[MD] real/illusion/real

[Arlo Bensinger]

[SA]
It is real/illusion/real. - Marsha
It is illusion/real/illusion. - Arlo
It's an egg eating a snake. - SA
It's all real. - Platt

[Arlo]
Hi, SA. Just happen to have the ability to do some quick responding 
today (as I wait for yet another server reboot).

I'd add this to what I wrote to Marsha.

Child: I am real, you are an illusion.  [Soliptic thinking]

Adult: We are both real. [S/O thinking]

Zen Adult: We are both illusions. [Buddhist thinking]

MOQ Adult: Okay, so we are philosophically both illusions, but how 
can we make use of this illusion to build rotisseries, maintain our 
motorcycles and sail our boats in the best way possible.

I realize I am risking an enormous amount of over-simplification, but 
nonetheless this is how it seems to me.

In short, the "self" is a "pragmatic value" not an "existential 
object". And as such it is both "real" pragmatically and "illusory" 
philosophically. (Many thanks to Ron for drawing my attention to this 
distinction!)

The Zen Master may say, "I am a figment of my own imagination." And 
full-circle we come back to the inherent recursive paradox.