There is "something" in this world which prevents human beings from fully understanding not only their predicament, but their full potential. Something like "a Veil" blinds us all, some to a greater extent, some to a lesser extent.
Paul has talked about this Veil: [2 Corinthians 3:14-3:16: "But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away"].
It is interesting to note that several popular movies have portrayed and popularized this veil: The Matrix, Dark City and The Truman Show. In these movies, a force superior to humans in intellect and/or power, has concocted a situation where at least one human remains (and will remain) under the influence of this veil.
It is important to recognize here that as a species we have reached an intellectual state where this veil, is at least recognized. Certain other religions have recognized it as well. Some call it "Maya's Illusion", the Kabbalah calls it "The Lower Worlds".
It is one thing to have "recognized" this veil, and another thing to offer solutions for its "lifting". Since getting rid of it seems to depend on properly understanding the causes of its installment, and we don't seem to understand them fully yet, there still exists a huge divide between "recognizing" and "lifting" it.
There are here several tangential notions which to my mind contribute to the Veil's influence and I will list them in order of importance:
1)-3) are related and create a vicious circle which feeds on itself. Our progress in science as a species, tends to create a "unique" universe, in which we understand that we belong, both in its past and in its present. For example, we "think" we belong to a "universe" which started with The Big Bang and for which we are not sure about its future, since our physics is not (and probably won't ever be) complete.
As a result, we "think" that we are important in terms of global significance, because we managed to "survey" a good part of our existence as a species.
The later, gives us reason to distance ourselves from a (possible) First Cause, since we ourselves have now an almost "sufficient understanding" and a reason to expel "primitive" notions (such as that of God) from our minds.
Our scientific knowledge seems to have no good purpose. Although tremendous progress has been made scientifically, the fruits always seem to fall into the hands of those who wish to exploit other people, be it military generals or greedy doctors. As a result, our science has no man-centered purpose, which seems to feed 2) and 3).
In any case, in this unique "universe", Death reigns supreme. Every conscious and every unconscious entity, ends up in the hands of Hades. From galaxies, stars and planets to animals and plants, nothing escapes the tight grip of Death. Hierarchically, some objects (like galaxies and stars) live longer, but in the end, they too succumb to oblivion, sometimes in spectacular ways.
In addition to the predicament of Death, we have also come to be "aware" of its existence for all of us. We all "know" somehow that we are going to die, sooner or later. This "knowledge", gives life a particularly bitter taste, since we start wondering what it is all about if we end up in the hands of Death. What is the true reason of birth, if all fails and dies in the end? What is the true reason for existence if everything dies?
Most of us have accepted our fate in Death and we simply carry through. This is as ludicrous as having a hand grenade next to someone, knowing that it will explode at some time in the future and doing nothing about it, simply wishing that it explodes as late as possible.
The thought that Death does not really exist, is out of the question. Throughout history we've had no examples of anyone who defeated it, except the story of Christ, who according to scripture was risen from the dead 3 days after his crucifixion. And we know better than to believe the writings of some religious fanatics, right? Wrong. It is exactly that belief in Christ which settles the answer of Death under the correct perspective.
The conviction we have that we are going to die is a consequence of the presence of The Veil, spoken of above. For some reason, this conviction has entered our minds and we are unable to get rid of it as a species. We try to remember, but in the end, our genetic code "forgets" The Truth, and we wither away. It is like a very sinister "memory problem". It is as if someone designed this system so our memory of our immortality keeps being "wiped out". We try to "remember" what we always knew, but somehow in the end we always end up dying. Why is that?
In Christ, there is no Death. So why do we die after all? Because our ways are not perfect. Even an ever so slight imperfection in our ways, will eventually introduce Death into our minds. Once our minds fall to Death, the body falls too. Perfection is immortal. But we are mortal, therefore we must be imperfect. So what is this imperfection of ours? It is precisely 1)-3).
