The illusion of reality is a concept that is difficult for many people to grasp, because people are the main cause of the illusions that surround us. The illusions that I speak of will cover everything from government to relationships to even personal illusions. These may all come back to one central concept, security.

How is the government an illusion?

The government is in fact something that is in place to hold together many laws and rules that prevent us from being injured by others. The government allows us to goto work or school every day with out much worry of crime or threat of being attacked. Government seems highly distant from illusion, yet it is in fact structured by illusion. The question we must ask ourselves is, what makes up a government? Is the government merely just an enforced idea... if so, where does this idea come from? We must refrain ourselves from saying that government comes from man alone, for government was established in times when there was no government. What is the basis of government?

Thomas Hobbes a famous philosopher said that the state of nature is a state of war of all against all.

If we can imagine this primitive state, where everyone is fighting each other for resources, then we have a beginning understanding of why government might be established. The terms that government is established on, would be terms that are relevant to a situation of the natural state of a war of all against all. This means that certain agreements would be established for safety from being killed, such as an agreement of "I won't kill your people if you don't kill mine"

This coming back to the philosophy of:
"Do unto others as you would have done unto you"

Yet, even with this agreement, you could still be killed by another person. It is when you have many people agreeing to this idea that you form a government, and anyone who violating this idea would be confronted by an army or military force. Which does not change the possibility that you could still kill someone, though you may be jailed or killed for it by the public.

Security is but an illusion that we create...

See a quote from the movie Instinct....

"What have you lost? What did I take from you? "
Theo writes: "My illusion"

Even when events happen that prove that there is absolutely no guaranteed security in our country, we still believe that it is there. Some examples are:

• Oklahoma bombing
  
  
• Columbine shooting
  
  
• Sept. 11, 2001 Attacks

These are all terrorists attacks, all of which are completely random and unpredictable of where and when they will occur. Every one of your greatest sociologists, psychologists and criminal justice experts would agree to this. Even some of your great comedians, for a real slap in the face, check out George Carlin's routine on Airport Security. Had we all heard this routine we might not have been so shocked at the incident.

Relationships are an illusion

We can see how security is an illusion in government. It's not much different when it comes to relationships. Now, many people may disagree with this, but i'm speaking of a particular concept when I say this. I'm saying that everything around us is always changing, even when it is stable it is still changing when you look at it over a long period of time. It's really difficult to notice people changing when you are around them, like if you've ever ran into someone you haven't seen in a long time and they say "oh you've lost weight" or "you look different" that's when change is noticed. Even though people change in a relationship, this is not the sole reason why they are an illusion. Once again, it is the illusion of security that we create for each other. Just like the contract that is made between two people to ensure that they will not steal from each other, so is a contract of love. We make a contract between each other that we will have exclusive relationships, in the sense that we will not be with another when we are with the one we love.

• We start out single, with no connections or agreements between each other.
  
  
• Then as we become closer, we avoid aloneness. We remember that being together, is better than being alone.
  
  
• We develop a fear of aloneness

Our security of not being alone is formed in a dependency of the other person. We begin to depend on them to love us, and only us alone for fear that they may love another. We invest more and more energy into just one thing, in which we may develop an obsession or possession. Don't fear these words, just realize they are there, realize that the illusion exists to protect yourself from being hurt. You can make pain not as hurtful when you know what it is and why it is there, being able to expect a shock helps a great deal. If you are always ready for it, then you will be fine. (You can even find this in psychological experiments with shocking rats)

Illusion of Self

Personal illusions are much harder to see, because they are within our own minds. We can the illusions we create on a broader level, and the illusions themselves are within our own minds before they are given life. To see your illusions, find your fears and guilts, and exploit them. What kind of actions do you take to avoid bad situations? I often create the illusion in my head that my work is so easy to do, that it's practically done. I have created a great illusion of being productive in my own mind, because I fear the work will take too much time. I know the work will take a lot of my personal time, I fear not having that personal time to achieve my personal goals. This is just one illusion I create within my own mind. It's a big one too, seeing that you can apply it not only to school work, but also relationships and many other things. Yet, once again it comes back to the illusion of security that I have created.

The Magic of an Illusion

The magic of an illusion is that the illusion is taking care of you. That there is absolutely nothing to worry about, because the illusion will take care of you no matter what. In such a chaotic world, it is an unbelievably sweet idea. Yet, You can be a completely independent person in a loving relationship with another completely independent person, but even so, you may fail to see the illusion. You can be the two most dependent people in the world, your love molded in complete dependency, and the illusion may still fail you. In both cases, the illusion is always there. The fact of the matter is that people and situations are unpredictable. You might think that this is very depressing, and it is merely because you are being reminded of being alone.

Fear and guilt are the only true enemies of man.

"There's nothing to fear, but fear itself"

If you can overcome the fear of being alone, then there is nothing that can harm you. Relationships are still a great thing, people are supposed to be in love with each other, but I am saying that loving more than one person is not a wrong idea. It is merely wrong because society fears being alone. Even as I say this, I am still saying that people are not to be used and abused. Sometimes we are so content with our own lives that we forget about the feelings of others. And as you might have already noticed, this might be a personally created illusion.

Would you take the Red or Blue pill? Yes, I'm referring to The Matrix.. Did you think we'd get through this without a reference to "The Matrix"? (laughter) Ofcourse not, this movie clearly points out an ultimate illusion. Take the red pill and you see the illusion, the horror, the TRUTH. Take the blue pill and you forget everything and live the illusion.. It's your choice. Maybe the best answer is to take both pills. Sometimes illusions are very nice, so long as we remember that they are just magic.