Soulful Sundays: Illusion

“So if you think your life is complete confusion

Because your neighbors got it made

Just remember that it's a Grand illusion

And deep inside we're all the same”

— Styx

Watching a skilled magician work is a disorienting event. They are able to take our assumptions about the nature of reality and completely upend them—all the while providing entertainment. Ironically, the more deeply rooted the assumption, the easier it is to manipulate. For example, we implicitly trust our eyesight. And while that may seem obvious, things are not always as they appear. Magicians exploit this blind trust to deceive us into believing their tricks. Unfortunately, illusion exists in far more than stage magic. The good news is that we can learn to see through it.

The human sensory system is inordinately limited. Through forces not entirely known, we evolved to see only a narrow band of light in the visible spectrum. We also hear within a limited range of frequencies and can detect only a fraction of possible tastes and smells. When compared to most other animals, we are severely handicapped. And when compared to the scope of all electromagnetic, sonic, and molecular frequencies, we might as well be blind and deaf. But it doesn’t end there.

In spite of our reduced sensory acuity, we still manage to receive about 11 million bits of information per second, 10 million from vision alone. Yet our brains filter out almost all of it, leaving behind only about 100 bits — what is called our active attention. That’s just enough processing power to drive a car in heavy traffic, hold a thoughtful conversation, or solve a math problem. So why do we perceive only a fraction of reality and then ignore almost all of that? Because survival, not truth, shaped our perception.

The default mode network (DMN) is present in many animals but is especially well developed in humans. It is our brain’s base operating system, always running in the background. The DMN helps maintain our sense of self across time and space, and it is the source of daydreaming, self-reflection, and planning. It is absolutely essential for social species like ours, but it does come with drawbacks.

From day one, our DMN is actively shaped by the information it is fed — 100 bits at a time. Its quality depends on the trustworthiness of that data. The older an influence on the DMN is, the stronger its impact, and the more distorted its effect becomes when stretched over time. Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) like trauma, abuse, or neglect can leave an outsized imprint in adulthood. Likewise, beliefs, prejudices, and dogma planted early can limit our ability to perceive the world accurately even years later. The brain becomes tuned to filter out information that does not support its constructed reality, tricking us into repeating patterns that are otherwise destructive.

The ancients understood the nature of perception and ego long before science studied them. The Buddhists consider everything we experience as māyā — illusion — because our minds are so easily deceived. They taught that reality has a true essence of interconnectedness that cannot be grasped. The Daoist tradition echoes this in the first line of the Dao De Jing: “The Dao that can be spoken is not the eternal Dao.” God’s response to Moses at the burning bush — “I AM WHO I AM” — also points to the impossibility of definition. But if knowledge of reality is forever unattainable, does it even make sense to try?

By accepting that all we see is illusion, we may learn to let it go. In the Buddha’s Four Noble Truths, he taught that all human suffering comes from our attachment to māyā as reality. Only by letting go of this attachment and living a life of right action can we hope to end suffering. In practical terms, this means examining our DMN — compassionately but critically. Any pattern of thought that separates us from others and the world must be scrutinized. Where did it originate? What purpose does it serve? How do we let it go?

Paradoxically, the more we are able to let go, the more we are able to gain. Illusions draw their power solely from our belief in them. Imagine if we could shift that power toward liberation instead.