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Docta Ignorantia XXXI Illusion One point: knowledge of the spiritual and the true is also illusion, just as much as knowledge of matter is. This is a subtle point, but true. All knowing is illusion, but some knowing leads to seeing and some to unseeing, some to truth and some to falsehood, some to spirituality and some to carnality. There is illusion to see by (vidyamaya) and there is illusion not to see by (avidyamaya). Both are illusion, both are maya. This is why the process of epistemology is inherently dangerous. But there is no other go. It is wrong to say, 'I will avoid the problem by not trying to know or understand.' To say this one is already in the process. The danger is unavoidable and has to be gone through. He does not compel us beyond our capacity .... To get a thorn out of the finger, one has to use a thorn to extract it. In the same way, to remove illusion/delusion, one has to use illusion/delusion of a kind. So what we are talking about here is two kinds of illusion/delusion, one beneficial (but only for a time) and the other maleficial. Christian Science, Quietistic and Quaker prayer, for example, rightly done, is beneficial illusion. This is a subtle point. It has to be kept in mind.
Adwaitha Hermitage
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