People rush, cars speed by, the hustle and bustle of daily life seem to merge into a waking dream of a cog-person, who longs to perceive reality differently, a feat only achievable in dreams. I myself am this cog-person of the governmental, financial, and other mechanisms, attempting to artificially view the city through the eyes of a sleeping person, where thoughts of politics, economics, illnesses, unemployment, and the like do not intrude.
In dreams, one does not feel like a part of the machinery; there is no vertical authority, no national borders, no commercial or financial relations, illnesses, or even the laws of physics. There is no sense of helplessness in the face of these mechanisms; the individual simply wanders through space, alone with their unlimited possibilities.
I see one of the reasons for avoiding reality in the reluctance to turn humans into purely functional mechanisms. In their everyday life, the cog-person often moves from point A to point B with a specific goal in mind for a certain sum of money. The issue is that one’s entire life can pass this way, leaving no time for seeking balance, leading the individual to seek salvation in escapism.