Everything is an illusion

[blazeofglory]

All we see in the world are reflections, illusions, not truths and in sum is Maya. The Vedas say. I feel at times the Vedas rightly used this term.

Today I meditated for a while and arrived at the idea that everything is a Maya or illusion.

Songs for instance seem very much true and palpable realities. Dissect a song what you will arrive at is a combination of vibrations or sound frequencies and what we call song are on the surface and on the deepest level they are simply vibrations, pitches going up and down or frequencies running.

What we call beauty is also an illusion and there is nothing called beauty other than optical illusions. Races, nationhood, economic and social factors are too forms of illusions.

Science and technologies are too illusions.

Love and sex are simply illusions.

Everything will pass.

Even the idea of God and heaven and salvation are too illusions.

For God is a name we keep for some power and powers are illusions.

At the end of the day the whole mechanism of thinking becomes an illusion.

[hoope]

whats ur point out of all this .... ILLUSION ..
i agree things sometimes might be illusion .. but not everything as u described it
thats rediculous.. LIFE exist , GOD exist , Beauty is there ; only some ppl can't see it
and illusion is when we try iimagining things that r not there .. we create it in our minds

And yea ! LOVE is not an illusion , its there & we feel & we live it . no one can deny that .

[JacobF]

whats ur point out of all this .... ILLUSION ..
i agree things sometimes might be illusion .. but not everything as u described it
thats rediculous.. LIFE exist , GOD exist , Beauty is there ; only some ppl can't see it
and illusion is when we try iimagining things that r not there .. we create it in our minds

And yea ! LOVE is not an illusion , its there & we feel & we live it . no one can deny that .

actually, love can be an illusion. People talk about falling deeply in love with a person, that they are their soul mate, but that's just chemicals released from the brain, called oxytocin, which are released the most during the 4 months after you first meet this person. think romeo and juliet.

[Pussy toes]

Yes... matters and any real objects are the only things in the universe that can be truly concieved. But when we encounter them, they are being processed by our imagination, which is a powerful and miraculous thing after all!
Imagination kind of gives matters their own distinct characteristics and souls. it's imagination that taught us how to love, how to cherish, how to feel for each other, and makes us human.
Without imagination, the facts will be meaningless... and everything will be dry and yeastless.

[hoope]

actually, love can be an illusion. People talk about falling deeply in love with a person, that they are their soul mate, but that's just chemicals released from the brain, called oxytocin, which are released the most during the 4 months after you first meet this person. think romeo and juliet.

yet i stick to my point that not everything is an illusion unless if we insist to make it so .

[blazeofglory]

In fact we get swayed by illusions in every step of life. We want to earn a lot of money and it goes on piling up yet an event turns up unexpectedly and takes our life away.

People keep on sinning and go to the church, temple and the like thinking that they will be purged.

We have too many beliefs, heaven, hell, salvation but all else is sheer imagination and interpretation of various ideas and nothing else.

History documents more and more people in faiths commit bigger crimes. Hitler was a great faith holder.

Nothing instigates people to commit crimes and that is why killing and dying has been something maxims in religious faiths.

I say therefore that everything is an illusion.

[datulakan]

"Everything is an illusion," yes it's a fact, but first is the difficulty of terminology. The student of science sees perfectly good and natural reasons why his study should have its own terms of expressions: "That is scientific," he affirms. "But when others tell me that all is Maya, I know he is wrong, because the evidence of my own senses proves the contrary." Such an expression in itself demonstrates the primary failure of this scientific mind to understand even terms, to say nothing of the teaching itself.

[weltanschauung]

e. levi has a great line on this topic, he goes:
"descartes said 'i think, therefore i am', and that is a fallacy, the right thought should be 'the being exists, therefore i think' "

and then, bill hicks' :
"today a young man on acid realised that all matter is merely energy condensed into slow vibrations, we're all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectivelly, there's no such thing as death, life is a only a dream and we're the imagination of ourselves... now here's tom, with the weather..."

\m/

[sytalls]

Bill Hicks had an amazing view of life, as well as an amazing talent. :D I don't see him quoted often.

datulaken, which scientists are you referring to? Physicists might be more in agreement with "life is illusion" than you think. Certainly, they would tell you how important perception is. People who claim to be realists probably don't know much about science, especially not physics.

