Everything Is An Illusion

Posted from Royal Oak, Michigan--

I've been looking into an old spiritual belief called maya.  The premise of this concept is that everything is an illusion.  The more I think about it, the more it seems to be true.

Your attitude is an illusion. A good mood can dissipate quickly during a day filled with bad news.  Conversely, a bad mood is easily lifted with a stroke of good fortune.

Your job is an illusion. Retirement is perhaps the best evidence that work is an illusion.   Thousands of workers are laid off every year, suddenly forcing workers into a world where there long-time job is a distant memory.

Your family is an illusion. A family is a group of people that temporarily keeps us company.  Our original nuclear family is replaced by another family a generation later.  Eventually every person leaves the family in one way or another.  Losing a life partner can be extremely traumatic because the survivor cannot adjust to his or her new reality.

Life is an illusion.  I lost an old friend this week.  Ralph Horan--a widower and a good man--fell in his home and bumped his head causing a cerebral hemorrhage that did him in.  Ironically, a man who had won dozens of ballroom dancing contests died because he lost his balance.

So, if everything is an illusion, why not choose an illusion you can be happy with?  Choose an attitude you like.  Live in a place you enjoy and spend your time working at something you love.