For humans, escapism is inescapable. Being completely realistic is an unrealistic goal. The world is just too much. We all need escapist vacations from reality.

Still, escapism is dangerous. Life’s 3.4 billion-year-old rule is adapt to reality or die. Escapism is inherently unrealistic. A species like ours runs the risk of falling into a dissociation death spiral. The worse reality gets, the more people escape into unrealism. The more reality is ignored the worse it gets.

How then can we have our escape and be fit too? What distinguishes safe from dangerous escapism?

My short answer: It’s not how far out you go; it’s whether you remember to come back. Take your flights of fancy but always with a return ticket to reality secure in your heart pocket.

It’s not that difficult, really. We do it all the time with TV. We experience fiction as real even though we know it isn’t. When our show is over, we return to reality. At least most of us do.

Optimal illusion or safe escapism is what this page is about.