"It is like watching a magic trick. We cannot understand how it is done. So we ask: how can the magician change a couple of white silk scarves into a live rabbit?
A lot of people experience the world with the same incredulity as when a magician suddenly pulls a rabbit out of a hat which has just been shown to them empty.
In the case of the rabbit, we know the magician has tricked us. What we would like to know is just how he did it. But when it comes to the world it's somewhat different. We know that the world is not all sleight of hand and deception because we are in it, we are part of it. Actually, we are the white rabbit being pulled out of the hat.
The only difference between us and the white rabbit is that the rabbit does not realise it is taking part in a magic trick. Unlike us. We feel we are part of something mysterious and we would like to know how it all works."
Excerpt from Sophie's World, by Jostein Gaarder.
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