ATTENTION IS BEING DRAWN to the word illusion and the misperceived meaning of it... as it is being used in the language of metaphysical spirituality of today. The confusion it is causing is creating unnecessary road blocks in one's search for self-truth and self- awareness.

Metaphysical people are using the word illusion to suggest a disbelief in an objective existence that produces illusions, like a magician does. From this belief it is said that the world and the physical body are a trick of the ego mind and therefore are not real.

In your dictionary the word illusion means: deception, delusion; sense-perception of an external object involving a false belief as to its nature. The word illusion means a misapprehension or misunderstood perception of purpose. This particular definition of the word illusion became known through such works as The Course In Miracles teaching. In this teaching the word illusion means not real.

Unfortunately this has become a reason for many, to deny responsibility for what happens to one's human body or in one's life. It has gone so far to that extreme, that people are saying, What's the use in caring about anything that has to do with the physical world if it is in fact an illusion that we are imagining to be real? This is an untrue perception that is closing minds and hearts to soul awakening.

So the question is, what is the truest perception one can have as to what real is? Real has the meaning of actually existing as a thing occurring in fact, objectivity, genuine; not merely supposed or pretended. Though it has been said that your world was pretended or imagined into existence, this does not necessarily mean not real. Why? Since words are very limiting we are going to attempt to explain what the meaning of real verses illusion is.

When your Creator brought the human and physical world into manifestation, He, It, did so with the phenomenon of thought. Your Creator took that thought, gave it a design; a form so to speak, that He/She breathed life into by emoting love as passion, while taking action and putting forth effort that precedes manifestation. That's when the Universe, you and your Earthly existence became "real." One form of real is being able to feel, see, hear, taste and touch physical reality with the five senses. A reality that comes from the inside of the Creative Force to form an alternate reality of Itself called human existence.

This alternate reality is no less real or no more real than the Creative Force of the Higher Power itself. Your physical reality consists of the mineral, plant, animal and human kingdoms that make you and your Earth what they are... a dimension or aspect of what God as the Creator, is capable of creating in and of Himself. This is the only way we can describe what we are attempting to show you about reality.

The Divine Source of all creation is real. You know that because here you are in a physical body on the Earth. You can experience that not only through all of your five physical senses but also through all the higher senses you are developing as you awaken to the truth of your reality.

When you were given free-will to think and believe whatever you chose, you were given the opportunity to experience duality. This gave you the freedom to decide for yourself what you chose and continually choose to be real or not real for you. When you deny your body, your life, a feeling, a belief, a hurt, a need, a joy or a challenge... you are choosing to disconnect from those aspects of yourself and pretend they are not a real part of your total energy. In doing so you hide them from yourself with denial and temporarily pretend they are not real. Those who do this are usually looking for a path of least resistance to follow because they are afraid of facing their own fear. It is easy to see why one may subconsciously or consciously be drawn to teachings; ways of believing, that encourage and strengthen the need to deny what is not being dealt within physical existence and therefore conveniently call what is feared, an illusion.

If you deny that your body is real, then you may believe that you can disconnect from the necessity of giving it what it needs to be whole and healthy. That belief is false. Some "metaphysical thinking" people are taking this belief so far that they are saying such things as, Why bother or care about the body, health or even life goals, if in fact the physical realm is an illusion anyway?

In the beginning before time, you were given the option to experience duality in all of its forms. This meant experiencing opposite extremes of good, joy, light, love and giving. Because you chose duality, you chose the dark and the light; the good and the evil; the love and the hate and the giving and the taking that now define human life.

The curiosity of the first humans and the desire to experience every aspect of the unknown is likened to the way a child's innocent mind works. You had no real understanding or comprehension as to what the consequences of that choice would feel like. After all, you had never experienced physical death or any of the other consequences of living in duality before that point in your evolution and you were curious.

Choosing duality was not a wrong choice, for there is no such thing as wrong or right for that is merely a personal perception for each of you. It is the mass consciousness that determines wrong from right in societies, with laws that are based on what protects and prolongs the survival of the human species inside of each culture. The extremes of duality are still very much alive and well in all cultures of the Earth as you know. So you will continue to experience the extremes of duality for some time to come yet. As far as how long that is, it's up to each of you.

Many of you believe that goodness is real but evil is not. Our channel has even said that at times. But the reality is that everything is real while at the same time it isn't real. Just because something is called a misperception; a belief or a creation of the mind does not make that something unreal. But what determines real or unreal? Let's look at that.

