The world is lost in illusion and people run after shadows

Every living being is born, lives, and eventually dies. Everyone accepts this truth. Other creatures have no awareness of it, but humans do. Humans know that once born, one must die; that all living beings are mortal. Yet this truth is only expressed theoretically. Do humans really believe that they will die one day? They know it, but they do not truly accept it. They speak about it, but they do not internalize it.

A person expresses the fact that life is uncertain and death is inevitable, but he never reaches the essence of this truth. He does not live with the awareness of his own death. If he were to truly accept what he says—that death is real and inevitable—the world would change instantly. Not even a moment would be required. Human activities, thoughts, and behaviors would transform immediately. But there is a strange foolishness in humans: they have no true awareness of the greatest truth of the universe.

Reading this might make the writer seem foolish, but whether humans actually believe in death or not can be demonstrated through an example. Take a spiritual guru, monk, or prophet—someone a person deeply reveres and trusts completely. If such a revered figure were to look into that person’s eyes and say with seriousness, “You have only one month left to live, I have seen it,” then watch that individual closely. Their habits, actions, and thoughts would all change. They would no longer be capable of sin, malice, or cruelty. Why? Because now they truly believe in death.

Belief means accepting something deep within and aligning all activities accordingly. Until yesterday, that same person may have said, “Life is uncertain; tomorrow is not guaranteed.” Yet their actions could still be corrupt or selfish. But when told they have only a month left, they undergo a radical shift. Why does this happen? The reason is clear: people say life is uncertain, but they do not believe it. And this is precisely why there is greed, sin, cruelty, and selfishness in the world—because humans do not actually accept death as reality.

Let us imagine for a moment: we have life, but how long is it? Compared to the time we spend not existing, our lifespan is insignificant. Even if someone lives a hundred years, we call it long, but is it truly so? Before us, countless millions of years existed, and after us, countless more will pass. From the perspective of time itself, human life is but a moment, less than a drop in the vast ocean.

If humans can live peacefully and happily, that is good. They should make efforts for that. But if not, why be anxious? Even if one lives with ultimate happiness today, it makes no difference to the vast stretches of time before birth and after death. Life is only a fleeting interval. What difference does it make if something happens today, tomorrow, or yesterday? Yesterday, you did not exist; tomorrow, you will not exist. So even today, this “you” is not truly you—it is just a temporary condition. That is why spiritual masters say: to truly find yourself, you must first dissolve yourself.

Consider the universe. The sun, far greater than Earth, is orbited by planets, one of which is our Earth. On this Earth, some eight billion humans exist. Among them, I am just one. How significant is that? And if we go beyond even the Sun, we realize the Sun itself is just another object in an endless cosmos.

Humans are worried and restless because they are unfamiliar with truth. They are sinful, cruel, and greedy because they lack true awareness. Their minds are filled with unnecessary thoughts, far from the ground of reality.

Unnatural living is the cause of suffering. What is true is natural. When life’s actions do not align with natural truth, conflict naturally arises. But when humans return to the ground of reality, fear, suffering, and sin disappear. Because then their thoughts align with truth. In reality, everything is psychology.

Two different people become different not because of anything external, but because of differences in their psychology. One becomes a thief, another becomes a sage. One pursues cruelty and wealth as a source of happiness, while another finds joy in giving away his wealth to help others. The difference is only psychology. That is why one embraces sin, and another embraces virtue.

The day human thought falls into harmony with truth, false beliefs will vanish, and transformation will begin. Then the world itself will change. Sin, suffering, and fear will disappear—not because of any external object or condition, but because everything depends on the mental state of human beings.

The purpose of this writing is not despair toward life, but the realization of life’s true essence. It is the rise of human strength, the revelation of humanity’s conduct, and the shaping of behavior according to human nature — to truly make a person human.

A human being alone is such a creature who, through lowly actions and thoughts, can fall even below animals, and at the same time, through noble actions and thoughts, can become like a god. Humans have been given the supreme power of thought — not to descend, but to ascend. Therefore, for human beings, rising upward is natural. To fall requires no strength, but to rise does. That is why a person must understand for themselves why nature granted them such a vast power of thought.

The difference lies here: power can be used anywhere, in both good and bad ways. To use power in righteous action is what becomes virtuous deeds, which are natural for humanity. To inspire humans to engage in virtuous actions and to live a true life, only humans have been granted the wisdom to be aware of death. For a person to remain truly human, awareness of death is essential — something animals cannot do. Awareness of death is not for despair, but for living a real and excellent life, for preventing the misuse of every moment of time, and for developing a higher form of personality.

Let us apply this from today itself, and positive change in human life will begin immediately.

Thank you.