Truth vs Illusion

There is a lot being said about truth-telling these days.

We are in troubled times. The lies we have built our lives upon are being exposed or challenged. It is unbelievable how smudged the lines have become between what is real and true and what is not.

What is illusion:

. a thing that is likely to be wrongly perceived or interpreted by the senses

. a deceptive appearance or impression

. a false idea or belief

(thanks Google definitions)

As a Shamanic Reiki Healer, I often travel into non-ordinary reality to obtain information, guidance, and channel Healing Energy from a place that is outside of normal everyday awareness. Those who do not understand what I do or have never travelled into these realms may say that I am living in illusion, since my impressions I receive are completely outside of normal awareness. Most people who are introduced to the technique wonder if the information that is coming through is real or imaginary. The truth is sometimes not clear. But what proves the existence of this world is the effects it has on those who engage in it.

There are many who live outside of tangible provable reality. They call it faith.

Today we see in normal waking "reality" those who are guided by principles which are dictated by a sometimes unprovable and factless reality. But for centuries this has been the case. Most religious beliefs are based on some out of the ordinary experience, a text that is believed to be Divinely inspired, or by a passionate and usually very well-spoken leader who is able to convince others of his or her beliefs or perspective. You would think there would need to be sort of proof but typically this isn't completely necessary. No one has ever found evidence of many Biblical stories and yet it is the reference point for a multitude of beliefs.

Belief seems to hold all the power here. Sometimes beliefs are held up with facts and sometimes not. But beliefs seem to trump facts. (pun intended??? hmm.. not saying.)

I am no stranger to the awareness that it is easy to be deceived when emotional intensity and a strongly-held, established belief comes online. The more people who believe something, the stronger it becomes and the more power it wields.

In my early days I was really rooted in a belief system who controlled every aspect of my life. My thoughts and beliefs navigated my words and actions. When I began to see some flaws in the belief, my whole world came crashing down.

I believe this is the year when our strongly held beliefs come under scrutiny.

What do we believe and why do we believe it?

This is not an easy process.

Our beliefs many times create our identity.

I like to recount the kid's movie that came out when my now thirty-five year old daughter was ten. Since I am not completely sure of how mentioning the name of a movie infringes on copyrights, I am just saying it was a movie about talking toys. In the movie, one of the toys believed he was a super-hero. He believed his purpose in life was to save the universe from an evil presence. Because of his belief, it would seem that the universe conspired to reaffirm his beliefs. For awhile.

Eventually the illusion was revealed. He was not the savior of the universe. He was a toy.

His purpose in life was not to save the world.

In reality, his purpose was to bring joy to a child.

He was devastated.

He lost his identity. He lost his will to live. He realized the illusion and in one moment, his world came crashing down.

At that time I was receiving a lot of messages from Spirit from movies and this was a bit of a premonition message of what was to come when I realized my purpose in life was not based on my identity within my inherited/chosen belief system. However, I share this because awakening from an illusion is a life/death experience. I believe this is a collective theme this year.

Losing our sense of identity when it is attached to a very strongly held belief is a difficult moment in anyone's life. Many do not survive the revelation. Many ignore it, refuse to believe it, fight against it, or become obsessed with disproving it. It is only a relative few who are able to recover and reinvent themselves under a new awareness.

One truth is that you can never un-know something. Once truth is revealed, you can never not know the truth. You can refuse to acknowledge it, hold on to the illusion, but if you know it, you know it.

I would suggest that perhaps you do a little self-examination. What do you believe and why do you believe it?

Here are some thought-provoking prompts.

. Who am I?

. What do I believe about the Divine? Why do I believe this?

. What do I believe about our government? Why?

. What do I believe about my belief system? Why?

. What do I believe about my race, my culture, my standing in society, my primary relationships, my goals, my career, my age, my ancestors, my neighbors, etc.. (this list can go on forever and I could write a separate blog on each prompt)

. What do I believe about my purpose in life? Do I feel like I am fulfilling my purpose? Why or why not?

You may be able to identify your most important theme or area of focus and it may or may not even be on this list.

Self-examination is a huge undertaking. Suddenly being faced with the fragile nature of a belief that has seemed to have been exposed as an illusion is a big deal. Suddenly discovering that what you have believed your whole life or a big part of your life is not what you thought is life-changing and many times earth-shattering.

If you find that you need assistance in navigating these changes, you can contact me for a session.

Let us be there for one another as we are individually and collectively exposing and becoming aware of illusions that we once held to be truths.

Remember that you have no idea what other people are going through. Try to lay off the judgement game.

We are all one.