The Pit of Illusion

As we've talked about the last few days, Living in Truth means living with what is, what was or what will be, or in other words accepting the verities of life. The opposite is living in Illusion which is living with what is not, or in other words expecting life to be different than what it is. When we live in Illusion it always feels like we’ve falled into a Pit and thus I call it the Pit of Illusion. That deep, dark Pit has some symptoms that we should all be aware of because recognizing them helps us know we are inflicting Unnecessary Pain upon ourselves. Remember, it is always possible to get out of the Pit and out of the pain. Falling into the Pit is a choice and therefore climbing out is also a choice. Therefore, the symptoms of the Pit are like a fever, they warn us that something needs to be done to cure the symptoms and change the course we are on.

Here are the symptoms:

(     1) When in the Pit of Illusion there is no light. I’m not talking about visible light, but we feel darkness and all the negative, vexing feelings that go along with heavy, depressing darkness.

(     2) When we are in the Pit we feel alone and separate from everyone around us. We feel friendless and unloved.

(     3) When we are in the Pit negative emotions overwhelm us so that we feel helpless. It seems that nothing we do will help.

(     4) When we are in the Pit we feel like God has abandoned us. The truth is that God always dwells and is found in Truth, therefore we are the ones who have removed ourselves from God. He is the God of Truth and so when we are in the Pit it makes it very difficult to hear and feel the promptings of His Spirit.

When we feel any or all of these symptoms it is time to examine what we are thinking and ask ourselves, "Is this true?" If the answer to that question is yes then we have two choices, "Fix it, or Live with it." If the answer is no, then all we have to do to eliminate the Unnecessary Pain is drop the thought. Remember, there is always a way out of the Pit of Illusion!