| What is religion? There are many definitions for the | | | | On the level of atoms, a vast space exists between |
| term ""religion"" in common usage. On this web site, | | | | the electrons and the nucleus, and even the |
| we define it very broadly, in order to include the | | | | subatomic particles are not solid bits of matter but |
| greatest number of belief systems: ""Religion is any | | | | transient energy forms that appear and disappear |
| specific system of belief about deity, often involving | | | | and reappear again. It is mainly empty space. |
| rituals, a code of ethics, and a philosophy of life."" | | | | 4. The macroscopic. |
| Thus we include here all of the great monotheistic | | | | On the level of the cosmos, a vast space exists |
| religions, Eastern religions; Neopagan religions; a wide | | | | between stars and moons and planets, gas clouds |
| range of other faith groups, spiritual paths, and ethical | | | | and nebulas and galaxies. The universe, too, is mainly |
| systems; and beliefs about the existence of God(s) | | | | empty space. |
| and Goddess(es). We recognize that most people | | | | 5. The field of all possibilities. |
| define ""religion"" in a much more exclusive manner. | | | | On the level of the consciousness that organizes all |
| Many philosophies hold that the world is an illusion. | | | | things, this world is only another possibility out of an |
| Yet you experience it as real. Which is correct, the | | | | infinite choice. How many worlds with sentient beings |
| idea or the experience? | | | | exist? Is our universe only an electron in a cosmic |
| The world is an illusion. This is a view held by | | | | atom? Given a field of infinite choices, how much |
| Vedanta, Sikhism, Buddhism, Plato, Arthur | | | | weight does one choice hold? |
| Schopenhauer, Christian Science, and A Course In | | | | The idea that the world is real can be argued in the |
| Miracles. | | | | following way. |
| Contradicting this view is your own sense experience | | | | 1. What you are experiencing is real to you. |
| of realness, the constancy of stimulus, the enduring | | | | When you think of the world as an illusion, a sense |
| nature of time and events. | | | | of despair arises because it slights the beauty of |
| Which view is correct? The idea of the illusion or | | | | your realness. It is pleasurable to touch and hold, to |
| your experience of the realness? | | | | see and hear, to act and change things. It is ennobling |
| This answer proposes an objective observer, one | | | | to see the vast sky above your head and feel the |
| who is not part of the system that is being | | | | wind in your hair and hear the squawk of a passing |
| observed. Newton held that time is absolute. Einstein | | | | bird. It means much for us to be here and to be alive |
| held that it is relative to the observer. Perhaps that | | | | in this moment. |
| same paradigm shift can be applied to answering the | | | | Neither science nor philosophy can deny the realness |
| question of what is real and what is not. | | | | of your experience. |
| Those who propose that the world is an illusion are | | | | And in this context, even your dreams are real |
| correct. | | | | enough, because while you are in them, your entire |
| Those who propose that the world is real are also | | | | experience is authentic enough for you. If you are |
| correct. | | | | being chased by a lion in your dream, it will feel as |
| The idea that the world is an illusion can be argued in | | | | real to you as if you were being chased by one in |
| the following way. | | | | the waking state. |
| 1. You do not see the world as it is. | | | | 2. Who you are is important to you. |
| You see the world as you are. | | | | Your life is important. You desire to be more than |
| This happens in two ways: | | | | you currently are because you can feel the vast |
| One, you can never escape your subjectivity. You | | | | throb of life within you expanding ever forward to |
| may claim that the world is objective, but this is a | | | | know more, experience more, and touch a fullness |
| claim made from the subjective state. Hence, if you | | | | not yet known. |
| were to lose your mind, you would also lose the | | | | Your past is not just useless memory but a |
| world. Without an observer, there is no world. With | | | | scrapbook of struggle and change, triumph and |
| your disappearance, the universe disappears. Does it | | | | adversity, risk and new learning. Your present is the |
| exist despite you? If you are not there to ask or | | | | vividness of your current experience. Your future is |
| hear the answer to the question, it has no meaning. | | | | your promise, to yourself and to the world. |
| Two, the world that you see is a direct result of | | | | Reality, then, is not fixed. It is an interpretation of |
| your experiences in it. A rock is not just a rock; it is | | | | consciousness and how it is interpreted depends on |
| also your memory of all rocks seen by you. When | | | | the inner and outer experiences of the observer. The |
| what you see is more complex and engaging, you | | | | world you live in is real enough to you as you live it. |
| experience more emotions, sensations, and ideas | | | | If this world is an illusion, does it mean that there is a |
| about it. Thus, you never really see anything as it is. | | | | really real world, as Plato conjectured. Probably not. If |
| You only see it through the lens of your own | | | | this world is an illusion, then so, too, are all worlds. |
| thoughts about it. | | | | And if this world is real, so, too, are all worlds. |
| 2. All forms will pass away. | | | | Appreciating the miracle of having a consciousness to |
| Entropy is built into the system. Nothing can escape | | | | live in a world may be all we need to know to live |
| this iron law of nature. Neither beauty nor truth, | | | | happy, fulfilling lives, whether in this world or in other |
| wealth nor power, genius nor intent ever last. Death | | | | worlds which we will transition into after this one. |
| and decay is the lot of everything, from atoms to | | | | Consciousness, like the law of conservation of |
| stars, from our own sun to the universe itself. | | | | energy, can neither be created nor destroyed. Where |
| However, this collapse is a dissipation of energy, not | | | | you find consciousness, you will also find energy |
| an absence of it. According to the law of | | | | structured into the form of a world. And since |
| conservation of energy, which has never been | | | | consciousness never dies but appears to only grow |
| refuted, energy can neither be created nor | | | | increasingly more refined and sophisticated, worlds, |
| destroyed. What dies, then, is the form of things, the | | | | too, probably evolve along similar lines. Are these |
| structure the energy was supporting. | | | | worlds illusory or real? They are real enough to those |
| 3. The microscopic. | | | | who live in them. |