Illusions and the Real Thing
Life plays itself out as a recurring book. Birth, Development, Familiarization with the world, Tragedy, Fear, Desire, Comedy, Love, Hate, Death. Roads develop and the earth gradually breaks through. Industries arise and new roads are routed. Everything has its beginning. Everything has its end. It all continuously moves on.
Once an individual first realizes just how insignificant they are in the grand scheme of things, it isn't uncommon to take it upon themselves to inquire into the reason for their existence. Or, maybe they've often felt insignificant - at least to some degree - and are searching for something beyond themselves to cast upon them any glimpse of hope for significance. And, the question presents itself: significant as relates to what? To whom?
Perhaps, one convinces themselves of their own significance ("their own significance" paradoxically encompasses "insignificance"). Perhaps the people imbue significance into them. Either way, does the one whom embodies said significance become attached to it? Do they identify with it? Do they become deceived by such an attachment? Life becomes relative to this - this being which I think that I am. I am in danger of being limited by a paradigm I prescribe for myself. This being which I think I am is merely an appearance - a persona - by which the real me that I am hides behind. This is the first aspect of maya.
Maya, in Eastern traditions, means an illusion. The ontology of maya revolves around samsara - the wheel of life. Nirvana or samadhi are liberation from this turning of everyday life. The idea is that we are stuck in the turning of life because of maya. It seems, however, that this concept in and of itself can easily be misunderstood. At a base/surface level, it seems like a plausible effort to escape this world as it is - or, in some cases, to try to annihilate it. In all the traditions of the world, this seems right on the surface but if we dig a little deeper we can see that there may be something more to examine to grasp the concept fully.
Desires to leave the world or annihilate it are illusions in and of themselves. Does one fully discover the thing behind the thing by attempting to destroy it? By attempting to leave it? These themselves are illusions in their own right. One cannot annihilate the world - they can only annihilate the world as they see it. That being said, the only realistic ways to leave the world or annihilate it are to no longer exist one's self. To not exist anymore is to no longer suffer - from life's whims and woes as well as one's own impermanence.
Yet, if I take myself out of the equation, I only take myself out of the equation for myself. If I say, "My purpose is to be thus and thus," I am at risk of falling into that illusion. On the other hand, if I say, "There is no purpose," I also fall into a similar risk. Though, I rid myself of this idea of who I am to myself, I still cannot discount who I am to someone else. The fruit falls upon the ground and allows itself to decay, all the while providing the nourishment for the seed within itself to become a mighty tree. The present paves the way from the past to the future.
We live to die and die to live. This is the secret of life. This is what all life whispers to one another. We learn a great many lessons that those who have gone before pass down to us yet we spend an awful lot of time trying to discover who or what we even are. There are lessons and then there's experience - knowledge and wisdom. Do we find ourselves so wrapped up in the "right answers" that we lose sight of what they themselves really mean? Are we so deceived by those who would awe us with meaningless incantations and liturgies?
How do I escape the illusions that present themselves to me? Either the self-aggrandizing ones or the nihilistic ones? Do we attain what the ancients deemed "Enlightenment" via tradition and its boundaries or do we attain it by seeing all life with as close a view as we can possibly see it? I see the whims and woes of the world. Do I let them draw me into my own turmoil and turbulence? Or, do I rise above them and come to the realization that Life remains there waiting to be seen by anyone who dares?
This is meaning! This is purpose! To live! To be unbounded by illusions and still live! The desire to give up is like a siren calling in the darkest night; nonetheless, the will to carry on and simply see what is out there that might have been sitting right in front of our noses is truly divine. Do we fall prey to the potential of failing to see it because we are too busy trying to be seen ourselves? When do we let go and let be - that we may see that we ourselves are also truly a part of Life? Life as IT is!
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