Shining a light onto a suspended object against a surface projects a shadow, an aspect of the real thing. Imagine we have no access to the object, but only to its projected shadow. Imagine we can move a point light around the obstruction, a transformation, and we can choose the shape of the projection surface. Then, if the light emitted by a point and the center of the object are perpendicular to a plane projection surface, the shadow is a circle. Bringing the light source closer to the object renders a growing circle, and moving it further away, renders a shrinking circle. If we move the point light so that the line between the light and the center of the object is not perpendicular to the plane surface, then the shadow becomes an ellipsoid. Moving it further down renders a hyperbole, a section of the light cone. If the wall is not a plane, then the shadow is a product of the light cone and the projection screen, and will have features of both the object and of the wall.
Empirical methods of brain measurement are like a combination of a light source and a projection screen. The measurement produced is a product of all three, the object, the light and the wall. We want to discover the essence of the object, we are bound however, to the light and the screen.
Imagine further that if at every single time one shines a light, the projected shadow is a slightly different one. Say we cannot see the screen, but only the shadow. Measurements of brain function are like that. It is as if the wall is constantly changing, and the light source is flickering. We try to make out the occluded object, given the projected shadows that wobble as the light and surfaces change. We try to see beyond the light and the surface, summing up all the shadows, to try to discover the object itself. To find the truth itself: that there is no sphere.
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