The Reality of Illusion

Comprehension is not understanding. One comprehends based on one's knowledge. Knowledge is the limitation of one's experience. One can read volumes of books and have encyclopedic memory. But one may still not have understanding which is the intelligence of the moment. To understand is to look directly at what is and to see the truth without reference to self which comprehends according to opinion and conclusion. What understands is the unconditioned, intelligence that is absent self promotion. The dissipation of the preferential.

Many religious paths and methods refer to illusion. It has become a catch all term to create an air of mysticism and exclusion that defies definition. Religious authority figures use the term freely to excuse there ignorance and confound the faithful. But what is illusion? Magicians create illusion that confound and confuse what we perceive as reality. They seem to make the impossible, possible. The mind is easily deluded into thinking and believing in the ethereal. The mind is seeking escape from perceived reality. Reality is pain, suffering, violence and insecurity. Reality is the pain of seeking pleasure, which is avoidance of the undesirable.

Organized religion is in reality a form of entertainment an escape. We delude ourselves with the prodding of religious authority, into believing that we are seeking the higher self. But what we are in reality doing is adding to our isolation. We are creating more division, resulting in further suspicion and violence. If one see's this as a fact, then it may be possible to understand the nature and reality of illusion.

What is reality? Reality is not a prediction, a wish, a projection. We cannot project reality, yet that is what the mind is engaged in. If one can just observe the movement of thought, one will realize that the mind is constantly formulating, calculating, and concluding its own reality. That reality is stored within the confines of self image. Which is the entity that is the conscious self.
That image is the continuity of thought as time. It is the illusion of past, present and future within the context of minds created reality. Actual reality is the absolute moment, without the projection of opinion and conclusion. It is what is, which can only be realized when time has ceased with the dissipation of the self.

What is the illusion? Obviously it is the self, which is caught in time. Caught in its own self created reality. Reality which is delusional and the source of all conflict, confusion and contradiction. This reality is the prison and isolation of our existence. It is the limitation of thought. If one can have insight into the self and the mechanism of thought, then freedom is possible. Not freedom from the illusion, which is not a reality, but freedom that is found through the negation of self. To move away from an ego/centric living to one of intelligence and understanding. To understand the self is to look straight into the unknown and live without fear. One needs the self to function in society and earn a living, but through understanding one is able to live a life that has no center, that is primarily selfless and at peace.