“I have lived on the lip of insanity, searching for reason. I was knocking at the door, it opens, I was knocking from the inside.” – Rumi

Is it real or is it imagined?

Well, it all depends upon your level of awareness. When you woke up this morning, you may have remembered last night’s dreams. They may have been wonderful or confused, romantic or scary, it doesn’t matter. As soon as you were awake you realized they were just dreams, something the mind created, they weren’t real and you let them go. The great Enlightened Masters tell us that this life, which we call our waking reality, is also just another form of dreaming, something conjured up by the mind, a mistake of the intellect, and one day we’ll also awaken from this dream to the reality of our true Self.

In ancient Vedic times, the Rishis referred to illusion as Maya or that which is not. However, this is often misunderstood and thought to mean that this world we live in doesn’t exist. Obviously, on one level it does exist, just as when we were dreaming last night, the big dog that was chasing us, existed at the time. Maya is when we superimpose an idea or memory onto something else and create a different reality from what’s truly there. In India there’s the story of the ignorant man sees a rope on a dark road and shouts, “snake, snake”. When light is brought, he realizes it was just a rope. The rope didn’t change, it was always a rope it was only the man’s mistake that created the illusion of a snake. Maya is the contraction of a consciousness that should be fully expanded, all-knowing. It’s when we look around and experience all the thousands of individual objects, but miss the one Pure Consciousness that connects them all as part of the eternal Wholeness. The poet Robert Frost expressed it beautifully when he wrote, “We dance around the ring and suppose, while the secret sits in the middle and knows”. Ultimately, anything we can experience with our senses or imagine, isn’t Real in the true sense. We identify with what we are not. Our spiritual journey is to bring the light, to step out of boundaries and enjoy the Unlimited Freedom of the Real.

Our path from the unreal to the Real is actually quite simple. We don’t have to learn anything new, the Truth is who we are. Our spiritual journey is just remembering and recognizing who we really are. In forgetting the Real, we have created our world of illusions.

The Vedic texts of India, describe several illusions or, delusions.

  1. The delusion of limitations of space. This leads us to the mistake that, “I am here and not everywhere”. Certainly our individual, limited consciousness is only here but, when we tap into the Unified Field of Pure Consciousness, which permeates the whole universe, we are instantly equally present in any part of the Field. There’s nowhere where we are not. The delusion is that we live in a localized universe, whereas our essential nature is pure, non-local space.
  2. The delusion of time gives the impression that “I was born, grow old and will die, that there is a future and a past”. When we learn to be completely present in this moment, to be in the NOW, time becomes merely a concept and ceases to have any hold on us. We realize that everything is actually happening at the same time but at different frequencies. The delusion of a linear, time-bound universe, gives way to our true, timeless, eternal nature.
  3. The delusion of the limitations of attachment creates the thinking that “I need this to be complete in some way”. When we trust that every moment is complete in itself, we step into the freedom of life. The sun rises, the sun sets, it’s impossible to hold onto the day or night. Enjoy what comes and be at peace with what doesn’t.
  4. The delusion of limitations of knowledge leads us to believe that “I know this but I don’t know that”. By tapping into the field of Infinite Possibilities, we access a state of all knowing, where everything exists as pure potential waiting to be enlivened merely by the touch of our attention.
  5. The delusion of the limitation of creativity tells us “I can do this but not that”. There is nothing more creative than the mind of God, just look around at nature. We all have the potential for anything. Everything we could ever want is right here, now, we just need to open ourselves to the Field of Infinite Possibilities and learn to enjoy what God has already created for us.
  6. The delusion of fear. The delusion that there is something to be afraid of, is perhaps the most insidious of all. All negative emotions – anger, hatred, judgments, aggression, racial intolerance, ultimately stem from fear. The delusion of fear is the tool used by despotic leaders to gather the deluded behind them. Fear only exists when Love is absent. There is nothing that can ever harm us except the shadows we create in our own minds. With the understanding Ahum Brahmasmi, “I am the Universe”, “I am the Totality”, what could we possibly fear?

When we become ensnared in these illusions, we suffer. All suffering is a result of not knowing who we really are, leaving us to live a life of doubt, confusion, pain and frustration. Suffering itself is an illusion!

As Always, There’s a Choice

Most of us struggle to fix the illusions. While we are stuck in the illusion we try to make it as comfortable as possible. However, apathy is not a solution. When we see others suffering, we must do what we can to help. Bodhisattvas and other enlightened teachers have taken on this service of helping the ignorant to awaken. However, if we become attached to the illusions we ride the roller-coaster of pain and pleasure for many lifetimes.

We can step out of the illusion. The great mystic Osho said, “When you are absolutely dissatisfied with things as they are, only then do you go in search, only then do you start rising higher. Only then do you make the effort to pull yourself out of the mud”.

We can choose to live the true qualities of life, expanding our view of reality and effortlessly move beyond the illusion. We can transcend the worldly limitations, stepping into the wisdom of the unlimited unknown.

Taking the Step Out

  • Meditate. Meditation is the most powerful tool we have to reconnect with our inner silence and rediscover who we really are.
  • Make a list of all the limiting beliefs you hold on to, which prevent you from living life in fullness. These are the excuses and illusions you create for yourself, which block your spiritual progress. Things like, “I’m too old, I’m too small, I’m not smart enough, I’ll never be enlightened”. Then ask yourself, “What are these delusions, these limitations preventing me from doing?” Release them.
  • Become the witness periodically throughout the day, observe your thoughts, your emotions, your actions. Then ask yourself who is observing? The observer is the Real you.
  • Observe your breath the illusion takes us into the past or the future, the Real you is in the NOW. Your breath can never be in the future or past, it’s always in the present. During the day, pause and simply be aware of your breath.
  • Neti, Neti is literally saying, “not this, not this”. During the day pause, touch, taste, hear, smell or look at something and remind yourself, “this is not real”.
  • Find your Light. Find your Truth your purpose and live it. The path that is shown by your Light is the only path that is right for you.

Life is like a movie. Physical death doesn’t end the movie it’s just a intermission before the next episode begins. In a Cosmic sense, what we call being awake, sleeping and dreaming is actually the Cosmic Dream. Physical death is the Cosmic Deep Sleep, from which we are roused to another Cosmic Dream. Enlightenment is the Cosmic Waking State. We are limited or unlimited by how we choose to think. Instead of wondering if you’ll ever be Enlightened, start living it!