Is Reality real or an Illusion?

Answer 1

It's all we have, so there's no point in thinking about it. On the other hand, if you were to achieve enlightenment, you'd supposedly realize that everything is illusion.

Answer 2

Both, or maybe neither! There is objective reality which is independent of you, and there is subjective reality which is utterly dependent upon you. Reality as you think it is is an illusion because reality does not exist with the biases and filters you have in place. When you see a glass/cup you will have preconceived idea's as to its purpose, but that purpose is biased based on cultural use of that item and not based on any of the infinite uses the glass could actually fulfill. It could be a home to undersea creatures, it could be used for crude surgery (broken glass), it could plug a hole, it's particles could mix in the nuclear furnace of a sun, etc. These preconceived ideas extend to your ideas of yourself and your purpose and dynamics in family/society/world/existence.

And what do these preconceived ideas teach us that obscures truth? An example might be that someone makes you angry, say some guy stole your car. Now most people would be angered by this, and most of society would think them justified in their anger. But when you look at the process objectively (without attachment), there is no reason to be angry. Being angry will not make your car return, improve the situation, nor will it drive you to and from work. It will obscure your thinking such that you are less rational and observant, and it will make you suffer as you are the only one who must experience that anger, so instead of attempting to find contentment or happiness in the moment, you fill your head with confusing, discomforting, and disorienting anger. Since life is made up of a series of moments, one after the other, that we ideally fill with being content, being angry contaminates that (your) series with less then ideal "frames" or moments. Plus when you are angry, you will contaminate others with it by lashing out (making others angry) and contaminating all of your actions with the intent of anger (what work or action is mindful and skillful when anger is beind it?). So instead if your car is stolen and you simply understand that fact and then smile and walk home, enjoying the experience for whatever it has to offer, you will not be down trodden and you will not expend needless energy in confusion.

So where does it overlap? Where does the calm content observer overlap with that oh so mysterious objective truth? Where does illusion become real? It is that overlap that is reality. Your relationship to a person, your relationship to a rock. How you feel about it IS what is, so therefore to feel compassionate for all things, even specks of dust, is to evoke the most rewarding of all our emotions on a perpetual basis. Compassion innately integrates a dynamic; the bliss of the one who feels the compassion and the aid, or attempted removal from suffering, the other receives from the compassionate.

So what am I getting to in all of this? To be compassionate, truly compassionate, means to understand another's situation so thoroughly in relation to your own, that you can attempt to remove the other from their suffering (help them become content). Since this arises from altruistic intent, the will to observe the situation truthfully and selflessly arises and you are no longer observing reality through your selfish filters and biases. You are selfless because it becomes a dynamic between you and the other and what is available within that dynamic that can be utilized to help the other. This stuff goes deeper, but it's something you need to conclude on your own because such things depend on how you personally understand things. I would recommend meditation if you want to understand more. I highly recommend the book "Mindfulness, Bliss, and Beyond: A Meditator's Handbook" by Ajahn Brahm (a Cambridge England U. theoretical physics Ph.D-turned-monk)

Answer 3

I find it funny that you asked "is REALity real?" Anyways, If our reality is subjective than real is a relative term. Illusion seems to imply that you are being tricked or misguided by "something". Reality is more an allusion. An allusion to our built up system of concepts and "truths".

Answer 4

It's a real illusion!0!

Answer 5

Reality consists of what you believe it to be. Your morals and thoughts given physical form, assuming you mean physical reality. Thus, we each really do live in our own world. True reality is nothing but everything put together to form nothingness. After all, if everything came together, then everything would be equal/meaningless; thus becoming nothingness. This is why what you believe is real is real, until you convince yourself otherwise. Also, this makes us, as individuals, only as real as others believe us to be. We live inside each other. No matter where you are, everyone is always connected. Hahaha....

Answer 6

If you don't like what's happening in your life, call it an illusion. Call your best moments reality.

Answer 7

If reality is illusion, then what is real?

Answer 8

Reality is elusively real. Illusion is really elusive.

Answer 9

It depends on what you make of it

Answer 10

illusion

nice question most aren't smart enough to ask it