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Is our physical world the “totality of reality” or is it just “part of the picture,” an illusion?

Many of us have heard people say, “The world is an illusion.” But why would anyone say that? (Knock, knock, knock on a solid table.) It sure seems real to me! What could they possibly mean by this? What evidence do they have? Why would anyone believe them? Why would anyone even listen to them?

Well, I suspect that people who have had a near-death experience or an out-of-body experience might have been saying something like this for thousands of years. Plato wrote about the near-death experience of a soldier over twenty-three hundred years ago. Perhaps I'll talk more about these types of experiences at another time but for right now, let's focus on what someone might mean by saying that the world is an illusion.

I think that a good definition of an illusion is something that tricks us into believing a false idea. The dictionary says that an illusion is a misleading image, a mistaken idea. Yet it seems to me that many people mistakenly think of an illusion as something that has no reality to it at all - that it does not even exist!

Let's dig deeper into this subject by considering a stage magician. He's a master illusionist. Many people have seen the magic trick where he puts his assistant in a big box and cuts her in half with a saw. What we see is real. We see her head, arms and feet sticking out of the box. But we are not seeing the whole picture. We don't see that there is another person hiding in the box who makes up the other half of the assistant and creates the illusion of one person cut into two pieces.

Even though our physical senses are doing their jobs perfectly, our incomplete picture tricks us into believing a false idea. Our false assumption that the feet that we see are the feet of the assistant leads to the incorrect conclusion that the assistant was cut in half. These two ideas are completely false but our raw perceptions are accurate. Once we see the bigger picture, we understand the true nature of the situation and we are no longer tricked by the illusion.

So in a funny way, it can be said that an illusion is real. Yes, it has a reality to it. It's just that that reality is different from what we first thought. We were tricked into believing a false idea.

But there is something else about a good illusion that is very important and that is this: it is persistent. Even if we know the secret to the magic trick, if it is performed well, it still gives us the impression that something supernatural just happened. Even though we are not tricked by the illusion in the deepest way, the false idea still appears as if it is true.

For example, let's consider the motion of the sun traveling across the sky. While of course this is not a man-made magic trick, it's an excellent example of a natural illusion. If you did not know any better, you might insist that it really happens just the way that it appears: that the sun moves across the sky while the Earth remains perfectly still. You might even have precise scientific measurements of the position of the sun at various times throughout the day and your records might go back for thousands of years!

If I showed up and stated that the sun does not move at all, you might reject my statement out of hand. After all, you have a mountain of data that proves otherwise. If I further explained that the earth spins around on its axis, you might be cautiously intrigued. You might admit that if the earth was truly spinning on its axis, it would indeed create the apparent motion of the sun traveling across the sky but you would also point out that that doesn't prove anything, it only presents a hypothetical possibility. And you would quickly add that you should feel the earth spinning and you don't.

By the way, when the subject of a spinning earth was first suggested to western culture in about 200 B.C. by Aristarchus of Samos (near Turkey), scholars presented several arguments against it. They claimed that people would be flung off the surface of the spinning earth, and that birds would have to fly hundreds of miles an hour just to stay above one spot. It seemed like an impossible scenario and “common sense” prevailed. [1] If you wanted to fit in to society, you could not even consider this idea. But since it did not affect anyone's daily activities and since people's need to fit in is so strong and fundamental, the idea virtually disappeared.

In 1543, Copernicus reintroduced the idea that the earth spun on its axis as it orbited the sun but the idea got little support. Many people believe that Copernicus waited until the end of his life to publish his ideas because he feared the ridicule of his peers and the condemnation of the Church.

Over 100 years later, Galileo provided conclusive evidence that Venus orbited the sun with his telescopic observations of the phases of Venus, which look similar to the phases of our moon. It was subsequently shown that all the planets orbited the sun and that the earth spun on its axis. [2] Finally, about eighteen hundred and fifty years after the idea was presented to them, the mainstream adopted the correct understanding. And notice that it did not just become socially acceptable to believe that the sun was the center of the solar system, it became a social requirement. Otherwise, you were pushed aside as a “nut.”

Incidentally, one way to prove that the earth is spinning is to construct a large pendulum and setting it in motion. The path of the pendulum's swing will always continue along the same line in space due to momentum. [3] But as the day progresses and the earth spins underneath the pendulum, the section of the ground that the pendulum swings over will change significantly and this can easily be observed. But notice that you still cannot feel it directly with your body, which is why western culture resisted investigating the subject for so long.

The spinning of the earth provides just one example of how difficult it is for us to break free from incorrect beliefs when these false ideas are based on misleading personal experiences that are shared by everyone. Add to that the desire to fit in socially and you see the trap that many of us keep ourselves in.

But now, let's suppose that I next take you out in a spaceship to a vantage point where you can clearly see the sun and the spinning earth. You would learn the true nature of the situation from personal experience. And yet, when you get back to earth, the illusion would persist! You would still see the sun travel across the sky! At noon, it would be high in the sky and about six hours later, it would be setting low in the west. And no matter how hard you tried, you would not be able to feel the spinning of the earth. Even though there really is something happening to you, you cannot detect it.

