

When you ignore a thing it disappears. Like, you stop seeing it. It disappears from your reality.
Paying attention / ignoring can become a habit.
And habits are basically invisible. So if you had a bunch of attention-controlling habits, slicing and dicing your reality like this, you’d never know it.
In all probability this is the case.
So there could be a thousand elves and ghosts dancing around and you’d never know it.
I believe it.
Replace “number of basketball passes” with the dozen really important things that we all must pay attention to as adult members of our modern society.
Replace “moonwalking bear” with the various species of ghost, elf, pixie, fairy, spirit and little people reported in ancient literature.
In stage magic they call it “misdirection”. I suspect that it comprises the backbone of our reality.