In Asia, illusion is tolerated and sometimes praised as a component of experience and reality. In contrast, the Western idealist tradition has attempted to expunge illusion through thinking in accordance with first principles. However, with Kant's Critical philosophy, we now know that transcendental illusion is a necessary feature of experience generated by principled thinking itself With thinkers such as Nietzsche and Heidegger, tranditional ideals such as clarity and light are suffused with the indigo tones of minesis and epoche. Only by embracing the transitory shadow-world of time can one come to a decision (Lichtung) about the origin and authority of metaphysical principles.