All about illusion…
I wrote about beauty being an illusion before but illusion as a whole was not spoken about. I don’t know why this word is thrown out ever so often almost sounding egotistical. In Surah Al Imran (3:185) it states “The life of this world is merely an illusory enjoyment”, hereby referring to the worldly life (dunya) being a temporary and deceptive place compared to the eternal afterlife. Moreover, every individual has a personal demon which is alike to constant companion, similar to Qareens, that can be controlled to do the bidding of a master, who is in possession of their heart. Qareens are shapeshifters and will take on the form of a person's deepest, darkest desire to seduce them.
So is it good or bad?
When we speak of reality being an illusion and the purpose of it being to conceal the truth, what does that mean from a practical standpoint? We first have to understand what illusion or derangement of the mind is and why the majority of human beings exist in this state. Why do some wish to hide ourselves from the objective truth due to our own impurity. Sometimes others only see the side of me that I want them to see (mostly for the sake of privacy or self preservation on my part), only my close ones are “allowed” to see the real me simply because I don’t feel comfortable sharing my private life with everyone else.
In spiritual philosophy we separate reality into truth and illusion, equating these terms with the real and the unreal. While these are valid distinctions in themselves, they cannot be applied to describe the manifest world. They are only valid as descriptions of our perceptions. Perceptions, however, can be either superficial or deeply insightful.
Are you living in a reality or an illusion?
Truth is a perception of depth in which we perceive more of what is there, whilst an illusion is a superficial perception of reality. Impurity (and what causes a person to fall into the state of impurity) is not simply when an individual disobeys a law or rule imposed by a scripture or religious authority, nor is it a result of having sexual intercourse, menstruating, ejaculating, being physically dirty, or any other externalised action. Impurity, is essentially a state of mind that is caused by viewing a situation with a dualistic mindset, which insists that things are not interrelated and are contradictory with one another, as opposed to purity, which is comprised of interconnectedness and unity.
So a "pure" individual is an individual who is undivided and whole, and views every phenomenon and event as not only connected but, also, as not being separate from their own internal selves. In other words, their internal "microcosm" is perfectly in tune with the external "macrocosm", and thus they perceive reality as a perfect extension of their own mind, and as a result have pure and unclouded perception of reality. However, with an "impure" individual, their perception of things as separate and unconnected, and even violently insist that certain things exist separately and in a severed state. In fact, the more impure a person is, the more they will insist on dividing up and compartmentalising reality in unconnected boxes due to their own consciousness being in this exact state of multiplicity and confusion. This state is the opposite of the unity and clarity of an individual who practices actual meditation and prayer, which is an activity that allows a person to attain and experience the unity, as opposed to falling into the confusion and dispersion of illusion.
Complexity of illusions
Individuals strongly influenced by illusions will always insist things like, “sex and spirituality are separate” when sex is the root and mechanism behind uniting with God. Or say things like, "my material success is separate from my religious/spiritual practice" when in reality they are directly connected, as to annihilate the external means to annihilate the internal. You can get lost in the illusion and complexity of the unimportant particulars, and instead fall more and more deeply into illusion and into duality. At the superficial level of reality we experience separateness and disconnection. At deeper levels we experience unity. It is through deepening our perceptions that we begin to experience the deeper levels of who we are and of what things are, and there we find connections. This is why people make meaningful connections with one another when they reveal their depths to each other.
In fact, those who are “materialistic” and are honestly into pursuit of their truest pleasures are accomplishing more on both levels (internal and external) than those in chains, afraid of their own libido and movement, severing themselves from every spark of passion in the name of “spirituality”, that is actually far removed from its purpose. And those who have been constantly tested and passed their tests will reap the most rewards. You are not aiming for a divided mentality or mindset regarding your mind and your body and your emotions, but are aiming to experience the divine unity behind these things and everything else as well. This leads us to the importance of understanding what correct spiritual practice actually looks like, as far too many people think it is a cerebral or intellectual endeavour, and as a result frantically begin fretting over religious texts, books, theories and lacking any mystical experiences, direct experience with what they are talking about, and become miserable about their inability to connect with the divine and get them to work for themselves. I just read “Sea without Shore” by Sheikh Nuh Ha Mim Keller and I have to say I have some criticisms about this book as I did believe that Nuh was able to differentiate reality from illusion quite clearly but after doing some further research this does not seem be the case. While intellectual activities and development form a part of spiritual training, they are quite literally right at the beginning in the grand scheme of things, meant to be transcended when a person learns practical exercises.
The major difference between spirituality and athletic training is that with spiritual exercises there is much more emphasis on complete passivity, whereas athletic training has a more interactive competitive element, even if you are only competing to beat your own personal records or achieve the kind of physique you desire. Both activities require an individual to have an iron will, be focused mostly on the body, and to perform repetitive exercises in a consistent way that go against the average tendencies towards laziness and inconsistency. Even though perfect and complete instructions are much more readily available than ever before, there is more of impurity and illusion in the world, and so there is actually far less people who even desire to become self-aware than ever before.
What’s for the future?
Now with AI taking over, the key is that it’s called artificial, not that its called intelligence. It’s entirely produced intelligence. Nothing it produces is truly unique or "inspired". It’s an illusion, it only knows what an answer should sound or look like, it doesn't actually know the answer and it isn’t solving anything. When we stop calling it "intelligence," we will be able to see and accept it more objectively and it is what AI deserves, nothing less or nothing more. Human intelligence is far more complicated and deeper than anything we can do with computers anytime in the next centuries or longer. This is why illusion and truth will always be a constant battle for the future, far more blurred than before.
Illusion is rigid, fixed and somewhat static. It is limited and held in place by its form. Truth on the other hand is very flexible as it can express itself in endless ways and still be itself. Illusion is just one of the stages we go through in our spiritual growth. When we are creative we express this uniqueness, which is not an expression of what is different, but what is real about who we are. Ultimately, God is the ultimate reality and source of fulfilment, whereas the opposite leads to a life of illusion and unfulfilled longing.