What is real - What is an illusion

Originally Posted by lemex

So I was wondering if it is more complete, is there any thing permanent or is everything illusion and nothing even beyond Advaita that should be included.

Advaita is only a pointer and what it points to - Consciousness - is absolute, infinite, unchanging, not transient.

Originally Posted by lemex

So I was wondering if it is more complete, is there any thing permanent or is everything illusion and nothing even beyond Advaita that should be included.

Who is this 'I' that 'decides' what is an illusion or not, what is real or not? Who is this 'I' uses the word 'ultimate'? Who is this 'I' that is interested?

That is the illusion of illusions.

[lostsoul13]

Separation is the root of pain…

We must go through a lot of life lessons: but the growth will be predominant..

[MikeS80]

Originally Posted by movingalways

...Therefore, in order to realize the Real Self, one needs to drop the illusion of separation. All wisdom scriptures and wisdom spiritual books are written with this one goal in mind. And when they have served their purpose, they are put aside.

From a non duality perspective, the subject (brahman, god etc) is not separate nor any different from the object (physical reality, form, etc).

The only illusion or maya is having an opposite perspective of the above and the stressful, negative and incorrect sense and belief of/in self, aka the I-maker or ahamkara. Any and all the stressful, negative and incorrect sense and belief of/in self, aka the I-maker or ahamkara is not (my)self.

Generally speaking, mind, body, thoughts, form, duality etc are not the issue. Making them an issue in the first place, is a dualistic negative. The issue is having an incorrect dualistic separate mindset and perspectives.

[MikeS80]

Originally Posted by iamthat

How do you suggest people do this?

You dismiss and negate what is not self/I/me, as opposed to dismissing and negating the self/the I/me. This is what the Buddha taught....

You simply keep reminding yourself that anything and everything that is stressful, negative etc is not me/I. This is how you get rid of clinging/attachments. All clinging/attachments are the cause of all suffering. Separation, the stressful, the negative etc is what creates all dualistic perspectives and thinking, by dualistic perspectives and thinking, I mean thinking and having perspectives in terms of opposites, where there are opposites.

What creates opposites is having the perspective that opposites of the good and positive exists and that these opposites are true, when in reality, the good and positive have no opposites, the good and positive stand on their own, without the bad and negative.

[MikeS80]

Originally Posted by snowyowl

My sticking point here is, if all of my perception is hallucination, how do I realise the Absolute, if not via perception?

The term perceptual reality is a bit misleading, when used and taken literally at face value. Perceptual reality is the personal way a person views reality and most of the time, people personally view reality incorrectly with their imaginations for an infinite number of reasons.

Absolute reality, is reality without a person using his/her imagination. To give an example,
perceptual reality is mistakingly perceiving a rope as a snake with one's imagination, whilst, absolute reality is perceiving the rope as it is- as a rope. Viewing perceptual reality and absolute reality in this way makes more sense, and creates zero confusion, misunderstandings and paradoxes.

As I said many times here on this forum, the subject (brahman, god etc) is not separate in any way, shape or form from the object (physical universe, form etc). The #1 problem I see on this forum is people separate absolute reality from the physical universe, from and etc, when they are not separate.

EDIT: the imagination is what creates all illusions, delusions and hallucinations, it makes absolutely no sense at all to say (absolute) reality creates them. Pun intended.

[Miss Hepburn]

Originally Posted by MikeS80

You simply keep reminding yourself that anything and everything that is stressful, negative etc is not me/I. This is how you get rid of clinging/attachments. All clinging/attachments are the cause of all suffering.

Thanks for the reminder --ha, even before my coffee!

[Unseeking Seeker]

What an interesting topic! I’ll leave these lines to accept or reject* (*since I can’t ‘prove’ it), as a direct recognition ~

Vast, shimmering space
reveals it’s white face,
self-existent light,
visible to sight.

Our crystallised form
chooses to conform
with this offered clue,
that in heart rings true.

Space, the noumena;
form, phenomena.
Body, a mirror;
ego, our error.

Originally Posted by Unseeking Seeker

Space, the noumena;
form, phenomena.
Body, a mirror;
ego, our error.

Very Kantian (Transcendental Idealism).

[Unseeking Seeker]

Originally Posted by JustASimpleGuy

Very Kantian (Transcendental Idealism).

I know ~ Ironically, I’ve never read Kant, other than watching a short PowerPoint type presentation.

Alright ~ the details …poetry is always metaphorical ~ in stillness, the ‘fabric of space’ itself flickers, then yields, revealing self-luminous bright, yet soft, white light, alive, aglow, vibrant, full. Attention fulcrum shifts between body and void. The body apparatus reveals to the living light, it’s innate luminescence, acting just like a mirror.

Ah! Cannot elaborate more than this. Analysis is paralysis.