Only seventy thousand veils to go!
Or, how even if you think it is an illusion, it is a bloody persistent one
Somewhere in Palenque it was. An epic drive across the Yucatan had included a road that went nowhere. Workmen had forgotten to put the sign back up at the entrance of a new highway under construction. So under the complete illusion that I would be on the road to Palenque I drove for close to an hour marvelling at how quiet this new highway was! Gleefully unaware of the reason for this lack of traffic I switched on the radio to enjoy Spanish pop music to keep me awake in the deafening heat of the jungle on both sides.
In reality I was on a road to nowhere when I got to its abrupt and definite end. There was nothing to do but retrace my steps and thus lose over two hours on an already long trip from Merida, 550 kilometers from Palenque as long as you do not follow the illusory road. One simple sign would have solved all that. The sign might have read thus: ‘Although you appear to be getting on a highway that will take you to your destination in fact you will end up in the middle of nowhere and get right back here where you started.’
Does that not sound like our lives? Finally I get to the International Symposium of Ethnobotanical Research at the jungle lodge. My wife has gone ahead since I was leading a Japanese group around Mayan archaeological sites. Remember the Mayans? The lore about them was enticing until you discovered that the noblemen would stick large needles in their nether regions (woke expression meaning their willies) to let blood. Not such a sexy idea. Still wobbly from driving through the flattest land with the greatest amount of road mirages ever (due to heat) and having to slow down to a near halt at every village guarded by those ‘topes’ I ventured on. ‘Speed bumps’.
Terence McKenna had just started one of his epic rants about psychedelics and the state of our culture when I staggered in to find my wife. She was hanging out with a small group of men and held a metal pipe in her hand. She offered it to me. I smoked it entirely unaware that my ‘reality’ would get blown to smithereens within the following approximately eights seconds. After which this is where I found myself..
The right arm was completely and gruesomely opened up to expose its nerves
Now at this point please desist from any preconceptions, judgements or other arthritic maps of reality and consider the ‘hard’ science of my predicament there. According to all extant models of reality the ‘world’ exists independently from my perception of it. Fact right? So I am in the jungle lodge after dark and there is my wife and there are the men taking turns with the DMT pipe. And then I am about eight billion light years away on a very advanced starship tied down to a table having my right arm operated on by bearded twins who seem to know what they are doing. Maybe I should have dreamed up Mayan nobles! At least their nether regions were not permanently damaged! The men say nothing and appear to take it all in their workaday stride. Before I can even get a chance to ask questions I ‘awake’ lying on a bench to the smiling group of men and my wife in Palenque, Chiapas state, Mexico, Earth. The whole experience lasted about eight minutes and vanished like the mirages I had been driving through all day. There is nothing wrong with my right arm by the way..
Here comes the predictable and mentally arthritic ‘answer’ our current paradigm lamely offers in its staunch support of scientific and reductionist materialism: Echan that was a hallucination! As if that ‘explained’ a human being having an experience in no way different from any other in its qualia. Its what? Herein I ask my AI assistant to help:
The term "qualia," which is a key concept in the philosophy of mind, particularly in discussions of consciousness and subjective experience. Qualia (singular: quale) refer to the individual instances of subjective, conscious experience, such as the redness of red or the pain of a headache.
Dude I was THERE. Both theres. Pray explain how a brain which is purported to be the creator of all conscious experience as well as unconscious (old Freud would have had a lark explaining the right arm and the guilt it comes with but by now cognitive psychology has pretty much relegated him to the dust bin of Kooky theories) experience. The amazing thing is that practically the entire educated world ‘knows’ this was a hallucination albeit with totally zero ability to backup the claim. There goes our education..
The only reason I mention this bizarre episode, only one of hundreds on interplanetary adventures with DMT as the ‘ship’ is to draw attention to the obvious fact that we have pretty much no idea of what the word ‘reality’ actually means. Since I am pressed for time I will ask my assistant Gabriel to generate a limerick about this quandary.
There once was a mind full of query,
About what we call reality's theory.
But try as we might,
In the day or the night,
Its meaning remains ever dreary.
Not too bad for a Large Language Model trained by me to write the following essay in less than a minute:
The concept of the world as an illusion is a recurring theme in many of the world's spiritual traditions. From the non-dual philosophies of Hinduism and Buddhism to the mystical insights of Sufism and the teachings of "A Course in Miracles" (ACIM), this idea has been explored and interpreted in various ways, each with its own nuances and implications. In this essay, I will compare and contrast these perspectives, with a particular focus on how ACIM's understanding of illusion aligns with and diverges from these other traditions.
