I think we live in delusional times, whether it's with a great

The poet and philosopher Michael Leunig spoke with piercing clarity when he said: “I think we live in delusional times, whether it’s with a great ability to totally distract ourselves with technology, or with speed and the velocity of life.” These words are not mere lamentations, but warnings to the soul. For in them he declares that the age we inhabit is one of illusion, where men and women, though awake in body, walk as if dreaming, seduced by glowing screens and the restless rush of days that flee faster than the wind.

When Leunig speaks of “delusional times,” he does not mean that the world itself is false, but that our vision has become clouded. We mistake distraction for fulfillment, speed for progress, noise for truth. The technology that was fashioned to serve us has often become our master, feeding us endless streams of images and voices that keep us from hearing the quiet music of the heart. Likewise, the relentless velocity of life pushes us forward so quickly that we forget to pause, to reflect, to simply be. Thus, our delusion is not in what exists, but in how we live within it.

History gives us a mirror. Consider the people of Rome in its later days. Once a republic of discipline and virtue, Rome grew intoxicated with its own wealth and spectacle. The Colosseum roared with endless games, citizens distracted by bread and circuses while corruption spread in the Senate and enemies gathered at the borders. Their delusion was the belief that pleasure and speed could substitute for strength and vision. And so, the empire crumbled, not from lack of might, but from blindness within. What happened to Rome is a shadow upon our own age, where distraction and velocity threaten to hollow us from within.

Yet Leunig’s words also carry a call to awakening. For if distraction is the disease, then attention is the cure. If speed blinds us, then stillness restores our sight. Like the monk who sits in meditation, drawing breath in silence, we must reclaim the art of patience and presence. The truth is not found in the flashing images of a screen, nor in the hurried march of days, but in the quiet recognition of life as it is, here and now. To step out of delusion is to remember that the soul needs stillness as much as the body needs food.

We see this wisdom embodied in the life of Mahatma Gandhi. Surrounded by a world of injustice, he did not rush blindly into violence, nor distract himself with easy comforts. Instead, he chose simplicity, silence, and the slow but steady force of nonviolent resistance. In an age clamoring for speed, he moved with deliberate patience. His victory was not born of distraction, but of focus; not of velocity, but of steady persistence. Thus, Gandhi shines as an example of how to live awake in times that tempt us with delusion.

The lesson for us is clear. We must learn to resist the endless hunger for distraction, to pause in a world obsessed with movement. Do not let your worth be measured by how quickly you move, nor your joy by how much noise surrounds you. Instead, measure your days by how deeply you live them, by how often you turn away from illusion to touch reality. Put down the screen from time to time; walk in silence; listen to your breath. By such small acts, you pierce through the veil of delusion and return to truth.

Therefore, my counsel is this: guard your attention as you would guard a treasure. Do not surrender it to every flashing light and passing voice. Embrace slowness, for in slowness you discover depth. Honor stillness, for in stillness you recover sight. Remember always that though the world may rush around you, your soul was not made for velocity, but for presence.

So let Michael Leunig’s words resound across the generations: “We live in delusional times.” Yet delusion is not destiny. Each of us may awaken, each of us may choose to live with clarity, presence, and truth. Reject the chains of distraction, cast aside the tyranny of speed, and walk the path of mindful patience. In this way, you shall live not as one asleep in delusion, but as one awake, alive, and free.