An Idea from Mystical Philosophy
by Ken Sanes
Some people believe that we’ve been fooled
both by science and perception about the world.
For them, all of reality is a vast play,
and when we wake up to the light each day,
things are different than they’re made to seem
because life is an illusion: it’s a cosmic dream.
It is the dream, they say, of a single mind,
with no expanse of space or span of time,
and no effect proceeding from a cause,
or decree that laid down a set of preset laws.
They also believe the truth is hidden by design,
by the constant activity of this reflecting mind,
at least until the illusion seems to dissolve,
and everything knows there’s nothing to see:
no span, no loss, no galaxies in space,
and no writhing souls yearning to be free.
And this, they say, is everything that’s real.
It is everything we know and all that we feel.
And when we sink into the silence of the mind,
the only universal truth they say we’ll find
is that everything is bliss and clear inner light
seeing itself eternally in its own sight,
and it is also the brilliance of a blinding night
because it is all the life of one great soul.