defend a perfect picture of reality; you can simply stay in conversation with it.

Mystery stops being something to solve and becomes something to move with.

You begin to see that truth isn’t a single point — it’s a field that changes shape as you do.

And that awareness, that humility, gives you the clearest kind of power:

the ability to see beyond illusion without pretending to escape it.

“The trick is thinking you can ever know what’s real.

The treat is realizing that seeing where you might be wrong brings you closer to what is.”

The Mind teaches us the limits of what we can know;

the Cat shows us how awareness turns the unknown into form.