When Mahatma Gandhi was asked if the world was real or an illusion (maya), he replied that it was maya but it must be treated as real. When Anita Sielecki prefaced a comment she was about to make about a workshop that I had just taught, she used three simple words: “In my imagination…” A preface like that makes a critique easy to take: Nothing personal here, might not be real, just my imagination. Gandhi’s answer and Anita’s preface started a train of thought: What is illusion? What is real? How much is just imagination? What is the difference between reality and imagination?
Despite recent advances in neurology there is no clear understanding of how exactly the brain/mind creates our “reality”. Someone suggested that the brain is a “dream machine” meaning that one function of the brain is to take information from our memory, stored emotions, beliefs, desires, fears, prejudices, etc. and to fabricate dreams or illusions from them. “Reality” was created by this same mental process, but with the inclusion of real time information supplied by the senses. This all sounds very dry and theoretical, but it did remind me of a story I had read on the nature of reality in some old yoga book. In my own words, it goes something like the following.
“One day a merchant was walking home from the market. It had been a good day for his business. He had had a lot of customers and had made a huge profit. He had made more than the necessary money to bring home for his wife and children, he thought.
Although it had been a hot day it was now cool. The merchant was watching the sunset and enjoying the evening breeze coming off the ocean. He felt an indescribable pleasure. He walked with happy steps. It was twilight. Another day was over.
However, his happiness and contentment was broken he noticed a snake very near his right foot. His heart felt a sharp pain. He had seen this snake before on this road. It was said to be a very poisonous snake. It would strike quickly and kill a man in an instant. And now here it was by his foot. He was completely frozen. He could not move. He had heard that it was the eyes of this snake when focused on you that causes this paralysis. He also had heard that when a man is about to die, his life flashes before his eyes. This was exactly what was happening. Not much of his life, just a bit. He knew why this snake was going to kill him.
That day at the market he had shortchanged an old lady. He often shortchanged people. And sometimes this caused arguments. The arguments usually ended when he swore that he had not shortchanged anyone, that he was not a liar, and in front of God he would swear an oath that God would take his life if he was a deceiver or a liar. He had said this many times before. And today it was obvious that God had had enough; so he had sent this snake to kill him. He stood waiting paralyzed by fear. There were only four things perceptible to him in the vastness of his world: himself, the snake, the truth, and his imminent death.
He was absorbed in his despair when he felt someone tap on his shoulder. Without turning, he uttered an unintelligible sound. Then the voice of a friend asked, “What are you doing standing here? Why don’t you go home?” But he couldn’t move, he breathed with difficulty, and from his tight throat he choked out the word “snake”, “Snake? Whereabouts?” the fellow asked. With trepidation, the man did his best to glance down at his right foot. Following the man’s look, the friend looked down and burst into peals of laughter, “There’s no snake. Just a piece of old rope by your foot. Look at it again!” He continued to laugh at the man as dark descended and covered the quiet road.
Upon reflecting on the story, I saw how the pieces fit together. Unreliable sensory input resulted in the man mistaking the rope for a snake. With this error in perception combined with memory, belief, fear and guilt he fabricated what he thought he was seeing into an imaginary nightmare. His final assessment is incorrect. There was no snake and no imminent death, unless from a heart attack! The truth he was so sure of was 100% illusion created by his mind. It was influenced by his not adhering to at least one niyama, Swadhyaya (self study), in this case the study of his beliefs, what were they, and were they based on fact. Two yamas, Asteya (not stealing) and Satya (commitment to the truth) also influenced his hallucination. The physical experience of this illusion, however, was 100% real. His contentment Santosha was shattered.
“One day a merchant was walking home from the market. It had been a good day for his business. He had had a lot of customers and had made a huge profit. He had made more than the necessary money to bring home for his wife and children, he thought.
Although it had been a hot day it was now cool. The merchant was watching the sunset and enjoying the evening breeze coming off the ocean. He felt an indescribable pleasure. He walked with happy steps. It was twilight. Another day was over.
However, his happiness and contentment was broken he noticed a snake very near his right foot. His heart felt a sharp pain. He had seen this snake before on this road. It was said to be a very poisonous snake. It would strike quickly and kill a man in an instant. And now here it was by his foot. He was completely frozen. He could not move. He had heard that it was the eyes of this snake when focused on you that causes this paralysis. He also had heard that when a man is about to die, his life flashes before his eyes. This was exactly what was happening. Not much of his life, just a bit. He knew why this snake was going to kill him.
That day at the market he had shortchanged an old lady. He often shortchanged people. And sometimes this caused arguments. The arguments usually ended when he swore that he had not shortchanged anyone, that he was not a liar, and in front of God he would swear an oath that God would take his life if he was a deceiver or a liar. He had said this many times before. And today it was obvious that God had had enough; so he had sent this snake to kill him. He stood waiting paralyzed by fear. There were only four things perceptible to him in the vastness of his world: himself, the snake, the truth, and his imminent death.
He was absorbed in his despair when he felt someone tap on his shoulder. Without turning, he uttered an unintelligible sound. Then the voice of a friend asked, “What are you doing standing here? Why don’t you go home?” But he couldn’t move, he breathed with difficulty, and from his tight throat he choked out the word “snake”, “Snake? Whereabouts?” the fellow asked. With trepidation, the man did his best to glance down at his right foot. Following the man’s look, the friend looked down and burst into peals of laughter, “There’s no snake. Just a piece of old rope by your foot. Look at it again!” He continued to laugh at the man as dark descended and covered the quiet road.
Upon reflecting on the story, I saw how the pieces fit together. Unreliable sensory input resulted in the man mistaking the rope for a snake. With this error in perception combined with memory, belief, fear and guilt he fabricated what he thought he was seeing into an imaginary nightmare. His final assessment is incorrect. There was no snake and no imminent death, unless from a heart attack! The truth he was so sure of was 100% illusion created by his mind. It was influenced by his not adhering to at least one niyama, Swadhyaya (self study), in this case the study of his beliefs, what were they, and were they based on fact. Two yamas, Asteya (not stealing) and Satya (commitment to the truth) also influenced his hallucination. The physical experience of this illusion, however, was 100% real. His contentment Santosha was shattered.
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