And yet you do indeed know the full reality of the situation since you saw it from outer space. You know that the sun does not move and yet you watch it move! So now you dwell in the paradox of knowing one thing and experiencing another! But remember, a paradox only seems like a contradiction. It is not an actual contradiction. In other words, there is a resolution.

And here it is: within one framework, something can be moving while at the same time, within another framework, it can be still. While it is true that the bigger framework holds the smaller framework, the key is that you measure the motion with respect to only one framework at a time.

The secret to understanding all illusions is to understand the bigger picture, the greater reality, that holds the little picture, the illusion. It is important to note that the bigger picture does not invalidate the little picture. In other words, the little picture is still real, it is just wise to give up any false ideas that the illusion might have incorrectly pointed to. So throw away what is false but don't throw everything away! Live in the understanding of the greater reality!

In our example, live with the understanding that the earth is spinning on its axis and smile as you watch the sun travel across the sky. Yes, there is something happening to you that you cannot feel with your body but acknowledge that there are other ways to know deep truth.

As another example, consider the following. We have all heard people say, “We are all one.” Why does this simple statement sound like pure nonsense? Because it mixes two very different frameworks.

The first part speaks from the framework of our common, ordinary world. That world is filled with people, the “we” of the statement. I believe that we are each a unique expression of the eternal divine essence. In other words, we are each different in our form: our body, our mind, our personality and so forth. So in our common world, we find the diverse “we.”

Yet the second part of the statement speaks from the framework of the divine source, the “one” creator that brings forth all things. This is where we merge into our oneness. This essence is the same for all of us. In other words, we are all the same in our essence, but not in our form.

By mixing the two frameworks and omitting an explanation of what the frameworks are, the statement leads to confusion. Something that is plural cannot also be singular, right? Or can it? This is similar to saying that something that is moving cannot also be still. Again, we see the solution to our riddle: we should only use one framework at a time.

Now, let's consider the experience of time. Could it also be an illusion?

Suppose you have plans for dinner and a movie with some friends and you arrive promptly at the restaurant with your appetite piqued. But thirty minutes later, you are still alone and beginning to wonder if there was a misunderstanding. Is this the right day? Fifteen mintues later, you are just about to give up and order without your friends when out of nowhere, there they are!

Their apologies for being late seems a bit disingenuous but you are willing to overlook that. They notice that you are a bit unhappy with the situation and they try to fix everything by proclaiming that you should not be so concerned about time since it is only an illusion. But you think to yourself, “Hey, no matter what it is, I am still having a late dinner and all of us are going to miss that great movie!”

Is time an illusion? Does it matter? My opinion is that within our common, daily experience, it certainly is real and it does matter. It's what allows us to coordinate many of our activities and in this respect, I certainly appreciate it when people act responsibly. But more importantly, time is what allows all processes to unfold. You can't have growth without time. Some people say that time is God's way of preventing everything from happening all at once. But is there more to it than meets the eye? Does it trick us into holding a false idea?

Perhaps I will say more about time at another time but for right now, I'd like to get back to our original question: Is there more to reality than that revealed by the physical senses? Is our entire physical world the “totality of reality” or is it just “part of the picture?” Does it trick us into believing a false idea? Is it therefore, an illusion?

What is the true nature, the full nature, of reality? What role do we play in it? To what extent do we have freewill? To what degree do we control our own life?

Is both life and death an illusion? Without a proper understanding of that reality, are we suffering from the effects of a false belief?

And most importantly, are you an illusion? Is there more to you than meets the eye? Is there something happening to you that you cannot detect?

While our magicians create the illusion of a supernatural event using ordinary means, is God performing a magic trick that creates the illusion of the ordinary world using supernatural means?

Does God intentionally hide from us like the magician's secret assistant in order to invigorate the play we are all in and charge it with emotion?

Could God and creation be the same reality in different forms? Like water and ice? Different forms but the exact same essence? The mystic says, “Yes!” and the implications are mind-blowing!

You are not simply connected to God; every aspect of your being is divine! God is not just deep within you at a special place; you are divine at every level!

Every time you see the sun traveling across the sky, ask yourself, “Is this all an illusion?”

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Thanks for reading my essay! Have a magical and mystical day!

Thomas Razzeto

Written: 2005
Expanded: October 30, 2008

Footnotes:

1. Near the end of the following web page, you can read about the “common sense” arguments against the spinning earth:

http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/retrograde/copernican.html

2. This link provides a good summary of Galileo's work:

http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/history/galileo.html

3. Technically speaking, the pendulum's swing will always continue along the same line in space due to momentum only if the pendulum is located at either the north or south pole. At other locations, it motion is more complicated since the top of the pendulum is being moved as the earth rotates but even so, the general point remains valid and the effects of the spinning earth can be easily observed.