What the appeal with all this "ILLUSION" crap?

"ONE MAN'S TRASH IS ANOTHER MAN'S TREASURE"

One mans illusion is another man's reality.

The illusion is that we think: "if i buy that car, i'll be happy" or "if i get that job, i'll be happy" But soon after the novelty wears off and we are in despair again.

Happiness attained by material or physical means is always short lived because we realise that everything will turn to dust eventually.

However, the happiness or joy you get when you have a good conversation with a loved one or see or hear the beauty in music or nature will stay with you forever because it's REAL.

It all has to do with how you view the world. If you think all you are is a BODY, then all you have for a life is this material world. Assuming there is no God or any spiritual being like a soul, all you have is just a body. In that case, nothing is an illusion because when you die there is nothing else. You are kaput.

But once you get into God and souls, then life takes on a depth of meaning not possible to atheistic beliefs. Suddenly, the soul, God and the afterlife give purpose and meaning to this material world. The philosophy is that you can NEVER know anything outside yourself "for absolute sure." You can never know what another person thinks their sensory inputs are telling them either. When you take on a spiritual belief about life, suddenly, the material world is not the center of focus, it is the spiritual world that is the center of focus, and the material world is just a pre-formed perception.

I happen to error on the side that says that this world is an illusion because it is a temporary state of existence, while my soul is eternal and lives forever. Thus, the world is just a passing illusion - a temporary stopping place to get some experience.

This is the difference. Now, if you want to believe that all there is on this world is the material experience and there is nothing else to explain anything with - fine! Go on believing that what you experience is real.

The appeal is this: the orator that asserts everything is interpretive, uncertain and (therefore) ‘illusory’ constructs a belief system that is impossible to disprove with presumably interpretive, uncertain and illusory evidence, while anything contradictory is impossible to prove with presumably interpretive, uncertain and illusory evidence. The ‘illusion’ theory is not a constructive argument that enriches the dialogue process. It is a disruptive tactic that precludes constructive dialogue. (It’s also called the ‘thought-terminating cliché’.)

Browse through some of my questions on my profile and look at the answers, or conduct your own experiments. The ‘illusion’ theorist ultimately always uses something along the lines of a universal declaration that nothing is universal, and if you translate their positions to casual speech, it pretty much always means, “I’m always right and you’re always wrong because you (a) misinterpret interpretive reality, (b) can’t prove anything with any certainty, (c) can’t trust your sensations or observations, (d) don’t comprehend the complexity of any of these arguments because you are too unsophisticated and/or unintelligent, or (e) any possible combination thereof.

It’s called ‘cognitive dissonance’. (Google or Wikipedia ‘Leon Festinger cognitive dissonance’ - also Wikipedia ‘mind control’ & ‘brainwashing’ then link browse.) (It’s also a favorite tactic of what we like to call ‘religious cults’.) The intent of the all-knowing master of reality is to rattle your confidence in yourself, your thoughts, your sensations, the life you experience and the world you observe then fill that void with complicated abstract theory you are too embarrassed to admit you do not understand, but must be correct because it sounds so impressive, elaborate and complete. If the tactic works on you then you are a compliant obedient subordinate that follows instructions well and recites dogma on command without ever asking another question again (except when requesting instructions), and THAT is the ‘appeal’ of ‘illusory’ reality (aka: existentialism). You experience it every day in its practical forms, secular politics and market economics, through which the masters of reality convert you, your life and your actions into 'resources' they exploit, exhaust and then discard.

If you find anything about my response appealing then you should suspect me and my response first and most, conduct your own study and reach your own conclusions. (Do any of your existential, political or economic masters of reality ever suggest you should doubt them or determine anything for yourself?)

P.S. The Ayn Rand disciple is playing the same trick, attempting to lure you in with a pinch of objectivity on the fishhook. Don’t be too quick to bite that stuff, there’s lots of jagged metal shards in there… and remember, if he really wants you to discover something on your own, why does he so rarely quote or recommend anything other than a single source? Here’s my recommendation: read the Ayn Rand stuff and read it good then read the Leon Festinger stuff then read about Marx, socialism, Austrian school, laissez faire capitalism then read and understand scientific methodology, and be really sure to read about psychopathic disorder… and DON’T TRUST ME… Trust yourself, your sensations, your thoughts and your obvious reality.

EDIT ADD: Notice the thumbs down? What's that for? -the recommendation to trust yourself, not me? -the recommendation to broaden your scope of independent study as opposed to trusting the single source? Yeah, those are some real objectionable ideas, huh? If the existentialist is so sure everything is so illusory and interpretive then why does the existentialist seem to care so much about what everybody else thinks?

The idea has been around since at least Plato, with his "Forms," which were said to be imperfect reflections of the gods.

But Kant cemented the idea with his invention of "noumena."

Then Linguistic Analysis told us words do not apply to concretes because there are no concretes, so we can't even talk about concretes.

But I'm sure you knew all this, and I agree, it is crap.

"Reality is an absolute, existence is an absolute, a speck of dust is an absolute and so is a human life. Whether you live or die is an absolute. Whether you have a piece of bread or not, is an absolute. Whether you eat your bread or see it vanish into a looter’s stomach, is an absolute." Ayn Rand

Just because everything is an illusion doesn't mean I have any less responsibility for my life and to understand the 'script'.

Life may be a cartoon but I am BUGS BUNNY.

"What's up Doc?"

[Prove to me that we aren't in a cartoon?]

It worked for Guns N Roses.

Chris Angel have shown that all is just in your mind... nothing more, nothing less. MindFreaks.com