Article # 10 – What about Illusion?

Illusion is everything that is not Reality. If Reality is thought of as everything that IS, then everything else is nothing. Everything else must be only an illusion of something.

Illusion is founded upon the belief in opposites, ‘good’ is only thought of as being opposite to ‘bad’, with an infinite number of degrees separating one from the other, such as very good – very bad, healthy – sick, very healthy – very sick, wealthy – poor, very wealthy – very poor.

These degrees of separation only appear meaningful within the context of illusion. They have no relationship to Reality at all.

There is no place where Reality and illusion actually touch.

There is no place where Light touches darkness.

The Light shines the darkness away, and the darkness is seen no more. The darkness, having changed, was never a part of Reality.

The world of illusion is founded upon opposites, founded upon the belief in separation. Good separated from bad, healthy separated from sick, wealthy separated from poor. No matter how far we might move away from one, we will always take a little bit of it with us as we move toward its opposite.

An old saying goes something like ‘there’s always a little bad with the good and always a little good with the bad.’

The world of illusion is subject to continual change, nothing ever seems to stay constant. This perception clearly puts illusion at odds with Reality, which is never-changing.

In fact, this one distinction may be very helpful in clarifying what it is we are focusing upon. If our object of attention is capable of being changed, then we are not focusing upon Reality, but only illusion.

If we focus upon a physical body, we may note that it can change, and so, simply by definition, we are focused on illusion, because it can change.

Try applying this guideline to the various things you may find yourself focusing upon throughout the day, or, perhaps, just starting with a one-minute exercise. Notice what you are focusing on, if it can be changed, then you know it is part of the world of illusion, and is only a witness to separation.

Is this really where we want to place our focus? Can any sense of happiness be found in illusion?

Can any sense of fulfillment be found in illusion?

Well, maybe for a brief period of time, but do we really have the right to expect any more than a brief moment of happiness, a brief moment of fulfillment? If this is what we expect, then this is most likely what we will attract into our experiences.

We seem to be living in a world that is solid and fixed, even though it is constantly changing, a world that we can hardly effect with our meager efforts. We seem to be trapped here in this world of illusion with no way out, no sure escape.

This world of illusion has no substance to it. It has no cause except for a mistake, and a mistake cannot be cause for anything other than another mistake. Once the mistake has been corrected, this world of illusion will no longer be accorded any notice at all, for it was never really real, it was never a part of Reality.

We have invested rather heavily in this world of illusion. We made it by our desire to have it. Now we seem to have it and can’t get rid of it. We seek and seek and seek some more to find something of value here, and then, when we do seem to find some little speck of value here, it up and vanishes into thin air, leaving us disappointed, confused, and often quite angry at the disillusionment. And this disillusionment is the cornerstone of this whole world of illusion.

Illusion is nothing real. It is nothing of which to be fearful. It is nothing at all, nothing at all. Only our belief in it, as if it were real, gives it the illusion of being real. Within this simple statement, lies our way out of this world of separation, this world of illusion.

Please join me next time for “One Problem-One Solution”.

Author: Charles Henry, MS, DD,© 2009

Director: FondationforWellBeing.org