Theater of the Mind

"..one can ..compare the mind...to a theater of indeterminate depth whose apron [front of stage] is very narrow but whose stage becomes larger away from the apron. On this lighted apron there is room for one actor only..[who] gestures for a while then leaves; another arrives, then another and so on...[In the]..backstage there are multitudes of obscure forms whom a summons can bring onto the stage...and unknown evolutions take place incessantly among this crowd of actors.." (Hyppolite Taine, 1871)