PHENOMENA: A PERSON, PLACE, OR THING?

The noumenon comes from the Greek word for "think"; it is the 'thing itself'. 
Phenomena are the ways that noumena present themselves to the senses (the prefix 'phe' means to show).

Therefore all phenomena are merely objects that punctuate moments in time, by 'showing what is being thought'. So yes, technically life itself  is an illusion.