The World As Experience And Idea
The world is an illusion. This is a view held by Vedanta, Sikhism, Buddhism, Plato, Arthur Schopenhauer, Christian Science, and A Course In Miracles.
Contradicting this view is your own sense experience of realness, the constancy of stimulus, the enduring nature of time and events.
Which view is correct? The idea of the illusion or your experience of the realness?
This answer proposes an objective observer, one who is not part of the system that is being observed. Newton held that time is absolute. Einstein held that it is relative to the observer. Perhaps that same paradigm shift can be applied to answering the question of what is real and what is not.
Those who propose that the world is an illusion are correct.
Those who propose that the world is real are also correct.
The idea that the world is an illusion can be argued in the following way.
1. You do not see the world as it is.
You see the world as you are.
This happens in two ways:
One, you can never escape your subjectivity. You may claim that the world is objective, but this is a claim made from the subjective state. Hence, if you were to lose your mind, you would also lose the world. Without an observer, there is no world. With your disappearance, the universe disappears. Does it exist despite you? If you are not there to ask or hear the answer to the question, it has no meaning.
Two, the world that you see is a direct result of your experiences in it. A rock is not just a rock; it is also your memory of all rocks seen by you. When what you see is more complex and engaging, you experience more emotions, sensations, and ideas about it. Thus, you never really see anything as it is. You only see it through the lens of your own thoughts about it.
2. All forms will pass away.
Entropy is built into the system. Nothing can escape this iron law of nature. Neither beauty nor truth, wealth nor power, genius nor intent ever last. Death and decay is the lot of everything, from atoms to stars, from our own sun to the universe itself. However, this collapse is a dissipation of energy, not an absence of it. According to the law of conservation of energy, which has never been refuted, energy can neither be created nor destroyed. What dies, then, is the form of things, the structure the energy was supporting.
3. The microscopic.
On the level of atoms, a vast space exists between the electrons and the nucleus, and even the subatomic particles are not solid bits of matter but transient energy forms that appear and disappear and reappear again. It is mainly empty space.
4. The macroscopic.
On the level of the cosmos, a vast space exists between stars and moons and planets, gas clouds and nebulas and galaxies. The universe, too, is mainly empty space.
5. The field of all possibilities.
On the level of the consciousness that organizes all things, this world is only another possibility out of an infinite choice. How many worlds with sentient beings exist? Is our universe only an electron in a cosmic atom? Given a field of infinite choices, how much weight does one choice hold?
The idea that the world is real can be argued in the following way.
1. What you are experiencing is real to you.
When you think of the world as an illusion, a sense of despair arises because it slights the beauty of your realness. It is pleasurable to touch and hold, to see and hear, to act and change things. It is ennobling to see the vast sky above your head and feel the wind in your hair and hear the squawk of a passing bird. It means much for us to be here and to be alive in this moment.
Neither science nor philosophy can deny the realness of your experience.
And in this context, even your dreams are real enough, because while you are in them, your entire experience is authentic enough for you. If you are being chased by a lion in your dream, it will feel as real to you as if you were being chased by one in the waking state.
2. Who you are is important to you.
Your life is important. You desire to be more than you currently are because you can feel the vast throb of life within you expanding ever forward to know more, experience more, and touch a fullness not yet known.
Your past is not just useless memory but a scrapbook of struggle and change, triumph and adversity, risk and new learning. Your present is the vividness of your current experience. Your future is your promise, to yourself and to the world.
Reality, then, is not fixed. It is an interpretation of consciousness and how it is interpreted depends on the inner and outer experiences of the observer. The world you live in is real enough to you as you live it. If this world is an illusion, does it mean that there is a really real world, as Plato conjectured. Probably not. If this world is an illusion, then so, too, are all worlds. And if this world is real, so, too, are all worlds.
Appreciating the miracle of having a consciousness to live in a world may be all we need to know to live happy, fulfilling lives, whether in this world or in other worlds which we will transition into after this one.
Consciousness, like the law of conservation of energy, can neither be created nor destroyed. Where you find consciousness, you will also find energy structured into the form of a world. And since consciousness never dies but appears to only grow increasingly more refined and sophisticated, worlds, too, probably evolve along similar lines. Are these worlds illusory or real? They are real enough to those who live in them.
Saleem Rana would love to share his inspiring ideas with you. Hunting everywhere for a life worth living? Discover the life of your dreams. His book, Never Ever Give Up is offered at no cost to stimulate your success. http://www.theempoweredsoul.com/enter.html
Meditation: The Art Of Self-Recovery
What you focus on determines your reality because your mind becomes active in acquiring and bringing into your reality the things that you focus on.
You bring into your experience what you focus on.
If you focus on lack, limitation, negativity, and scarcity, then that is what you bring into your experience.
If you focus on abundance, expansion, positive things, and plenty, then that is what you bring into your experience.
A moment of introspection will make this obvious.
Why, then, if it is that easy to switch our reality, from one of suffering to one of joyful experience, do we persist in injuring ourselves?
