In an ideal world, our human nature is perfect. It looks like Star Trek with everyone working for the common good, love (or at least appreciation) for all, all under a common set of rules that no one violates. But, none of that is true in the present world we live in. The first is the Illusionary World we each makeup in our individual heads, to fit our own desires. The second is the Real World we each wake up into each morning. We claim the Real World isn’t perfect, because we’re always comparing it to our Illusionary World. The Real World never seems perfect because the Illusionary World is an ever-evolving, elusive, moving target; comprised of our current needs, desires, and ideals – the way we think the world should be.

“I think for anything to change, in the real world, people have got to change on the inside and that’s what we want to start, to get people to think and do more themselves and get involved in whatever they want to get involved with.” – Graham Russell

In the perfect, ideal world, no one is murdered, raped, or abused. Everyone is treated the same regardless of their level of contribution to the greater whole. Everyone contributes equally to the society. In small environments, these ideals function relatively well, especially when the environment is small and participation is voluntary (such as a commune in some secluded area). If you fail to live up to the communal standards, you can get “voted off the island.”

Our ideal, Illusionary World should be our goal for our human society; one we can evolve into. Pushing toward each day, but not one we live in out of present time. We should not make daily personal and financial decisions based on some fabricated reality we’d like to live in. Our Illusionary World is a fabrication of our human nature.

Reality check. Let us look at two data points to understand how far humanity has come, to see if humanity has evolved over time. As I mention in Only Human: Guide to our internal Human Operating System (iHOS) and Achieving a Better Life, “Within the last 260 years we have not gone more than a single twenty-five-year period (one human generation) without a major war or conflict somewhere in the world.” On a more personal level, “the chances of first marriages in the United States ending in separation or divorce is close to 50 percent.” We still lock our front door each day, because in our heads we believe someone is going to break-in. We buy car insurance because we know accidents happen.

Our ability to create an Illusionary World should be for the purpose of having hope in the possibility of a better, future world in which all we dream of becomes possible. For us to reach that goal, we must begin today and work toward it every day and make it our life’s mission, not someone else’s (and certainly not the government’s). Each of us must take on the challenge, create positive changes (growth) in our lives and move forward to a better Real World.