The Delusion of Illusion

The title of this post might be classified as a double negative which is where two negative words are used to express a single negative. Delusion and illusion both address the nature of deception or to deceive. However, what if someone becomes aware of an illusion and no longer is affected by it even though many still embrace it? Wouldn’t that person be characterized as being delusional by the majority who still adhere to the illusion? Welcome to the spiritual journey of the mystic.

What is the Illusion?

Depending on who you talk to, the illusion for one group is the delusion of the other group. So, to pinpoint one thing is to recognize that someone is going to agree, and another will disagree. Therefore, let’s start with this as the illusion: The world we inhabit.

I’m not claiming that the planet and all the life which it supports is an illusion, but the organizational structures that mankind has created and continuously supports as a means of control over the populace. These structures include governments, bureaucracies, religious institutions, healthcare programs and the institutions with their associations, monetary and banking models, and a whole host of agencies, ideologies, and organizations whose purpose is to constrain the individual in any endeavor they chose to explore and operate in. In short, anything which has been generated from the mind of man and touched by his hands in any capacity is the illusion. It is impermanent, finite, and transitory.

What makes the Illusion?

The movie The Matrix is a perfect example of what makes an illusion. It caters to the basic needs of the masses which subsequently become lulled into accepting that life cannot possibly exist outside of the controlled environment they are living in. The illusion employs any of a number of devices from the desire for physical objects to the mental constraints of peer pressure to keep people in the lines of what the intended purpose of the illusion has been crafted for, which as I’ve already stated is control.

In our society today anyone who brings attention to the illusion is immediately dismissed as a conspiracy theorist, a crank, a wack-job because of the grave danger of this person developing a following which might potentially tip the scales of the dominate power structure. This is a risk I’m willing to take because I’m only calling attention to the religious illusion. To many a religious illusion isn’t important to the primary illusion being promulgated to the populace. You only need to look at how Jesus dealt with the illusion of his day to see what the effect was to the primary illusion.

Overcoming an Illusion

Jesus confronted the illusion of the religious establishment of his day when he claimed his sonship with the Father. This had never been done and was considered a religious crime to see oneself equal to the Creator. However, Jesus pressed forward with his radical message by driving home the key to breaking the power of every illusion.

Joh 8:32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Truth always breaks the stranglehold of an illusion. The difficulty comes in knowing what truth is and what are the half-truths which perpetuate the illusion. Half-truths are still lies which are formed around a bit of truth everyone can recognize but also given a twist which underlies the illusion rather than the whole nature of a truth. Consider this exchange between Jesus and Pilate.

Joh 18:37-38 Pilate therefore said unto him, Art you a king then? Jesus answered, You say that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth hears my voice. (38) Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all.

Jesus had been brought to Pilate by the religious leaders under the half-truth that he declared himself to be a king. Their motives where that by making this claim about Jesus they would be showing their allegiance to Rome’s illusion of power. However, Pilate knew the fullness of Rome’s illusion which the occupied religious leaders could never understand: Kings establish and are responsible for the truths of their realm.

The Half-truth of Religion Today

The illusion in the religious environment today is designed to control the parishioners. This is mostly accomplished by shining a light on the moral failure of an individual sometime during their life and then reinforcing that failure as the reason God is displeased and removed from their life. Only true repentance can restore the union with God, but ultimately, only God can determine if the repentance was satisfactory. Thus enters Jesus to perfectly cleanse the impure through the blood he shed upon the cross for the salvation of the world. This sacrifice is the only means between humanity and the divine to restore the union corrupted through every moral transgression across the ages.

This might seem correct at first to those who have committed themselves to any doctrine of the western clergy. However, the premise of this is founded on a God who is up-there and out-there; not involved in the daily affairs of mankind; only waiting for the day of final judgment when the coffers of hell can be filled with the unredeemed, back-slidden degenerates which inhabit this world. It also perpetuates a world renown barbaric tradition of blood sacrifice as an adjudicating tool for sin repreparations.

Paul’s statement to believers how they should, “work out their salvation with fear and trembling” has become a tool in the illusion to keep a person focused on not only what they did to put them in the place of a lost soul, but also what works they must continually strive towards to remain above the dung heap they have been delivered from. This too is simply a half-truth. It demonstrates the depth of the delusion even after the means to salvation have been entered into. Only a revelation of truth can overcome this stranglehold upon the believer.

Truth to Set One Free

What I am about to offer you is not new. You have read it in your bible any of a number of times. Yet, it is under this clarifying light of truth where the scales can fall from the eyes which have been looking through a glass darkly. First and foremost, truly understanding the nature of God is vital. This is the primary place where every deception springs from because in the illusion we have been indoctrinated, “…who can know God; God’s ways are not our ways, and God’s thoughts are not our thoughts.” Rarely are we informed that it is possible to know the ways and the thoughts of God.

God Is

This statement brings God right into your present situation. Some want to offer a claim how “God was,” but that relegates God to the past; or claim how “God will,” which places Him in the future. God always IS.

The Omni Nature

We profess it but deny its validity. God is omnipresent, all present; God is omnipotent, all powerful; God is omniscient, all knowing. We’ll gladly praise God as being “All in all” but fail to recognize the fullness of this truth.

God is Love

Everything is a demonstration of the love of God. Everything means all things. Look about you and there is not one object which is not of God’s love.

God is Good

From the beginning, all of the works of God were declared “good” and mankind, the last creation, was deemed “very good.” God’s goodness is a direct result of His Love. To call something “evil” is to enter into the illusion of humanity where finite thoughts die on the tree of good and evil.

God is All-Power

This is a reiteration of God is omnipotent. There is only one power in all of creation. To believe in another power is to accept the illusion. Nothing is greater than God.

God is One with All

All of creation came from God. He is one with all which He creates. It is impossible for God to separate Himself from anything in His creation for in doing so, all of creation would cease to exist.

God Knows Us

We were with God before the foundation of the world. He knew us before we were conceived in our mother’s womb. Our name is written on the palm of His hand. There is not a single time we have ever been able to hide our actions or thoughts from Him.

God is Grace

In God’s kingdom He sits on a throne labeled by the subjects of the realm as the throne of Grace. The subjects have made this distinction because every word which comes from it is regarded as being “grace.” Grace is the activating power of God’s Love and its Goodness.

Living Truth

These statements about God’s nature are merely a sampling of an infinite God. There are so many more to uncover in your daily meditation and contemplation. Saying you know these things but not living them is merely living the illusion of the religious. Living them out pierces the veil of the illusion and shines a light on how to model the life of Jesus in this world.

There are a multitude of people who have become discouraged by the illusion of religious institutions across the globe. They prefer to regard themselves as being spiritual rather than adhering to some denominational doctrine. No longer willing to be led along a path which promises a divine encounter but only focuses on human failings, these people long for the promise of divine sonship they know exists but has not been presented as a vital element to their spiritual journey. It is safe to say that they have reached their delusion of the illusion. The path is now open to experience true communion with the Father.

Some might think that this path requires what is being bantered about as “deconstruction.” Unfortunately, anything constructed, torn down, and then rebuilt still possesses the finite fingerprint of man and will in the end be burned up like hay and stubble. No, this path requires only two things to direct your gaze upon; first, “except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it;” second, “be still and know that I am God.” This is the way out of the illusion if you’re willing to take it. Only you can decide.