How many illusions?

If you strip away all of our possessions, and our bodies too (because let's face it - how do you know that your body even belongs to you?) we are all one and the same.

So, how many illusions can you think of that relate to our physical existence?

Birth, death, age, gender, ethnicity, status, past, future, time, wealth - to name a few.

And I'm going to throw another one out there: the belief that thought is not transparent

[psychoslice]

I think I would wrap it all up in one illusion, the illusion of separation, that would cover any perception we have of ourselves.

I think that's a pretty good answer psychoslice

You lost me at posessions :P

Originally Posted by Hez0405

You lost me at posessions :P

Good one.

therefinedmind,

If we take the sun as reality. What we eventually see could be through veils of illusions. The rays of the sun and the sun are not the same thing. The rays have to pass earth's various atmospheric dense refractive layers before it reaches ground level. Now If you see the 'sun' in a bucket of water, that's an added illusion. To cherry top the last layer of this illusion is when the bucket refracts the rays onto a wall. The light produced on the wall is due to the sun but it is not the sun. The sun is the cause of the light.

[ROM]

Illusion is such a poor statement. People who talk about illusion; "everything's an illusion, nothing's real." It's such a negative, weak statement that undermines the validity of this physical experience. Everything is real as far as I'm concerned.

Originally Posted by ***ROM***

Illusion is such a poor statement. People who talk about illusion; "everything's an illusion, nothing's real." It's such a negative, weak statement that undermines the validity of this physical experience. Everything is real as far as I'm concerned.

As far as I'm concerned, discounting another person's opinion ('illusion' is not a statement - it is an opinion that reflects my beliefs) as 'negative and weak' is negative and weak in itself.

I thank you for sharing your opinion, it offers another interesting perspective to think about. But I don't see how my opinion invalidates yours - it's all perspective.

We may be in our body a relatively brief time, but it is definitely ours. It isn't unusual to feel a bit disconnected to our physicality as we expand our boundaries past this physicality. We get adjusted to this new perspective.

Oneness doesn’t require that we shun our individuality or become a homogenous whole. Suzan Carroll describes how SELF (entire energy field) & self (individuality) co-exist within expanded consciousness, ‘It was this “SELF” that chose to send a fragment of its total Essence through the 3D Matrix of forgetfulness to see if it could “do it on its own” as an “individual body.” You did this to experience the process of contracting your consciousness into an individual form and then expanding it consciously back into a multidimensional group form. However, this “new” group form is not a “herd mentality” but is, instead, a group mentality in which the sense of individuality is not lost. Instead, “individuality” lives in “unity” with Oneness.’ http://www.multidimensions.com/Super...awakening.html (My underline.)

Oneness is about connecting w/ others, appreciating & honoring their position & our connectivity to it rather than being the same as them. We can appreciate that we are all on the same journey, but these journeys vary considerably. One of the reasons we are sooooo varied is for us & the Universe to fully explore the human condition. It is said that we play all the roles of humanity at one time or another in our many incarnations.

Our individuality is the varied rich thread w/ which we all weave the ever changing tapestry of the Universe. Our individuality is valued as the Universe seeks to continually expand itself, creating anew. If we were all undifferentiated sameness the tapestry would be one color instead of a beautiful continually varied creation & there wouldn’t really be much point in creating anew. Really boring. Each thread is equally important to achieving the whole picture.

Our existence may be an illusion to a certain extent, but its one we are fully involved in. That we create it or that it is fluid or permeable doesn’t mean it isn’t a very real existance. The word illusion has been very overused by some writers. I may know what it seems they are getting at, but this is seldom explained enough. Another overused metaphysical metaphor is the ‘veil’ in referring to dimensional connectivity.

What do you mean by thought not being transparent? Invisible or unknown to others? The first time I heard that our thoughts extend faaaaaaar beyond our physical body it was a real eyeopener! LOL. At first I felt a bit violated & creeped out, then a bit embarrassed.

Originally Posted by ***ROM***

... People who talk about illusion; "everything's an illusion, nothing's real." ...

‘Illusion’ is an often overused energetic metaphor by many new age type writers. ‘Veil’ is another one. Often these are used as shorthand to explain much more involved concepts, but this often leaves many wondering if it is meant literally or as metaphor. Once one has read enough of these types of writings one can get the gist of it, but much more explanation & precision could really help others understand these ideas.

Because many writers use 'illusion' others also tend to use it.

[psychoslice]

Illusion does not exist. Reality exists as far as day-to-day activities are concerned. Only in the ultimate sense, from the peak of your illumination, does it become unreal, illusory.