About illusions, deficiencies in logical thinking and imprecise wording
At the moment I am reading a book of someone who has been initiated into more than 6 different spiritual traditions and secret societies. In his book, he describes his interesting experiences and he gives hints and teachings for the spiritual seeker.
This is all nice and good and fascinating. The only thing which is quite unhealthy, bothering and misleading are statements which are simply wrong. This is not a matter of having different opinions or different teachings which would be somehow okay. But it is a matter of deficiencies in logical thinking and imprecise wording and this is really questionable, especially when it comes from an initiate of several traditions. On the other hand it simply shows that secret societies do not educate people in logical thinking and questioning passed on teachings.
However, such “mistakes” are very bad as “initiates” of a certain tradition or society spread half-truths and nonsense which are misleading for spiritual seekers with unhealthy effects.
One very bothering statement (which I cannot hear anymore) is the idea that the whole world is an illusion. This is super nonsense and a misunderstanding of the original teachings about Maya. But unfortunately “more or less initiates” of former times wrote about this idea and others repeated it and so it still has followers.
Illusion can be defined as a wrong perception of reality, also as a wrong interpretation of reality. We know for example visual illusions or illusions made by stage magicians. Here we are not directly able to understand the real nature of the reality which we perceive.
In all cases illusions require reality and a person who perceives it in a wrong way.
In the original teachings the Goddess Maya hides the higher worlds from the material world by using her veils. The illusion is here that humans think that they are alone in a material world without gods, goddesses, higher beings, spiritual realms, God, etc. In the material world we only perceive one third of the whole creation, the stage but not the rest and not the director with his team. With this, it is also an illusion to think that we have only one life where in fact we are eternal spirits, incarnating countlessly.
At this point we can ask about the sense of hiding the higher worlds. One aspect here is that the veils of Maya are simply a matter of the period of time as in the golden age the veils will be vanished. And the other aspect is that only by maintaining this illusion, humans can make comprehensive experiences with a high value for personal growing. In a world without limitations there is no possibility to grow as everything is set and perfect.
From this true and original teaching so-called initiates of our days derived the half-truth respectively the nonsense that the world is an illusion.
When the whole creation including human beings is only a simple illusion, where is reality then? Logically seen, reality must be Akasha, the nothingness, the void, the “thing” which is not created but the basis, the source of creation. And what is the void? Nothing. And nothing is reality. Great logic! So if 10 (creation) is an illusion then it has the value = 0 and when the void is reality which has the same value of 0 then everything is zero, non-existing. So at last this means we are illusions of something which does not exist in anyway. This is much better than any nihilism!
But let´s come back to logic and reality. As far as we can make research, we can understand that Akasha which appears as the great Void is in its nature only void in the context of what we call creation. From the point of view of a creature (human) in a created world, Akasha seems to be nothing. In fact Akasha is a state of energy which is perfect in itself while created things are not in the perfect, static state but in a dynamic state and with this visible for creatures (humans). Like we can draw from white light all colors, we can draw from Akasha all kinds of energies, the fluids and the four elements. And this means that the static, perfect state of the Akasha energy is getting dynamic to manifest itself in form of fire and water and secondary as air and earth and so the play of polarity starts and with this creation.
This all simply means that Akasha is reality in a state which is nearly incomprehensible for a creature and that this highest reality reveals itself in the reality of creation on the different planes of existence.
In conclusion everything is reality in different states of energy. The only illusions which exist depend on our abilities to perceive reality and to understand it in the right way.
In the end I really hope and wish that future initiates will have a good training in logical thinking and in the conscious use of terms to express highest knowledge in the most useful way without confusing people or misleading them.
In the ancient times these things were more regarded and students got punished for unconscious stupid behavior and statements. It was a real loss of face in these times.
At last – we all have be very careful with teachings and statements. Everything should be questioned and validated.
PS: Imagine the consequences if you perceive yourself and others as pure illusions. It implies that there is no need for ethics, no need for responsibility, etc. And also you have any value as an illusion. Wonderful!