The line between illusion and reality is thin. Is it possible to escape the distorted reality of consciousness and belief? When a person suffers from delusions, we say they need medical treatment. But when a group of people has similar delusions, we accept it as a religion. Isn’t that strange?
Our life is a singularity of awareness. It gives us our identity, the optics of consciousness. But this partition can get distorted. Groupthink manipulation can replace individuality with the herd mentality. We follow the herd. It doesn’t matter what they believe or if it is accurate or true. The need to belong and the need to believe create blinders.
The Impact of Deception and Illusion
“A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe; a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts, and his feelings as something separate from the rest. It’s a kind of optical delusion of consciousness.” — Albert Einstein
How does this insight help us on our spiritual journey?
Our consciousness is a container that holds our identity. This envelope is comprised of our personality, instincts, and patterns of thinking. These patterns of thinking are where we construct our values and beliefs.
We are unaware of most of the important activities of our minds. This is the machinery running everything. The subconscious mind is the operating system. Our ego, personality, and instincts operate based on subconscious programming. What we like and sometimes what we do is a mystery to us. Most of our internal organs function without conscious direction.
In essence, we are consciousness riding a biodegradable meat-covered skeleton. And this container is mostly out of our control. However, we can accept ideas that affect our beliefs and values. Our consciousness conforms to these ideas about reality, whether they are true or not. That’s where illusion, deception, and reality collide.
Breaking Free From The Optical Delusion
An optical illusion is a mistake in perception. Perception takes place in the realm of consciousness. So, if our consciousness is distorted, we misperceive things. Yet, we delude ourselves into thinking that the fiction crafted by the mind is reality. How do we identify this kind of distortion, how does it occur, and how do we correct it?
A deception is an action that conceals or distorts something. Every successful deception becomes a self-deception. This happens the moment we accept a false premise. When we accept the false premise, it distorts the reality formed in our consciousness. Before we accept it, it is just an action that is trying to deceive. What we believe distorts our thinking and our consciousness.
So, if we want to escape the distorted reality of consciousness, we must first identify it. We must learn how to recognize how these distortions manifest. A delusion occurs when we accept something incorrect. We don’t recognize the problem. We think the faulty perception is accurate and act accordingly. We miss the signs of consciousness distortion.
The Filter of the Worldview
We perceive reality with the help of a filter known as our worldview or paradigm. This filter tells us what is right or wrong. It contains our values and beliefs about reality. We can diagnose faulty perception. One way is by comparing the qualities of a healthy paradigm with those of an unhealthy one. So, we must define the attributes of a healthy and an unhealthy worldview.
The “Heaven’s Gate” group exemplifies an unhealthy worldview. In 1974, several members committed suicide as a comet passed Earth. They believed they would be transported to the comet and ascend to the next level.
A mindset based on religious beliefs manifests as sectarianism. It creates racial and ethnic bias and prejudice. It promotes discrimination, inequality, and inequity. But those who believe the religion is correct look past these things. We’ll talk about how it’s possible to escape illusions and delusions of perception in a moment.
Religion and The Signs of Consciousness Distortion
Religion distorts reality on purpose. The distorted reality of consciousness and belief is part of the formula. It does so to make people customers. They have a lot invested in keeping people paying customers. But, we are alive for a much greater purpose than to be used as a means for supporting institutions.
The Mass Hallucination
If one person has delusions, we get them psychiatric help. But, if a group has a collective delusion, we call that a religion. Mistaking myths for facts is one of the major signs of consciousness distortion. Make-believe is not a solid foundation for critical thinking.
Travel the world, and the differences in cultures become obvious. Some cultures are more open-minded than others. The exploration of consciousness is a common theme in many ancient cultures. But, Western religion has a different focus. It elevates myths as facts to create customers. Elevating myth creates the mass hallucination and delusion that support their dogma.
Religions Discourage Exploitation
Western organized religions (1) discourage any techniques that allow someone to explore awareness. The reasons they are against this are simple. They can’t compete with or control what you’ll discover on your inward quest.
They fear losing you as a paying customer. Once you find out you don’t need them, they burden and hinder your spiritual growth. They don’t want you breaking free from the optical delusion of their myths. They use these illusions and fabrications to control you.
Religions Fear Loss of Mind Control
Organized religion can’t control you if you venture beyond the fields of time and space. But aren’t we contained within these boundaries? No. We are not. Everything we experience happens within the mind. We know there are other portals of awareness.
Our dreams are proof of this ability to move beyond the physical world. Yet, we fail to capitalize on the opportunity this portal provides. Lucid dreaming techniques help us expand our ability to control this realm. But you won’t find any church, synagogue, or mosque teaching classes on lucid dreaming.
“Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason provides us with a basis for understanding the ineffable nature of the divine. As Kant observes, our experience comes to us within the fields of time and space.” — Joseph Campbell
Don’t run past this last sentence too quickly, as it contains an essential point. Notice both space and time are “conditioning factors.” What this means is that something or someone is promoting these limitations.
Mr. Campbell reveals an essential point. We are conditioned or programmed to stay within the boundaries of space and time. But these are only two portals of experience. We’ll look at these after we look at how the delusion manifests.
