Everything is an illusion

I heard a few people talking about the book "The Power of Now"
and saying how everything is an illusion, and some people just
don't get it? Do any of you get it? and if you do get it, could you explain it to me please. Thanks

Do you get it?

Or is this a rhetorical question?

EDIT:

Yes I get it. What they mean by everything being an illusion is basically this:

Your very own infinitely blossoming thought matrix creates and converges into all of the ideas, images, sounds, events, objects, feelings, flavors, sights , colors, everything... of this moment in which you are living. Right here, right now is all that exists. Past and future are an illusion, time is an illusion. It's this whole complex geometrical matrix of being, in which our very "ideas of being" converge into one point, which is this consciousness now.

It's so simple, that when you get it completely, you go "Oh yeah", and you kind of forget it right away because if you kept thinking that each and every thing you experienced was an illusion, what would you really have? I've struggled with the implications of unmasking this illusion completely for a while now. So far, I've come across very little supporting evidence to make me think that this is definitely something people should know.

This isn't such a wonderful discovery to make. Some people discover it harshly through hallucinogens, some people are eased into it through spirituality/religion... but it all comes down to one thing. WE and EVERYTHING are the illusion of ONE never-ending consciousness matrix. I am that matrix...so are you.... and there is no difference. There is no independent being. There is no God other than the ever-ending now.

The question, which ironically I just raised in a brand new thread was.... Who built the matrix and turned it on? Who are these unimaginably advanced beings that contain a whole multi-verse inside a single point (or computer) in which this all continually unfolds in? Is their reality any more solid than ours? Is there a reality that isn't an illusion?

The movie "The Matrix" is quite eerie because I understand it as a metaphor... but while most people think the fictitious work is stranger than the "actual" Matrix (the thought that the metaphor of people plugged intp machines is a sci fi interpretation of media mind control and corporate battery and whatnot), I believe that the truth is a lot stranger and harder to digest than just simply people involuntarily plugged into machines their whole lives. It's quite alien to our rational abilities to understand, and this is why it has been much mystified by religious/spiritual groups. Science cannot prove the existence of it conclusively ever without unwittingly creating another layer of discovery , and religion can only give the willing a glimpse of it without taking away their right to be a sovereign being. It must be something unattainable and elusive, or else existence will lose its meaning. Mystery is the only meaning of existence. It's the only reason we do anything.

The best answers are questions. So I guess your question is better off unanswered. I don't (really want to) know, and maybe it's more enjoyable that way.





[edit on 17-8-2008 by dunwichwitch]

no, I dont get it.
I tryed thinking about it, but it makes no sence to
me, that evrything is an illusion. I dont understand how
that could be true.
Because if everything is an illusion , then where are we really at?

I was hoping that you guys could help
me understand how that could be true.

The Buddist of Tibet says that everything is an illusion. Maybe this person is a Buddist. Ofcourse I really don't see how as if you pricked me with a needle I would feel the pain. And that is not an illusion. Its pain. Which reminds of of the movie Matrix.

my guess is that we are a reflection of higher dimensions that are known(?) to exist. like the Carl Sagan flat ppl analogy. with the apple. I dunno thats my take. there is a 4th, 5th etc, dimension and we only see/are part of it. damn that string theory. life in vain-robert johnson lol

Originally posted by Totalstranger
my guess is that we are a reflection of higher dimensions that are known(?) to exist. like the Carl Sagan flat ppl analogy. with the apple. I dunno thats my take. there is a 4th, 5th etc, dimension and we only see/are part of it. damn that string theory. life in vain-robert johnson lol

Interesting, and leads me to more questions.
when do we get out of the illusion? and see things as they are and not illusions? When do we get to go to higher dimensions? After we "die"?
Are there other places with a bunch of people in the 4th and 5th dimmensions?
After your done with this dimension does evryone
automatically go on to the next higher dimension?

Originally posted by dunwichwitch
There is no God other than the ever-ending now.

The question, which ironically I just raised in a brand new thread was.... Who built the matrix and turned it on?

I have the answer.

It's God. And if you take one step higher on the ladder, you'll see that beyond the Oneness realization is that the Oneness is an entity, that the Matrix as you call it is one being, that we are all nerve endings of it, ventricles of it, we combine to form it, we are its' cellular structure in the physical world. Without us, God has no physical form.
Because..
..God created us in his likeness, and saw that we were good.
Genesis, Chapter 1.

