Jill Loree
6 ways we fool ourselves
It’s popular to say, especially in spiritual circles, that this world we live in is “an illusion”, and we need to “wake up”. But what does this really mean? And if it’s true, then how do we wake up from this illusion?
Like, can we simply go somewhere else and leave the illusion? Does it work to go live in the country, on a mountaintop, or deep in the forest?
Actually, no.
Why not? Because eventually, we will run into the same difficulties we had before. For the source of the illusion is inside us. Which means, if we don’t like the world we’re living in, we’re going to have to look within.
There are, in fact, several ways we can consider this illusion. And our understanding will vary, depending on how deep we go. So let’s get into it.
#1: Illusion on the surface
On the most surface level, the illusion is the material world we live in. This is the level of our five senses, and it’s a pretty convincing illusion. Reality, from this viewpoint, seems static and immovable, as it follows certain physical laws. It appears that we have been born into a world where everything is fixed.
But this isn’t really true.
For as the Pathwork Guide teaches, ultimate reality is flexible and movable. In fact, everything is always in constant motion and therefore constantly changing.
If we could see what’s happening at the atomic level, we would see that solid objects are in flux. Because like everything, material objects like chairs and floors are made up of condensed energy and consciousness. So, in their essence, they are constantly moving. Even so-called “empty space” is alive with motion as energy pops in and out of existence, when viewed from the quantum scale.
Yes, all this creates a powerful and very convincing illusion. And yet this seemingly immovable world is a lot like you and me. For we too are made up of energy and consciousness. That, indeed, is why we are here.
We are a match for this world.
This also means that if we shift our consciousness and our energy, we can change this illusion we are living in. In fact, we can dissolve it.
We can change our life
When we begin to question whether this reality needs to be the way it is, we start to expand our creative power to change our reality. If, for example, we develop the ability to imagine there’s no limit to what we can experience—that we can express ourselves joyfully here in this material world—then this is what our lives will become.
For our thoughts truly do create our life. Our own consciousness is really that explosively powerful. We have it within us to build something better.
Sound too good to be true? That’s because we aren’t currently aware of what exists today, rolling around inside us, which are unconscious destructive beliefs.
We’re not in tune with the immature parts inside us. These split-off parts of our psyche blindly demand to be omnipotent and to magically avoid any pain. These unconscious parts of us are separate and in fear. So their goal—in their effort to stay safe—is to shut ourselves down.
To shut down life…to stop everything.
Which is what leads to this illusion that the world is fixed and immovable. What we don’t see are all the things we are doing to make the world appear to be static and unchanging. We simply don’t realize how powerful our unconscious aspects are.
In other words, we are blind to how we are currently creating what we see.
The way out of this illusion is to discover the intimate connection between our own personal negative beliefs and our own negative reality. Then this illusion can begin to shift and dissolve.
“So, when you discover that you do not want to find out what exists in you, push on and find out why not. What false beliefs prevent you from doing so? When you answer that question, you open another little gate that will eventually enable you to change your mind, so that you will want to find out (a) what you think exists, and (b) what really exists.
In that moment you are already two important levels closer to the inner guidance and to the inner reality, to the possibility of what could be. This is the Kingdom of God inside you.”
– Pathwork Guide Lecture #162: Three Levels of Reality for Inner Guidance
#2: The illusion of duality
There is a part of our personal being that we know about but can’t see, called the psyche. And when it comes to our psyche, the big illusion is that what we can’t see, can’t hurt us.
More to the point, we desperately hope that what we refuse to see—what we avoid, deny and hide—doesn’t matter. We really hope, in fact, that we can go on avoiding our unseen inner ghosts forever.
And that friends, is the grandest illusion of them all.
The illusion we are talking about here stems from duality. Duality, in short, is what arises from the very human tendency to want “this” and not want “that.” “This” is essentially the good stuff, like pleasure and joy. “That” is everything that falls under the heading “Feelings I fear will hurt if I feel them.”
“The duality we are familiar with as humans comes primarily from fear we haven’t lived through and therefore haven’t dissolved. In effect, we are saying, “I must not experience this.” And that’s what creates duality. Our fear generates both a Yes-current and a No-current and this split current is the whole basis upon which the painful state of duality sits.
Such duality thrives in our state of avoiding. In avoidance, we close off to one thing, and that in turn creates an urgent, tense grabbing movement that goes in the opposite direction that stops the flow of life.”
–After the ego: Insights from the Pathwork Guide on how to wake up, Chapter 7: Inner and outer experience
#3: The illusion that denial works
Duality, then, comes from the notion that it works to choose one kind of feeling and block the other. That it’s a good idea to only accept certain experiences—and the feelings that go with them—if we like them. From here, we reject all unpleasant feelings, believing we can simply ignore them, and they will go away.
This is an illusion.
For whenever we turn away from painful feelings, we effectively shove those painful feelings into hiding. This is what creates the unconscious part of our psyche. But not being consciously aware of what we’re feeling doesn’t mean we no longer harbor these unpleasant feelings. It just means we’re not fully aware of them.
As such, they still have the power to create. But we have lost the power to clearly see them. This is what creates the pervasive and painful illusion that our unpleasant creations in life have nothing to do with us. That the world is stacked against us and we’re just innocent victims.
Now, instead of directly experiencing these painful feelings, we experience them sideways. For example, say we have a certain fear, and we push it away. Next, we will develop a fear of that fear. And this “fear of the fear” is actually worse than the original fear.
So, an inner knot forms, and this creates anxiety. But now we can’t put our finger on what’s really bothering us. This then morphs into terror. And we have no idea what it’s about.
