Sunday, October 7, 2012

Illusions



The sun does not sink down behind the horizon.
It is the earth that is turning.
And rainbows do not exist
if no one is there to behold them.

Things are not what they seem to be.
You are not what you think you are.
We have misunderstood and misinterpreted most things in life.


I don’t write these words.
Scientists have discovered that the brain processes that trigger an action
for example, when I am pressing a key on a key board,
begin more than half a second before I consciously decide to act.

We have no free will according to modern brain science.
We have no Self that is responsible for our actions.
Nevertheless, you can see the rainbow clearly
and it goes without saying that you are accountable for your actions,
the whole of you, not just the imaginary part of you that you call your Self.

Of course we have a free will.
We can easily be deluded, yes,
and other people can stop us from doing what we want,
but the will is there and it is very real.


The Self does not exist in the same way that physical objects exist.
It cannot be weighed or measured.
Activity in certain brain centers can be measured, when we do something, 

think about something or look at something.
However, there are no particular brain cells
that gives rise to the sense of “I am here”.

The self is like a rainbow
and rainbows do exist.
The idea that the Self is an illusion, is a delusion
and the idea that the Self is something real and permanent
is also a delusion.

However, to ponder over these things is a waste of time.
The world is in total chaos and disorder,
war, pollution, exploitation, starvation, religious madness…

And you care only about your Self.
You should ask yourself if you have been fooled
or if you have fooled yourself.
You should ask yourself why you are fighting so hard to defend your delusions.
You should ask yourself why other people are fighting so hard
to defend their delusions.

Your religion is not the only religion here on this planet. 
Your political ideology is not the only one.

What if your religion or your political ideas are just mind stuff
that you have picked up from other people.