September 11, 2025
Article highlights:
- Knowing what is true
- truth vs illusion
- like ice become oceans
Perhaps it is fitting that a writing about illusion vs truth arrive on the anniversary of September 11th in the U.S., a day that perhaps accelerated the questioning in our country about what is true. A time, as well, when illusion was on the rise within government.
In my morning musing time — with concern about the disillusionment I see setting in for so many people — my thoughts were interrupted by Wisdom with a more informed understanding. From there I wrote an article for us around the phrase I was given:
Here is an interesting truth: Disillusionment is necessary to spiritual growth and maturation because it requires beings to become grounded in truth.
A student becomes disillusioned with their spiritual teacher.
A young adult becomes disillusioned with their parent’s actions.
A religious person loses their faith.
A new-age spiritual seeker decides it’s all made-up baloney.
A citizen becomes disillusioned with their country or political beliefs.
A couple becomes disillusioned with their marriage.
These are all examples in which disillusionment causes a personal crisis that generally involves questioning one’s beliefs and worldview. It can be a difficult and dark time if it challenges core or favored beliefs or uproots personal identity. It’s no fun. It certainly doesn’t feel like a good thing to go through, does it?
This is an especially important line of questioning just now, when it seems as a country we are poised, on all sides, at the brink of crushing disillusionment. At its basis, though, disillusionment is an important part of personal growth and is vital to spiritual growth. How is this so?
We face loss of faith in leaders, beliefs, and systems that have seemingly kept us safe. We face loss of faith in those we have pinned our hopes on. Perhaps we even face loss of the ideals we have believed true about our country. Despair and apathy seem on the rise as a result—it is worrying. What good can come of this?
In each case, it is about discovering what is illusion and what is more real. Disillusionment strikes at the heart of what is unreal. If a marriage is built on fantasy about who the partner is, rather than on who the partner actually is, there must come the uncomfortable day when the veil falls from the eyes.
If a mentor or a spiritual teacher is chosen because the student wants someone else to have the answers so they feel safe, the day must come when the failure of the teacher to keep them safe leads to disillusionment. There comes a time when the religious person will question their faith and the new-age seeker will wonder if things they’ve been told are real because they have built these beliefs upon needs and fantasies of their mind. Disillusionment will result and can then open them to wonder about what is more real.
If the government of a country has lost its way and its power causes damage and harm and serves only the few, a time of disillusionment is not only inevitable—it is necessary. To change and grow, even citizens of a country must go through disillusionment, become willing to see what’s there, and learn where actions fall short of the original intention for good.
These crises that include disillusionment are needed because they require that those involved become more grounded in what is truth rather than illusion. To mature in healthy ways all countries, a marriages, groups, and individuals will experience disillusionment at times, to varying degrees.
You may be surprised to think that disillusionment is part of any rebirth process, but it is so. It is painful, it is messy, but like any birthing process, disillusionment leads to new life.
Dis-illusion — dissolving illusion—that’s what disillusionment amounts to. Like ice become oceans, our illusions must dissolve. Any illusion in the foundation of things will cause its inevitable crumbling. Thus, in any arc of growth and development, there will come the time when further maturation cannot occur until the illusions are replaced with greater truth.
Facing one’s disillusionment with integrity and bravery is a strength we all need to be resilient and remain healthy in mind, emotion, and spirit. It is painful and frightening when we face a challenge to our illusions. It can seem our very survival is at stake, our whole world threatened.
The ego doesn’t like it. The mind resists with false reasoning and proffers substitute stories that are further illusion. The process requires surrender; sometimes it requires “hitting the bottom.” That is the time to pray to see where we each hold attachments to illusion over truth. That is the time to call on our courage to replace illusion with higher truth.
That is the time we are in now—personally, as well as for those in the U.S. as a nation. And also in the world, because happenings in the U.S. have a ripple effect across the world. Disillusionment and the dissolving of illusion is a big part of what’s going on.
Knowing this, I can gain peace by noticing where I am attached to the story, where my beliefs feel challenged, and seeing if there is illusion in them. I can open to see my own illusions and thereby build a better foundation for my life. That is good for me, and it’s good for our world. There is great freedom and peace to be gained in this!
May the illusions I am attached to become clear to me, that I may release them in relief and gain greater joy. That is my prayer. Amama Ua Noa!
Love beyond illusion,
Mayet Leilani
