Is our life's experiences real?

Why this question arises? It is not clear whether to vouch our experiences or not! The main reason for this is "We do not have first hand experiences! For instance, the eyes see an object. But the eye can not recognize it. It just receive the light from the object in the rear screen through the eye lenses. Optical nerves carry the signal to the brain in an inverted way. The brain reconstruct it in upright position. The brain too do not recognize it until the mind gets the feed from the brain. But, the mind is not the visionary. There is some one beyond the mind who just witnesses every thing in an unattached manner. It is the Self. When seeing itself undergoes several processes, how can we term it as real. It can not be construed as a direct experience!

Like the eye, all our senses pass on the information through the sense organs to the brain and through the perceptions of the mind, the Self witnesses all. Then a great question arises here. Who is the enjoyer or sufferer? It is the false ego or 'myness' which is a phantom between the inert body and the all knowing self which feels the suffering or pleasure as the case may be. This ego is really a false attachment to the perishable body!

The scriptures point out that all we perceive in the outside world is really within! Now we have to distinguish between 'within and without'. But we have to understand clearly that the body too is outside. Whatever can be perceived through the senses are really external. Hence the term 'within' connotes the inner consciousness or the Self. None has understood or investigated the self since the 'self' is beyond the word, thought , mind and intellect. It can not be pointed out as 'this or that'. Only one term fit the description of the self; "Not this, not this". All our experiences are illusions caused by the mind. It comes in the middle and goes in the middle.

Here again, i have to bring the analogy of a cinema show. Only one thing is permanent. That is the pure white screen in the cinema hall on which pictures come and go. The pictures are really illusions and can be seen only on a permanent base. The screen is steady, do not undergo any change due to the projection of the pictures. Whether pictures falls on it or not, the screen is absolutely unconcerned. This is the analogy for the Self which is pure consciousness. It never undergoes any modifications. It is permanent. Over the consciousness, the picture of creation and cosmos falls. The one who undergoes emotions and feelings are the onlookers of the cinema which can be equated to the Ego of the individual.

Now i hope to summarize the results. Our perceptions of the external world is through the faulty sensory perceptions. There is no direct experience. All that is seen outside is in fact contained in the self. Otherwise, we can never recognize them. Unless you have a prior idea or image of a thing, you can not recognize it. All perceptions are compared with the previous experiences, then only the mind can perceive it. The seemingly new places, new persons are really part of the self. Nothing which is not has ever been created or seen.This is the only logical reason we can give for our illusory experiences.