Everything is an Illusion
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What is truth?
Paul J. Dejillas, Ph.D. – September 13, 2021
It was first raised in Latin: "Quid est veritas?", Pilate jestingly asked. But he was not really serious about knowing the truth. Neither was it the proper time to deliver a serious lecture on the subject. The crowd was clamoring for Jesus' crucifixion.
Christ simply said, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32). A similar response he gave to Thomas: "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life" (John 14:6). Apparently, Jesus wanted us to find the answer ourselves.
If you were asked the same question today, what is truth? What would be your response?
In my class on “Sustainable Development”, I present the articles below to get the random reactions of my students in the doctoral program on Applied Cosmic Anthropology.
1. "Sustainable Development Is Necessary to Protect Global Resources." Danja Van Der Veldt. 194
2. "Sustainable Development Is Unnecessary." Jerry Taylor 202.
3. "Organic Farming Protects the Environment and Sustains Human Life." Jonathan Dimbleby 77
4. "Organic Farming Harms the Environment and Threatens Human Health." Dennis T. Avery 84
5. "Sustainable Development Is Necessary to Protect Global Resources." Danja Van Der Veldt. 194
6. "Sustainable Development Is Unnecessary." Jerry Taylor 202.
7. "Organic Farming Protects the Environment and Sustains Human Life." Jonathan Dimbleby 77
8. "Organic Farming Harms the Environment and Threatens Human Health." Dennis T. Avery 84
9. "Global Oil Reserves Are Being Exhausted." Kenneth S. Deffeyes. 17
10. "Global Oil Reserves Are Not Being Exhausted." Sarah A. Emerson 24
11. "Global Food Supplies are Becoming Scarcer." Lester R. Brown 30
12. "Global Food Supplies are Not Becoming Scarcer." Bjorn Lomborg. 37
13. "Rain Forest Destruction Has Reached Crisis Proportion." Peter Bunyard. 46
14. "The Extent of Rain Forest Destruction Has Been Exaggerated." Marc Morano and Kent Washburn. 50
15. "Genetically Engineered Foods Should Be Produced." The Economist. 60
16. "Genetically Engineered Foods Should Not Be Produced." Vandana Shiva 68
17. "Organic Farming Protects the Environment and Sustains Human Life." Jonathan Dimbleby 77
18. "Organic Farming Harms the Environment and Threatens Human Health." Dennis T. Avery 84
19. "Livestock Agriculture Depletes Land Resources." Ed Ayres. 94
20. "Livestock Agriculture is Beneficial." National Cattlemen’s Beef Association 98
21. Genetically Engineered Foods Should Be Produced." The Economist. 60
22. "Genetically Engineered Foods Should Not Be Produced." Vandana Shiva 68
23. "Organic Farming Protects the Environment and Sustains Human Life." Jonathan Dimbleby 77
24. "Organic Farming Harms the Environment and Threatens Human Health." Dennis T. Avery 84
25. "Livestock Agriculture Depletes Land Resources." Ed Ayres. 94
26. "Livestock Agriculture is Beneficial." National Cattlemen’s Beef Association 98
27. "Stabilizing the World’s Population Growth Will Protect Global Resources." Werner Fornos. 162
28. "Population Growth Does not Threaten Global Resources." Nicholas Eberstadt. 173
29. "Globalized Free Trade Will Protect Global Resources." James M. Sheelban
30. "Globalized Free Trade Can Exhaust Global Resources." Stanley Wood. 187
31. "Sustainable Development Is Necessary to Protect Global Resources." Danja Van Der Veldt.194
32. "Sustainable Development Is Unnecessary." Jerry Taylor 202.
Who is saying the truth?
Try to reflect on the above questions for one to two minutes and make your own judgement.
If you have made a decision already, what standards have you adopted for discerning what is true and untrue? Based on your criteria, would you say that what you have arrived at to be true can also be true to me?
If you think we have the same concept of what is truth, then, we must have been using the same criteria. But supposing our answers differ and are in fact diametrically opposed to each other, can you still stick to your truth and outrightly disregard my truth as untruth?
If I insist that mine is also true, then, do we have two different truths. How shall we resolve the issue? Can we submit the case to the Appellate Court and, if we can't submit to its ruling, can we go to the Supreme Court? I experienced this process and our respective defense never rested.
Or, without being too legalistic about it, can we just say that there are two truths and, by extrapolation, conclude that there are in fact as many truths as there are individuals and souls living on Earth?
