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I have been told by a friend, who I trust very much on such matters, that time is an illusion. But it is also said that all of this world's experiences are an illusion so I guess time would naturally be a part of that stew pot.... I get a tickle in my gut now and then that tells me it is true and I feel like I'm about to understand it. Then my intellect comes thundering back in and firmly reattaches itself to the "certainty" that all of this is quite real.

TigersEye, is your friend who told you "time is an illusion" a scientist, or a Buddhist? I have great difficulty reconciling the two.

One of the greatest physical scientists of the Twentieth Century — Erwin Schrödinger — clearly had a warm spot in his heart for Eastern philosophy — see his What Is Life? for details.

Without getting into theological details, Buddhism absolutely denies any "realist" position WRT the world in which we humans are implanted. Instead, it tells us that whatever we see through our eyes, whatever we gather about the world we live in through our own direct experience, is Maya, illusion. In sum: What we in the West think is real on the basis of observation and experience is a totally false picture of Reality. Ergo, the main business of Reality is to fool us.

But if this is the case, if everything about us is an "illusion," then what is the point of science? Under such a condition, it appears to me that scientific investigation would simply be an exercise in futility from the get-go.

Ultimately, time is a cosmological problem. Eastern philosophical traditions presuppose a Cosmos that has no beginning or purpose. It just "is what it is," meanwhile causing great suffering to human kind without any reason at all. So the best thing a person can do — and ultimately, Eastern philosophy tends to deny personhood altogether — is to escape from the "illusions" of natural Life and simply melt into the great undifferentiated sea of Brahmin....

In the West today, many people like the idea of an "eternal universe" — i.e., a universe that has no beginning and which has no purpose at all in the end. Indeed, the very ideas of beginning or end have zero implication for human existence in this world. The world is just is what it is, playing itself out over time "randomly," in terms of pure materiality and nothing else.

And you can't' find out a single thing about the world, because reason itself, indeed, even personality, are illusions, too.

Buddhism denies intellect; it ultimately denies personality; these are just other aspects of Maya, of illusion....

But you, TigersEye, already know better than that; for you wrote: "Then my intellect comes thundering back in and firmly reattaches itself to the 'certainty' that all of this is quite real."

Again, if Schödinger actually believed all this, how could he account for the fact that he is one of the greatest scientists of the Twentieth Century? Somehow, this situation just "does not 'compute'."

Must close for now. But would only like to add that I received a very great insight into the nature of the problem we are discussing here, from a very great poet. I refer to T. S. Eliot, who oh so truthfully remarked (IMHO) that

Man lives at the intersection of time and timelessness.

Man senses time as serial, linear, and irreversible, just on the basis of experience and "habit."

But God does not.

Ultimately, time is a cosmological problem.

Advice: Trust your intellect on such matters — and your common sense.

TigersEye, I find you a delightful correspondent. Thank you so very much for writing!

That is an awful lot to reply to. My friend is a Buddhist. He is my teacher. However the idea that Buddhism teaches that this reality is entirely an illusion and has no existence isn't really correct. It's rather difficult to explain but its real meaning is that this reality has "no abiding existence." ie nothing is permanent.

That is easy to see if you consider how many cells in your body are dying, coming into existence and otherwise changing in every moment. So the 'you' that existed two minutes ago no longer exists. What you are in this moment is different than what you were before and what you will be.

Does that not hold true for everything in the universe? Isn't everything constantly changing? It is perhaps more accurate to say that this world is illusory than an illusion but that is picking nits. This world, Samsara as it is called, does exist but it is a phantom-like existence due to the impermanence I described and as opposed to what is called 'absolute reality' which is unchanging.

I used the word 'intellect' instead of 'ego' because I thought it would be better understood here where the Buddhist view of ego is not well known and is quite different than the Freudian-western definition of the word.

I disagree strongly that Buddhism denies intellect or sees the cosmos as purposeless. As to its purpose I expect most lamas would say that that is a question that is unanswered and that the Dharma is not intended to be a means to answer it. The goal of the Dharma being to directly experience the true nature of existence (as opposed to intellectually understanding it) they would probably say that it is irrelevant to say whether the universe has a purpose or not. Follow the path and see for yourself.

As for denying intellect, I don't know of any lama who is not interested in intellectual knowledge of the world around us as that type of knowledge has many practical advantages for alleviating the suffering of beings. We obviously aren't going to all escape the cycle of birth-death-and rebirth any time soon and an incalculable number of beings need whatever help can be given them. Intellectual knowledge of the Dharma itself is highly revered. However, intellectual knowledge of any kind is by far secondary in importance to the practices that lead to escape from that Samsaric cycle which is the supreme enlightenment.

