If this world is an illusion, then why bother?

In the book The Disappearance of the Universe by Gary Renard about A Course in Miracles, I read that this world was not made by God, but that this world is a consequence of the thought of separation taken seriously.

This made sense to me. Thoughts are the blueprint of everything which is manifest. Out of the pure unmanifest potential of Source or the void comes a thought. This thought has manifesting power, especially when it is coupled with an emotion. So, if we find ourselves here in separate meat-suits with sense organs which enable us to experience a real-looking world which is seemingly out there, then we can sort of reverse engineer this and ask how this did come about. Knowing that thought is the blueprint of everything, it must have been the thought of separation which brought this realm into being.

Even though this made sense, it made me depressed. If this world is not only an illusion like in a virtual reality but also not made by God and the consequence of an erroneous thought, then why bother about anything here in this realm?

But later, I read in another channeled text that God/Source/consciousness is everywhere. I thought, okay, that made sense, too. It was also congruent with my experiences of fast manifestation of thoughts and other non-ordinary stuff like getting messages from living or deceased people in dreams.

So, then what is the illusion?

Well, the illusion is appearance of separation. It is like in a sandcastle. There are towers and walls and people, and we can even name the sand-people and pretend that they are real entities, but the sand is everywhere. So, one way of looking at the sandcastle would be to say that this is a castle with towers and walls and people which are all separate entities. The other way of looking at it would be to say that it is all sand and the form is temporary. The forms may look separate, but they are connected to each other by what they are made of which is the sand.
Another metaphor would be that of a puppeteer with two puppets on his arms. The puppeteer is dressed in such a way that he remains invisible. Only the puppets are visible and they look like separate entities. But they are connected via the invisible puppeteer.

Now, why bother?

We are consciousness, a bubble of experience. In this incarnation and after this incarnation there is always a witnessing I AM presence with an experience in it.

And here comes the important point. The content of this bubble of experience is determined by our beliefs, thoughts, and emotions.

I remember reading a story in one of Jurgen Ziewe’s books (either in Multidimensional Man or in Vistas of Infinity) about his out-of-body experiences. In the astral realm, he saw a woman who was in a depressed mood and desolate external circumstances. Jurgen felt compassion and went to talk to her. They went for a walk together and while they were walking, he managed to convince her to try on a different attitude, like see things more with compassion and hope rather than with anger and depression.

And the miraculous thing was that while she walked and changed her attitude during that walk, also the surroundings changed. The environment started to look more friendly and prettier than before. In the astral realms, the effect of thoughts and emotions on the surroundings is more immediate than here on earth.
So, she was experiencing a direct reflection of her own attitude – in the desolate environment as well as in the better environment. She just wasn’t aware of the mechanics of how the external world was generated by the internal attitude.

In the 3D realm of incarnation, the changes of the external world as a consequence of changes in the internal world (of beliefs, thoughts, emotions) are much slower than in the astral realms. But the connection works in the same way. It is just not as obvious that there is a connection at all. So, we are usually not aware of the connection and assume that it is perfectly okay to have prolonged states of negative emotions because we think that thoughts do not have any effect on the outside world. But they do have an effect. They manifest. And prolonged anger about undesirable circumstances can be the cause which creates more undesirable circumstances.

Now, back to the original question. If this world is an illusion, then why bother?

We have to take a closer look at what is meant by the word ‘bother’ in this context.
If to bother means to attempt to fix the outside world without taking care of one’s inside world first, then that would be pointless. It would be like trying to fix the mess of a bad hair day by trying to comb it in the mirror.
But if to bother means to take care of our inner world of beliefs, thoughts, and emotions first, which will in turn adjust the outer world, then that is very important.

I do not mean to imply that there is never any action to be taken in the outside world. I only want to underline how important it is to take care of our own inner state first. Doing this can lead to an appropriate action to rearrange or fix the outer circumstances.

Besides, the universe/Source/life can help us to start engaging again in case apathy hits. For example, after I had turned the focus of my attention backwards on awareness and found stillness and peace there, I had lost interest in engaging in life here. I think maybe that could be compared to what NDEers experience. Many of them also don’t want to come back to earth after having tasted the peace of heaven. What happened for me was that there was guidance. I got little tasks to engage with life again. For example, one of our budgies got sick and I had to take him to the vet. And in addition, my guides indicated to me that they wanted me to invite a bunch of old friends with their kids to our house. They even gave me a deadline for it. That induced a feeling of overwhelm, but I think it was just meant to drag me out of my apathy and give me some tasks to do. Later, whenever I fell into this apathy, the same thing happened. I would get tasks to do to keep me busy. I found that noteworthy and wondered why. Maybe spirit thinks that the state of being annoyed and in overwhelm is better than being calm and disengaged?

The journey is about coming into alignment with Source within us. This is not just the silent observer or witness and pure unmanifest potential. But it also has a direction to it, a will, like a river has a current. It offers guidance to let us know into which direction the current is flowing. Even though swimming upstream or clinging to the riverbank can feel like the comfortable or safe choice for the short term, it will exhaust or hurt us in the long run.

The guidance can come in many forms. I once read a book about dream work, and on the first page, there was a quote from the Gospel of Thomas (Saying 70) “If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.” When I read that I thought, ugh, that sounded like a warning that I better give up my resistance, obey the guidance I got, and get some work done.

To sum it up, the world is not an illusion. Only the appearance of separation is an illusion. And it is advisable to align oneself with the current of life’s flow or with the guidance from spirit, not only because that is where joy and fulfillment will be found but also because non-alignment means that the external circumstances can get uncomfortable.