“If, as is nearly always the case, music appears to express something, this is only an illusion, and not a reality.”

— Robert Craft

Down a Path of Wonder (2006)

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Robert Craft 1

American conductor and writer 1923–2015

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“For I consider that music is, by its very nature, essentially powerless to express anything at all, whether a feeling, an attitude of mind, a psychological mood, a phenomenon of nature, etc. Expression has never been an inherent property of music. That is by no means the purpose of its existence. If, as is nearly always the case, music appears to express something, this is only an illusion and not a reality. It is simply an additional attribute which, by tacit and inveterate agreement, we have lent it, thrust upon it, as a label, a convention – in short, an aspect which, unconsciously or by force of habit, we have come to confuse with its essential being.”

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“Don't let appearances fool you. There's always only one reality!”

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Source: 1Q84

“The present age… prefers the sign to the thing signified, the copy to the original, fancy to reality, the appearance to the essence… for in these days illusion only is sacred, truth profane.”

Ludwig Feuerbach book The Essence of Christianity

Aber freilich für diese Zeit, welche das Bild der Sache, die Kopie dem Original, die Vorstellung der Wirklichkeit, den Schein dem Wesen vorzieht … denn heilig ist ihr nur die Illusion, profan aber die Wahrheit.
Preface to Second Edition (1843)
The Essence of Christianity (1841)

“There is no objective reality. But there is only an illusion of consciousness, there is only an objectivication of reality, which was created by the spirit.”

Nikolai Berdyaev (1874–1948) Russian philosopher

As translated at Gallery of Russian Thinkers … selected by Dmitry Olshansky (2005) http://www.isfp.co.uk/russian_thinkers/nikolay_berdyaev.html
Dream and Reality (1949)
Context: There is no objective reality. But there is only an illusion of consciousness, there is only an objectivication of reality, which was created by the spirit. The origin of life is creativity, freedom; and the personality, subject, and spirit are the representatives of that origin, but not the nature, not the object.