Page 120 - Matter: The Other Name for Illusion

replaces pride, arrogance and self-satisfaction. If all the wealth of the world
and the most important position in it were given to a person such as this, he
would not become conceited, proud or arrogant. He will not forget that he is
only observing images that God has given to him, and he will not get caught
up in illusions. This sublime reality will remove ambition, pride and conceit, as

well as such negative feelings as spite, hatred and anger. Those who know that
everything is an illusion will not engage in cut-throat competition with one
another or harbor spite or enmity against anyone. In an environment where
everyone has submitted himself only to God, there will be humility,
submission, compassion, deference, love and intimacy.
Therefore, it is highly unreasonable for a person to pretend not to know
this truth, and to fear it and run away from it. A person without faith may well

fear this truth because if he accepts these facts, he will also be forced to accept
the existence of God. But believers must embrace with pleasure and
enthusiasm the fact that matter is a reflection that God makes them experience
in their minds and that the one Absolute Being is God. For a believer, to fear
God's magnificent artistry and to avoid seeing it makes no sense. When the
truth is evident, it is pointless not to acknowledge it, and to continue to be
deceived by the clear lines of shadows and three-dimensional apparitions. The
believer does not fear the truth, but thinks about the beauty and depth of
reality, and considers how much more wondrous God's flawless artistry

becomes within this system.

This Reality Threatens Those Who Are Attached To This
World By Ambition

A man who has received an award for what he has achieved, received the
award in his brain. Those who applaud him as he receives the award are, in
fact, an apparition of people in his brain.
A person watching this awards ceremony on the little screen in his brain

has no way of connecting with the source of the people in the auditorium, the
award, or the auditorium itself. These things stay inside the brain. It is as if the
person were watching the reward being given to him on a videocassette.
This is the reason why people avoid this reality with horror. When those
who are bound to this world by ambition understand that their standing and

118 MATTER: THE OTHER NAME FOR ILLUSION