But if one fulls grasps the proposed concept that everything is an illusion, does it matter? Is anything in our personal existences any different?

Originally posted by dunwichwitch
Do you get it?

Or is this a rhetorical question?

EDIT:

Yes I get it. What they mean by everything being an illusion is basically this:

Your very own infinitely blossoming thought matrix creates and converges into all of the ideas, images, sounds, events, objects, feelings, flavors, sights , colors, everything... of this moment in which you are living. Right here, right now is all that exists. Past and future are an illusion, time is an illusion. It's this whole complex geometrical matrix of being, in which our very "ideas of being" converge into one point, which is this consciousness now.

It's so simple, that when you get it completely, you go "Oh yeah", and you kind of forget it right away because if you kept thinking that each and every thing you experienced was an illusion, what would you really have? I've struggled with the implications of unmasking this illusion completely for a while now. So far, I've come across very little supporting evidence to make me think that this is definitely something people should know.

This isn't such a wonderful discovery to make. Some people discover it harshly through hallucinogens, some people are eased into it through spirituality/religion... but it all comes down to one thing. WE and EVERYTHING are the illusion of ONE never-ending consciousness matrix. I am that matrix...so are you.... and there is no difference. There is no independent being. There is no God other than the ever-ending now.

The question, which ironically I just raised in a brand new thread was.... Who built the matrix and turned it on? Who are these unimaginably advanced beings that contain a whole multi-verse inside a single point (or computer) in which this all continually unfolds in? Is their reality any more solid than ours? Is there a reality that isn't an illusion?

The movie "The Matrix" is quite eerie because I understand it as a metaphor... but while most people think the fictitious work is stranger than the "actual" Matrix (the thought that the metaphor of people plugged intp machines is a sci fi interpretation of media mind control and corporate battery and whatnot), I believe that the truth is a lot stranger and harder to digest than just simply people involuntarily plugged into machines their whole lives. It's quite alien to our rational abilities to understand, and this is why it has been much mystified by religious/spiritual groups. Science cannot prove the existence of it conclusively ever without unwittingly creating another layer of discovery , and religion can only give the willing a glimpse of it without taking away their right to be a sovereign being. It must be something unattainable and elusive, or else existence will lose its meaning. Mystery is the only meaning of existence. It's the only reason we do anything.

The best answers are questions. So I guess your question is better off unanswered. I don't (really want to) know, and maybe it's more enjoyable that way.





[edit on 17-8-2008 by dunwichwitch]

Ok, wow, lots to take in and think about ..
How did you come to realize this? books? which ones?
So right now is not an illusion, but 2 seconds after or before that
is an illusion. which then means evrything is an illusion...
You bring up a lot of good questions... I'll have to check out
your matrix thread.
Thank you,

I don't know if I "got" it, but the way I see it u can look at this from (at least) two point of view.

On an individual level I don't think we can speak of everything being an illusion, as we feel, hear, see, and experience life through the "tools" we are given to do so. What we see is what we "experience" as real as there is no other way to see things.

On a higher lever things are different, because you are no longer limited to "observate and experience" only the way your physicall body allows you to . Different "tools" will give different "results" ! So yes..., your life is an illusion !

Now the question I would like to add to this thread if the topic started allows me to is:

Assuming this is correct, can we conclude we have a soul ? And if so.., what is its function or its purpose in this process ?

[edit on 17-8-2008 by Just-Think]

Originally posted by leeza
no, I dont get it.
I tried thinking about it, but it makes no sense to
me, that everything is an illusion. I dont understand how
that could be true.
Because if everything is an illusion , then where are we really at?

I was hoping that you guys could help
me understand how that could be true.

IMO it is the perception of POWER/Lack of POWER that is the ultimate ILLUSION

and societal constructs which creates the scheme of the entire ILLUSION.


For example many famous actors and musicians are not WELL educated by societies standards. In fact most of these people could probably only get near minimum wage
work if not for their "status".They have bypassed many of the standards and hurdles created by man by becoming the part of the illusion... Under educated people who can command a lifetime of money for a couple months of hard work. Receive free things everywhere and warrant special treatment based upon perceptions....

