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12. Even deeper yet...

There have been the comparisons of ordinary life itself as being an illusion: Maya and its play Lela. We speak of reality as if it is something real, even when we may mean actuality, or what really is. The Hindu analogy about the illusion of this reality is the rope that is mistaken for a snake in a dimly lit room. When you see the rope, where is the snake?

That has a basis in the transient nature of things and when one gives more attention to that, things are in a constant state of flux, so on what do we base the concreteness itself? From the foundational aspect of physical science, to decay and the entropy of things, to our ordinary daily experience, everything changes and so, in that case, and without necessarily resorting to a baseless relativism, just what is really real in that case? You could even question the basis of materialism by pointing out that it is a metaphysical realism.

Then there are the eight classical similes of Buddhism in relation to reality, (which should be considered in terms of view, i.e., perspective) it is like:


A dream: like a dream, objects perceived with the five senses are not there, but they appear through delusion
A magical illusion: like a magic illusion, things are made to appear due to the temporary coming together of causes and conditions
A hallucination or trompe-l'oeil: like a hallucination, things appear, yet there is nothing there
A mirage: like a mirage, things appear, but they are not real
An echo: like an echo, things can be perceived, but there is nothing there, either inside or outside
A city of gandharvas: like a city of gandharvas, there is neither a dwelling nor anyone to dwell
A reflection: like a reflection, things appear, but have no reality of their own
An apparition (S. nirmita; T. sprul pa): like an apparition, there are different types of appearances, but they are not really there

In that case, there are various modes of experience based on comparison and discernment. And you could easily call this all as form of hallucination when seen from the view of clarity and insight. Some of the hallucinations are deemed true, others false. Some are "sane" and others madness. What was common or sane centuries ago, might not seem so now.

I would also note that you can go into the analysis of this in more depth, both conceptually and in meditation, which is what some Eastern philosophy actually does, and so, it often transcends our ideas about religion and spirituality and becomes more about realizing the direct nature of reality, or, Self.

I find it interesting when people subscribe to some idea of normalcy as mental health, when it is not only rare to find that in practice, but looking around these days, what is really all that sane about modern life? In fact, concerning normal, it is just a consensual agreement or an average, and not something real or tangible in any other sense. I would make a counter to James Randi's million-dollar challenge as to proof of the abnormal as, I will give anybody who can show me the proof of anything that is actually normal one-million.

And I am not putting down people with mental illness, but isn't it about being able to cope? I would say, no matter how severe, it is mental distress and the incapacity to interface with the mass hallucination that is the point and that would transform the stigma about not so normal mental states and experiences. And that comes back to the prejudice about the many kinds of thought forms that the mind can experience and conjure up in relation to accepted ideas and modalities that are even sometimes a matter of fashion or passing fads.

Of course, it makes sense that the bastions of sanity who define it would also have a vested interest in maintaining their agreed upon definitions in order to preserve them and, of course, for ulterior motives, power, etc. There are many incentives and you can find illustrations of that. To stray too far from those "norms" then places you in a predefined category that is then termed a pathology.

In the East at some points, when people had a breakdown it was considered a "spiritual journey" and they were cared for in ashrams, for instance. A different culture at a different time with a different view. And as far as the wheel of samsara goes, from Buddhism, it is safe to say that the human world, by comparison to recognition of nature, is a collective madhouse and history seems to indicate that for the most part.

Oops...that was a tangent! Woah!