If we agree that God is perfection, then the further we distance ourselves from God, the closer we are to Death. Because our bodies are made of flesh and thus need corrupt nourishment which depends on the Death of other beings and because of 1)-3), our minds tend to acquire more and more imperfection from the surrounding environment and from what we "know", so far. No matter how we try, most things we do tend to lead us towards Death. Even good and religious people die, after all. This is The MEMORY problem. The Veil.
Those who manage to escape the Veil, even temporarily, will see that Death is but an illusion, albeit it cannot STAY an illusion for ever, because of the Veil. So we have to remind ourselves of ways to lift the Veil. The way proposed by Christ works, but since we cannot imitate that which is perfect forever, we eventually die.
Is there any wisdom in Death? None whatsoever. That which dies, perishes. It is by definition temporary. All our wisdom is temporary, seen from an individual's standpoint. As a collective consciousness and as a species, our wisdom has gone as far as today, but we have to always relearn it. Old scientists die, and new scientists are born. The new scientists have to relearn the theories of the old scientists who have died, again and again, ad infinitum. This is, again, The MEMORY problem. The Veil. The myth of Sisyphus, who lifted a huge stone over the top of a hill, only to have it run down after he finished lifting it on top.
The tyranny of the Veil becomes ever so present, when one tries to be perfect. It is impossible. But, in Christ, the Veil is lifted. When this happens, all of Creation cries out giving proof for the Creator. From the smallest stone on the sidewalk, to a cloudy sky, to the dimmest star on a clear night, the "proof" for that which we've always wanted, for that which we've always desired, is in front of us!
It is very easy to lift the Veil from one's mind, provided one is predisposed favorably towards the First Cause. And really, if you think about it, why shouldn't one be? What else is there? That which exists today, may cease to be tomorrow. This body I sit in, appears temporary. If it is, I cannot escape Death. But at least, in Christ, I can see the Truth about The Memory problem. The Truth about the Veil.
Christ seems to validate the existence of the Veil: [Matthew 11:25] and again in [Luke 10:21]: "At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure."
The "wise and learned" are busy with trying to survey our universe (scientifically or otherwise), and in fact, certain segments of their creations may stay alive for a while, but the end result depends on what Christ decides about their creation: [John 15:1-3]: "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you."
The above really shows that the Father in conjunction with the Son, really decide who/what is worthy to be and who/what is not. This really says a lot about the potential success of many different endeavors. I may be busy for an entire life creating something which might be responsible for the creation of a tiny corner in our universe, but the end result (whether this creation eventually enjoys immortality) is being decided by the Father in conjunction with the Son.
Sidetracking a bit on the previous, it is entirely analogous to how a chess playing program finds a good move during its searches: The program initially generates ALL available moves on a given position, including illegal moves or moves with low strategic value. Subsequently, the program "sifts" through the array of available moves using a positional evaluation function, which selects only one candidate, the move which returns the highest value in its positional evaluation algorithm.
In a sense, as soon as the program "considers" a bad move during the first stage, (generation or listing of ALL available moves) this particular bad move enters the domain of the program's "existence". It temporarily "exists" in the program's memory and depending on the processor's speed, it may rest in memory for a little while, until the positional evaluation function calculates the move's absolute worth relative to the game's position.
If the evaluation function determines that this dormant move has the highest value relative to the game's current position, it is chosen: It is copied out of the memory array cell it temporarily occupies and the program replicates its existence in other variables, finally presenting it to the opponent as THE move to be made. When this happens, the chosen move "attains" immortality vis-a-vis the game as a whole. When this particular game is later presented to an external observer, this move has a specific place in the program's memory, so its record remains available. Note also that the move's record remains in chess-playing "existence" for at least as long as the duration of the game, for chess playing programs which keep track of only one game at a time. For a more advanced chess playing "program", like a human or a chess program which "learns" from past games, such moves stay in memory forever, since they form part of the player's "experience".
If the evaluation function determines that this dormant move has a low value relative to the game's current position, it is discarded from memory: The memory array cell it occupied is freed to make room for new "potentially good" moves, so its "existence" ends as soon as the evaluation function determines that the move has a low strategic value.
