--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: A good simulation, be it a religious myth…" description: "\"A good simulation, be it a religious myth or scientific theory, gives us a sense of mastery over experience. To represent something symbolically, as we..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c4d/heinz-pagels-29107_appropriation_a-good-simulation-be-it-a-religious-myth_2020119.jpg" --- # A good simulation, be it a religious myth or scientific… ![“A good simulation, be it a religious myth or scientific theory, gives us a sense of mastery over experience. To represent something symbolically, as we do when we speak or write, is somehow to capture it, thus making it one's own. But with this appropriation comes the realization that we have…” quote by Heinz Pagels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c4d/heinz-pagels-29107_appropriation_a-good-simulation-be-it-a-religious-myth_2020119.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c4d/heinz-pagels-29107_appropriation_a-good-simulation-be-it-a-religious-myth_2020119.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c4d/heinz-pagels-29107_appropriation_a-good-simulation-be-it-a-religious-myth_2020119.jpg) > “A good simulation, be it a religious myth or scientific theory, gives us a sense of mastery over experience. To represent something symbolically, as we do when we speak or write, is somehow to capture it, thus making it one's own. But with this appropriation comes the realization that we have denied the immediacy of reality and that in creating a substitute we have but spun another thread in the web of our grand illusion.” [Heinz Pagels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heinz-pagels/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Simulations give illusion of control, but they distance us from reality. **In simple terms:** Simulations create false mastery. Key Takeaway Balance models with lived experience. Themes knowledge illusion reality science religion Mood analytical thoughtful Type philosophical critical When to use this quote - scientific modeling - religious narratives - education - media analysis Key Concepts Symbolic representation epistemology Questions to Reflect On - How do you verify a model’s accuracy? - When does a metaphor become a barrier? A Different Perspective Overreliance on models can mislead decisions. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Abstraction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/abstraction/) [Appropriation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/appropriation/) [Capture](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/capture/) [Creating](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creating/) [Denied](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/denied/) [Experience](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/experience/) [Giving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/giving/) [Grand Illusion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/grand-illusion-462314/) [Illusion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/illusion/) [Immediacy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/immediacy/) [Immediacy Reality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/immediacy-reality-3654690/) [Mastery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mastery/) [Myth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/myth/) [Reality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reality/) [Reality Creating](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reality-creating-3654688/) [Realization](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/realization/) [Religion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/religion/) [Religious](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/religious/) [Represent Symbolically](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/represent-symbolically-3654689/) [Science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science/) [Scientific theory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/scientific-theory/) [Simulation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/simulation/) [Simulation Religious](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/simulation-religious-3654691/) [Speak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/speak/) [Spun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/spun/) [Substitutes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/substitutes/) [Theory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/theory/) [Thread](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thread/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [I'm just looking at other opportunities, television... not so much another existing reality show, but more about creating stuff.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/courtney-act/i-m-just-looking-at-other-opportunities-television-not-so-much/) [Courtney Act](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/courtney-act/) > [“What fascinates me about writing is wrestling thought into reality and creating a new world that is forever.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dennis-r-miller/what-fascinates-me-about-writing-is-wrestling-thought-into-reality/) [Dennis R. Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dennis-r-miller/) > [I think you can be much truer to real emotions and reality by creating something that on the surface seems artificial but, by then…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yorgos-lanthimos/i-think-you-can-be-much-truer-to-real-emotions-and-reality-by/) [Yorgos Lanthimos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yorgos-lanthimos/) > [“Choices create our map as we travel toward the new reality we are creating ~”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeanne-mcelvaney/choices-create-our-map-as-we-travel-toward-the-new-reality-we-are/) [Jeanne McElvaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeanne-mcelvaney/) > [“If we feel good, we can keep going in the direction of the reality we’re creating. If we don’t feel good, we may reflect…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alaric-hutchinson/if-we-feel-good-we-can-keep-going-in-the-direction-of-the-reality-we/) [Alaric Hutchinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alaric-hutchinson/) > [It is through your presence that creates your reality. What am I creating? I am a co-creator.