Illusion.
To understand the nature of illusion, you must first understand the nature of reality. Most have never done so. Illusion is all they have ever known and therefore never attempt to think outside of the box.
You've heard the old saying that we create our own reality? Its true. And it happens on a scale that boggles to the mind to even think about it.
Before you became a human with a physical body, you were in a spirit state. Your "soul" is an independent point of awareness within an ocean of conscious energy. It is endowed with the same power of creativity that others might attribute to God. And in essence, you are just a little drop of God.
Having this power of creativity enables you to hide a part of your awareness away from yourself, so that it can experience the thrill of discovery. That hidden part, is you. You are what experiences this world, and in doing so, your own watered down power of creativity helps you shape it according to your desires and attachments to it. As you can tell, people have a real hard time with this one. The state of the world is clear evidence that its children who run this world. Spiritual children.
Part of this fun game is you trying to get back to full awareness of who you REALLY are, behind your human identity. You must wade through all the diversions that your 5 senses can deliver. They're feeding a mind which cannot feel. It reasons according to the evidence it has in front of it. It weighs one thing against another to determine worth. In other word's, its a calculator.
Now, what does your mind contain? When you get a physical body, it comes with an onboard computer called a brain. It maintains bodily functions, but it also contains a user interface with the outside world called the ego.
The ego, is who you believe yourself to be. This persona is how you talk with people, what color your paint your house, what car you drive, etc. It contains all your likes and dislikes, which are shaped according to belief.
The ego is the problem.
This thing believes itself to be independent of anything outside of it's sensory range. Because the brain/mind are physical creations themselves, they have no range in the spiritual realms. They can't see it. The mind can understand the concept, but has no ability to experience it. (The mind is the real Satan of religious lore)
The mind is not alone.
The awareness that you had before taking on a body is still in there. We'll call it the heart. For a long time after one incarnates, this mind runs the show. It is very selfish. It only thinks of it's self.
With many reincarnations, this has a maturing effect on the mind. It is now able to reason that maybe there really is something "beyond", so a spiritual thirst begins to develope. This is the beginning of the end for the ego, because in God realization, the ego dissolves in favor of regaining one's true nature. Many trials and tribulations before you get there though.
Back to illusion. The mind has another talent. One that is beyond belief. It projects the world around you like movie on a screen. Just like in a Star Trek holodeck. It creates this world according to your personal attachment to the things in it. Most people will spend many lifetimes creating things that will only make their lives more difficult. Creation has to be mastered, therefore desire must be mastered first.
Its real easy to be a hedonist. Addicted to sensation. It takes more effort to turn your attention to the matter that none of it is real. Its little more than a dream that you're awake inside of. When you really wake up, none of it has any further value.
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Destroyer of Worlds |