The endeavors of human society resemble the first part of a move generating engine, where many possibilities are being generated prior to being evaluated. All these possibilities remain dormant for a while, until a proper "judge" (similar to the positional evaluation function) determines if these possibilities have any worth. If a possibility is worthy, then it remains in the memory of the global scheme of things, as part of the vine branch of which Christ speaks of. If it is found unworthy, it is cast into non-existence.
In a sense, the Veil is akin to the temporary "existence" of an unrealized bad move in chess. Yes, it "exists" for a temporary period of time in the global memory of things, but its further existence depends on the evaluation function making a positive "judgment" on it. Such "judgment" happens every single day. Every single day one wakes up in the morning and sees a new day with potential, the Son and Father give this individual a little more time before they "evaluate" his/her position relative to the global meaning of things.
Part of the Veil's deceptive nature is the apparent conviction that one's temporary existence has some worth. This is the root cause of problem 2). It is not YOU who are living and experiencing your life, it is the Son, THROUGH you. Therefore an individual human consciousness is utterly incapable to perform a proper "positional evaluation" of one's life, unless it is hosted by the one whose experience is being counted towards. At least insofar as I am concerned, whenever I "drove" my own life, I made a mess of it.
Several side issues enter here, the most important being that of Choice. It is certainly MY choice if I want to "drive" my own life without outside guidance, that's why it seems (to me at least) that the Veil has a "reason" for existence. It is a device upon which one can rely to be "voluntarily blinded" so as to be able to see what it is like to "drive" one's life by oneself.
The Father and the Son are omnipresent, therefore without the Veil it is utterly impossible for one to drive one's life away from them by choice. The Veil is the proper "device" which once installed, "allows" an individual consciousness to "experience" what it is like to be god in a very "realistic" way, apart from the True source of all things.
The important question now is, WHY do humans fall victim of this Veil? Here I can only speculate from experience. There certainly was a time in my life when I was under the Veil's influence. For 18 years to be specific, from 1986 to 2004. The only thing I can say with certainty is that I had asked for it. I am trying to recall WHY I asked for it, but I can't remember. It might have been that the pain from my father's Death in 1986 was so unbearable that I sidetracked voluntarily seeking consolation in metaphysics and in the occult. The end result was a disaster, in terms of pain: My consciousness passed into delusion during those years and only my love for work and creation kept me alive.
I am more than glad to report that the damage is not unrepairable, however. I cannot know why other human beings would choose to operate under the Veil, except to perhaps speculate that many may not be happy with this Father/Son vine pruning business, so they choose non-existence, similar to being a potential chess move heading for oblivion, as soon as the Son decides to "evaluate" their position, relative to the global scheme of things.
Perhaps some consciousnesses find it unbearable to be in the presence of the Creator and want to STAY blind voluntarily. It appears as though it is a God given right for people to be able to choose what they want in this respect, so I can understand their choice from the perspective of free will. Yet, judging from my individual experience, the pain is unbearable when one is under the Veil, so such a situation can be either terminal or obliviously painful and I really have no idea why one would want this, over a life full of happiness and joy.
In my experience, the root cause of pain when under the Veil, is NOT KNOWING. Anything. One doesn't know ANYTHING when under the Veil. This is the ultimate horror of existence, for me at least. Other people might have no problems with not knowing. "Knowing" in this case is very specific: "Having knowledge of God", for what else can be the meaning of Life, apart from "knowing God"?
It follows therefore, that when Satan installs the Veil on an individual consciousness, this is equivalent to God the Father "removing" the memory of His existence from an individual. Again, the reasons why this may happen are unclear to me in general, except for my case. Perhaps this is the Father's way of distancing Himself from an individual, once an individual decides that one doesn't want to be in His presence.
It follows therefore that the existence of this Veil is sort of a device for a practical application of Free Will. One decides one doesn't want to be in God's presence, and thus God the Father withdraws from one's mind, allowing the Veil to uncover itself and create an illusion whereupon one's individual consciousness "thinks" that one is "free" to do as one pleases, including thinking that one is god.
