Is There Always Some Harm In Choosing The Temporary Comfort Of Illusion...Over A Painful Truth?

Answer 1

Hi, LUCKY3! Happy post-Christmas! (((Hugs)))

I think not. There is a process to accepting painful truth. Some things are too difficult to bear all at once. I believe temporary comfort of illusion is a viable safeguard to prevent snapping from a load that is too heavy. Then one can gradually develop strength to accept the pain in smaller doses and let the harsh reality in without suddenly being crushed. For the worst of tragedies, this can be essential to function and maintain some measure of balance for day-to-day living.

Answer 2

I think you first have to decide whether it is possible to choose an illusion.

In real life an illusion is only really effective when you really believe it so it is not always something we can always choose. Sometimes when we have the choice to see either the good or the bad we tend to only want to see the best which is not always the worste thing to do. Why not believe the best and hope for it even when what is the best is not always what you would imagine. By trying to see the worst in a situation we often get nothing out of it becuase we have to hope to even try. You could think the worste sometimes and still be wrong. How much less likely would we be to find the good if we only ever looked for bad.

If we are looking for where the harm can be done we also need to understand the purpose of the illusion. Movies are an illusion which are mean to entertain so what harm could there be in a movie (we won't get into that now). Religion is an illusion which takes away the fear of death and personal responsibility and love is the illusion which promises security and continuity and that is perhaps the sweetest illusions of all and yet these are the things we hold most dear in our lives. We can't seem to live without them so they can't be all bad (but in my opinion we would be better of without some of them)

I think the only harm is in not letting go of and illusion when you know that you really should.

Some of my happiest moments have been in delusion but I still think reality gives you so much more in terms of experience and understanding and movement. Illusions can be a trap.

Answer 3

The pain in the long run when choosing temporary illusion is usually worse than the painful truth. The illusion blocks, teaches us to ignore "us" and in the end you may lose "you". If the truth is painful, dealing with it, releasing it, moving on is better in the long run.

Answer 4

No.

I knew people, past tense, who that was all they had to look forward to, illusion, because pain was an every day occurence, and by pain I mean physical torture in the form of medical treatment. The illusion is that one day it will all get better. The truth is it seldom gets better. So, fo these people the illusion is life and the truth is death. There is nothing wrong with choosing life over death. If you ever get the chance, and you may, to watch "Dead Like Me" they refer to life as a temp job we all have. We simply tend to ignore that fact. Go with the illusion as long as she lasts.

Answer 5

Lies slow down our progress on the path of (collective) enlightenment.

Eternal Truth causes LOVE to manifest within us.

The pain of Truth is just as temporary as the comfort of lies... Painful Truths do not remain painful. Truth only hurts when ego holds on, and tries to prevent itself from vanishing away.... But when ego is all gone, there is nothing left to cause pain. Truth then becomes the sweetest thing, the most nourishing to the soul, the most joyous... and the Love of God enfolds us and makes us One with all things.

We must each pass through the fire to remove the dross (ie ego) from our souls. The result is a shining and pure joy, and an undeniable assurance that we are loved by our Heavenly Father. There is nothing more Eternally Comforting than that.

And the Comforter (the Spirit of Truth) makes us able to reach and touch other's lives, and to do great good... healing the harms that are so abundant in this world of human struggle.

((( ♥ Consider yourself wrapped in an Eternal Hug ♥ )))

Answer 6

I don't think so.... often the temporary comfort of illusion works as an effective cushion for eventually transiting into the painful truth.

Answer 7

no, not always, unless you view hiding the truth as harmful

otherwise, it's probably the smarter decision. by hiding away while circumstances cool down, when you decide to come out of your illusion, everything is less...extreme, and you can take things in at a less intense level, which cuts a lot of very depressing emotion.

Since I don't like shielding an illusion over the truth, but also don't like taking things in all at once, fully blown, I just process it slowly. I take in as much as I can handle, let it out, deal with it (not through psychological steps, but just through nature), then take in more.

For example, if my dog dies, i would just block it for the first day, to prevent an over-rush of feelings. then i would process that his play-pen is empty. then i would process i no longer have to feed him or take him out. then i would finally process the last few things ("tie up loose ends" i guess), and take in that he's dead.

EDIT
of course, i highly doubt i would EVER be able to work out such a depressing situation through a plan...i'd probably break out crying and sulking the whole first day. THEN use those "steps" to ACCEPT what i was crying about

Answer 8

Of course there is harm in the illusory comfort, the proof is in the tasting. I am sure you have much experience of this. Eventually the karma will come. Best to face the facts and that pain will dissipate. but if you go for illusion and comfort the pain will linger and linger.

Answer 9

Always is a very sweeping qualifier - if it's not true even once in ten thousand years then it's not "always" so. But I'd say unless there are very unusual circumstances, such as no further communications with anyone else, ever, then yes it is always harmful. The main reason delusions are harmful is that the affected person then spreads the lie to others in order to reinforce their own belief in it. This does two damages - one it sends others off with a snootful of of mis-information, and two, the affected people themselves are now spot-blind and may crash into reality if it occurs in their blind spot. Actually, there is a third damage - it triggers the addictive something-for-nothing reaction in us when we indulge in a delusion or any other magic bullet that suddenly and magically removes a chunk of our pain or stress.

Other than that ...

Answer 10

some people might answer quick and say "Choosing The Temporary Comfort" but this, I guess, ain't a reasonable choice. Dangerous wrong-path mind projections can develop and lead to a different and painful reality. too unbearable for some of us.

so, i'll choose the "painful truth''