Lineages of Illusions

Our paradigms are illusions. They may be accurate and useful, like our concept for gravitation, or they may be completely misguided, like the notion that women’s bodies will become infertile if they read too much. (That’s actually something people used to believe.)

Whatever illusions you come across, experience and discrimination will help flush out useless illusions and capture the useful ones. Wisdom will reveal that illusions are time bound, meaning, future advancements will make our current model of the world appear, literally, prehistoric. Regardless…  Let’s put aside the validity of our illusions, take a step back, and contemplate their origin.

Most people live in illusions made up of other people’s beliefs, which are inherited directly through parenting, schooling or societal indoctrination. And some people live in illusions made up of their own beliefs, which can arise as a result of anything ranging from scientific inquiry to idiotic fantasy.

Today, living in illusions made up of your own beliefs is more fashionable. Our culture of “free” thinkers and “individualists” value “independent” thought, meaning they value having your illusions arise from your own beliefs over having them inherited. In fact, having strong personal beliefs is considered very attractive in our modern culture, even when those beliefs can be proven wrong.

In this sense, humanity has regressed from wondering “what is truth” to dickering about the source of “your truth” and obsessing over respecting the misguided paradigms of others.

But, at the end of the day, neither the validity of your illusions, nor where they come from matter. When you recognize that they are all illusionary, only one thing matters:

Who are your illusions serving?