Consciously choosing to live in the presence of God vs living in absence of God, is the ultimate example of exercising one's right to Free Will. It is the ultimate choice in the life of any individual. This appears to be exactly the meaning of "eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil", found in Genesis 2:16-17: "And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."" God's testimony was therefore true. The tree was a device for humans to exercise their Free Will and God had warned humans of what would happen if they chose to eat from it. Unfortunately, Adam and Eve chose to want to live in separation from God, forcing man as a species to be bound by Death and by the Veil.
I can only speculate that for some people it may be impossible to decide whether they want to be in God the Father's presence, so it may be necessary for someone who acts as an intermediary to make this choice for them. It seems to me that this is precisely the role of Christ, who continuously searches hearts and minds to find who loves God. [Revelation 2:23] "Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds."
If I am allowed to sidetrack on the above a bit further, it appears that the Son is aware of every potentiality in all our lives past and present, so it appears as though the entire creation has been seen by Him as a whole, past and present [John 1:18 "No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, [ Or the Only Begotten] [ Some manuscripts but the only (or only begotten) Son] who is at the Father's side, has made him known."]. Therefore judgment has already occurred in His mind, but not in ours, because we appear to be able to choose freely and are still alive. In all reality we are nothing but a tiny memory in the vine that is the Son's mind, which is pruned by the Father. We are a potential chess move, waiting to be evaluated relative to our time.
This creates an apparent contradiction, insofar as some people being alive, whereas in reality they are dead (memories) by God's standards. These people are the ones who are under the Veil. From God's perspective, these memories (that are these people) will cease to exist eventually if they continue being under the Veil, but for us they are alive, now. [2 Corinthians 4:3-4: "And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."].
To sum it up: The existence of the people under the Veil seems therefore a necessary consequence of our freedom of choice to live in a universe apart from God as a species. If nobody was under the Veil, the knowledge of God's presence would be permeating everything (not that it doesn't anyway, but it's not perceivable under the Veil), so eventually everyone would know God's existence, denying us the right to freely choose. Therefore it appears valid to say that the very existence of the Veil depends on people still WANTING to exercise their freedom of choice and live apart from God.
In my case, I recall a time when I had perfect faith as a child and the world was perfect. Or should I say, my world was perfect. Then, at some point in time, I decided I wanted to exercise my Freedom of Will, so I consciously fell under the influence of the Veil and became voluntarily blinded. This in turn corrupted my world and brought about what seemed to be an avalanche of problems, including other people who were under the influence of the Veil, because I was under it. I lived under the Veil for 18 years, in a universe full of pain. While under the Veil, pain, fear of Death and dementia reigned complete. I was therefore forced to re-evaluate my life and make a second choice, this time to never again live under the Veil. So I have emerged from it with the help of Christ, damaged but still alive. It is fortunate that I am still alive, because really, this means that somewhere else, perhaps in Christ's Mind, I have made the right choice, eventually. Had I stayed under the Veil in Christ's Mind, I would now be dead.
Since I consciously made the choice to fall under the Veil's influence in the past with respect to my time, this implies that I have failed in Christ's judgment relative to His time and Mind. Perhaps therefore, the reason for my existence now as a life-form was exactly the chance for me to have this second chance to exit the Veil, which seems perfectly reasonable to me at least, as an explanation for who and what I am. [Revelation 2:11: "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt at all by the second Death.", Revelation 20:6: " Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second Death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years. " and also in Rev. 20:14 and 21:8].
The more I think about the Veil, the more I become convinced that this Veil is synonymous to Death. For what is Death, apart from total separation from God? [Isaiah 25:7-8: "On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; he will swallow up Death forever"] What can be the Meaning of Life, apart from wanting to know God? What can be the highest pleasure apart from "examining" all of God's little secrets in this universe like little children?
The existence of our species, which from all appearances seems to be a potentiality waiting to be evaluated, scientifically goes back in time 1-2 million years, according to science and its future is unknown. We have surveyed and explained large parts of the universe scientifically and we keep examining it, but its essence and causes will remain unexplained for those who live under the Veil, because by definition the very Meaning of Life (which is knowing God), is missing from their minds.