Are Illusions Necessary?

“In much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow” (Ecclesiastes 1:18).

Solomon was exceedingly wise, and the Bible says he was the wisest man on earth. If anybody would know that knowing lots of things and being wise to boot could be a pain, Solomon would.

Had Solomon always been so negative about the accumulation of wisdom and knowledge? Likely not. As a young man, he almost certainly admired people who he thought of as wise, smart, knowledgeable. Perhaps he even thought he was one of those people!

Most of us possess only small amounts of both wisdom and knowledge when we are young. Our wisdom and knowledge are so scarce, in fact, that we are under the illusion of being at least reasonably smart.

However, there is an upside to happy ignorance. Before we realize that we don’t know much at all, we are immune to the specific kind of grief and sorrow that Solomon mentions in Ecclesiastes 1:18. Solomon must surely have experienced that happy immunity back when he was just a fledgling in Daddy David’s royal court.

But then one fine day Solomon learned just one, tiny thing more: It dawned on him that he was unthinkably ignorant! He hadn’t known enough before to know that. This knowledge totally rewrote his life. Now that he knew how ignorant he really was, he became enthused about the amazing possibilities that more knowledge would open to him. So, off he went and did the hard work necessary to expand his wisdom and knowledge. And, sure enough, he obtained enough of it to achieve the glorious disillusionment—full of grief and sorrow—that permeates his book of Ecclesiastes.

As we age, most of us accumulate at least a little more wisdom and knowledge than we had when we were younger. This sets the stage for us to accumulate that final smidgen of knowledge necessary to realize, with a mighty jolt, that we know exactly next to zilch, and are almost completely devoid of wisdom too. Almost…

The illusion that some of us are under when we are young—that we are at least reasonably smart—is it a necessary illusion? Is it necessary to our development into a more mature human? When we are young and easily bewildered, we might succumb to mental or emotional meltdown if we would comprehend how little we know. Does the illusion that we are reasonably smart serve a necessary purpose until we develop enough to handle the truth about our smarts?

In the book Positive Illusions, Shelly Taylor states,

Normal human thought and perception is marked not by accuracy but by positive, self-enhancing illusions about the self, the world, and the future. These illusions are not merely characteristic of human thought; they appear to actually be adaptive, promoting rather than undermining good mental health. (Emphasis mine)

If it is true that illusions are necessary when we are young, here’s a scarier question: Are there illusions that are also necessary in all periods of our lives?

Frequently, it is our illusions that prevent us from sinking into utter despair until we grow strong enough to handle a more accurate perception of reality. Think about it.

•   How many missionaries have you seen launch out into the field with a pack of hilarious illusions of all that the Almighty God is now, finally, going to be able to do in that part of the world?

•   What young bride and groom where both were not under a certain amount of illusion that life would henceforth be more other-worldly than subsequent years proved to be, even for the happily married?

•   It’s possible that you, or many of your coreligionists, sincerely believe that soon, the up-and-coming preachers (or definitely not the preachers) will finally figure out how to do church significantly better than the current preachers, or not-preachers, are doing it. This illusion drives them on. And on…

Are illusions necessary? They can serve noble purposes. If it were not for the illusions that motivated the missionary to launch away from comfy kith and kin, he would have despaired of ever doing it. His illusions were necessary, in some sense of the word, for his development into a humbler missionary. And suppose the young, courting couple had not harbored a few starry-eyed illusions about married life, would they ever have dared to vow life-long commitment to each other through all the tough stuff that sustainable, fruitful marriage includes?

Illusions, however, remain just that: illusions, that is to say, inaccurate perceptions of reality.

Our journey from where we are to where our Father is leading us will be enhanced if we recognize the fact that we unwittingly harbor illusions. Our journey will be enhanced indescribably more if we trade in those illusions for more accurate perceptions of reality as soon as we gain the knowledge of them. Such knowledge may bring sorrow with, but it also brings torrents of joy.

The humble will be led by our Father from where they are to a place that is closer to full harmony with all that is truth. Humility is necessary in this enterprise of advancing from illusion, through disillusion, up to dis-disillusion: “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.” (1 Peter 5:6)