Maybe you should take a look at The Dancing Wu Li Masters. It relates more to the Tao te Ching than the Upanishads, but it's a good basic book. Then there are several books on string theory--lots of illusion there!

[weltanschauung]

this is superb and resumes everything that could ever be said about this topic:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIkiFka4rEY

[Pussy toes]

Bill Hicks had an amazing view of life, as well as an amazing talent. :D I don't see him quoted often.

datulaken, which scientists are you referring to? Physicists might be more in agreement with "life is illusion" than you think. Certainly, they would tell you how important perception is. People who claim to be realists probably don't know much about science, especially not physics.

Maybe you should take a look at The Dancing Wu Li Masters. It relates more to the Tao te Ching than the Upanishads, but it's a good basic book. Then there are several books on string theory--lots of illusion there!

you are certainly a physics major, aren't you?

I totally agree that if you go to physics you will see that everything is literally an illusion. the universe itself is a gigantic mirage. it all depends on how we see the world. standing on a different position, you may end up with a sheer different view of everything. an event viewed from one reference frame may be exactly different from the same event when seeing from another reference frame.

interesting enought that it actually makes people wonder what reality truly is..

[Klope3]

For the sake of discussion, I'll assume a completely atheistic standing on this issue and continue.

The question that arises now is: knowing this, how do you want to live your life? One who goes through life dismissing everything and appreciating nothing will surely lose all humanity. Being the flawed, imperfect member of the human race that you are, will you choose to see the trees and rain and stars as complex but random coincidences? Or will you look at them, take in their beauty, and accept them as wonderful and glorious creations that should be praised and cherished?

The former can lead to depression, a dry existence, and possibly even suicide. The latter will, without any doubt, lead to a joyful life: full of light, peace of mind, and humble acceptance of the glory of the universe.

[NikolaiI]

I would say... well of course I have often considered these points. The question is why is there suffering? Why don't we work together, and why do we have any pain instead of comfort? If we are truly non-separate from reality, why do we feel as if we are? I often feel that God is with us, and this can truly dispel illusion and suffering. I wonder hwo a part of the whole can have a lesser existence than the whole. After all all our body parts (generally) live as long as we do, so why would we live for a lesser amount of time than the universe?

Of course everyone has their own perspective in this cosmic play, and none is less valid than any other. But if we see that all have their perspective of the same, pure reality, then we have to admit some relation between all participants who are viewing it. We cannot view reality without having some effect, and without our own nature mirroring that which we observe. I would agree that all is illusion, maya, which I have discovered after reading Plato, Buddhists, Hindus and other philosophers. But I think it is a bit of illusion to even say this, to stop there.

Beyond what we see as Maya is Brahman, and that is what we exist in. Maya keeps us thinking we are matter and not spirit, matter and not Brahman. But even if we attempt to learn about Brahman it does not exempt us from the idea that we are matter, that we are the body; that persists and stays with us.

There are times of transcendence or revelation when we see what the light from which we came looks like, and there are times when we can see even beyond this. The supreme reality is the pure essence from which all else emanates. That is not simply Brahman but that is the form of enlightenment, God or Buddha. So we can have experiencfes of this, but then we cannot go anywhere else but back into the world, back into Maya, even if we know it is false. However sages throughout the world and throughout different times have indicated visions of the pure essence of reality; all echoing a common chorus: there are divine beings and presence which are with us, and ultimately we will not suffer more than we we will experience the bliss of the pure light from which we came.

[Markm13]

All may be an illusion as far as how it is interpreted.

We see objects and colours due to waves of light which our eye and brain interpret into visable objects. We hear because of vibrations passed through the air interacting with our eardrums and brain. we feel because of nerve endings placed throughout our body. we have emotional depth because of our upbringing and conditioning.

a blind man cant see but all the objects of the world are still there to him as he feels them.

a deaf man cant hear but music is still there (if he places his piao on the floor)

those things they are and will always be real.

what i see as unreal/imaginary are emotions. somepeople are never taught love are never shown love thus never feel it in life. the pathways of the brain havent been mapped. some people never feel anxious or embarrassed (lucky?) some people only know hate while others have never felt it within themselves yet may have felt confusion over why someone can hate them.

what im trying to say is your emotions are an illusion. the only emotions you have are the ones you are conditioned to know, are taught to know.

I know his isnt the most articulate or well written post you've probably seen ( considering these are literature forums) but i feel my point has been made.