The “Real World” Is Not So Real

We hear it often that we should be realistic and focus on the “real world”. But we rarely think about how real the “real world” actually is.

When asked what the “real world” means, most people will say: “well, the real world is the material world”. But I would say that materials make up at most 1% of the “real world”. The remaining 99% belongs to emotions and illusions, which are far from real. Materials are nothing more than the molecules they are made of; only when they are blended with human emotions do they become a part of the so-called “real world”.

The “real world” refers to money and fame. However, money is merely the digits in your bank account, and fame is no more than other people’s illusion and our own self-deception. Money and fame are as real as our own emotion. Politics is another big part of the “real world”, but I can hardly think of anything more unreal than politics.

So we can see that the “real world” is not very real in the end. But it does have a real impact on our lives because we are slave to our own illusions. The ability to see through our own illusions is the first step toward true liberation.