Friend: But i wanted to ask u something. .he is a genius ..but he did not grab the truth about everything being an illusion…

Reply: The reality of the Self is not an illusion.
The realization of the Self is a different matter and goes beyond such scientific genius. An expression of genius is not an expression of wisdom. These are two separate matters.

Friend: My question is: Could everything be an illusion?

Reply: The reality of the Self is not an illusion. In your night dreams, the dream events or an illusion but you, the dreamer, is not.

Friend: vast space. stars..planets..solar systems…galaxies

Reply: Yes. Vast space..stars..planets..galaxies… are aspects of the mind. They are caricatures of the vastness and infinite potential of the Self. They are mind events. But of themselves, they are dream events.

Friend: i agree… Really i understand

Reply: But the reality of being , the reality of awareness is not illusion. The images on the screen are illusion. But the screen is not.

Friend: how come? if everything is an illusion, so must that be

Reply: consciousness is not a thing. The reality of your experience is beyond the appearance, beyond all mind impressions. There is a reality to experience. That is not an illusion.
Reality does not belong to the seen, does not belong to the visible, does not belong to the perceived. It belongs to the perceiving. The reality of experience lies beyond the experienced.
Forms refer to the formless Self.

Friend: Whatever i see or love or hate or build is an illusion. .my kids, my life. my wife..my profession.

Reply: The dream can be a sweet dream

Friend: I’m aging…im suffering. .im joyful. .all is an illusion. .

Reply: It can be a sweet dream.
It is a sweet dream once you know your true Self and cease to mistake yourself to be what you are not

Friend: is there a small possibility that its not a dream but a reality magdi.. although a huge part in me believes its all a dream..an illusion..

Reply: Reality does not belong to the impermanent, does not refer to the changing. There is a reality to experience but it does not belong to the changing but rather to the changeless.
Reality does not change. Contemplate the reality of your experience.
Your experience is not nothing.
The dream refers to the dreamer. The impermanent refers to the eternal.

Friend: how can i contemplate my experience when my experience is an illusion?

Reply: The images on the screen may be an illusion. Consciousness is not an illusion. You are mistaking mind with consciousness.
Being aware is not an illusion and does not come and go. The screen does not come and go. Give credit to where its due.

Friend: pls bear with me magdi..im trying to understand it..

Reply: You know you are aware
Don’t you?

Friend: yes..i know i am not my name or my titles or my bank account.. im aware that i exist

Reply: How do you know that? Did your teacher tell you? Did your neighbor tell you?

Friend: no. i know this ..because i experience it

Reply: Yes. You know you are aware because your experience says so. You do not need to go check with the mind to find out if you are aware. There is a directness to your knowing that you are aware.
Every experience refers to awareness. To being aware.
It is awareness that knows that it is aware. Awareness is self knowing. And you are that. After all you just call friend that you’re aware in thus that you’re aware of being aware.

Friend. Yes.

Reply: The reality of your experience is not the image. It is the unchanging that is real. Is it not so?

Friend: absolutely

Reply: Stay with the reality of your experience.
Cater to the dream images with grace and tenderness. Light handed with loving care
Celebrate the dream and know yourself to be beyond.
In knowing yourself, the dream comes home.