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