Reality or Illusion
How much of a grasp do YOU have on reality? Too little? Too much? Is there a way to see?
Reality is a tricky thing. Take the next quiz, and see for yourself.
This is a self-evaluated test, so we’re not going to tell you what the answer is, but if you read the excerpts from Dr. Frederick Lenz’s writings, you are bound to get closer to the truth.
What is a good example of 'holy' and perfect?
a. Buddhist priests performing a ceremony
b. A person meditating and in Samadhi – in total immersion, in God consciousness
c. A person in the act of stealing a wallet from another person
d. a and b
e. a, b and c
Did I get this right?
Buddhism leads you to the understanding, to the awareness, that all things are holy, not just those who meditate and those who become enlightened. That would only be a partial understanding. The real miracle of life is that everything is holy – even the people who do the opposite of what you would consider to be spiritual are as miraculous. The dark has its own light, in other words.
In the beginning, we define what is spiritual and what is not, what is practice, what is not. But as you go on, you see that everybody and everything is an instrument of infinity. You see the miraculous in all things. That’s the greatest miracle, of course, is that everything – not just the categories that you set up, but all things – are holy. All things are divine. And yet we pick and choose among them what’s appropriate for us.
The greatest miracle is the miracle of wakefulness, to awaken from the dream of life and to see infinity everywhere, even in the finite, even in this world, in the simple doings of life – to be able to drive a car or mow the lawn, do your laundry, go for a run, go shopping, to take a shower – but in those activities to be in a field of light while you’re performing them, and to see them as templates of all universes, of all realities. To be in thousands of states of mind simultaneously as you perform simple physical tasks gives you a reverence for life. You realize that there is nothing that is not perfect. There is nothing that is not miraculous.
What I see and hear and feel during the day - are they real?
a. Yes, of course, the physical world is real.
b. No, the physical world is not real, there is no world.
c. Nothing is real, everything is an illusion.
d. Yes, what I hear and feel are real, just like my dreams are real, too.
d. All of the above
Did I get this right?
Illusion doesn’t mean that something is not real. Everything is real and nothing is real. Illusion simply means that something is less real than something else. This life and this world simply and certainly exist. Dreams exist. Who is to say that the reality within the dream is not real? The dream is real, but it does not last. This is an illusion. The reality is real and it does last. This is an illusion. No matter which way you turn there’s nothing but illusion. How do we find a way out? By realizing that there’s no place to go, that there’s no way out, that there’s no way in. All that exists is the Self. The Self is infinite, the Self is eternal. You are that Self. There is nothing else. Beyond words, thoughts, ideas, forms and belief systems, there is nothing but the Self.
If this is so, if silence only conveys the Self, if all words and thoughts are illusions in the sense that they spring forth from the ego – the ego being a partiality, a dream, a movie shown on a screen, a flickering image – why do we discuss this? What is there to say and who is saying it? Why should we say anything when to say something is to enter into the world of illusion? It is because people exist in varying degrees of dream.
Each one is aware to a certain extent, and it’s necessary to enter into the dreams of others, just as I am entering into your dream right now, to make them aware that they’re dreaming. If I enter into your dream and say, “Wake up, this is a dream,” if you listen to me and you awaken, then the dream will vanish. But when the dream vanishes, where will you and I be? We’ll be right where we always were and always will be – everywhere and nowhere, eternally perfect, infinite consciousness, infinite awareness.
What would happen if you truly saw things the way they really are?
a. You would be happy automatically
b. You would become enlightened
c. Fear would no longer have any power over you
d. All of the above
e. None of the above
Did I get this right?
As you study your mind, as you explore it, as you meditate, as you gain control of it and sometimes lose control completely and just swim in it and dissolve in it; then you’ll become happy. Happiness is something that you can definitely achieve. At first it will just come for a moment or two, and then it will come for longer periods of time — hours, days, months, lifetimes. Eventually you’ll be happy all the time, which is not such a bad thing to do because it’s your expression or your statement of being. It’s your way of celebrating life.
