{"id":259,"date":"2026-06-23T09:29:29","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T09:29:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/selfrealizationmantra.com\/?p=259"},"modified":"2026-06-23T10:06:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T10:06:22","slug":"impermanent-does-not-mean-unreal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/selfrealizationmantra.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/23\/impermanent-does-not-mean-unreal\/","title":{"rendered":"Impermanent Does NOT Mean Unreal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"683\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/selfrealizationmantra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/image-12-683x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-260\" style=\"aspect-ratio:0.6670005978445281;width:398px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/selfrealizationmantra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/image-12-683x1024.png 683w, https:\/\/selfrealizationmantra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/image-12-200x300.png 200w, https:\/\/selfrealizationmantra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/image-12.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One thing I\u2019ve noticed in many spiritual teachings is the strong tendency to label everything impermanent as an \u201cillusion\u201d or \u201cMaya.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They say the body is Maya. The world is Maya. Thoughts, emotions, and even the sense of self are all Maya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I get why they use that language \u2014 they\u2019re trying to help people stop clinging so tightly. But I think it goes too far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Just because something is temporary doesn\u2019t make it unreal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A flower is real even though it blooms and eventually dies. Your body is real, even though it changes and will one day pass away. Your feelings are real while you\u2019re experiencing them. This moment is real, even if it won\u2019t last forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Impermanence and unreality are not the same thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When people take the \u201ceverything is illusion\u201d teaching too literally, it can lead to dissociation, spiritual bypassing, and even neglecting real responsibilities \u2014 bills, relationships, health, children, etc. \u2014 because \u201cnone of it is real anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Iself itself is real, even if it only lasts for one lifetime. From the <strong>Iself<\/strong> perspective, the world, the body, and the ego are real.  From the <strong>Allself<\/strong> perspective, they are all expressions of the One. From the <strong>Godself<\/strong> perspective, they are all expressions of the Divine. From the <strong>Noself<\/strong> perspective, they are empty of any permanent, inherent existence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">All of these perspectives are true at the same time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I no longer feel the need to call everything Maya just because it changes. I can accept impermanence without denying reality.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One thing I\u2019ve noticed in many spiritual teachings is the strong tendency to label everything impermanent as an \u201cillusion\u201d or \u201cMaya.\u201d They say the body is Maya. The world is Maya. Thoughts, emotions, and even the sense of self are all Maya. I get why they use that language \u2014 they\u2019re trying to help people [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/selfrealizationmantra.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/selfrealizationmantra.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/selfrealizationmantra.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/selfrealizationmantra.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/selfrealizationmantra.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/selfrealizationmantra.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":267,"href":"https:\/\/selfrealizationmantra.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259\/revisions\/267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/selfrealizationmantra.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/selfrealizationmantra.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/selfrealizationmantra.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}