Thinking Cooks the Truth

Imagine a fish swimming in a river,
moving in perfect harmony with the currents.
Every cell of its body vibrantly alive.

Now imagine the fish on the bank of the river, dead.
Every cell dead.

Imagine the fish in a frying pan, cooked.
Every cell cooked.

The fish in the pan resembles the fish in the river,
but they are as different as night and day.

Does the reality I can grasp with my intellect
resemble the truth any more than the fish in the pan
resembles the fish in the river?