Happiness then, as I suggested, is a state of mind. And the key to happiness is being able to disconnect your life from your perceptions, from the way you see things now. There are only states of mind, and you need to develop the discipline and the clarity of mind to see things as they really are. If you’re not happy, it’s because you’re in what I call illusion. Illusion means you’re not seeing things as they really are. If you saw things as they really were, you would be happy automatically. You don’t have to do anything to be happy.
Happiness is a warm puppy. In other words, happiness is the things around you. Just to see that puppy is to be happy. You don’t have to do anything; you don’t have to add anything. But if you don’t see that, if you walk by that warm puppy or you want to kick him, well, you’re not happy because you’re in a state of delusion, like most human beings are. Your job is to raise yourself out of that state of delusion, which is done by practicing meditation and concentration, learning new value systems, rejecting some old ones, becoming sensitive to life and strong and powerful at the same time. By learning about your mind.
Happiness comes from self-knowledge. Self-knowledge is not an arbitrary phrase or a series of words. It’s something real. Self-knowledge means that you have understood your mind, which is not just a series of thoughts that you experience — there are dimensions and dimensions within your mind. Your mind is the whole universe. Your understanding of your mind will come about step by step. You’ll unfold like a flower unfolds, but only when you begin to practice meditation and detach yourself from your thoughts and experiences.
What is real?
a. What you can think and feel is what’s real
b. What you can see with your inner eyes
c. What you can see with your outer eyes
d. Your highest understanding of truth, of dharma
e. The combined knowledge and beliefs of religious systems
d. All of the above
e. None of the above
Did I get this right?
Anything that you can think is an illusion. Anything that you can feel is an illusion. Anything that you can see, even your highest understanding of truth, of dharma, is an illusion – an illusion in the sense that it’s a limited thought. A limited thought is a limited thought.
You must understand that anything you understand is not a true understanding. Anything that you feel is not a true feeling. Anything that you know is not a true knowing. Anything that you believe is not a true believing. While all of the things that you believe, know, see, and feel do exist in their own right, in the relative existence, still, they’re finite and limited. They’re ways of looking at existence, but existence is infinite – infinite meaning that it’s beyond all ways of looking.
All concepts, all knowing, all truths, all religious systems, all beliefs fall away in the white light of eternity. The knowledge is so complete, the bliss is so ecstatic, the perfection of existence is so bright and fathomless, endless – that all of our lives, all of the lives that have ever been or will ever be are but a candle held to the sun. When we hold a candle flame up to the sun we don’t see it; in the light of the sun it is gone.
Good and bad, love and hate, life and death, importance and unimportance, all these are mere relative concepts or ideas that fall away with the attainment of knowledge.
It might seem that this knowledge is cold, that it’s devoid of emotion, that it’s empty. This is another illusion. It might seem that this knowledge is useful, that it will help us in life, that it will help us go beyond death. This is another illusion. It might seem – this is another illusion. It – this is another illusion. The idea that this is an illusion – this is another illusion. Anything that you can say, think, feel, believe, trust, count on or feel is untrue is an illusion. The fact that you supposed that you were thinking these things is an illusion. The fact that there are these things is an illusion. Nothing is as it seems. This is an illusion. There are no illusions. This is a gross illusion.
Illusion, however, doesn’t mean that something is not real. Everything is real and nothing is real. Illusion simply means that something is less real than something else. This life and this world simply and certainly exist. Dreams exist. Who is to say that the reality within the dream is not real? The dream is real, but it does not last. This is an illusion. The reality is real and it does last. This is an illusion. No matter which way you turn there’s nothing but illusion. How do we find a way out? By realizing that there’s no place to go, that there’s no way out, that there’s no way in. All that exists is the Self. The Self is infinite, the Self is eternal. You are that Self. There is nothing else. Beyond words, thoughts, ideas, forms and belief systems, there is nothing but the Self.