Living with Illusions
I often say that Life is a journey that is both eventful and utterly pointless at the same time. Life is indeed a series of illusions; some that we create of our own accord and many others that we find littered along the road that leads to salvation. I have often said that no matter how false and dreamy the illusions in our life may be, man needs to actively be a part of their fallacy if he is to survive. But how can man truly strike a balance in this situation? How can man actively be a part of the illusion and yet be in touch with reality? The answer to that question is indeed what true spirituality is all about.
Living with illusions does not necessarily mean that an individual as to be completely ignorant of the reality of life. You may be surrounded by people who praise; people who endlessly rave about your achievements. Now enjoying this flattery and the shallow gratification of the ego that it yields is to be expected. But yet within himself, the seeker should always be aware of where he truly stands. Praise and dispraise are both relative. They are fickle; what people think of you is necessarily based on the perception that the people have about your life; and most importantly their intelligence as well.
Thus the first key to living with illusions is to always be aware of where YOU stand. This awareness or this knowledge is not something that is drawn from outside; it is something that comes from within. I am not saying that you don’t acknowledge the praise or enjoy the flattery. Do that to your heart’s content, for that in itself often motivates an individual; but be rest assured that people who praise you in this moment can very well stone you to death in the next. Hence their rebuttal or their disapproval should in no way be a demotivating factor for you. Thus it is always prudent to not let your own understanding of yourself be in any way influenced by the world
The aforementioned scenario is but an example. In our day to day life, we see countless such incidences where if we truly introspect, we realize that we were indeed living in delusion. There is no problem with illusions themselves, but for the fact that they cannot last forever. They are but shadows in the twilight and with time are bound to pass away. When we latch onto those illusions with all our heart and with all the passion that we have within ourselves, we indeed commit a grave mistake; for when the illusion passes on, with it so does our passion for life. That is indeed a deathly scenario in itself.
At the onset I said that life is a journey that is both eventful and pointless at the same time. That was necessarily owing to the fact that in life we experience many different things; we achieve and acquire all that we wish for in our worldly life; and yet someday, we all sit back and think. “Why am I doing this? For whom am I doing this? Where would this journey ultimately take me?” That is the grave realization that ultimately dawns upon us when we discover the illusory weave of the human existence.
So how can we live through this illusory dream? Well the answer to that question is one word. Creativity. Live your life as if you were writing a story or painting a fresco. Any artwork is but a series of lies that leads on to a greater truth. Thus should be your life. No matter may be it entrenched and engulfed in illusions, but through your creativity and through your acts of benevolence, you can indeed give this fallacy a master stroke at the end, so that your life ends up being a creation of beauty. A life lived as such would not only make you the happiest person in the world, but it can inspire others as well.
Work through the illusions; work with the illusions; work as an illusion. Point of the matter is, no matter how intricately distractive the dreams may be, just keep walking…
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Tags: human existence, illusions, spirituality
admin | 
May 19, 2010 6:11 am