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alberto-villoldo/it-is-through-your-presence-that-creates-your-reality-what-am-i/) [Alberto Villoldo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alberto-villoldo/) > [We label things through value systems that we have developed. But nothing is or is not unless we feel it is that way. We…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-lenz/we-label-things-through-value-systems-that-we-have-developed-but/) [Frederick Lenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-lenz/) > [How has The Grand Illusion held up over the years? It is not enough to say that it has retained its power. Not only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andre-bazin/how-has-the-grand-illusion-held-up-over-the-years-it-is-not-enough-to/) [Andre Bazin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andre-bazin/) > [The trust of the mass population can no longer be taken for granted, and any continuation of the 'grand illusion' is dangerous for leaders…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-edelman/the-trust-of-the-mass-population-can-no-longer-be-taken-for-granted/) [Richard Edelman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-edelman/) > [I formulated the theme behind 'The Grand Illusion' album after observing how American culture creates illusions through advertising and entertainment to convince us that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dennis-deyoung/i-formulated-the-theme-behind-the-grand-illusion-album-after/) [Dennis DeYoung](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dennis-deyoung/) > [“We have arrived here in this illusory place. Now we just have to figure out how to deal with this grand illusion of our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/art-hochberg/we-have-arrived-here-in-this-illusory-place-now-we-just-have-to/) [Art Hochberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/art-hochberg/) > ['Grand Illusion' and 'Rules of the Game' are routinely included on lists of the greatest films, and deserve to be.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-ebert/grand-illusion-and-rules-of-the-game-are-routinely-included-on-lists/) [Roger Ebert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-ebert/) > [“The grand illusion of life is that our minds have the capacity to understand reality. But human minds didn’t evolve to understand reality. We…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/scott-adams/the-grand-illusion-of-life-is-that-our-minds-have-the-capacity-to/) [Scott Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/scott-adams/) > [So if you think your life is complete confusion, because your neighbors got it made. Just remember that it's a grand illusion, and deep…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/styx/so-if-you-think-your-life-is-complete-confusion-because-your/) [Styx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/styx/) > [If I had only one film in the world to save, it would be 'Grand Illusion.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orson-welles/if-i-had-only-one-film-in-the-world-to-save-it-would-be-grand-illusion/) [Orson Welles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orson-welles/) ## More by Heinz Pagels > [The visible world is the invisible organization of energy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heinz-pagels/the-visible-world-is-the-invisible-organization-of-energy/) [Heinz Pagels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heinz-pagels/) > [The words are strung together, with their own special grammar-the laws of quantum theory-to form sentences, which are molecules. Soon we have books, entire…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heinz-pagels/the-words-are-strung-together-with-their-own-special-grammar-the-laws/) [Heinz Pagels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heinz-pagels/) > [What is the universe? Is it a great 3D movie in which we are the unwilling actors? Is it a cosmic joke, a giant…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heinz-pagels/what-is-the-universe-is-it-a-great-3d-movie-in-which-we-are-the/) [Heinz Pagels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heinz-pagels/) > [Theoretical and experimental physicists are now studying nothing at all-the vacuum. But that nothingness contains all of being.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heinz-pagels/theoretical-and-experimental-physicists-are-now-studying-nothing-at/) [Heinz Pagels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heinz-pagels/) > [The great unexplored frontier is complexity ... I am convinced that the nations and people that master the new science of Complexity will become…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heinz-pagels/the-great-unexplored-frontier-is-complexity-i-am-convinced-that-the/) [Heinz Pagels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heinz-pagels/) > [Stars are like animals in the wild. We may see the very young but never their actual birth, which is a veiled and secret…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heinz-pagels/stars-are-like-animals-in-the-wild-we-may-see-the-very-young-but/) [Heinz Pagels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heinz-pagels/) > [The capacity to tolerate complexity and welcome contradiction, not the need for simplicity and certainty, is the attribute of an explorer. Centuries ago, when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heinz-pagels/the-capacity-to-tolerate-complexity-and-welcome-contradiction-not-the/) [Heinz Pagels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heinz-pagels/) > [Our capacity for fulfillment can come only through faith and feelings. But our capacity for survival must come from reason and knowledge.