Bob entitled this talk “delusions and enlightenment”.
So his first comment was a common delusion. He referred to all of us who read and hear the teaching ideas deluding ourselves that if we have heard it then we know what it’s all about, but at best we can only parrot the idea until we have worked with it and applied it to our daily living.
With that said, I am going to go through Tape 2 of Dark Son, Light Son with his definitions of these two words plus other like words.
Enlightenment:
Freedom from ignorance.
More specifically, the ability to see living processes that are going on within oneself.
You might say an understanding. Seeing something for what it really is.
Delusion:
is that we do know, even when we haven’t the foggiest idea what’s going on.
Delusion that we think thoughts – thoughts just being a sensation wandering over nervous tissue.
Illusion:
Seeing something and calling it something else. Example: If you see a belt laying on the floor and call it a snake, that’s an illusion.
But if you call it a snake without the belt, that is a delusion.
In working with the idea and definition and trying to see what really is going on, I have noticed that not only have I seen this in myself, but also in others.
I believe I know other’s motivations for whatever they say or do, and I haven’t the foggiest notion and I doubt they do.
By the way, Dr. Bob’s definition of believe is “living as though”.
So if I believe he is saying something that sounds like he is blaming me to hurt me, I could be deluding myself and most likely so.
His delusion could be that he is “helping” me when he has no understanding of my situation.
I see these delusions with why questions that give solutions with no knowledge of the big picture of the situation.
I also see these delusions of predictions of the future which nobody knows!
There is the idea to work with asking “What’s going on here?” Most often the first thoughts going through the head can be seen as conditioning, but continuing to ask will bring more enlightenment, particularly if we look for more information on the subject.
Example: After an injury to the arm from a fall, I heard many ideas of what to do and tried them. I finally decided to get more information from an expert, so I now have an appointment with the doctor.
The other question to use is “What am I doing?” This also can reveal illusions within.
These two ideas can be very valuable if used in our daily living.