It is because we are not in charge of our minds. Rather our minds are in charge of us. We, a conscious being, are dominated by our conditioning.
This is why the practice of meditation is important.
Every time we meditate, we dissolve more and more conditioning. We get off autopilot and take over the path our ship is cruising on.
As we let go of more and more of our reflexive thinking, we start to take charge of our own minds, and our reality, slowly, creakingly, turns around for us.
Of course, this is not easy.
Yet, it’s not much fun living a scattered and chaotic life either.
Until our awareness comes to the surface, we can’t really expect to improve our health, boost our finances, or be able to calm the storms of a relationship. Our dreams are always one step ahead of us, lost in the mist of “someday I will…”
The path is simple. Learn a method of meditation and practice it.
The path is also difficult. You have to learn and you have to practice.
The reward, however, is immense. Increased self-awareness, increased control of your mind, and increased appreciation and meaning of your own self and life.
In many religious traditions, we are often said to be asleep.
What exactly does this mean?
It means that we are almost wholly unconscious. We think and act in ways that are not in our best interests.
A conscious person is an aware person and awareness is something that comes when we release the subconscious programs that run our lives.
A brief review of yesterday will show you how your notion of self-control and inner mastery is pretty much an illusion.
If meditation is not your thing, then try contemplation, sitting in silence, quietly reflecting on who you are and what it is that is important to you.
A daily routine where you work on raising your awareness will do you a world of good. It will, in fact, change your world, placing you in one more favorable to your interests.
Saleem Rana would love to share his inspiring ideas with you. Hunting everywhere for a life worth living? Discover the life of your dreams. His F.R.E.E book tells you how. http://www.theempoweredsoul.com/enter.html
An Evening With An Enlightened Man
It was a quiet night by the Ganges as the young man sat on the steps and watched the sun set over the holy waters.
Despite the beauty of the scene, he did not appreciate it.
The lilting cadence of the bathers chatting loudly seemed far away, and even their playful splashing of each other did not amuse him.
Someone started chanting a bhajan about Krishna and the gopis and others soon joined him until their happy voices slapped on the shores of the river and made the mosquitoes pause in midair.
This only irritated the young man more. He was worried about his job how little it paid and how he was going to pay for the rent for his 250 rupee room.
He was also lonely and wanted to get married, but what good family would accept someone who spent most of his time serving in a tea stall.
A holy man came and sat by him. He was only wearing sacred ash from head to toe.
“You seem troubled, young man,” said the man, almost jovially.
Soon they began talking and the young man poured out his heart. He learned that the holy man, who spoke very well, had once been a college professor at the University of Allahabad. Then, one day, after he had given a lecture on the philosophy of renunciation he had decided to pursue what he most desired, the quest for enlightenment.
After many years, one night, as he was stroking a stray cat and the two had been sitting for hours under a banyan tree, he understood his true nature and an immense peace filled his life and miracles happened to him spontaneously from then on.
The young man listened impatiently, feeling increasingly irritated.
Finally, in exasperation, the young man said, “I don’t understand how you can be either enlightened or happy. You have even less than I. You don’t even have any clothes and you don’t even know where your next meal is going to come from.”
Suddenly serious, the sadhu said:
“It’s tempting to believe that your problems are real and that your life is hard and that things are simply not going your way.
“After all, isn’t that what everybody else thinks, too?
“It’s a great temptation to believe in yourself as a limited being.
“And everyone will back you up. The newspapers will. The TV will. Your neighbors will.
“How long are you going to let this painful delusion continue?
“You’ve read the great books. You’ve heard the avatars. You’ve walked on the path yourself. You know.
“You know that you’re pure energy.
“You also know that your reach is infinite. You can be, have, and do anything that you choose. You have the power. Right now its turned back on itself and being used to create limitations for yourself.
“Your imaging power is how you express your infinite power.
“All ideas of limitations are an illusion fostered by the mind.
“And you can’t fall back on science either to confirm your limitation.
“Because what physicists say is that there is nothing but energy everywhere and that matter only seems solid but isn’t really. It’s just that the atoms clump together and the electrons spin so fast that even I look like a real thing.
“Of course, it’s fine to keep seeing yourself as “just human” but it’s not going to last for very long. Sooner or later, you’ll drop your body and be faced with your energy form. I just think it’s easier to admit it now and see how you can go around expressing your spiritual power while you’re still in this dimension.”
“Yes,” said the young man, “I think I understand.”
“What do you understand?” challenged the sadhu.
“I understand that I can be, have, and do anything that I choose because I have the power. The only reason that I don’t recognize it is because I misuse it to limit myself to the extreme.”
“Yes,” said the holy man, pleased. “The world for you is only the images you hold in your mind; change your images and you change the world for you.”
“One thing I don’t understand, though,” said the young man. “Why did you give up everything a fine education, an excellent job, and a devoted family? Why? Was it worth such a heavy price for enlightenment?”
“Yes, because it led up to that moment under the banyan tree with the cat that I mentioned earlier.”
“What is this enlightenment? What happened?”
“I caught a glimpse of the infinite.”
