Author Gary Tillery draws parallels between Harrison's approach to [going] through the motions of living in the material world and the way someone in the 21st century might play a virtual reality game. Tillery writes that what we see and experience during the game is actually an illusion - or maya in the Hindu belief to which Harrison subscribed - and that [w]hat does matter in the great scheme of things is to wake up from the dreamlike state we mistake for reality. Speaking at a 1974 press conference, in reply to whether there was a paradox between his spiritualism and the lifestyle of a musician, Harrison conceded: It is difficult ... You can go to the Himalayas and miss it completely and [yet] be stuck in the middle of New York and be very spiritual ... I think one by one we all free ourselves from the chains that we have chained ourselves to, whatever we're chained to.