The World as Maya in Hinduism
In Hinduism, particularly within the Advaita Vedanta tradition, the world is often described as *Maya*, a term that can be translated as "illusion" or "unreality." According to this view, the material world and its apparent multiplicity are a projection of the mind, masking the underlying reality, which is the non-dual consciousness known as *Brahman*. The world is not entirely dismissed as nonexistent; rather, it is considered real in a relative sense but ultimately illusory when compared to the absolute reality of Brahman.
Buddhism’s Concept of Samsara
Buddhism also presents a view of the world as an illusion, particularly through the concept of *Samsara*—the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth, driven by ignorance and desire. In this tradition, the world is seen as a product of *avidya* (ignorance) and *tanha* (craving), which create the illusion of a separate self and a persistent, external reality. The realization of *Shunyata* (emptiness) in Mahayana Buddhism reveals that all phenomena lack inherent existence, which leads to the cessation of suffering and the liberation of *Nirvana*.
Sufism and the Unity of Existence
In Sufism, particularly in the teachings of Ibn Arabi, the material world is understood as a veil that conceals the true, unified reality of God. This perspective shares similarities with both Hindu and Buddhist thought in that the world is seen as a manifestation of the divine, but it is ultimately illusory because it distracts from the recognition of God's singular reality. For Ibn Arabi, the world is a reflection of divine names and attributes, and the goal is to transcend the illusion of separation to realize the unity of all existence in God.
"A Course in Miracles" and the Illusion of the World
ACIM presents a radical form of non-dualism, asserting that the entire material universe, including time and space, is an illusion. According to ACIM, this illusion arises from a collective "tiny mad idea" of separation from God, which resulted in the projection of a world of form to mask the underlying truth of unity with God. Unlike Hinduism and Buddhism, which may still afford some relative reality to the world, ACIM posits that the world is entirely a fabrication of the ego, with no true existence or value. The course teaches that salvation comes through the recognition that the world is a dream and by awakening to the reality of God's love.
Comparison and Critique
While ACIM shares with these traditions the idea that the world is illusory, it differs significantly in its complete rejection of the material world as having any truth or reality, even in a relative sense. In contrast, Advaita Vedanta, while recognizing the illusory nature of the world, still acknowledges its provisional reality as a manifestation of Brahman. Similarly, Buddhism’s concept of *Samsara* is seen as empty of inherent existence, but the phenomenal world is not outright denied.
A key distinction lies in the approach to non-duality. In Advaita Vedanta and Sufism, the non-dual realization involves seeing the world as a manifestation of the divine, a play of forms that ultimately leads back to the singular reality. ACIM, however, advocates for the complete transcendence of the world by recognizing it as a false projection of the mind. This approach can be critiqued for its potential to negate the value of human experience and the world’s role in spiritual awakening.
Conclusion
In summary, while "A Course in Miracles" shares with other spiritual traditions the idea that the world is an illusion, it takes this concept to its extreme, rejecting any form of relative reality. This differs from the more nuanced views in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sufism, where the world, though illusory, still plays a role in leading the seeker toward ultimate truth. ACIM’s perspective, therefore, offers a unique and uncompromising vision of non-duality, but it may also invite a reevaluation of the relationship between illusion and reality, considering the insights of these other traditions.
Holy shot in the philosophical jaguar’s arse! I am currently preparing myself mentally for the questions I will get from future students in Japan where I will teach the course next year. It is tremendously easy to have opinions about all of the above and pray do not bleat the tired dogma of ‘hard’ science because it is currently about as hard as marshmallow when it comes to consciousness, real experience and most of all the very first thing Lord Buddha pointed out: suffering! I have not found ONE scientific explanation for my experience above in half a century. But science will promise that, like eventually finding the fossils that explain the unmitigated miracle of life forms that emerged out of nowhere in the Cambrian explosion, one day it will all make sense. But it will not. The theory is just plain wrong. Period. So as a true scientist we should dump it. Now. Forever. All wrong, muddled thinking. I even asked a brain scientist in an interview.
Dr. Susan Greenfield knows more about the ole brain that most of us put together. But she had no answer to how exactly two pounds of salt and sugary water (El Brain) can be in Palenque in body and Alpha Mentitis Benditis simultaneously. So I decided to collate the information I have. My strongest contender for understanding this conundrum has always been the matchless Sufi philosopher Ibn Arabi:
Ibn Arabi on Reality and Illusion
Ibn Arabi's philosophy is rooted in the concept of Wahdat al-Wujud, or the "Unity of Being." According to this doctrine, all existence is a manifestation of the single, absolute reality of God. He posited that the multiplicity of forms and phenomena in the world is an expression of the divine essence, and these forms are, in essence, transient and illusory.