Saleem Rana would love to share his inspiring ideas with you. Hunting everywhere for a life worth living? Discover the life of your dreams. His book, Never Ever Give Up is offered at no cost to stimulate your success. http://www.theempoweredsoul.com/enter.html
The Gift
Give yourself the gift of laughter, song, and love. Touch your life with your own magnificence. You are the ocean. Life itself. You are everything that you were meant to be. Touch your own soul; become whole once more.
Everything is the way it is. Let yourself see it as it is. Free yourself from the delusions of despair.
You cannot save the world from it’s nightmares, but you can save yourself; and in doing this, you will salvage the world; for it will see your clear light and hear your clear call.
What if you don’t have everything you need right now? Who you are is pure gold. You are the incarnation of abundance. It is right here where you are. Each part of your body is sacred, a miracle of life. And your mind is the greatest thing ever known among all living forms in the history of creation.
When you walk, you grace the earth itself with your presence. Who are you is the gift of life itself. How many more sunrises will it take before you allow yourself to celebrate the miracle of you?
You have lots to give and lots to share.
All lack, limitation, negativity, scarcity are the delusions you entertain to hide your own glory from yourself. And as you suffer through these things, you bring them into physical actuality. Free your energy, your mind, your life from these parasites of thought.
Instead, use your power and get everything you want when you want it. How? By learning how to love, by learning how to sing, by learning how to be yourself fully and completely, without inhibition.
Release yourself from the burden of what might have been. Allow the future to be as it will. Everything you want is here right now. What can be a greater blessing than life itself. To be, just to be, is glory itself. Take this moment to contemplate your own unique expression. Take the next one to celebrate it forever.
Yes, just be. Just be whoever you are. Just be yourself. And celebrate! For the rest of your days.
Not a moment can be grasped and held; not a step can be retraced. As you dance through your dramas of life, remember only this singular truth: you are the magnificence of all life.
Everything that exists filters itself through your senses. Can you celebrate the delicious moment? Or will it pass away as you evoke the hell of your sorrows and damn the cheerful lightness of the air all around you?
Give yourself the gift, before another moment has slipped away.
What is the gift?
The gift is you, my friend; just YOU. For never ever again in all of time and space will there ever be another even remotely like you.
May you be well and happy.
Saleem Rana would love to share his inspiring ideas with you. Hunting everywhere for a life worth living? Discover the life of your dreams. His book, Never Ever Give Up is offered at no cost to stimulate your success. http://www.theempoweredsoul.com/enter.html
Resolving The Paradox Between Psychology And Spirituality
It seems that there is a contradiction between the psychology of transcendence and the spiritual idea of transcendence.
Psychologists believe that through the proper application of intelligence and self-cognition one can have a full and enjoyable life, with wealth, health, and a great relationship, as well as a sense of communal belonging and contribution.
Those in spiritual groups, in particular of an eastern orientation, believe that one has to get rid of the lustful ego that craves only fleeting things and to unify with divine consciousness.
The most popular compromise to resolve this seeming paradox is that you have to build up the self and let it go. In Vedic philosophy this is expressed as becoming a householder in the first stages of life then retiring to pursue transcendence.
Yet most believe, because of cognitive dissonance, that they should choose one view or the other.
Thus, there are those who believe that they should be worldly and experience the world as it appears to be.
Then there are those who believe that they should reject the world and dedicate themselves to getting out of the misery of the cycle of birth and death.
Here is another way of understanding this paradox.
The self is a transcendent consciousness. It is not limited to a particular body or a particular lifetime. Because it is not anything in particular, the “I” is not an “it.” This is why Buddhists say there is “no-self.”
Similarly, the world itself is entirely illusory. I don’t mean this metaphorically or even psychologically. At the subatomic level, again there is no substance. There are just probability patterns that literally flit in and out of existence! For example, an electron can appear under an observing instrument then disappear, then reappear again. There literally is no stuff! This is why the Vedantists say that the world is Maya, or illusory.
Yet to all purposes, on the macroscopic level, both an intelligent being and an intelligible world appear to exist.
On this level, personal growth and advancement is necessary, not because it means anything on a cosmic scale, but because there is literally nothing else to do with this adventure of life. You can either resist evolution and suffer all kinds of lack or you can embrace evolution and the refining of mind and enjoy fulfillment of resources and experiences.
Thus, when you look at things from the view of levels of perception, all contradictions disappear, just as the contradiction of day and night disappears when you understand that the sun and earth are in a cosmic dance.
It is possible to be engaged in the world and to actually enjoy it and at the same time to enjoy meditation and contemplation to experience the inner sky of blissful freedom. It is by no means an easy path, but after a while, they will support each other. Material success and harmonious relationships will give you the opportunity to retreat to your inner work. Similarly your inner work will contribute to your increase of abundance and maintaining a loving relationship with others.
Saleem Rana would love to share his inspiring ideas with you. Hunting everywhere for a life worth living? Discover the life of your dreams. His book, Never Ever Give Up is offered at no cost to stimulate your success. http://www.theempoweredsoul.com/enter.html