Meditation and the veil of Maya: observing reality beyond the illusion of perception



The veil of Maya and meditation: reality and illusion

Reality or illusion? Reality is illusion? These are the doubts that man has posed, and continue to ask, whenever he finds himself reflecting on the plans of experience, of dream, of thought and, in general, of the form of life.

We know the world we live in only because we see it with our physical senses. But can we say we really know him? The senses always and only show us a part of things: a form, a smell, a taste ... Never the whole. The senses, in fact, are limited and complementary to each other. Ultimately, we perceive only a small part of the reality that surrounds us.

The world as perceived would therefore be an appearance of what it really is. Nothing is what it seems . The material world as we know it is therefore similar to an illusion. Illusion or Maya does not mean, as many suppose, unreal. The veil of Maya is the illusion of duality, the separation of reality into good and evil, spiritual and secular, sacred and profane. Maya is the world of appearances. It is the shadow of reality mistaken for reality itself. Useful for practical life, but still a shadow of truth. Meditation and veil of Maya can actually interact. But who or what is Maya?

The mind "mind"

The ancient wisdom of the Indian Vedas, dated around 5000 years BC, says that the Maya goddess, after creating the Earth, covered it with a veil with the function of preventing men from knowing the true nature of reality. " Maya is the veil of illusion, which obscures the pupils of mortals and makes them see a world that cannot be said either that exists or that it does not exist; the world, in fact, is similar to the dream, to the sparkle of sunlight on the sand that the traveler exchanges from afar for water, or to a rope thrown on the ground that he takes for a snake ”. That of the goddess was an act of mercy, because otherwise life would not have been possible. The veil is not limited to concealing reality, but makes it more livable and coherent to the needs and needs of the subject, adding contents that constitute a "subjectivation" of the object. The simple word māyā embodies different metaphysical and gnoseological concepts of Hindu religion and culture.

Notoriously, the term is associated with the expression coined by Arthur Schopenhauer (Maya's veil) in his The world as will and representation . With the words of the German philosopher: " It is Maya, the deceiving veil, which envelops the face of mortals and makes them see a world of which it can neither be said nor exists, nor that it does not exist; because she resembles the dream, resembles the reflection of the sun on the sand, which the pilgrim exchanges for water from a distance; or even it resembles the rope thrown on the ground, which it takes for a snake ". It is an illusory metaphysical veil which, by disuniting the subject from the knowledge / perception of reality (altering it), prevents this from obtaining spiritual liberation ( moksha ), relegating it to the continuous cycle of death and rebirth ( samsara ).

We find a reference also in Plato, in his metaphor of the cave, in which man is born with a veil over his eyes from which he can be freed only through knowledge. It is interesting to note how in different cultures around the world (from ancient Greece to animist traditions, from the ecstasies of Christian mystics to Buddhist and Hindu currents, to the sixteenth-century alchemy) the same concepts of "liberation from the false" are always found .

Meditation reveals

If each of us perceives something through his eyes, his ears, his nose, his tongue or touch, he claims that that thing exists. On the contrary, if it does not perceive all this through the senses, it says that it does not exist. Among the objects of the five senses - forms, sounds, smells, tastes and tangible objects, greater credibility is given to what is perceived with the eyes and ears. But to what extent are our senses reliable? Do they really and fully communicate the qualities of reality? According to Vajrayana Buddhism, things can be recognized without being seen or heard. By practicing vipassana meditation, for example, a subject can acquire the intuition that allows him to see things never imagined before.

Meditation and veil of Maya in what relationship are they then? Meditation leads our awareness beyond the senses and thoughts, setting aside the veil of Maya, allowing us to discover true freedom. For this reason, it is necessary for man to walk the path in his own mind, through meditation, moving from the concrete towards the abstract, going beyond the veil of maya of the personality. In fact, meditation allows us to let go of our limited ideas about reality and to experience what goes beyond the five senses.

Meditating allows us to fully recognize the essential unity between the "internal" world and the "external" world, putting aside the veil of Maya and the illusion of perception. Removing the veil allows you to see better. And to see better is to know.

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