Is Life, as we know it, an illusion?

Are we, as some would suggest living in a video game?

If this is so, who wrote the script, for as Shakespeare is reported to have said:

All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts…

Is the script predetermined? Or do we add and take away as we go through life? There certainly seems to be a structure upon which all else is based, the human body. A part that most of us play so well we have forgotten the basic piece of information – that we are merely actings on this stage of life.
From Buddhist teachings :

“What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow: Our life is the creation of our mind.”

It is believed by some that the new born slowly forgets its connection to a state of one-ness, assuming there even is a memory of this state. As the baby passes through childhood and forgets this connection, so they learn to be in the world. Their teachers, family, peers, society have all been through the same process, and depending upon when and where the child is born they undergo a unique conditioning.

This conditioning gives them a sense of identity a place to which they belong, no better nor worse than any other part they have been given, yet they soon learn to judge those that are not like them, those who have been given a different part to play. This judgement may well give rise to conflict, as we either defend our part or attack the parts others play.

It seems to me that this learnt pattern, and the ongoing support that pattern is given by members of the small collective who also believe in their part, this continual state of separation is the root cause of all conflict. A conflict that is based upon separation which of itself gives way to anxiety. An anxious system, whether it be in an individual or a collection of players, can never be at peace, always struggling to find peace and will often blame their state of inner turmoil on another group of players.

IF this is the case, then it would seem that the experience of life on Earth is pretty well doomed to be one of conflict. Nothing new about this, the Buddha was reported to have talked about there root causes of conflict, being Greed, Fear and Ignorance (delusion), this almost 2 and a half thousand years ago.

If this is the case, and we look around at the world now, and see history, as it has been written, then life on Earth does seem to be driven by these three factors, always resulting in conflict somewhere on Earth all throughout history.

But, does this have to be the case? Look again at the earlier quote from the Buddhist teachings:

“What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow: Our life is the creation of our mind.”

Who we believe ourselves to be today is a product of who we thought ourselves to be yesterday, and the day before that, the year before that. Follow this through and understand that ‘your’ mind is creating the world you live in, both on individual and collective levels. Basically anything that we keep giving energy to continues to manifest.

There may come a point in your life when you recognised this and begin to question that which you give energy to, a first step to consciously creating your reality. Although these first steps may come from a place driven by insecurity, anxiety or fear, which will result in that which you are trying to escape from. Only when there is a deep, lasting inner peace will the reality that you create be in true harmony with you and all life. While the inner self still struggles with its own personal conflict it will seek a reality in which it feels safe, comfortable, validated. When these are the motives then the little self is still in control and this only further aggravates the conflict that we meet on the road.

The ‘Art’ of ‘Clearing’ has many as yet unseen benefits. As we develop greater clarity, and hence compassion, within then those around us, including our environment benefit. Most importantly though we benefit through developing the ability to step outside of any conflict that may have existed within.

As inner conflict falls away, so does outer conflict. As we move closer to a state of peace, both of the body and mind, then greater clarity arises. This leads to a life that is less controlled by the three Buddhist Poisons, Greed, Fear and Ignorance. It is almost as though the reality within which we have been living gradually falls away, opening our eyes to a much greater potential that exists within all of us.‘Clearing’ – The path to a different world, the key to an evolved consciousness.

And you don’t have to think about this, no goals, no expectations, just practice your clearing as often as the awareness arises within you. Practice for yourself and notice the power that is inherent in all of us begin to blossom.