our  necessary and manufactured illusions allow us to go through the day without the crushing despair that is the typical fate of the unclad mind

clothed in various overlapping ideas of worth, superiority,  potential, and visions of a resplendent future, the soul can tolerate the  sharp and dungy cobblestones of circumstance , and come out somewhat intact. 

the larger picture remains intact, allowing one to be functional, and come away only a bit scratched. 

as the ages go by, the larger picture gets covered in a million scratches, like an old windshield, and functions just as good (or not). then things change course. 

then once, the future isn't any more, the cloak of delusional future loses its protective power, it's time for the numbing from the inside. it's best to start this spirituality business early, so by the time the train of inevitability pulls in at the platform, instead of the one that will take you to your dreams, you can just get in and 

Jed McKenna books call this sleepwalking. the first breakout step is to grow up and become an Adult(tm) The adult plays the roles without shirking or crying . Then comes the next stage.

seems like a spiel for recruiting more suckers(tm) into the giant suck that is the man made world of man.

I bet there's no next stage.