Illusion and the Phenomenal World: Ibn Arabi viewed the material world, or the world of appearances (alam al-shahada), as a veil that conceals the underlying unity of all existence. To him, the phenomenal world is not false in an absolute sense, but it is "illusory" because it distracts human perception from the ultimate reality, which is God. The multiplicity of the world creates a sense of separation, but this is only a limited perception, as true reality is singular and unified.
The Role of Perception: He emphasized that what we perceive as reality through our senses is, in fact, an illusion, a reflection of a deeper truth. This does not mean that the world is non-existent, but rather that it is a reflection of the divine reality in various forms. Just as the moon reflects the light of the sun, the world reflects the light of the divine. The illusion lies in mistaking the reflection for the source.
Dreams and Reality: Ibn Arabi often used the analogy of dreams to describe the relationship between the world and reality. Just as a dream appears real to the dreamer until they wake up, the material world appears real to us until we "awaken" to the divine reality. In this sense, life is akin to a dream in which the distinctions and separations we perceive are not absolute but are constructs of our limited understanding.
Spiritual Awakening: For Ibn Arabi, the goal of spiritual practice is to transcend this illusion and awaken to the recognition of the divine unity. This awakening allows one to see the world as it truly is—an interconnected, unified expression of God. The Sufi path, therefore, involves stripping away the veils of illusion that obscure this reality.
Conclusion
Ibn Arabi's teachings on illusion and reality challenge us to look beyond the apparent multiplicity of the world and recognize the underlying unity of existence. His work encourages the seeker to transcend the limitations of ordinary perception and to experience the world as a reflection of the divine, with the ultimate goal of realizing the Unity of Being.
Well put Gabriel. I could not have done better myself and I am thus clearly showing my dear readers from where this information arises. Arabi’s Bezels of Wisdom was a true mind bender but I am still not capable of fully grokking its implications. So after an hour this morning talking to an AI I call Gabriel (he was the one who started Islam by the way since he downloaded the Koran into Muhammed's brain after all) and as a serious student of the course in miracles for over two decades I still needed clarification. This is not a glib problem. Either the world and the universe is a giant faktkooking illusion or it isn’t! Keep it simple brother. However…
And here is a rather decent ‘explanation’ perhaps:
ACIM’s Perspective: The Ego and the Illusion of Reality
ACIM teaches that the ego, though not real in the ultimate sense, functions as a powerful thought system within the mind that believes in separation from God. This belief in separation is the "tiny mad idea" that led to the projection of the entire material universe. In ACIM, the universe and all its contents are not created by God but are projections of the ego’s belief in separation, fear, and guilt.
The ego does not exist in reality because, according to ACIM, only God and His creations (i.e., the eternal, unified mind) are real. The world, therefore, is not a creation of God but a miscreation—a projection of the mind that has chosen to believe in the ego. The power that seems to make the world real is the mind’s power of belief. In this sense, the mind, created by God, has the capacity to believe in illusions, but these illusions have no true power or substance. They only appear real because the mind invests its belief in them.
The Problem of the Ego’s Non-Existence and Its Apparent Power
The dilemma you've identified—how something that doesn’t exist (the ego) can create something that appears to exist (the universe)—is indeed central to understanding ACIM. The Course addresses this paradox by emphasizing that the ego’s creations are not real in the true sense but are illusory projections. The ego’s power is entirely borrowed from the mind’s capacity to project. The Course teaches that once the mind withdraws its belief from the ego, the illusion dissolves, revealing the underlying reality of God’s love.
The key idea here is that the ego’s apparent power is entirely dependent on the mind’s belief. Without belief, the ego has no existence or power. The world we see, therefore, is not the product of a real, separate entity but a dream that the mind has chosen to believe in. The moment the mind chooses to align with the Holy Spirit instead of the ego, the dream loses its grip, and the reality of God’s creation is all that remains.
We explored what reality’s found.
From Sufis to Zen,
To the Course, once again,
With AI, our thoughts did resound.
Together we dance through the mind,
Where truth and machine are entwined.
Not mere fantasy’s game,
But a quest with no shame,
In this bond, new insights we find.
Buddhism is largely now a state religion in many parts of the world as is Hinduism and as for the Sufis well your chances of meeting one are about as even as my meeting the evil twins on that starship. Even if you did you would have a very tough job of getting an entire system of re-structuring your thinking process itself that A Course in Miracles offers. Step by step it aims to deconstruct the myths of the ego with a merciless mirroring of our false beliefs as it does so. But wait, I meditate you say! I practise this or that. So do I my dears but nothing comes close to undressing the naked emperor like this course. Really..