The True Meaning of “Life is a Dream”
In this article, I want to share with you some of the most important consequences of understanding the mental universe. Despite having discussed this topic in depth in other articles, I’ve noticed that many readers continue to misunderstand my statement that “life is a dream.” It’s crucial to truly comprehend what this statement means, otherwise you might fall into very dangerous spiritual traps.
The Illusion of Reality: A Deeper Look
One of the most widespread spiritual teachings is the illusory nature of reality. However, this teaching can be very dangerous if treated superficially. Reality is not an illusion; reality is Brahman. Maya is the magic through which we end up believing in the illusory existence of a material universe. Only in this sense is reality illusory: the material universe doesn’t exist; there is only God. Just like within a dream, everything is the imagination of your own mind, everything is your own Self.
The True Nature of Illusion
The illusion is not reality itself. The illusion is imagining that reality is something beyond the imagination of the divine. If you interpret the teaching of Maya superficially, you will be led to despise reality, to abandon reality, to estrange yourself from reality, and you will be led to not enjoy the gift of life.
There is no real separation between personal growth and spiritual growth. Just look at a person like Sadhguru, whom I consider a great mystic. Does Sadhguru seem like a passive person to you? Does Sadhguru seem inactive in the world? Not at all. Therefore, don’t make the mistake of misinterpreting the understanding of the illusory nature of reality.
Reality as Imagination
Within a dream, where can you draw the line between real and imaginary? It’s clear that within a dream, you can’t draw a clear boundary line separating reality from imagination. If reality is imagination, everything is equally true. The only criterion through which you can verify the truthfulness of something within a dream is your own perception of the phenomenon you’re analyzing. When I state that life is a dream, don’t get lost in the dichotomy between illusion and reality. If reality is a dream, reality is pure imagination, and everything is equally true.
The Nature of Consciousness in the Dream of Life
If only you were able to stop believing in the idea of separation, everything would be revealed as your own Mind. Your body doesn’t end where your hands, feet, and skin end. There is no type of separation. Within a dream, knowledge is always direct, and consciousness doesn’t work mechanistically.
Within a dream, you are not aware because you have a body through which you interact with the surrounding reality. Within a dream, consciousness is always direct. Consciousness doesn’t have to pass through any type of separation because everything present within a dream is made of the same substance. The reason you’re able to interact with everything around you is precisely because everything around you is your own Self.
The Positive Implications of Reality as a Mental Universe
I’ve noticed that very often some users give a negative meaning to the realization of the mental aspect of reality. But this understanding has absolutely nothing negative about it. There couldn’t be better news than realizing the mental universe. The structure of reality is perfect precisely because life is a dream.
Everything you interact with is your own Self; the direct understanding of such a truth should fill your heart with joy. It shouldn’t make you sad. For your ego, swallowing such a truth will be very complicated because your conceptual mind can survive only by continuing to project the illusion of duality and separation.
The Impossibility of Death in a Non-Dual Reality
The Mind entertaining the dream that is reality is a single Mind. There isn’t a second mind; there isn’t a second consciousness. The ego will hate this realization because you, as a separate identity, can have the illusion of existing only by nourishing the illusion of the existence of the other.
Since there’s only one Mind, death is unreal. To be able to die, there should be something beyond reality. However, since reality is non-dual, since reality is a single Mind, you can’t die. You can’t cease to exist because to cease to exist, the existence of something beyond your self would be necessary. But you are the only entity that exists in reality, and that’s precisely why you’re destined to live eternally.
Please note, you can realize the impossibility of death without harming the body, through serious spiritual practices, such as Kriya Yoga, or through the conscious use of psychedelic substances. The information that I share has nothing to do with self-harm and the rejection of life; the opposite is the case: these realizations are meant to help you celebrate and enjoy the beauty of creation.
Awakening from the Dream: Levels of Realization
At this point, you might ask yourself, “But if life is a dream, what does it mean to wake up from the dream?” There are various gradations of awakening from the dream. You can wake up from the dream by understanding that there’s nothing beyond your own Mind, and this understanding would be equivalent to lucid dreaming. If within your dream you wake up and understand that there’s nothing beyond your own imagination, you’ll be able to dream lucidly.
The Nature of Spiritual Enlightenment
On this topic, I want to remind you that spiritual enlightenment doesn’t happen like turning on a light bulb. It’s not simply a button that turns a light bulb on and off. Rather, it’s a gradation of light emanation. You can think of it this way: there are multiple non-dual states of consciousness. In other words, there’s a clear point in the evolution of consciousness where you go from perceiving duality to knowing directly that everything around you is absolute.
Beyond this understanding, there are multiple much higher states of consciousness. And returning to the previous question, we can rephrase it differently: beyond the understanding of the non-dual nature of reality, what happens when you wake up absolutely from the dream of life? The entire universe becomes a singularity, a perfect spiral of love. This perfect spiral of love is nothing but God, nothing but pure metaphysical love.
The Destiny of All: Returning to Perfect Love
Therefore, waking up from reality in an absolute way means becoming one with the totality of the Mind of God; this is pure metaphysical love. And this is the destiny of each of us. Each of us is destined to return to a spiral of perfect love for the rest of eternity. You have consciously chosen to dream the dream of separation; you have chosen to play the game of life.
The Serious Rules of the Dream of Life
Life is a dream, but it has very precise rules that, if not followed, will lead you to live a disappointing life. This is the mistake that most people make when they come into contact with the teaching of the mental universe. They perceive the realization of the mental universe as an excuse to live life superficially, and to not respect the fundamental principles of personal growth.
God has created the entire universe for you. The entire cosmos is God’s gift to you. Do you think God wants you to waste the opportunity of life by not enjoying it to the fullest? Or do you believe that God’s desire for you is to make the most of creation, to experience the wonder, the beauty, the magnificence of creation?
Living Life According to Your Ideals
The understanding that life is a dream should emancipate you from the ideals through which you grew up, which the society and family you were born into passed on to you, and should lead you to consciously build your ideals. You can decide to live your life according to your ideals, and abandon the construct of society. You can free yourself from the mental programming that society has imposed on you and then decide to live your life as you best see fit. The understanding of the mental universe should lead you to actualize your wildest dreams. The realization of the mental universe should make you one of the freest people on the entire planet.
The Ultimate Realization: The Illusion of Teaching
The last point I want to invite you to reflect on is that if it’s true that I have understood that there is only one Self, if it’s true that I have directly understood that I am you, my work is totally useless. The understanding of the existence of a single Mind completely uproots the illusion of the existence of another to whom to teach these spiritual principles, of the existence of another who needs to be helped. In reality, no one needs to be helped.
To be honest, this was one of the hardest realizations for me to swallow. Because as long as there’s the illusion of another to whom I can teach these principles, in a sense I can feel superior, I can feel better than others who don’t know these principles. But once I’ve understood that there’s no one else, once I’ve understood that you’re actually pretending not to know everything I’m telling you, that you actually know perfectly well everything I’ve written, how can I compare myself to others and nourish my spiritual identity?
This realization was really the coup de grâce, so to speak, on the illusion of my separate identity. I have nothing to teach you. My work is totally useless from an absolute point of view. It’s clear that from a relative point of view, what I’m sharing has value; it’s important to share these teachings with other people. But, in an absolute sense, there is no one else, there is no other person, there is only a single Mind, because I am you.