"Maya is the veil that covers our real nature and the real nature of the world around us. It's like dense clouds that prevent us from seeing the sun. Our clouds appear as egotism, selfishness, hatred, greed, lust, anger, ambition." (Vedanta Society of Southern California) Purists argue that autobiography must tell the truth. Others say we can add fictional elements (who remembers the exact dialogue, for example?), as long as we tell "the essential truth." I think we all see so-called reality through the veil of illusion, and the best we can hope for is to convey the nature of our particular illusions. These are mine.