What do people really mean when they say life is an illusion?

[ted73104]

I wonder what people really mean when they say life is an illusion, what those enlightened folks mean when they know this for a fact. My previous thought on this notion would just be something like I probably shouldn't cling onto some stuff too much, because if I over-imagine that I want something desperately, I might just be suffering for something that's not actually going to satisfy me much in the end. However, although this might be a way to apply this concept, this might not be the main point of what they're saying. Is it possible that what they really mean is that life is an illusion, so I can create whatever I want to in life? There are actually no rules at all?

 

[Flowerfaeiry]

Life's a trip in so many ways.Saying that life is an illusion shouldn't be used as an escape from dealing with feelings or to naively think there are no rules. Things are still Real and must be lived and experienced regardless of them being an illusion  

[ted73104]

We apply "rules" to live life on a higher level, but I'm just wondering if the complexity of life is just imagined. If the complexity of life is real, then we should just dive in and explore. However if it is all imagined, then is applying advanced "rules" or "principles" only just to serve the self on another level?

[Flowerfaeiry]

2 minutes ago, ted73104 said:

If the complexity of life is real, then we should just dive in and explore. However if it is all imagined, then is applying advanced "rules" or "principles" only just to serve the self on another level?

It's both real and imagined! I don't know about that second part. We are going to inherently be selfish so I wouldn't worry about it. We need a certain amount of rules and principles to exist.

[Leo Gura]

Ego cannot create whatever it wants. Manipulation of life is possible but it's limited and creates suffering.

[ted73104]

So what do they mean when they say "life is an illusion"? Is there something else we should know?

Or is this just an God level illusion, and so it's actually real for humans and we should treat it as a real thing? This saying would mean practically nothing if this were the case.

[Leo Gura]

@ted73104 There's not really a difference between real vs illusion. Illusion is the only reality there can be.

Life is a dream, from which you can wake up. But also, you're still always dreaming, stuck dreaming forever.

It's very important to wake up from the dream at least once, so you stop taking it too seriously.

[ted73104]

Thanks for the response, I guess the only way forward is to make this a good dream for everyone.