If so, does this mean that there can never be one truth that applies to all? If there is one absolute truth, how is this arrived at?
Endless questions that remain to be answered to this day. I have formulated answers to all this a long time ago that have put my defense lawyers to rest.
We are living in a world of make-believe
Paul J. Dejillas, Ph.D. – September 9, 2001
It is unreal, a fantasy, a fairy-tale, imaginary, illusory, fake, and a figment of wild imagination, created by others.
It is not our world. It's their own making. They want us to believe that it is the only true and real world. We are simply forced to live into their world, herded like lambs led into their slaughter.
Every nation is building their own phantom world, in a race to rule over other people: the United Nations, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Great Britain, the USSR, China's Communist Party, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Indian Continent, the African Union.
Every nation is all-out to subdue and conquer the other, politically, economically, religiously, culturally, militarily, and geographically.
We, the lowly people, are simply to accept their world, the inhumane kind of work they impose on us, the minimum pay they give us, the kind of education they offer, the kind of community we are to live, the laws and regulations they enact for us, and so on.
Failure to accept their world means penalty. Grudgingly, we are forced to accept. For violation can mean starvation, incarceration, marginalization from the mainstream society, or even death.
We, the poor, have no choice. Live and let live is the rule of the game of life. It’s not a free world. There’s no freedom, only slavery, dictatorship, authoritarianism, and militarism. Take it or leave it.
Our battlecry....
Arise ye people of the world! Unite and be awake! Let’s be the masters and creators of our own destiny and future. Let’s lord over the universe as it was intended and designed by its Creator from the very beginning of time and space.
Our Illusory World
August 15, 2021
Our existence here on Earth is fleeting and impermanent. We are just pilgrims here, passing by for varied reasons. The few rich and powerful think they own the world. They consider the poor a scourge and menace to society, even as an evil incarnate afflicted with a deadly leprosy or malignant tumor, whose sight and smell are unpleasant, odd, repulsive and whose lives need to be exterminated and vanished from the face of this Earth.
Yet, the poor, like us, feel like they're permanent settlers, not passers-by. They don't realize they're imprisoned in their own respective teeny-weeny world unable to get out of their self-imposed detention cell.
The parolees and escapees are not much better off either because they live a fugitive's life and existence, hiding and always fearful of being caught by the long arm of the law.
Paradoxically, many are still able to enjoy the vim and vigor of prison life, where the only form of order is the law of the jungle. Their highest ambition is to be rich, famous, and powerful among their fellow poor and oppressed.
Their tool of existence is to annoy and enslave others as well as to be cruel and violent, just as what their masters did to them. This is their primary means of survival, their only stock--in-trade.
To achieve this delusory and imaginary vision, they strategize a plan, which is, of course, an illusion, but a probable possibility. They proclaim and broadcast this deceptive vision and wild fantasy in terms of stories to attract people and increase their followers and disciples. The story, of course, is a lie.
All that had to be done is to step into the lie and illusion and bring it to life. Once alive, what was once a possibility now becomes genuinely real. And they, as well as their followers and disciples, become real living in a flawless public facade masked with peace, harmony, and compassion but in reality, hiding inside a Pandora's box of deception, violence, war, and injustices.
Yet, from a more distant perspective, the perpetrators and victims of an illusory reality are also part of the lie and illusion. The newly created world is an illusion, a lie. But the lie becomes true in an illusory world. There's no more distinction between what is true and what is a lie, no more distinction between what is genuine and what is fake.
So, this is how we describe our world today. Within reality is an illusion, within an illusion, reality and so on. Within truth is untruth, within untruth, truth and so on. Within existence, non-existence, within non-existence, existence and so on.
Within the body is the shadow, within the shadow, the body and so on. Within the observed, the observer, within the observer, the observed and so on. Within the genuine is fake, within fake, genuine and so on.
A confused and muddled identity, aggravating an already chaotic and violent world. What is worse is that we do not realize we are talking of ourselves and the world we are living in. And we cannot get out of our own eggshell if we
consciously and voluntarily want to make fools of ourselves.
How can we be the voice of St John the Baptist who cries in the wilderness, but whose sounds, like thunder reverberating at light speed, continue to echo far and wide to this day and into still many generations to come?
