What is the greatest illusion?

[TurkeyOnRye]

I believe in God and I also believe that life consist of many things, including a grand illusion. What do you see as this grand illusion? What is life's greatest illusion?

I would say the greatest illusion is limitation.

 

[rsd]

I would say the greatest illusion is limitation.

I would also agree with that. At times I remember these dreams where I am doing the most intricate and advanced things. But then I wake up and it's just me, with so many limitations. But if I was so limited, how was I just able to weave an delicate fabric by hand. Where did that come from? There are so many kinds of limitations that we self-inflict on ourselves.

 

[St Giordano Bruno]

I am not a solipsist, but if I am wrong and they are right then the greatest illusion would be everything.

 

[idav]

This kind of puts it into words. Not even sure what to make of all of this. Heck, I can't get anyone to even understand what I am saying. Even so, call me a fool but this is why I say that "reality is the greatest illusion."

I know what you mean. I find it fascinating that atoms are about 99% empty space so at times I'm surprised we see anything at all. Still doesn't mean atoms dont exist. It is just our unique way of perceiving it and every species is unique in that respect. The atoms certainly are working together and putting something together for us to hold onto so that seems to be fairly significant. That we even know this stuff is pretty interesting.

 

[St Giordano Bruno]

One of the greatest illusions for millennia was the flat earth. For millions of years our ancestors just naturally assumed it was flat and never questioned it because it looked flat, but the sheer scale of this earth only creates an illusion it is flat like a hypothetical intelligent microbe clinging to the skin of an apple would assume it is flat. Anyone who dared to suggest it may be a spherical would have been ridiculed for such a preposterous assumption of their times because up and down were considered to be absolutes.

 

[elmarna]

That of which the human mind creates!

 

[blackout]

The subjective/objective overlay
through which every human views life
is shiftable.

Most see it as a static thing though.
Don't even know the overlay exists,
or that they can dislodge and shift it.
(shift assemblage points/paradigm shift)

All human illusions of "reality",
of "how things are"
stem from the grand illusion that
"this is the way things are" because,
this is how I see it.


Which of course,
is how I see it.

 

[rsd]

I know what you mean. I find it fascinating that atoms are about 99% empty space so at times I'm surprised we see anything at all. Still doesn't mean atoms dont exist. It is just our unique way of perceiving it and every species is unique in that respect. The atoms certainly are working together and putting something together for us to hold onto so that seems to be fairly significant. That we even know this stuff is pretty interesting.

That first Matrix movie blew me away. The first one. It was as if whoever made that movie DID UNDERSTAND what I was getting at. I have tinnitus. That means that I hear a unique, loud ring in my ears 24/7. From being around loud sounds too much (I built furniture. Lots of noise). Anyhow, I tune it out. I forget about it for days on end. But if I stop at any given moment I can hear this really loud siren. But then I tune it out and it goes away. That is kind of an illusion, that it's not there, but it really is. As I wrote in my rather long posting, I perceive how I am so tuned out (not by choice) that I am naturally and 100% satisfied; comfortable; in bed with; warm with; cozy up to; and almost love, what I call "life," - but if I stop at any given moment I get the eerie suspicion that I am actually just a conscious perception "in the back of my skull" (according to scientist). Seriously, I have been thinking about this for a LONG time. But it doesn't possess me. Maybe because of my tinnitus which forces me to come in and out of THAT reality/illusion ...perhaps I have been inadvertently led to contemplating the greater reality that surround me. But again, it is SO easy to just slip into this set-up of the brain and senses that we just don't give it any thought. But at least I try to stop myself. I look "across the room " and see a desk; a fan; a light; a bookshelf. I just heard a click behind me. The a/c started; another lamp, a hat, my foot on the floor; inside a room - but stop. Inside WHAT exactly? Entertain the possibility that "I" am really inside something else. I am as cozy with this reality as a tick on a dog. I can touch, pick it up, smell it, taste it, feel it. What in the heck to they mean: that sight takes place in a region in the back of the brain? I'm not in some region in the back of my brain. I'm in my living room, fool! But enter the OTHER senses. Inject them, infuse them, intertwine, wind and let them all exist together in the sphere I call reality and guess what? Talk about an illusion. I think someday when I die I might then understand what I am trying to say. It is not easy to even write about.

 

[Blackheart]

Just think how different the world would be if everyone did believe that the devil did exist and that one day we would be judged for every deed. Surely the world would be a much better place if we all genuinely feared the consequences of our selfish actions.

 

[Vinayaka]

Just think how different the world would be if everyone did believe that the devil did exist and that one day we would be judged for every deed. Surely the world would be a much better place if we all genuinely feared the consequences of our selfish actions.

So living in fear is better than not living in fear? You'd rather be in a war zone than in some tranquil cabin nestled in the mountains?

 

[Willamena]

Just think how different the world would be if everyone did believe that the devil did exist and that one day we would be judged for every deed. Surely the world would be a much better place if we all genuinely feared the consequences of our selfish actions.

Another good illusion...

 

[Breathe]

Just think how different the world would be if everyone did believe that the devil did exist and that one day we would be judged for every deed. Surely the world would be a much better place if we all genuinely feared the consequences of our selfish actions.

This is not a debate area, but I am curious why you believe one needs a devil in order to know of their consequences?

 

[Willamena]

Hm...just read on the Net a bit about monism. No, I haven't really given it much thought but I do believe in one Supreme Being and I belive that this one God hold everything together, like pearls strung on a thread. Does that fit the definition of a monist?

