Would you agree that we are an image-conscious society? Appearances are important to us. And not just our personal appearances. We want the things in our environment—our homes and cars and sneakers and even our lunches—to look Instagram-ready. The problem with living in an image-conscious society is that we are easy to deceive. Too often, appearance wins out over substance. If something looks good on the outside, we don’t question its authenticity or integrity.

Author Mark D. Roberts tells of meeting a man who worked as a food stylist for an ad agency. Food stylists create those perfect food pictures we see in advertisements. The man explained that one photo of the perfect hamburger might take days of intensive work. The food stylist would sort through hundreds of hamburger buns, tomato s…