I’ve got “Only Murders in the Building” playing tonight in the background, hoping to pump this room full of that lovely, leisurely energy the show exudes. As I was preparing to start this post, I heard the character played by Meryl Streep say, “The mirage of your desires,” and that poetic arrangement of words instantly struck me.

I want to dive into this for a moment. Ha! Dive into the mirage. I’m feeling cheeky tonight. Please join me.

I’m going to throw out my best description of the definition of mirage. Then, I’ll look up it’s definition.

Jenn’s best attempt at the definition of mirage:

An optical illusion created by heat above the ground far ahead, which makes the perceiver assume a body of water lay ahead.

Okay, now it’s Google’s turn. Hey Google, what’s the definition of mirage?

An optical illusion caused by atmospheric conditions, especially the appearance of a sheet of water in a desert or on a hot road caused by the refraction of light from the sky by heated air.

HOLY MOLY! I sort of had it.

Let’s look up Optical Illusion now.

Hey Google, what’s the definition of Optical Illusion?

Something that deceives the eye by appearing to be other than it is.

Interesting. So, the writers of Only Murders must suggest that our desires contain something we perceive that isn’t there.

I can see how that can be true. We often hear stories about people desiring a car, a house, a partner, or a job that they believe will make them happy and, once fulfilled, fall short of that illusion.

While the desires seem full of joy, happiness, glory, success, and the like, they are hollow. They’re a shell. An encasement. They wrap around and adorn that which we are, which can be intrinsic fulfillment or empty dependence on external sources of contentment.

Like a sausage casing, our desires cannot change the core ingredients. The casing contains. It doesn’t transform.

Sausage casing? Really, Jenn? 🙂