I love your question! You, my friend, are on the seeker’s path. I will try to answer the first part of your question, followed by the second.

Our life is absolutely an illusion. We are all actors and actresses on a stage called life. We pick our roles beforehand, as well as our fellow cast members and plots, while also leaving room to improvise (free will). We have the ability to view the script, alter it, and make additions or subtractions beforehand. It’s like going to the movies: you can get fully immersed in the film, but when the show ends, you get up and leave, get in your car, and go home.

This is the illusion.

Your belief creates your reality, and what you believe hinges upon what is available to experience. This “reality” is made up of data that comes in the form of waves of probability, which collapse into discrete “packets” of information (energy particles) at a constant transfer rate known as “the speed of light.” This collapse of probabilities into reality only occurs if consciousness is collecting data (e.g., the double-slit experiment).

Let that sink in.

Each of our five senses has an operating range; anything outside of this range is either labeled “paranormal” or said to “not exist.” The characters in the movie never acknowledge the audience; they are simply focused on playing their roles.

I’m using metaphors to explain the illusion.

How can we get out of it? We are already separate from it. The confusion lies in the attachment and association with the characters we play. We indeed give life to the characters we portray, but understanding comes from why we chose to play those characters in the first place. When we physically die, our consciousness doesn’t actually traverse space to go to another location “over there.” What takes place is a change in perception. The concepts of past and future are just that—concepts. Past and future don’t really exist; they’re just written into the script. We are always in the NOW, now and forever. Time and space are an ILLUSION! This is by far one of the hardest concepts to wrap your head around.

Does an actor or actress have to travel anywhere to become his or her true self? No. Once the director says, “Cut,” they just stop acting.

This is the illusion.