The Illusion

Let’s start with Viveka talks!

The idea is to form some kind of a study group – a flexible place for reading, thinking, and talking about Viveka. The core text is the book “Viveka – The Voice of Inner Guru”, published free on Mirror.xyz. The book is tokenized – that means you can buy writer NFT for each chapter of the book. You don’t have to, but I would appreciate it if you do, especially if you find this material, communication, and my additional answers useful. (More info you can find in this article – “Viveka talks”.)

So, how does this work? The structure of studying Viveka is as follows:

1. Read the article on Mirror.xyz (one chapter of the book). If you have a printed book in Croatian or Slovenian, you can read the said chapter in those languages.
2. Come back here and read the summary and my selection of important ideas from that chapter.
3. Each time, in the end, I’ll ask you to think about a few questions – as a starting point for your impressions.
4. Write a comment. This is an important part because writing clarifies your thoughts. Write your impressions and ideas that came to you while reading or later. If you have a question for me, ask. If you want to discuss some points with others, please do.

There are 20 chapters, meaning 20 thinking exercises and 20 opportunities to sharpen your viveka tools, await you. I hope you’ll have an exciting and inspiratory time with Viveka talks!

Let’s start with the book’s first chapter: “The Illusion”.

The Illusion

Read the chapter under the title “The Illusion” on Mirror.

Remember: this article/chapter is tokenized, and you may buy it as “writer NFT!”

Points to consider

The book, and the first chapter, start with the question, “What if?”. It is a question about the nature of our reality. It is the question of our reality.

What if all this is some kind of an illusion, an elaborate dream or VR?

How would you know? How would you recognize it?

The intuitive course of action would be to ask someone who knows. However, in this case, the “guru” idea does not work.

I’ll single out a few paragraphs for you:

“Even if there is someone who truly knows (although you can not be sure about that, as long as you yourself don’t know), any attempt from them to describe the actual reality to you would be futile. Even if presented with the most exquisite words and great wisdom, the sad fact is that you won’t be able to grasp it, no matter how accurate that description might be.

Instead, your mind will project a new illusion; it will be a hope, a belief, a faith in something you don’t actually know. Something you will hear (not all, just something filtered through… well, through everything you are) will be transformed into an acceptable image of what you think reality might be.

And here you go again; in practically no time, you would be sent back to the very beginning of the search.”

Questions for thinking

1. Have you ever seriously thought about the possibility that all that you see, hear, and experience is an illusion?
2. What, if anything, triggers such thoughts?
3. When such thoughts come to you, what is your reaction? What do you do?

It is your turn now. Write your thoughts, comments, or questions.

This post is also available in: Croatian Slovenian