The Illusion Of Simple

"In a dry Kansas riverbed, a troop of Girl Scouts finds a human hand. This discovery leads Billy Spire, the tough and broken sheriff of Ewing County, to confront the depths of his community. The racism, the dying economy, the lies and truths of friendship, and his own injured marriage. But like any town where people still breathe, there is also love and hope and the possibility of redemption. To flyover people, Ewing County appears nothing more than a handful of empty streets amid crop circles and the meandering, depleted Arkansas River. But the truth of this place - the interwoven lives and stories - is anything but simple"--

In The Illusion of Separateness, award-winning author Simon Van Booy tells a harrowing and enchanting story of how one man’s act of mercy during World War II changed the lives of strangers, and how they each discover the astonishing truth of their connection. Whether they are pursued by Nazi soldiers, old age, shame, deformity, disease, or regret, the characters in this utterly compelling novel discover in their, darkest moments of fear and isolation that they are not alone, that they were never alone, that every human being is a link in an unseen chain. The Illusion of Separateness intertwines the stories of unique and compelling characters who—through seemingly random acts of selflessness—discover the vital parts they have played in each other’s lives.

New York Times best-selling author and comedian-turned-motivational speaker, Kyle Cease, shows how your obsession with money is actually preventing you from living the life of your dreams. "I can't afford that." "Now's not the right time . . . I need to save up." "Quit my job? Are you nuts?!" Sound familiar? Money is one of the biggest excuses we make to not go after what we really want. Our fixation with money--the desire for more of it, and the fear of not having enough of it--is often really just a longing to feel safe. But this obsession with money is coming at a much bigger cost: our sanity, our creativity, our freedom, and our ability to step into our true power. This book is about eliminating the need to seek safety through the illusion of money, and learning to see ourselves for the perfection that we are--so that we can bring our gifts to the world in an authentic way, and allow ourselves to receive massive, true abundance as a result. Kyle Cease has heard excuses like the ones above countless times at his live events, and he has shown people how to completely break through them. In The Illusion of Money, he shares his own experiences as well as practical tools to help readers understand their ingrained beliefs and attachments to money, and how they can tap into our infinite assets and talents. "After 25 years as a successful comedian, actor, transformational speaker, author and junior-league amateur bowler, I've experienced many times how chasing money is not an effective way to create an abundant and fulfilling life. The most alive I've ever felt was after I left my comedy career at its peak to become a transformational speaker. I left tons of guaranteed money and so-called security for a complete unknown. It was terrifying--but what was on the other side of that terror was a completely different life that is not only more abundant financially, but has more freedom, more ease, more passion, more impact and more joy." -- Kyle Cease

Identifying the illusion is not enough. But smiling is sometimes the only … option. You see … when we connect to people, we also connect to their inner worlds. And we see so, so many ideas, emotions, perceptions … such a large spectrum … that we don’t really understand most of the times. Sometimes … we ignore them. Sometimes .. we connect to those universes .. believing they are real and we somehow become part of them. No one ever told us … that we don’t have to believe that something is … real. We could simple look at the image from the front of our eyes … just as we look at a beautiful painting, asking ourselves what is the meaning that the artist had in mind when created that scene?! And now the question is …. who is the artist behind the illusion?! What is the meaning of the illusion?! How do we recognize this illusion if it said that all we see it’s an illusion?! How can we get out of such stories, repeated on and on and on?! Is there any theory that we should know regarding the illusions?! What do we understand seeing and connecting to the human being spectrum?! Well … i simple smile. I used to analyze and define a lot my life and everything that happened around myself, until the day when i realized i am a prisoner … But it was all so weird … cause i was the prisoner, the guardian of the prison, but also the prison itself. I was all … so how could i get rid of that?! And all the time i was remembering … that it’s all and illusion. That is the moment when i had the power to smile again … but being so silly, it all took such a long time to realize it. I was spending my life in a prison with invisible walls, jumping from my illusions to other’s people illusory worlds. I was simple replacing an illusion with another illusion … believing i escaped from the illusion. And still … I was having a weird feeling … that i was living the illusion of being part of an illusion. Each time a new story. And a new one. … and another one.

Truth, Cicovacki says, presupposes neither a dominance of subject or object, but their dynamic and reciprocal interactive relation. The absence of proper interactions leads to various forms of self-projections or illusions. Truth, by contract, exists in a harmonious interaction between its subjective and objective elements. Cicovacki thus locates the value of truth between traditional absolutist claims and contemporary relativism.

'The Illusion of Doubt' confronts one of the most important questions in philosophy - what can we know? The radical sceptic's answer is 'not very much' if we cannot prove that we are not subject to (permanent) deception, and shows that the radical sceptical problem is an illusion created by a mistaken picture of our evidential situation.

Telling that the life itself it’s an illusion, might sound so damn … weird … and most probably … even like a depressive thought. But … you see … there are so, so many moments in life when the life itself just… sucks … and we ask ourselves … what the hell have i done that i deserve that?! And that was the moment when the karmic idea came into my mind … starting to believe that all the lessons of life, sometimes very difficult to handle … could be defined as karmic. All those abstract situations … which totally annoy us … and make our lives miserable… are repeating on and on and on. Believing we are the victims of circumstances … everything it’s never the way we want to be … or even worst. The funny thing that i tried all the time when i was in those weird abstract stories, having the impression that it was the end of the world … i was repeating to myself “It’s all an illusion … and it’s not what it looks like”. My karmic stories … being in fact my stories … and feeling them in such a powerful way … were … Well … don’t even know how to define them, but all i wanted was to get out of those situations and also get rid of the karmic people that i hated so much. And i tried everything … and nothing worked expect smiling … or even laughing in front of those illusions. Deciding to call them … simple … illusions … was probably the best idea i could come with. But the karmic illusions … were powerful messages i had to understand … and i was pretending i could not see behind the abstract. I actually love the abstract, but not when it was part of my life. It was all related with the concept of understanding the meaning of life … and even if i spent lots of time meditating over the subject … when i was on the scene of the real life, i was acting like a football player that studied all the strategies had been ever written about this sport … but … never practiced and in fact never tried to practice it in a good way. So … even if i knew theory … i acted like someone that never heard about spirituality … or about the forces behind reality. In fact …. in the real life, in so, so many karmic moments … i acted like an … idiot. I knew that all i had to do was just to smile in front of those illusory situations … cause there is no other way of fighting. But guess what?! Each time … i was failing. The only progress i made over the years … was that after a while … meditating over what happened … i somehow understood what … illusory … meant. …. that i had to react in a different way. … that was not what it looked like and the lesson of life had to be seen, understood deeper and deeper. But again … theory was so easy and i was failing tests all the time. On and on and on … I was such an idiot not applying all what i knew about life … on the scene of my own life. … and i was paying the price … of living a … miserable life … Everyday something happened and i was fucking my vibe … not realizing there were tests given to me by the Universe. Life was beautiful … and i thought it’s so … ugly. Hahaha … such a silly perspective. Well … it was all a decision of … changing my perceptions … and realizing that anything it could happen it was all a decision of the Divine Intelligence … God … Allah … or however we could name that entity that is everything it exists …. and it was all for our good. The fact that the karmic situations were repeated … was because i was not passing the tests … and i really had to pass those tests. It was all about … my awakening … and i had to start the … process.

Nothing is ever as simple as it seems. First, you should fail to be able to understand yourself genuinely. When you do, the struggle begins. The mind provides a person with the mental fortitude to survive any physical or spiritual crisis when the goal is set in your mind sharp enough. The protagonist If he had to lose his search for love, he would rather lose himself.