Illusions

[claudiu]

@rick

Consider:

1. A flesh and bloody body living in the actual world perceives and experiences that which is not actual, those illusory scintillating rays for example, so the experience of a flesh and blood body in the actual world is not entirely actual, is it?
2. A flesh and blood body living in the actual world perceives and experiences only that which is actual, so those illusory scintillating rays perceived and experienced by a flesh and blood body in the actual world are actual, are they not?

The following might be interesting for your consideration.

Upon reading this, of course the logical (as in following from premises that are axiomatically presumed to be true) conclusion came to mind that illusions are actual and therefore that ‘I’ am actual.

This came with the thought “if ‘I’ am actual then …” and I was then catapulted me into the same world I hinted about in the thread here, which you said you found awesome to read:

@rick

@claudiu

What you are finding is that there is no ‘outside’ to the universe – everything that exists is within the universe or is the universe manifesting itself in some way. This is indeed no small thing, and upon realizing this is what you were getting at I too experienced an increased intimacy in my surroundings.

This was such an awesome thing to read, by the way.

I noticed that I felt there was an increased intimacy in my surroundings this time, also, although I wouldn’t have put it that way at the time. I also felt an intrinsic benevolence and benignity in this world. I felt safe in this world. ‘I’ was fully present of course.

However, something didn’t seem quite right. Alarm bells were ringing. I couldn’t quite place my finger on it at first. Wasn’t this the same actuality that I have experienced before on many an occasion? Who am ‘I’ to deny that this benevolence I’m experiencing is of the actual world? Would ‘I’ reject such a thing?

And that’s when the simple realization came to me that what I was experiencing was not what I’ve experienced in the many EEs I’ve had (where ‘I’ was present), nor was the benevolence and benignity that I was feeling, the same as that sourced in the PCE, that I’m now quite familiar with.

In short this wasn’t those (EE or PCE)… and it sure as hell wasn’t normal… therefore it was an ASC!

Soon after I realized that it was different, I found the problem. In this ASC, the universe feels like it is benign and benevolent towards ‘me’, the feeling-being. It is experienced to be a benign place for ‘me’, the feeling-being. Whereas with regards to the benevolence and benignity of actuality, ‘I’ am essentially invisible to it. It’s never directed towards ‘me’ — ‘I’ don’t exist as far as it is concerned. ‘I’ just get in the way of it, as opposed to being the object of it, in the ASC.

And therein lies the rub of why the ASC is not on the wide and wondrous path to an actual freedom. It perpetuates ‘me’ by being a friendly place for ‘me’ to continue ‘my’ (imagined) existence.

Perhaps it is better than ‘normality’? I didn’t spend enough time there to find out. But it’s certainly not on the path towards actuality!

Cheers,
Claudiu