The reality of the idea that man lives in a realm of illusion, is a great distance from all of its usual interpretations, and the challenge of the distance is not in its length, but its direction. The illusion that actually exists, which influences all men’s lives and so bothers the few, is set in a location quite close by but near impossible to see.
When thought’s attention is not engaged in some specific activity in the material world outside of you, it IS the illusion. This is not literally true. This statement is not a fully accurate description of the nature of the illusion, but none is possible in that they all must come from human thinking, which as was just above noted – is itself the illusion.
But there is another way to approach this greased rodent:
No one is conscious of himself.
No one is conscious of himself.
No one is conscious of him self;
the idea is insane;
it clearly cannot be true and yet,
what is it that says it cannot be so.
We are in an area which no words can adequately describe, since, in one sense, we are trying to step into a part of our brain’s operation wherein are produced words; wherein neural reality is composed entirely of words. Do not abandon hope, ye who enter the weasel grab. It can be done and it vanishes all questions and complaints. It can be done, but it is almost impossible to tell someone else how to do it, (but as long as it is just “almost” why stop now).
The reality of the illusion, so long verbally embraced by those people with an inbred hunger to understand things beyond the ability of their innate mental processes, is in this: be prepared. This at first can seem impossibly slippery, excruciatingly frustrating, but also be fully assured.
It is not some “word game,” nor an attempt to be enigmatically “cute” and mysterious. The explanation will be as straightforward as words allow, and based entirely on it being experienced and understood. (Just hold tight and stick with it):
You have no consciousness of yourself.
J.