We are here to learn certain lessons. The world around us is an illusion. It's like being on a holodeck in a Star Trek show. The question is not "Why is the world an illusion?" but "What are we to learn from a world of illusion?" Read the book "Illusions" by Richard Bach for more on this concept.
If the world truly is an illusion then very little of what occurs here really matters on the grand scale of things. I do believe, however, that we must abide by certain basic tenets. Put simply: "What comes around goes around." This is called kharma, reciprocity, an eye for an eye, the law of threefold, and many other things. Basically, what it means is that what we do will come back to us - be it good or evil deeds. Yes, we live in an illusion, but there are still consequences for what we do here. Our bodies, the earth we stand on, what we see, hear, feel, taste, smell and otherwise sense is not real. Despite this our souls ARE real. And what we do will have repercussions for our souls.
Life is a series of lessons, a classroom if you will, and we are here to learn. The problem comes when trying to determine what it is we are truly here to learn. This existence is very distracting and it can become hard to determine whether what we are learning is about the illusion around us or the lessons we were put here to learn. I believe we will stay in this existence until either:
(a)we learn the lessons we were sent here for,
or
(b)the creator decides enough is enough.
This means that we will continue to be reborn into this classroom until we get it right. How many lives will that take? That depends on each individual soul and time is irrelevant. I think that our creator will not shut down the classroom prematurely. After all, he made it for us to learn, so we could mature and move on to the next step in our soul-evolution. Yes, I believe in reincarnation. I am, at this point, uncertain as to whether or not we incarnate into other types of life-forms or even inanimate objects, etc., but I can see certain valid reasons why this might be true. Think of it from a non-egocentric viewpoint. If our creator, with a grand design, sent us here to learn many things to help our souls to grow and develop what better way to understand all the workings of this physical universe than to be souls in bodies that are of animal, vegetable AND mineral composition? Of course, the nature of the learning in these forms would be different than that of a human being. We are the dominant species on a planet that we are constantly destroying. Our goals, in general, do not coincide with the needs of our planet or the other lifeforms on it. What might you learn as an animal, a plant, or even a rock? For me the concept is a tangled one and it is certainly not easy for me to pinpoint what I might learn. So, for now, I will step back from that subject. Ultimately, we are here to...
Learn, Grow and Love.
Revel in each experience, good and bad.
From those experiences learn.
Use what you have learned to grow.
As much as you are able - love.
Learn to grow.
Learn to love.
Grow to love.
Love to learn.
Love to grow.
Never stop, never pause.
The more you learn and grow the more you will love.
And through love you will learn and grow even more.
(Glenn McGrew II, 6-28-00, 8:45PM)
Why is the world, our classroom, an illusion? It's part of the lesson. We have to look beyond what we perceive as reality - that which we can see, feel, hear, smell and taste and see the true nature of things. See that what we possess is not that important. Look into each other's souls and see what we are truly like. The veil of this reality was placed here not as a barrier but as an obstacle to be surmounted, overcome and, finally, removed. This reality is deliberately distracting and confusing. Yes, it makes it harder, but the breakthrough affects us much more strongly for that reason. Consider it a personal challenge.