The age-old question of what is real and what is illusions continue to bother us all the time. Yet when we are engrossed in daily life battles, everything seems to be pushed under the carpet. We live for today in most cases though we must prepare for tomorrow and save for retired life. The frenzy of 21st-century living leaves little time to stand and stare.

Realities 

What are the theories about realities and illusions? Some religious perceptions believe everything we behold is merely a mirage with no truth behind it. That approach has its meaning, all right, that nothing is permanent. Everything is in the grip of continuous transformation.

Yet we have our permanent addresses as if we would live there forever. Even mausoleums like the Taj Mahal and the Pyramids in Egypt may not last forever. Both life and death cannot endure permanently, it seems.

Desire for Illusions

Yet the illusion of everlasting life helps us persevere on the glorious path of life. If we are constantly bothered by the idea of non-existence, would we be able to work through the decades for the sake of children? Would the government’s five-year plans be possible? What about the long-term loans that need to be paid up across fifteen or twenty years?

Art and culture, religion, and the media are constantly playing up illusions. Advertising cleverly attracts people to beauty treatments, for example, and movies, of course, are dream merchants.

Strangely enough, some oriental cultures like the Chinese constantly remind themselves of realities like death. They grieve at birth and celebrate at the end.

Does that mean we should be so concerned about wars and tragedies that we forget to be happy? Maybe the cocoon of illusions is better to enjoy all life offers. Yet let us be conscious of realities and have our feet firmly on the ground. The ultimate danger to be guarded against is getting carried away by the imaginary.