Most people would agree:

there’s a rainbow in the sky.

I could point it out to you as we are walking across the street, and you would see it too.

Look, there it is!

Even though it doesn’t really exist.

A rainbow is an optical illusion.

It’s not really out there, there’s not really a huge multicolored arch high in the sky.

The rainbow appears when sunlight strikes raindrops in front of a viewer at a precise angle (42 degrees).

‘Appears’.

Yet we wouldn’t fight over the existence of it.

So it’s both real AND it’s not.

Just like the human experience.

Our heartaches are real.

Our fear is real.

Our doubts are real.

Our ideas about the future are real.

Our anxiety and opinions and depressions are real.

But only when experienced from a precise, personal angle.

None of those things can be found as actual forms in nature, in the sky, or somewhere in the street of a busy city.

They are not real AND they appear to be.

‘Appear’.

Just imagine the freedom of truly realizing this.

 

Just imagine.