Or what if 100 million people wanted to over throw 100,000 elites?

Aside from nuking all of them what could these 100,000 do???

But the 100,000,000 people do nothing because of laws/fear which is also a construct of man and an illusion.


Anyhow I think this idea can apply to many things...

Hope it helps

Well, it might be an illusion, because there are those that know, and there are those that don't know. Then there are those that don't know that they don't know..

reply to post by leeza


Well, in simple terms, what you consider matter is 99.999999999% empty space. You don't see with your eyes,but your mind. Your eyes are only mechanisms to transmit the signal.

[edit on 17-8-2008 by SpeakerofTruth]

Are there those that are sure that they know, but they'd rather not know because knowing would defeat the whole pleasure of it all when you don't know?

Also... if we are God's body.... We are still God.

If we are God, then the illusion is for us. Never against us. At a certain level, games really piss me off if I get too involved. Even things I want to know give me trouble for a while I a seek to understand the greater relevance of it all.

Sure, I can say lalala song and dance we are God its the Matrix dadada it's an illusion...

But what I will never have any idea of is the purpose behind all of this. What is this God Person going to do when he's all big and strong and smart after cycling through his infinite learning programs an infinite number of times?

This is really where I draw the line and go "Oh well, not even worth thinking about God's objectives."

An interesting thing to note also....

There must be a reality in order for there to exist an illusion. There must be a space for that reality to exist in before this illusion can take place.

Unless you're talking about fractals.... then it's all as much a reality as it is an illusion, just different layers of a constantly changing design that loops and divides into and out of itself infinitely.

Illusion would be the illusion. Reality would be an illusion. The only truth would be whatever designed the fractal. Could a fractal pattern occur naturally from non existence? Okay so we are a fractal designed by God, for who? His son? Wait... okay.... maybe not.

God's son doesn't exist until God creates him... but God's son would look weird if God didn't have an animal shape in mind... like if God's son was this crazy triangle monster or something.... that would be weird.... it's the Crazy Fractal Triangle Monster Jesus -CFTMJ for short.

So God created the Crazy Fractal Triangle Monster Jesus, and then the whatever Triangle Mobster Fratboy Jesus creates like stars and rainbows because he thinks his poop is too scary to be friends with.

The poop was Satan. Satan was a rectangle.... an oblong parallelogram, if you will... A Giant Satanic Fractal Rectangular Oblong Parallelogram Poo....

so pretty much, that's why.

Well a start is, what we see hear, smell, feel everyday, is not really REAL.

It is our brain using tools, such as our eyes, to TRANSLATE the world around us. Thus we are all seeing, hearing things in our head lol.

This is where is get complicated for me, people are so quick to say certain things are hallucinations, like dreams etc.

But when everything we see, dreams, physical world etc is really all in our brains, then what really is real?



[edit on 18-8-2008 by _Phoenix_]