Wherever mind and emotion are focused, reality exists, even if that reality exists only for a moment of time. But it takes more than focusing in on a passing thought for that thought to manifest in some form in one's life. There must be continued focus with strong emotion/passion... and physical effort expended out into the world, before a thought can manifest. Manifestation is real because you can experience it with your senses. Is fear as real as love? It is, if that is where you are focused. Fear is the belief that you are separate from your own divinity, that of soul/spirit. Fear is at the opposite pole of Love. Love has a way of cultivating faith in life; in oneself, where as fear temporarily destroys all faith.

Dear ones, there are as many conscious realities as there are conscious beings. One reality does not make another reality less real. It is the thought, emotion, focus and effort that make anything as real as any reality can become. It doesn't matter if that particular reality is experienced in the mind, in a dream, through the all the senses or in the world. Where ever you are fully focused in each moment, you are experiencing what is real. Everyone's real is different. Why? No one can experience another's experience exactly in the same way, but that doesn't make one experience less real than the other, does it.

God expressing as duality is still creation manifesting. The Creative Force or Universal Power is love. Pure love (God) has the capacity for light and dark to manifest. But to manifest extremes requires the untruth that one is split into two separate forces, that of good and evil. The Divine Power that created you knows It is not split into two separate forces of good and evil or dark and light. Because that is a truth, your Creator is the perfect balance between the possibilities of any extremes. Where there is free-will and duality... the balance of any extreme opposites or opposing forces, nullifies or cancels out the probability of manifestation of either extreme or opposing force. Where there is balance there is heart and soul love that go beyond the physical and the personal. That means, that where there is balance there is also peace. Where there is balance, you will experience joy.

If you are still inclined here, to say that your body and Earth are an illusion, think on this.

With a thought, your Creator gave birth to the spirit, the Creative force and the human soul. All these together as one brought forth the love; the passion, effort and action to manifest the Earth, your body and your mind. With that came the gift of free-will. You are creation physically manifested as duality so that you can more clearly define, refine, express and expand the One Pure Consciousness of the Creative Force as reality.

Since you chose to experience duality in all its glory, you took evil, darkness and pain, along with good, love and light and experimented with them to the nth degree of experiencing. Why? To continue to create and re-create Creation. If the physical, human realm is not thought of as real or important, inside the game each of you have set up for your own self-awareness... how will you ever find your way beyond and through duality?

It is the extremes that create unrest, turmoil and fear dear ones. For example if one has too much money, they might believe they are superior to others. They may also spend all of their time preoccupied with "things" to where they become completely self-serving and self-absorbed. To the other extreme... if one has too little money they may feel like a victim of society, causing them to believe they are less worthy of God's gifts which can often create anger, depression and addiction, to name a few.

To have true understanding, the heart must be engaged with each step you take. If the heart is engaged with feelings of fear, hate and anger then follow the energy of those patterns to where they began. This time know that your higher power is giving you the understanding and strength to transform, heal and transcend those patterns once and for all... bringing balance to the extremes of the opposing forces of those old patterns and allowing you to finally be at peace with them.

Human life is like a diamond in the rough, each facet is being revealed for what it really is as the layers of false belief, false images, untruths and masks are chipped away one by one to reveal the real you behind the "real" lies you believe in.

Therefore it can be a block to self-awareness and growth if you are one who believes that any aspect of human life is not real or is an illusion. And if you do, you will miss so much of what your human reality has to show you, about who you are as spirit in form. And why you chose to experience the human reality.

Remember this. The biggest illusion of all is the belief that you are separated from the oneness and wholeness of the Creative Force from which you are and will always be connected to in every moment of manifestation. You are reality manifest. You are the Energy that never goes away but will forever change forms as you become and reveal your true Essence... light.

© 2008, Carolyn Gervais

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Carolyn Gervais, M.S., C.Htp., has been a student of "metaphysical-spirituality" for over 30 years. As a young child her yearning to understand why we were here on Earth, was - and still is - a constant. As a child, when she looked into the eyes of someone, whether she knew them or not... she could see and feel their sadness; their anger and their innocence.

A strong yearning to understand why became such a need that she would continuously drive the adults in her life crazy with questions as to why God made people and put them here on Earth. She was told that God didn't want us to know the answers to such questions, but some part of her knew, even at the age of eight... that answer was not acceptable. She was bound and determined that she would ask God all her questions until He answered them.

What she found out is that the answers keep expanding as we grow in awareness. With that expansion, the questions become deeper, bigger and more abstract, as do the answers. That is what stretches our awareness. Carolyn has spent her life in search of those answers and many more. Her inquiring mind has taken her into many aspects of study and experimentation... areas that pertain to the deeper meaning and purpose of the body, mind, soul and spirit.

Visit her website at www.awakeningyou.com.