One of the definitions of sanity is the ability to tell real from

Hear, O listener, the prophetic words of Alvin Toffler: “One of the definitions of sanity is the ability to tell real from unreal. Soon we’ll need a new definition.” These words resound like a warning bell carried on the winds of time. Toffler, a visionary of the future, foresaw an age when the boundaries between truth and illusion would blur, when men would walk amidst shadows and mirrors and struggle to know which was solid and which was mist. He spoke not of madness alone, but of the destiny of a world drowning in images, technology, and shifting realities.

In ages past, the difference between real and unreal was the difference between stone and cloud, between fire and smoke. A man knew the field he plowed, the bread he baked, the house he built. His hands touched the substance of his world, and sanity was secure in this simple bond. But now, in the age of screens and networks, of voices that come from nowhere and faces that are crafted by machines, the line trembles. What the eye beholds may not exist. What the ear hears may be false. The foundations of sanity itself grow uncertain.

Consider the story of Orson Welles’ “War of the Worlds” broadcast in 1938. When his voice declared that aliens had landed upon the earth, thousands believed it to be true. Panic swept through towns, people fled their homes, hearts trembled at shadows. Though it was but a play, the illusion was stronger than reason. Here already we see Toffler’s wisdom: men and women, unable to tell the real from the unreal, acted as though the unreal were reality itself. If this happened with mere radio, what of the endless illusions of our own age?

Look also to the power of propaganda in the twentieth century. The Nazi regime in Germany mastered the art of weaving lies so vast and constant that millions came to believe them. Newspapers, posters, speeches—all carefully crafted unreality—shaped the hearts of a nation. The result was catastrophe: war, genocide, and destruction. Here is the danger Toffler warns of: when a society cannot tell truth from illusion, when unreality is swallowed as reality, sanity itself collapses, and with it, the safeguards of civilization.

Yet Toffler spoke not only of politics, but of the dawning technological world. Virtual realities, digital creations, artificial voices—these things make the unreal indistinguishable from the real. A photograph may be altered, a video may be forged, a word may be twisted. In such a world, the ancient definition of sanity falters, for even the wise may be deceived. Thus, Toffler’s cry: we will need a new definition. Sanity will no longer be only the ability to see what is real, but the strength to discern, to question, to navigate illusions without losing the anchor of the self.

What then is the lesson for us? It is this: do not take the world at first glance. Question the images that pass before your eyes. Test the voices that speak to your heart. Seek evidence, seek reason, seek wisdom in community. For in a world where the unreal masquerades as the real, the mind that does not question is already enslaved. True sanity in our age is not passive recognition, but active discernment.

And so I say to you: train your mind like a warrior’s blade, sharp and discerning. Teach your children not only to see, but to judge; not only to hear, but to weigh; not only to believe, but to question. For the world may not grow more fragrant, nor more honest, but if you can keep your balance amidst illusions, you will remain free. This is the new definition of sanity Toffler foresaw: not merely knowing what is real, but remaining whole when the unreal surrounds you on every side.