As long as there exists something other than the one, then no.

The picture of living in a picture of the world is the world, is a picture, is the world.

 

[Blackheart]

This is not a debate area, but I am curious why you believe one needs a devil in order to know of their consequences?

Im just saying that if you knew the fire would burn you then you wouldnt put your hand in it.

As nice as we all think we are we really are collectively selfish and are motivated by self interest otherwise there wouldnt be such a thing as poverty in the world.

 

[YmirGF]

I am thanking everyone for their input!

Well, hopefully you will allow a bit from another old fool.

Having contemplated aspects of this question on and off since 1965, I am going to try to explain what I feel is the greatest illusion.

You must be a fossil, I've only been at it since 1974, so you have me beat. I was 18 when I first started peeling back the layers.

[brevity snip]

This kind of puts it into words. Not even sure what to make of all of this. Heck, I can't get anyone to even understand what I am saying. Even so, call me a fool but this is why I say that "reality is the greatest illusion."

Ya dang foo', take a breath and go change your Depends.

Seriously though, I really enjoyed what you wrote. Don't worry, some of us understand. Years ago I found myself crafting a phrase that went, "Consciousness is a bubble, you mold your world around." Somehow, I think that mirrors what you are trying to say. Unlike others, I do not believe that "self" is an illusion and am a subscriber to the theory of Oneness, of which the inter-relation of all events (or idea construction), is a subset. I know I am real, I'm just not so sure about the rest of you, LOL.

Overall though, keep writing. So far, I like what I see. It's nice to see others pushing the envelope of understanding.
Reality is the putty consciousness uses to amuse itself.

 

[rsd]

You must be a fossil, I've only been at it since 1974, so you have me beat. I was 18 when I first started peeling back the layers. Overall though, keep writing. So far, I like what I see. It's nice to see others pushing the envelope of understanding.quote]

In 1965 I dropped out of college in Upstate NY and headed for Southern California. Four of us were living in this trailer we bought for under $40. It ended up getting condemned by the health department. Not a mobile home but a really old travel trailer that you take camping. It was sway back. We towed it about 50 miles. I remember that. But the refrig. worked. We parked it in this nasty trailer park in Orange, CA. To get the health dept. off our backs we painted it hospital white with red trim. Ed Riddle, myself, Ken and Drew lived in it. Nealy 20 years later Ed got hired by Steve Jobs and became part of the original Mac team. Ed's contribution was the keyboard. So we talked a lot trying to figure out things. But who doesn't?

 

[St Giordano Bruno]

I think the truly greatest illusion is the illusion of time, because so many people assume it is absolute and the present is the soul seat of reality which is a complete fallacy. Time exhibits no energy or mass it is just an illusion that some entity is flowing like water down a river. Time is no more than a static dimension like the other three physical dimensions we are accustomed to in the real world.

I can recall a British sitcom, One Foot in the Grave when Victor was speaking of this in bed with his wife Margaret, and he said
"When you think about it, nothing ever exists, in fact. I was working this out in the post office as I was waiting for that woman to finish twanging her elastic bands. The future doesn't exist because it hasn't happened yet; the past doesn't exist because it's already over. But the present doesn't exist, because as soon as you start to think about it it's already in the past, which doesn’t exist any more."

I was quite happy to find these few lines of the script on the internet. But I think he has missed the point a bit because every exists, even events in the past have not diminished their existence because we deem them to be in the past. To me it would be a akin to travelling from London to some mysterious destination by train and while you are half way you assume London no longer exists because you have left it and that mysterious destination doesn't exist because you have not reached it yet, in which turns out to be Birmingham, but you were not to know that until your arrival. Kind of like someone living in the 1920’s believes the Great War doesn’t exist because it is history and any future impending war does not exist because it is in their future, which eventually pans out to be World War 2. But just because they have not reached it yet doesn’t diminish its reality jus as not knowing know you were heading to Birmingham does not diminish the reality of that place.

 

[rsd]

I think the truly greatest illusion is the illusion of time...I can recall a British sitcom, One Foot in the Grave when Victor was speaking of this in bed with his wife Margaret, and he said, "When you think about it, nothing ever exists, in fact. I was working this out in the post office as I was waiting for that woman to finish twanging her elastic bands. The future doesn't exist because it hasn't happened yet; the past doesn't exist because it's already over. But the present doesn't exist, because as soon as you start to think about it it's already in the past, which doesn’t exist any more."

Excellent!

 

[Koldo]

I believe in God and I also believe that life consist of many things, including a grand illusion. What do you see as this grand illusion? What is life's greatest illusion?

The grand illusion is to think there is a grand illusion.

 

[religion99]

My biased answer , by the order of number of people deluded by it:

Christianity: 2.1 billion
Islam: 1.5 billion
Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist: 1.1 billion
Hinduism: 900 million
Chinese traditional religion: 394 million
Buddhism: 376 million
primal-indigenous: 300 million
African Traditional & Diasporic: 100 million
Sikhism: 23 million
Juche: 19 million
Spiritism: 15 million
Judaism: 14 million
Baha'i: 7 million
Svetambara Jainism: 4.75 million
Shinto: 4 million
Cao Dai: 4 million
Zoroastrianism: 2.6 million
Tenrikyo: 2 million
Neo-Paganism: 1 million
Unitarian-Universalism: 800 thousand
Rastafarianism: 600 thousand
Scientology: 500 thousand