There is certainly nothing random about Samsara either otherwise the concept of karma would be meaningless and false.

The Buddhists I know have the utmost regard for human accomplishments and endeavors. It is a staple of developing wisdom and compassion in the basic practice of Dharma to recognize the importance of knowledge passed down from one's parents and from the many generations of people who have come before us building a body of knowledge one step at a time that has progressed from starting a fire with a bow and drill to designing space shuttles and nuclear reactors.

With respect to the idea that time is an illusion, please listen to betty, she steers you in the right direction. Time is an illusion, or maya, is a central teaching within the occult mystical worldview. All astral plane and/or cosmic circuit riders---Hermetic magicians, Eastern gurus, New Age shamans, sorcerers, etc---teach this idea because by "going within" and mastering the occult rituals necessary for traveling the cosmic circuit they achieve a sense of timelessness and oneness (monism).

The astral plane refers to the Oroboros. As a powerful occult symbol, the Ouroboros is the primal energy field variously known as Chaos, Nu, Brahman and Quantum Void by certain modern pantheist-oriented physicists. This primal energy field is Herme's "above." Some researchers of antiquity believe that Hermes was either Ham or his son Cush

From the time of the ancient Egyptian Orphites (snake worshippers) in the land of Ham, the Oroboros has meant the seething power, creative and/or evolutionary impulse or energy of the serpent figuratively depicted as either a serpent or dragon eating its own tail. The serpent's body is often depicted as the Great Chain of Being and Cosmic Tree of Life.

In modern New Age thought for example, the Ouroboros 'above' corresponds to a number of different astral planes and sub-planes comprising the timeless habitations,

"(of all) supernatural entities, the locale of gods and demons, the void where the thoughtforms dwell, the region inhabited by spirits of the air and other elements, and the various heavens and hells with their angelic and demonic hosts....With the help of ritual procedures, trained persons believe that they can 'rise on the planes,' and experience these regions in full awareness." ("Beyond the Body: The Human Double and the Astral planes, Benjamin Walker, 1974, pp. 117-8)

The Ouroboros is well-known around the world in its' many occult traditions:

"References to this reality are the Dreaming of the Australian Aborigines, the Spirit-world of Shamanism, the Duart of the ancient Egyptians, the Bardo (Intermediate State) of the Tibetans, the Imaginal world of Islamic Esotericism – e.g. the Barzakh (Interworld) or of Suhrawardi and the Mithal (Imaginal realm) of Ibn Arabi – the Universe of Asiyah of some Kabbalists, or of Yetzirah according to others. Other descriptions are the Nervo degree of the Physical State of Theon, the Astral or 2nd Prakritic plane (corresponding to the Linga Sharira or Subtle or Astral body) and the Kama (Desire-Plane) of Blavatsky, the Astral Plane of the Adyar school of Theosophy and of popular occultism, Rudolf Steiner's "Soul World"; and the Vital and Subtle Physical described by Sri Aurobindo and Mirra. These are just a few of the innumerable descriptions of this plane of existence." (The Astral Plane, kheper.net)

Increasingly, modern 'atheist' science (materialism) is sliding into occult pantheism. Modern multiverse theories for example, are grounded in astral plane speculations thus are not true science but occult science. In our time we desperately need to discern between true science, the search for what is true and real, and false science.

The Apostle Paul speaks not of cosmic trees, astral planes and the beings supposedly existing there but of fallen angels, the "spirits of wickedness under the heavens" (Eph. 6:12) and their chief, "the prince of the powers of the air." (Eph. 2:2)

According to Paul, fallen angels are dispersed in a multitude throughout the whole blue expanse of sky which is visible to us – the lower heaven, the dwelling place for the host of fallen angels who have been cast down from the supernatural heaven outside of the space/time dimension.

This means that in esoteric multiverse theories and occult cosmic tree of life conceptions, the whole blue expanse of sky under the supernatural heaven where fallen angels dwell is the Ouroboros/cosmic tree 'above' consisting of astral planes and sub-planes connected by the great chain of being up which the initiate spiritually ascends (evolves) by way of ritual (i.e., transcendental meditation, mind-altering drugs) as he traverses the occult Path of Life or Western Magical Way to achieve a sense of timelessness, oneness, divine status and psychic powers.