Escape The Distorted Reality of Consciousness and Belief
“We must remember that we do not observe nature as it actually exists, but nature is exposed to our methods of perception. The theories determine what we can or cannot observe…Reality is an illusion, albeit a persistent one.” — Albert Einstein
“The world as we see it is only the world as we see it. Others may see it differently” — Albert Einstein
Einstein is saying our methods of perception are the default settings of consciousness. Within this framework, we create the delusion of “individuality.” Our idea of reality is an individually constructed fiction. We fail to test its boundaries, so we stay within the margins of the construct we have created. We fail to see the impact of deception and illusion as a self-made prison.
1. Breaking Free from the Optical Delusion of Religion
All of the delusions in the modern world come from organized religion. It filters its beliefs and values throughout society. When you elevate myth and superstition, you create mass delusion. If you can get people to believe in gods and devils, talking snakes and donkeys, then you can get them to accept anything.
Almost half of the population of the world follows an organized religion built on myths. They are often indoctrinated as children. Then, they pass these delusions on to their children. Getting them to stop and take a look at their beliefs is a challenge. It’s best done one-on-one.
We have a process that we call an unconventional approach to save a believer. It does take a significant time commitment, but it does work. What it entails is being accepted enough to help them question their beliefs.
2. Breaking Free from the Optical Delusion of Modern Culture
“Modern civilization is largely devoted to the pursuit of the cult of delusion. There is no general information about the nature of the mind. It is hardly ever written about by writers or intellectuals. Modern philosophers do not speak of it directly. The majority of scientists deny it could possibly be there at all. It plays no part in popular culture: no one sings about it, no one talks about it in plays, and it’s not on TV. We are actually educated into believing that nothing is real beyond what we can perceive with our ordinary senses.” — Sogyal Rinpoche
The pursuit of the collective delusion gives the modern culture power and control. It is built upon the dictates of religion. Commercialism is a subset of this umbrella. The signs of consciousness distortion are the foundation of their propaganda.
“There is no society that protects freedom of religion more than secular democracies because, in societies where one religion rules, different viewpoints will be labeled as heresy and blasphemy. Why? Because society is built on religion – not freedom for all points of view.” — Flemming Rose
3. Breaking Free from the Optical Delusion of Corporate Culture
Corporate culture is another slice of commercialism. It treats people like paper clips. People are assets that create wealth for those who own the corporation.
“I don’t know how it could be more stark or clear: this entire society is being dominated by corporate power in a way that may exceed what happened in the late nineteenth century, early twentieth century.” — Russ Feingold
“Our society nurtures the illusion that all the rewards go to the people who are perfect. But many of us are finding out that trying to be perfect is costly.” — Debbie Ford
4. Breaking Free from the Optical Delusion of Sensationalism
The sensationalism of conspiracy theorists is a symptom of cultural cancer. The illusions of religion become powerful. It motivates people to create outlandish scenarios to motivate activists. We see it in all of the allegations of child pornography. We see it manifest in the storming of the US capital on January 6, 2021.
“Increasingly, the picture of our society as rendered in our media is illusionary and delusionary: disfigured, unreal, out of touch with reality, disconnected from the true context of our life. It is disfigured by celebrity, by celebrity worship, by gossip, by sensationalism, by denial of our societies.” — Carl Bernstein
“Society is a collection of selves perpetuating their myth.” — Chris Matakas
There must be a better way to live beyond anti-intellectualism and religious extremism. Are there ways to overcome this mind control? Yes. Some tools can help us identify and remove the myths of culture. We call them spiritual technologies.
5. Breaking Free from the Optical Delusion of Morality and Mortality
It’s simple. Return to your original state of innocence. Focus your efforts on removing the junk food programming of religion. Beneath this delusion, you’ll find a beautiful person. Yes, we have flaws, and yes, we have a limited existence. Our mortality is the essence that gives life its meaning. To fear it is to fear the inevitable, which is illogical.
Moral actions come from a pure heart, not fearing the wrath of an imaginary being. Rules and regulations don’t stop people from harming others; they quantify it. The way to stop it is to make the world a better place for everyone. Escape illusions of religion as an answer.
See life as an experiment of sorts? Some think we are merely the universe expressing itself for a grand experiment.
“A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest. It’s a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”― Albert Einstein
The Western culture has names to describe people who are free from this delusion. It calls them Nomad, Sojourner, Wayfarer, Gypsy, or Seer. Does this resonate with you? If one of these titles feels like a “fit,” this is a clue in determining whether you may be on the Hero’s Journey.
“Anybody who gives you a belief system is your enemy. Because the belief system becomes the barrier for your eyes; you cannot see the truth.” — Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, Osho
Conclusion: We Can Escape the Optical Delusion of Consciousness
We have identified four sources that show the signs of consciousness distortion. They program the delusions of consciousness to which Einstine refers. And we’ve given some tactics and ideas about how to handle them.
We know it’s possible to overcome the groupthink programming that causes these distortions. Everyone needs to help those under the control of an unhealthy worldview.
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References
(1) Joseph Campbell’s book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Wikipedia.