“Our fear of feelings doesn’t only block what wants to flow through us, but it also splits us into a fragmented state. The only way to achieve a higher, more unified state of consciousness is by going through what we fear. Unity can never happen by avoiding fear.”
–After the ego, Chapter 7: Inner and outer experience
#4: The illusion that we are separate
The upshot of all this avoiding and denying is a sense of separation, on many levels. Separation is an aspect of the material level, of course, where we see ourselves as separate from others. Because in our bodies, in one sense, we are separate individuals. This level of physical reality, though, is not the cause of feeling separate. It’s the outcome of all our inner illusion.
On the innermost levels of our psyche, we’ve lost touch with the core of who we are. This is called self-alienation. For all this denial of feelings makes us numb inside. This numbness—together with all our fractures, faults and wrong conclusions—alienates us from our own Higher Self, which is where we are in connection with the universal divine consciousness.
But this self-alienation does not mean actual separation. Rather, it means lack of awareness. In fact, we are not separate—at all—from our inner self, or from God.
The conscious and unconscious parts of the psyche are not different minds. They are one and the same. Some aspects were just pushed out of awareness and forgotten. Now, the only thing separating us from our True Self, and therefore from God, is the illusory belief that we are separate.
“Not seeing that the negative creations are your own product makes you inevitably rebel against them. Thus you find yourself in the peculiar position of quarreling with yourself. What one hand produces the other denies and fights, not realizing what is happening. You thus quarrel with fate, with life, with all the good that could work for you if you were only ready to take your blinders off.
Typically, in this state of rebellion you blame someone or something else. When you do so you are not connected with the causes and processes within the self — and that is the root of all suffering.”
– Pathwork Guide Lecture #159: Life Manifestations Reflects Dualistic Illusion
We can change our beliefs
But getting at this illusory belief is difficult. Because our life is, in fact, a direct reflection of what is inside us. And it reflects separation because we’ve hidden much of ourselves, from ourselves. Said another way, we are here, living in this dimension of duality, because it’s a match for our inner make-up.
It’s that simple.
You could say our life is an instrument that picks up on the wavelengths coming from within. Like a radio that can only play what it receives, our outer experiences can only reflect our inner self. In other words, all the disharmonies and conflicts that show up “out there” in life are always a reflection of what is really going on inside us.
We will start to see this is true when we start to face into ourselves, to look within at each sign of trouble. For once we begin to unravel our inner twisted wiring—instead of seeking refuge in escape—we start to see the truth of how life works.
“The healing process that will unify our entire being involves: Committing to feel everything we are able to feel; observing the feelings we fear and the events that evoke those feelings; become willing to at least try to face our fears and experience our feelings.”
–After the ego, Chapter 7: Inner and outer experience
#5: The illusion that someone did this to us
In the teaching about inner and outer experiences, the Pathwork Guide clarifies that our painful childhood experiences happen because we did not face our inner disharmonies in our previous incarnations. If we had, we could have moved through the traumatic experiences of childhood hurts, without getting stuck in them.
The evidence shows that we arrived with old hidden obstacles buried in our psyche. As a result, whatever painful experiences we had in childhood got stuck in us. They were caused by—and then added to—the stuck obstacles already in there.
This means that until we do the healing work necessary to clear away our old inner pain, we’ll keep reliving painfully tragic lives. In the end, we are the ones who pay a higher and higher price for clinging to the illusion that we are not responsible for our struggles.
“We need to understand that anything undesirable that happens to us comes only because we say No to it. “No, I must not have that experience. What can I do to avoid it?” Many of us start walking a spiritual path such as this, precisely because we’re seeking a better way to avoid undesirable feelings.
When it finally dawns on us that the exact opposite is true—that we must turn and go headlong into them—we turn and run away. We are unable, or unwilling, to accept the truth that avoidance is futile. Instead, we insist on our illusion.”
–After the ego, Chapter 7: Inner and outer experience
#6: The illusion that our defenses keep us safe
An unfortunate aspect of this whole dilemma is we use our defenses to stay safe. After all, if we felt safe, we believe, we would be OK.
Here are three things to think about. First, our defenses don’t work. In fact, they make us less safe. For the strategies we use to keep ourselves safe actually draw more of what we fear to us.
Second, our defenses keep us facing “out there”, to find the enemy. And the whole time, the “enemy” is within. This enemy is what the Pathwork Guide calls our Lower Self. The Lower Self is made up of layers of darkness that cover over our inner light. But in a way, this is just another illusion. For our Lower Self is always a twisted current of Higher Self energy.
This means our Lower Self can always be transformed back into its original Higher Self form. That, in fact, is what we are here to do. Also, this means that our Lower Self is highly charged. This, in fact, is why it’s so hard to give up our destructive ways.
Because if we’re used to getting our life force activated by acting from our Lower Self—from rebellion, resistance and withholding, as well as from our faults—we aren’t going to want to give that up. For then, we think, we’ll have no fun at all.
What we don’t yet realize is that it’s possible to have access to all our life force, and to have it feel good.
Which brings us the third point, which is that living from our Higher Self is what brings us true satisfaction, true joy and true safety. For our Higher Self is the true source of all wisdom, courage and love.
It’s the place in us that’s already in connection with everyone and all that is. Here, in our core, we know that hurting others, hurts us. We know that helping others is how we help ourselves.
This inner beacon of light is what can guide us every step of the way. This is our true home and our ultimate destiny.
But to reach it, we must face the reality of what exists within us, right now. This makes self-transformation the most valuable work we can ever do.
It’s also the only way out of illusion.
–Jill Loree and Scott Wisler