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heinz-pagels/our-capacity-for-fulfillment-can-come-only-through-faith-and-feelings/) [Heinz Pagels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heinz-pagels/) > [Science is expanding, and with it our vision of the universe. although this new and constantly changing view may not always give us comfort,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heinz-pagels/science-is-expanding-and-with-it-our-vision-of-the-universe-although/) [Heinz Pagels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heinz-pagels/) > [Science has explored the microcosmos and the macrocosmos; we have a good sense of the lay of the land. The great unexplored frontier is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heinz-pagels/science-has-explored-the-microcosmos-and-the-macrocosmos-we-have-a/) [Heinz Pagels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heinz-pagels/) > [We surely stand at the threshold of a great adventure of the human spiritó a new synthesis of knowledge, a potential integration of art…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heinz-pagels/we-surely-stand-at-the-threshold-of-a-great-adventure-of-the-human/) [Heinz Pagels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heinz-pagels/) > [While we can prove that almost all numbers in the continuum are random, we cannot prove that any specific number is indeed random.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heinz-pagels/while-we-can-prove-that-almost-all-numbers-in-the-continuum-are/) [Heinz Pagels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heinz-pagels/) > [Science is not the enemy of humanity but one of the deepest expressions of the human desire to realize that vision of infinite knowledge.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heinz-pagels/science-is-not-the-enemy-of-humanity-but-one-of-the-deepest/) [Heinz Pagels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heinz-pagels/) > [Information is just signs and numbers, while knowledge involves their meaning. What we want is knowledge, but what we get is information.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heinz-pagels/information-is-just-signs-and-numbers-while-knowledge-involves-their/) [Heinz Pagels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heinz-pagels/) > [It is unlikely that we will ever see a star being born. Stars are like animals in the wild. We may see the very…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heinz-pagels/it-is-unlikely-that-we-will-ever-see-a-star-being-born-stars-are-like/) [Heinz Pagels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heinz-pagels/) [Explore all 18 Heinz Pagels quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heinz-pagels/) ## More Abstraction quotes > [Everything in dancing is style, allusion, the essence of many thoughts and feelings. The abstraction of many moments.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alvin-ailey/everything-in-dancing-is-style-allusion-the-essence-of-many-thoughts/) [Alvin Ailey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alvin-ailey/) > [The premises from which we begin are not arbitrary ones, not dogmas, but real premises from which abstraction can only be made in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/melchor-lim/the-premises-from-which-we-begin-are-not-arbitrary-ones-not-dogmas/) [Melchor Lim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/melchor-lim/) > [Two elements are needed to form a truth - a fact and an abstraction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/remy-de-gourmont/two-elements-are-needed-to-form-a-truth-a-fact-and-an-abstraction/) [Remy de Gourmont](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/remy-de-gourmont/) > [But we must not underestimate the potency of the mathematical process of abstraction. A surprising variety of things happen to have both magnitude and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/banesh-hoffmann/but-we-must-not-underestimate-the-potency-of-the-mathematical-process/) [Banesh Hoffmann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/banesh-hoffmann/) > [Sometimes I start in a very realistic fashion, and as I go on from one painting to another of the same kind, it becomes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georgia-o-keeffe/sometimes-i-start-in-a-very-realistic-fashion-and-as-i-go-on-from-one/) [Georgia O'Keeffe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georgia-o-keeffe/) > [I like residing in abstraction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sufjan-stevens/i-like-residing-in-abstraction/) [Sufjan Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sufjan-stevens/) > [Cancer begins and ends with people. In the midst of scientific abstraction, it is sometimes possible to forget this one basic fact. Doctors treat…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/june-goodfield/cancer-begins-and-ends-with-people-in-the-midst-of-scientific/) [June Goodfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/june-goodfield/) > [Yes, there was an element of abstraction and unreality in misfortune. 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People look to escape…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-baudrillard/holidays-are-in-no-sense-an-alternative-to-the-congestion-and-bustle/) [Jean Baudrillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-baudrillard/) > [The pragmatist turns away from abstraction and insufficiency, from verbal solutions, from bad a priori reasons, from fixed principles, closed systems, and pretended absolutes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/the-pragmatist-turns-away-from-abstraction-and-insufficiency-from/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [ I'd say that \[Louis\] Brandeis practiced a kind of a "living originalism," to use the title of Jack Balkin's great book. He said you… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeffrey-rosen/i-d-say-that-louis-brandeis-practiced-a-kind-of-a-living-originalism/) [Jeffrey Rosen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeffrey-rosen/) > [When novels deal in abstractions, they generally go off the rails.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philipp-meyer/when-novels-deal-in-abstractions-they-generally-go-off-the-rails/) [Philipp Meyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philipp-meyer/) [Browse all 562 Abstraction quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/abstraction/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "A good simulation, be it a religious myth or scientific theory, gives us a sense of mastery over experience. To represent something symbolically, as we do when we speak or write, is somehow to capture it, thus making it one's own. 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