"Illusion is the first of all pleasures."
-- Voltaire
Many of us have heard of the saying that "Life is an illusion." It is casually declared by many, and with such certainty I might add, as if to imply an understanding of reality. But what does the saying really mean? Is everything really an illusion or is it wishful thinking on the part of humans? Or is it because as T.S. Eliot says, "Humankind cannot bear very much reality," that we cling to our illusions even if they contradict the obvious?
To assert that everything is an illusion poses a problem. If everything is an illusion, why bother trying, improving or aspiring? Since none of what you experience, see or feel is real anyway, then who or what exists? The assumption may be that nothing exists. But isn't this in a way a diminishment of life?
Everything you and I see, touch, smell and hold is real -- is it not? Many schools of thought throughout time have pointed out that the world as we know it is an illusion. How could that be? Does that mean every experience I've had, or every person you have loved or cared about is an illusion? If not, then what do they mean by the statement?
Could it be that reality is not an illusion but that our version of reality is an illusion? In other words, none of us are perceiving reality for what it is but rather for what we wish it to be. Unfortunately, one simply cannot see things as they really are, cannot be aware of reality, with illusions acting as mediators.
There is a difference between what something is and what we think it is. Actually what
we think is utterly inconsequential to what is. Illusions do not exist in the world (out there) but in here. The inner world is fertile ground for illusions to take root which then get projected into the world, thus influencing the perception of others about reality. These distortions, in the realm of reality, have no purpose other than for distraction and delusion.
So how can we know if illusions are creating reality? Well, we can't while we are under their spell and we can know only after the illusions no longer exist that we were living in illusion in the first place. When we begin to understand the difference between reality and that which we impose upon it through own thoughts, choices and beliefs, we will be made to realize that much of our despair, anger or pain was fueled by these mis-perceptions.
Most conflict, whether on a personal or collective level, stem from illusions. In our daily lives there is infinite opportunity to create them. We create them about our jobs, finances, relationships, friendships, love and life in general to shield us from that which we view as undesired truths. We do not want to live in reality but are comfortable living in illusion and we believe that somehow the gain far outweighs the effort needed to eliminate them.
As human beings we are conditioned (illusions) to hold onto culture, religion, tradition and politics even at the expense of our well being. From these elements our identity is shaped, and how this identity expresses itself is unique to each of us. Only time will tell if this identity is congruent with the essential self. In other words, illusions are learned and then passed on. Without knowing it, we live and express these distorted ideas, practices and patterns that influence our perceptions of reality and in turn create our reality. And then we point and say, "Look, that's reality." But upon further exploration, we realize that our perception was the illusion all along and not reality itself.
To summon the courage to question or challenge beliefs, assumptions and certainties ushers in a wiser and more mature perspective on reality. It takes experience to no longer mistake one for the other, and with time, life will reflect this distinction. Just recently we saw this distinction at play as Egypt and her people discarded their illusion of fear and powerlessness to reclaim their reality for freedom. People around the world are removing the veils at lightning speed -- illusions be gone -- its about time, don't you think?
Dr. Larry Dossey: Do We Live in a Meaningful Universe?
Morty Lefkoe: How Our Perceptions Shape Our Reality
Pavel Somov, Ph.D.: Feels Like a Self But Is It?
Deepak Chopra: Buddha and the World (Part 1)
Reality Versus illusion and Imagination
YouTube - Reality is an Illusion
The Changeling - Reality and Illusion - The Conscious and ...
we are expressions of the infinite. call that infinite Source of all that is anything you want.
without the "illusion" the play; there are no expressions of the Infinite. that simple that complex.
there; we now have solved the rest of the buddha's realization about the origin of suffering being ignorance. ie unawareness ie illusion ie the play ie the dance of life, etc.
without unawareness there is no illusion, no play, no expressions, ie no us. :-) ie just isness.
we owe our uniqueness as souls to our illusions. ie our unawareness. hard to accept as the human ego takes to guilt and sin like a duck takes to water.
think of life as perfectly imperfect. :o) ok some are more perfect than others, likewise some are more imperfect than others. ie evolution of consciousness thing.
Perhaps one of these days someone's going to be able to publicly demonstrate how the command phrase technique works and people will realize why I went on and on about it when I posted under phnxrth.
not perfect, of course, from the egoic point of view which is always gravely mistaken. the same egoic view that has created all wars, hate and violence, both to each other and to the world in which we live.
it's like the person who finds herself standing on her head, wondering how she got there.
it's not magic, just a perfect reflection of our creation both personally and collectively.
The trick is to be aware of the rules of the game. Otherwise, you'll "lose".
This is a good article, but I have questions about the above passage. I think we can indeed know--or at least suspect--that we are living in illusion while under that illusion's spell. A good example of this is the lucid dream: you continue to dream but you recognize at the same time that it IS a dream. More generally, one can have the occasional sense that there's something illusory about our world without knowing exactly what's unreal about it.
Now, of course, one might say that to have this sort of glimpse means you are no longer under the spell of the illusion--in which case I have no objection to the author's perspective. But I suspect a stronger claim is being made--namely, that it's only in light of an independent understanding of "reality" that illusion is recognized as such. And this view seems at odds with what I take to be the deeper, "spiritual" significance of this whole issue. For it implies that our aim is to replace our incorrect version of reality with the correct version--as if all we can do is to generate better accounts of reality. But it's just this dualistic conception that leads us into illusion in the first place.
Or this basic Buddhist concept from another school of inquiry into the nature of phenomena:
All things seem to exist as a result of the mind's self-grasping tendency to interpret phenomena as external to the mind and separate from it. Another mis-perception resulting in suffering.
Or this: Things exist only as spontaneously arising phenomena in the mind. Nothing exists external to the mind's propensity to create narrative. There is no narrative.
When I kneel to meditate,
Sometimes, it is hard to concentrate.
There are noises from outside.
Cars and trucks passing by.
Just today, from above,
Footsteps dully thud.
A little patter and a door.
As if my ceiling where a floor.
And then it came to me.
It’s not real, it cannot be.
Where I live I’m all alone.
Above there is no other home.
It seemed so real, what I heard.
But, my illusion proved absurd.
The dogs, the traffic and the rest,
All distractions form the Quest.
I was constructing fantasies.
Murky pools of memories.
When I stopped and turned within,
I found peace beneath the sin.
Fantastic Reality
When I kneel to meditate,
Sometimes my thoughts evaporate.
A Sound from within,
Blocks the worldly din.
Just today from above,
Gently tapping came Love.
A tingle and palpitation,
All worries on vacation.
Suddenly, it came to me.
This must be Reality.
This body is not alone.
One of God’s many homes.
That thought stopped singing.
Melted and dissolving
Pulsating in every vein
Sound and Light remain.
Blessed gifts; "like a dove".
Milky pools of Love.
Inside and out of me.
My chore to simply be.
A dream is real when were in one and if its not lucid.
In the book I describe an experience where I realize life is very much dreamlike. But that realization made me feel very happy and gave me the feeling that I want to do the best I can.
http://www.amazon.com/DISCOVERING-SELF-EXPERIENCES-THOUGHTS-ebook/dp/B004YDQX7I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=books&qid=1306201068&sr=8-1
In the Shadows: Tales of Ashik
Ashik Jaya