We like to believe that we are thinking, rational beings, aware of the world around us to a greater degree than is possible for any animal. We fool ourselves. As mystics from cultures the world over have said from time immemorial, we are only sleeping, dreaming that we are awake. If this is true, then reality is not what we think it is. We see only that part of life that filters through to our dream. There is a greater world out there, full of things unseen and literally undreamt. To know it, we have but to Awaken.
That is what a mage does — he Awakens and begins to consciously dream new things into existence.