reply to post by leeza



We are traveling souls that have come down here to Earth to learn. Earth is only a school of life. This is one dimension but there are others and it's only on this dimension were we need of a physical body. What we perceive as "real" here is not what real is in other dimension and even here also.
Reality is born with a thought and idea, but eventually we make it a reality on the physical level. We are only and truly souls made of energy. Everything that exists in on Earth and out of her, in the visible world and the invisible world, all creation has energy, is our life force. The bodies are just like the shell of eggs.We borrow this bodies for awhile to live on Earth. Therefore, "death" does not exist. We live eternally traveling through dimensions to learn and grow Only the body dies. Our reality or what we think as 'real" is an illusion. We create our reality only with thought if we wish.But i believe that faith also exist. Like, our personal life and what we are going to do here is already written. Before we come here as humans we are advanced souls that we are aware of the experiences that we need to go through in order to learn so we choose then who we are going to be here, who are parents will be, the kind the life we are going to have all in the name of experience so we can learn as much as we can. But at the same time nothing is set, with our free will and actions we can change our faith. What is real to you it might not be real to me. What's truth to you it may be a lie to me. What's right to you it might be very wrong to me. What you think is being sane it might be insane to me. You see this if you talk with adults mental disabled people. They live not connected to the outside world that you see or call society. Their world is only about what surrounds them. They understand they are like us but that they are not the same as us. They understand and can learn rules. But no matter what we say to them or how we explain things they only believe what's in their minds. Even if we try to teach them every day our way. Not been aware of the outside world makes them insane or disabled. I sometimes separate myself from what's going on outside every day life because is so disgusting that i rather not know. It just makes me sick. Like them I choose to live in my own small world. I disagree with society's way of living life. The way you decide to live life, the kind of people you choose to surround yourself with, your believes, Religion, where you choose to live etc. all that will determent if your life goes one way or the other and the kind of experiences you will have. What you perceive in your mind through your eyes and how you understand it will be your reality but only yours. The life society makes you believe is "normal" life is an illusion, its somebody's evil plan that started with a thought but made it to look like a reality or truth here. Life can be lived totally different. We can survive without all they say we "need" and it dont mean cave man style either. Dont fool yourself thinking there is such a thing as right and wrong, there only exist experiences that you create when you make choices. Yes, there are hard and easy experiences we go through but the secret is that you learn as much as you can from both. Keep what serves you and helps you grow and become wiser, discard the rest and you will see that even if it was a very difficult, painful, hard or whatever you want to call it, at the end you have turn it into a good one. If you learn from it then you cannot say it was a BAD experience, therefore, there isn't RIGHT or WRONG is just what is and nothing has been waisted. Actually you will realize in time that the experiences that you called bad are the ones that have teach you the most and through them you become wiser and then you will bless them. Hope this helped.

Keith Olbermann reported on one show of how it is now believed that there is a 40 percent chance that this is all just an advanced simulation, each one of us an A.I. within a larger system.

Given the Fractal Algorithms that the universe and even life itself operates under, such complexity is often attributed to a "System Governed by Rules, A Prison for You Mind, Neo."

Perhaps we are an Advanced Government Simulation and all the Wars are all just possibilities that are being tested - this could very well be one of the USAF World Simulations and it is so advanced we think it is Real.

Point in fact, Iraq hasn't been invaded and this is just a simulation (one of millions being run concurrently) extrapolating the possible outcome of such an action. This is where the Multiple Universe idea comes from - at some deeper level we are aware that all of this is happening elsewhere.

Our scientist simulations have formed independent networks (Universities) within the larger System and are starting to realize the true nature of the Universe, which Keith Olbermann did a report about. Being unable to acknowledge the Truth, they have created the Multiple Universe Theory, and even Dark matter and Black holes in order to help themselves deny the truth.

Enjoy it while it lasts.

[edit on 19-8-2008 by TruthTellist]

I like twisting around possibilities so this thread is food for thought, even though we will never find out the truth about this subject unless we become all-seeing...

[edit on 19-8-2008 by Copernicus]

reply to post by leeza


There is a wealth of information on the web regarding what Buddhists refer to as "Sunyata". Sunyata, roughly translated, means "emptiness", and similarly, sunya means empty.

Buddhist precepts state that all things are innately empty of true form because of their dependency on factors external to exist. This manifest on various levels:

1. All things, even concepts/thoughts, are subject to a phenomena called "Dependent Arising". Essentially what this describes is a state of physical being that builds upon itself and is dependent upon itself to maintain form. I am Ty, because you are not Ty. In that way, the concept of my personality, and the manifestation of it, are dependent on that which is not my personality.

the table is only known as a table because there are objects which are not tables by which to define the table against. The table is is a table because the chair is not a table. By the same token, the chair is a chair because it is not a table.

In this way, all things known by physical consciousness are subject to cause and effect, dependent arising.


Precepts state that all existence is merely perception of existence. In this way, all beliefs (futures, pasts, even currents) exist in the timeless event we refer to as "now". The future never truly exists because as soon as it is reached it becomes "now". Your experience of past events, and future events, will always be done from the perspective of "now". It is inescapable.

So here you have a very broad definition of innate emptiness of all things (describing the illusional reality you referred to in the OP) and the timesless time of "now", in which all concepts, precepts, and manifestations truly exist and intertwine infinitely.

Im at work, so strapped for time but if ou're still curious let me know, I got alot of info on this and it's fascinating so would definitely love to chat.

reply to post by TruthTellist


That is a fascinating concept! I would be very interested to learn more about that, do you have any god resources for info?