The Illusion of Life
Life is indeed a great journey of sorts. It takes us through the varied experiences that constitute countless interactions with the people around us. All through this journey it makes us consciously believe in its own existence. It makes us consciously believe in its own realness. Such is life. At times, while living through life, it really does occur to me that our true identity and our true nature are both lost amidst the different experiences that we get in this world. In a way the illusions of life completely transform and mutate our own spirits until we no longer resemble the individuals that we once were.
Now maybe this change is a good thing; maybe it’s not. It all depends on how you choose to look at it. Upon closer introspection, a man realizes that even that change is not permanent. The illusion of life makes him put upon himself masks upon mask; and yet every time, he encounters a new situation; every time he goes through a new experience, his personality is altered and he dons another mask. The mask is nothing but a gloriously vain attempt at impressing upon the world the fact that “YES, I am the way you want me to be!” Living through the illusion of life, thus man himself starts to become an illusion.
Now maybe being an illusion is a good thing; maybe it’s not. It all depends on how you choose to look at it. Every illusion has its own advantages and disadvantages. Every illusions yields you some real things; things that are indeed of great value in the eyes of this world. Yet when that same illusion ends and reality sets back in, you start to realize that there was something within yourself that was lost in that illusion; that there was something real which went away. This is simply owing to the fact that every illusion has its roots in real things. When that very illusion is uprooted from its very existence, it takes away with itself some part of reality. That is why the loss of any illusion pains us beyond measure.
Now maybe pain is a good thing; maybe it’s not. It all depends on how you choose to look at it. But upon closer introspection, man realizes that pain is an inseparable part of his mortal existence. Man starts to realize that as long as he lives as a mere man, he is bound to suffer pain and misery in life. But fairly speaking, pain is an essential part of life; for it brings an individual closer to reality than anything else. We can never acknowledge reality in times when we are happy. In that phase of mind, all we yearn for are illusions; illusions that make us feel nice and happy inside. However in pain and misery, we are forced acknowledge reality; we are forced to deny the illusions; in a way we are forced to realize the truth.
Indeed pain is realization. Pain is acceptance of reality and pain ultimately is the price for every illusion. Thus being the grandest illusion of them all, life itself yields us pain and misery in the end. Many may perceive this article to be pessimistic and highly depressive. However it is always better to acknowledge the reality of life rather than the reality acknowledging you. It is always better that you get onto the bus, before the bus gets onto you. The gist of this entire journey would thus be; that even though the illusion of life may force you to become an illusion yourself, never ever lose the touch with reality. That would create a conducive balance between the illusions of your life and the reality that you seek within. Such a balance would ensure that you not only win through in the battle of life, but in the end, within yourself you find lasting peace.
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Tags: illusion, life, pain, realization
admin | 
May 7, 2010 12:29 pm
