I agree about consequences being the measure. A fool's paradise is an undignified and unseemly place to be - unworthy of a human being. 

So yes I too have thought  around this topic - indeed the opening reflection in my very first post here was that it might just as well have been my cat as Rawat sitting in the darshan chair.  i.e. all the validation came from belief and Rawat was of no relevance whatsoever.  Cynthia - the first to reply - accurately pointed out that the cat would of course be a far better alternative.

As I recall it the reality of the  'fools paradise' of being a premie was not any deeper or more profound a paradise than any other -  no different in quality and no less fleeting than any of those moments that we all have in life (that happen when you are busy making other plans ).  All we actually had was a belief that we and our premie experience was 'special'.  No joy was added to the sum total of life - and possibly none subtracted - except for the burdensome overhead of Rawat and a strange and life-limiting belief system.  I am convinced that nobody actually benefited in any way -- so personally I would have no compunction in puncturing the bubble of any long term premie -- because there is  nothing real there for them to lose and although in some part of their imagination they might have a relationship with Rawat -- it's nothing real -- and the loss won't actually hurt ---so I'd also bet that when Rawat finally expires neither will any of the surviving premies genuinely mourn - which might surprise them.  

My conclusion - such as it is - is that being a premie is an abject state -  akin to remaining a child - to believe in Father Christmas - to (ironically) prefer ignorance to knowledge - to abdicate from taking responsibility for your own life.  When I exited I saw it as a restoration of independence, dignity and indeed manhood.  At last -  freedom like a blast of cool mountain air.  My first philosophical port of call was Marcus Aurelius and stoicism and I still find the aspirations expressed therein a better thing to shoot for than any fools paradise (as 13 asks below maybe all paradises are strictly for fools ?). 

 https://fourminutebooks.com/marcus-aurelius-quotes/

Tim