>>6152
>So is there any real difference between transforming a carrot into a cake and replacing a carrot with a cake?
This is why I mentioned "Illusionism" before where you just change the "appearance" where "if no one knows it's a lie then it is a truth" but those who have eyes to see can see it and Illusionists are tricksters and they always need a good reason to be allowed to operate. The reason why this change matters because currently we live in an age of plenitude where wasting resources is normal. Transmutation becomes more important in scarcity where you need every materia and you need to transmute everything. Also illusions are just illusions. If you are not changing the fundamental nature of the thing the effect might not last long. Also teaching the baby that you can turn carrots into a cake might make a false expectation. Like the baby will grow up and sign you up to a show where you prove your cake making skill and because the child believes it as truth. "Little lies" can lead to larger problems. This is why if you lie you have to know why you are doing it and how long you want to keep that charade going because once you are exposed all your words become questionable. This is why "transmutation" is not about forcing the macrocosm to "accept a lie" but finding a greater truth and applying it. That way it will last. Lies either get exposed or forgotten via disinterest. Some lies are so minor no one cares enough to expose it. But using a lie as your foundation is always a danger especially after you decide to accept is as truth because after that you live in a world of delusion and at that stage you gave up the pursuit of truth which will result in the internalization of more lies more illusions while ignoring the fundamental truths you are dependent on. And in the moment of truth truth prevails one way or the other. The question ofc is how deep the lies go. Sometimes other lies have an interest on keeping the lies going on and if it is supported via a larger structure it can last until you take apart the whole thing. Illusionism is a hard art and considered as a party trick in spiritualism because once something "real" hits you in the face then you are in trouble. Also dispelling illusions is easy for those who are true to themselves.
>These memories can be altered, and are imperfect representations of reality in any case.
Yeah this is why we have the "everything is an illusion" saying and yes even people under a hypnosis and with implanted false memories can break it with some practice and introspection and yes as a spiritualist you can also break many illusions of reality and yes they are unreliable but that is what you have now. You have to figure out what you can rely on and transform everything within and without something reliable. It's important to "trust yourself" and understand what trust means and how you can understand the reliability of things.
>Does this origin exist outside of the memories of the cake itself, and the memories of those involved in its delivery?
And yes origin always exists. Even in the videogame if an object got rendered just because your character went into the area and you looked at it it still had an origin. There is still a programmer who made the mechanism so the object can spawn and it's form and a sort of path you had to take so you were able to perceive that object but in the end it was your effort that made it "perceivable". This "source origin" is important because once you are able to decipher the source and transformation mechanisms of the object you have control over it and if it's transformation if "faulty" you can "complete it" and gain power over it because it's manifestation is completed via you and that means you are part of the equation now.