Illusions of all kinds may cause confusion, give anxiety and sometimes can be intimidating. Moreover, illusions are not limited to external perceptions, but they exist in our psyche, and like optical illusions, they can cause our brain to become confused or be in a stupor and avoid acting.

The illusions of life will never fade until we understand them and are able to see beyond them. We tend to use these illusions as “excuses”. We need to perceive reality beyond them.

1) Attempting shortcuts in life 

Although it is sometimes possible to take shortcuts while walking, when it comes to life it doesn’t work, at least not if we want a happy, productive life. Every major goal in life has several short-term goalposts leading to it, and only if we pass through each of them will we reach our goal. We should enjoy the journey to our goal and all our small achievements, rather than seeing them as wastes of time. In fact, they make reaching our goals more satisfying. Taking the route of hard work will allow us to grow, improve, and develop enough to eventually reach our goal. We will value it more than something that we may get effortlessly. 

“There are no shortcuts to anywhere worth going.” So also, there are no shortcuts to success and happiness.

2) The illusion that we have control over life

It may frighten us to hear that we have no control over anything in our life. We have no control over what we will see, hear, touch, smell or taste at any moment. We have no control over what emotion will manifest in our mind or what thought will manifest in our intellect at any moment. We have no control over events, situations, circumstances, environment and experiences that will manifest in our life at any moment. The brain merely reacts to outside events, beginning with the entry of a thought, according to the programming over which we had no control. The programming is genes plus conditioning.

The various internal or external factors beyond our control force us to choose or not to choose from one or more options, depending upon the factors that have a predominant influence on us. They force us to make a particular decision. In a way these factors decide for us, and we claim it to be our free will!

3) Attempting to control other people 

The tragedy is that our own mind is not in our control and with that uncontrolled mind we want to control other people’s minds which is not in their control — an impossible task!!! This is a comedy!

We cannot change other people, but we can change the way we see them. If we understand their motives and have open discussions about things that bother us, we can change our perspective, and we will also see a change in others without them changing — the real change has taken place in us. We can only change ourselves. Don’t try to change bitter gourd into sugarcane. It will be frustrating. Experience each as they are.

4) The feeling of not having enough time

This is an illusion because time is relative, having one free hour a day can seem as though one has no time to do anything, but to someone else, it can be seen as time to devote to what is important to them. The quantum of time available per day is the same for everyone. But some people can achieve far more in the same quantum of time than others. What is important is not how much time we have, but how much of it we use. For example, most of us won’t be able to achieve even during our entire lifetime what Swami Vivekananda achieved in just 9 years. Did time move slowly for such people?

Efficiency has a direct relationship with time management. Higher the efficiency level, more effectively time is managed and vice versa. How effectively and efficiently we manage ourselves in each situation, to achieve the desired result, will determine whether time is abundantly available to us or whether it is inadequate. Inefficiency leads to shortage of time and efficiency leads to conservation of time. We have enough time for anything in this world, provided it ranks high enough among our priorities.

“Those who make the worst use of their time most complain of its shortness.” — Jean De La Bruyere

5) Waiting for inspiration 

We may want to do something, but we wait for the right moment. For example, being inspired to write or motivated to exercise. Ironically, waiting for an external source of inspiration creates a vicious cycle that never ends, where those external elements don’t arrive because they come only through an action that begins within us! 

The process of writing itself is what inspires the writer, and exercising is what provides motivation. Do not wait for an external source to arrive, because it won’t. Remember that the change in the way you feel begins only within you. We may get inspired by the life of great people from different fields, but the motivation must come from within.  

“More men fail through lack of purpose than through lack of talent.” — Billy Sunday

6) Believing that failure is a final and undesirable stage

Failure exists only if we want to achieve something and can’t achieve it, but its definition depends on how we relate to it. Failure is not necessarily a bad thing, rather, it’s like a dead end in the maze — if we navigate a maze and hit a lot of dead ends, we’ll eventually start to map it out and understand where we stand and how to get out. Therefore, every failure we experience tells us about a stage or something in our path that is not right, so we must take a step back and correct it. Life itself is a big maze, and our failures can hurt our sense of success, but they help us achieve it if we learn from them. Failures are steppingstones towards success. 

“Success is not final; failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts.” — Winston Churchill

7) Feeling of not being good enough to succeed 

According to psychologist and writer Susan Jeffers, the feeling that we are not good enough for something is the basis of all our fears. The fear of failure is the biggest obstacle to success. 

“In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.” — Bill Cosby

If we go through life thinking that we can’t do something just because we have failed at doing it in the past, we’re living with a mental block. We have to let go of our limiting beliefs in order to make the breakthroughs that are required for our ultimate success.

For success, aspire, be inspired, work hard and be persistent.

8) The illusion of existence of happiness in the external world 

There is no inherent joy, pleasure, or happiness in anything anywhere in the external world. In ignorance we seek infinite, eternal happiness in the finite world of things and beings. All the so-called happiness in the external world is ephemeral, momentary, or fleeting. It is a mere reflection of the infinite bliss that is within. We can never achieve the infinite, eternal happiness we want in the finite, ephemeral world. Instead, we should turn within towards the source of infinite bliss and stop chasing after the reflection of this happiness in the outside world.

Happiness that is experienced in the external world is just the reflection of a very minute quantum of the infinite bliss that is within. In ignorance, the bliss within is projected on the objects outside and it is felt as if the joy is coming from those objects. It is like a dog chewing the bone. When its sharp edges injure the inside of its cheeks and blood oozes out, the dog sucks it and thinks that the juice is coming from the bone! 

Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, a great, realized master said, “The fabled musk deer searches the whole world over for the source of the scent which comes from within.”

All illusions are the manifestations of ignorance. The ignorance of the rope manifests as an illusion of a snake. We need to constantly introspect and reflect over these illusions and perceive the reality on which they are projected to transcend them.