We Are All Victims of Our Own-Made Illusory Reality
Paul J. Dejillas, Ph.D. – August 15, 2021
We are just pilgrims here, passing by for varied reasons. The few rich and powerful think they own the world. They consider the poor a scourge and menace to society, even as an evil incarnate afflicted with a deadly leprosy or malignant tumor, whose sight and smell are unpleasant, odd, repulsive and whose lives need to be exterminated and vanished from the face of this Earth.
Yet, the poor, like us, feel like they're permanent settlers, not passers by. They don't realize they're imprisoned in their own respective teeny-weeny world unable to get out of their self-imposed detention cell.
The parolees and escapees are not much better off either because they live a fugitive's life and existence, hiding and always fearful of being caught by the long arm of the law.
Paradoxically, many are still able to enjoy the vim and vigor of prison life, where the only form of order is the law of the jungle. Their highest ambition is to be rich, famous, and powerful among their fellow poor and oppressed.
Their tool of existence is to annoy and enslave others as well as to be cruel and violent, just as what their masters did to them. This is their primary means of survival, their only stock--in-trade.
To achieve this delusory and imaginary vision, they strategize a plan, which is, of course, an illusion, but a probable possibility. They proclaim and broadcast this deceptive vision and wild fantasy in terms of stories to attract people and increase their followers and disciples. The story, of course, is a lie.
All that had to be done is to step into the lie and illusion and bring it to life. Once alive, what was once a possibility now becomes genuinely real. And they, as well as their followers and disciples, become real living in a flawless public facade masked with peace, harmony, and compassion but in reality hiding inside a Pandora's box of deception, violence, war, and injustices.
Yet, from a more distant perspective, the perpetrators and victims of an illusory reality are also part of the lie and illusion. The newly created world is an illusion, a lie. But the lie becomes true in an illusory world. There's no more distinction between what is true and what is a lie, no more distinction between what is genuine and what is fake.
So, this is how we describe our world today. Within reality is an illusion, within an illusion, reality and so on. Within truth is untruth, within untruth, truth and so on. Within existence, non-existence, within non-existence, existence and so on.
Within the body is the shadow, within the shadow, the body and so on. Within the observed, the observer, within the observer, the observed and so on. Within the genuine is fake, within fake, genuine and so on.
A confused and muddled identity, aggravating an already chaotic and violent world. What is worse is that we do not realize we are talking of ourselves and the world we are living in. And we cannot get out of our own eggshell if we
consciously and voluntarily want to make fools of ourselves.
How can we be the voice of St John the Baptist who cries in the wilderness, but whose sounds, like thunder reverberating at light speed, continue to echo far and wide to this day and into still many generations to come?
We’re Living in Wonderland
February 6, 2017
In the animated film, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” the writer Lewis Carroll popularized a fictional cat named “Cheshire.”
I am reminded of Quantum Physicist Erwin Schrödinger’s hypothetical cat in a sealed box with a radioactive source and a vial of poison that will be released when the source (unpredictably) emits radiation. Whether the cat is alive or dead can't be ascertained until the box is opened and the cat observed.
Until now, physicists have difficulty of knowing with certainty whether the cat is dead or alive inside the box. They can only surmise that the cat is either dead or alive. They also contend that the cat can be both dead and alive, existing in both states.
But, in any case, they are uncertain. The uncertainty principle in the quantum world is now happening in the macro world. We could be both dead and alive, existing in two states ... no joke ...
Lewis's cat is different. It is known for both his mischief and intelligence. His mischief stems from his nature as an animal. His humor, wit, and intelligence enable him to partake our nature as humans. This makes him partly animal and partly human.
Unlike animals, the cat frequently appears and disappears at will in Alice’s presence, going to other realms unknown and invisible to Alice.
The cat only listens to Alice. He often engages Alice in amusing but sometimes perplexing conversations, raising philosophical insights that even surpass that of humans. He cheers and teaches her the rules of Wonderland so she can adjust herself to live in a fairyland.
Alice finds the cat entertaining and amazing also that she does not want him to leave her presence. So with the cat. When it's time to disappear, he leaves Alice with his visible and long-lasting iconic grin hanging in the air.
In this manner, both are intimately connected or, to use the words of physicists, entangled to each other.
And astonishingly Lewis's cat can be smarter, more intelligent, and funnier than many of us humans ... no joke ...
The baffling thing about these two cats is that we the conscious observers have become also entangled with their lives in the Wonderland. We are part of their lives. And, yes, the Cosmos we are living in is a fairy land, a holographic representation fashioned for us by an Invisible Cosmic Force.