What is real and what is illusion?

This morning I woke up with a question in my mind: what is real and what is illusion? Is it because we are headed to a matinee of The Lion King, where we will be convinced that the actors on the stage are a group of animals? We will willingly abandon all our reason in order to suspend disbelief that animals do not talk or sing, that they do not relate to each other in the same ways that humans do, and they do not wear flowing costumes. But having said this, I can also say, that we have learned that whales sing to each other, that different families of dolphins speak different dialects of the same language, and have names for each other, and we know that many males of bird species sing and dance and don brightly colored costumes for courting, or if they are the same feathers, then they display them in different ways. So the question is: how do we differ from our animal brothers and sisters? Another question to ask is: when do we want to differentiate between what is real and what is illusion? The answer that jumps to the lips is…”well, always”. But is that true? The other night I had a dream that I was a younger self, and I was visiting old friends in the company of the young healthy selves of my beloved parents and brother, now of blessed memory. My mother leaned over to me in my dream, and kissed me on my lips, and in that delicious space between sleeping and waking, I felt her kiss on my lips. I woke with my hand on my lips, as if I were holding the feeling there on my lips, seeking to keep it from escaping me. Was it just a dream,, or did my mother find a way to come to me and comfort me as I approach the first anniversary of my brother’s death, to assure me that they were OK and together. Or was I comforting myself? What is real and what is an illusion? Every month, Oprah has a page in her magazine titled “What I know for Sure”. Well, I’m not sure that I know anything for sure, but I think that it is important to be as real as we can with the people we love best. It is important to feel gratitude every day for the gifts we have been given, and if at all possible to share those gifts with the world. It is important to pass on our love and knowledge, and to hold close the people we love and never take them for granted. It is important to seize the joy in every moment, and to look for and find it in even the most unexpected places. It is important to know that every day is different, and that when we feel strong, we should extend a hand to someone who needs a hand, and when we are in need of a strong hand, to not refuse the help that is offered by another’s strong hand. I know that it is important to look around and see what is offered, and to take it and to share, to actually stop and smell that lovely rose that perfumes the air around us, to preserve the world in the best way we know how, and to help others who have a better way, to love and to be loved to the best of our ability, and to just do our best. What is real? What is illusion? Open your eyes and your heart and you will see.