The 4 Great Hallucinations of Perception

To help train our perception, it may be useful to bring into awareness what Buddhists call the Four Great Hallucinations of Perception, since we likely fall into these traps at times and become agitated and dis-eased. They are:1. The Hallucination of Permanence. How often do you take that which is impermanent to be permanent? Is your reaction to this question one of denial? Remember, knowing the truth of impermanence intellectually isn’t the same as living according to this understanding.2. The Hallucination of Beauty. How often do you mistake beauty for lust, for wanting, for desire? Do you find yourself sexualizing bodies, placing beauty in the perception of a body, rather than in the divine nature, the divine light, that sits at the foundation of the being across from you? Don’t get me wrong, the human body is beautiful. Just don’t lose your Love glasses. (Guys, I’m mostly talking to you.)3. The Hallucination of Happiness. Take a look at the world’s literature, look at our pop culture, at our movies and shows, at our social media networks, at our advertisements, and it’s pretty clear that most of us mistake suffering for happiness. We continually chase that which is unsatisfying in hope of finding lasting happiness, in hope of embodying lasting peace and satisfaction. We take a hit of pleasure and almost immediately find ourselves wanting again. ‘Why can’t I fill this hole?’ we ask ourselves before moving onto the next hit. Remember, wanting itself is not happiness. It is in fact what brings dis-ease and agitation.4. The Hallucination of Self. Last but not least is the deeply conditioned perception of self — taking what is not self to be self. How often do we find ourselves identifying with our bodies, with our personalities, with our thoughts, stories, or beliefs, with our race or gender, with our feelings and emotions? Or, another common identification, even among those who may have many years of meditation under their belt, is the identification with knowing itself, with awareness itself, even though we see the changing nature of all things. Be careful of putting a wall around that which is unbounded and unformed, unborn and undying, that which is free.