“Reality” is such a large blanket word used to describe everything in our experience. Yet, it is rare to find someone truly investigating the nature of their experience of this reality.
Consider someone with an interest in conscious eating. They might understand every process required to ensure food is clean from farm to table. This mastery involves studying numerous courses, years of practice, and a lifetime of making peace with the need they are trying to serve. Often, this inner need is expressed as an outer wish.
- The Inner Need: “I want a healthy body that lives long and is not prone to disease. I want to do this in an environmental conscious and sustainable way.” This creates passion.
- The Outer Wish: “I want everyone to eat healthy. I want them to be aware of their eating habits and transform them.” This creates direction.
By investigating the inner need, one steps closer to the reality within that moves them to take action in the outside world. The outside world is made of clay. It can be morphed and shaped in various ways depending on the intent of the consciousness. When we focus on the reality of the intent—the need of the conscious and subconscious mind—we immediately step into the 10%: the ones who know that reality is formed by us, and not the other way around.
That’s step 1: Recognize your power.
We are constantly shaping the world around us by our actions and words—expertly crafting our life like a designer. Each being is designing their own life, but there is a catch: the designer is, to varying degrees, seeing through pinholes. Some fixate on a single detail, others on grand plans. More often than not, we just want to feel that our limited way of seeing is enough.
We say the sky is the limit, but looking at the sky means looking at the sun. If we widen our horizons, we are forced to see everything with blinding clarity. For many, that is a terrifying thought. Even some of those who jump into the ocean often lack the breath capacity to free-dive, to sustain themselves simply by willpower, or to viscerally embody the ebb and flow of water. It is about resolving to overcome that fear, and then cultivating the skill required to see without limitation.
This is step 2: Cultivate a Vast Outlook.
The desire to excel at anything is admirable. Take an art form like dance; to feel the body move with grace, to inspire others, to embody characters, to become like an element. A kind of seeking, followed by a kind of being. To seek means we have not yet found. Yet here we are, fully present in the moment. We are found, but we are dissatisfied by what we have found!
We want there to be more. More movements, more emotions, more layers, more complexity, more substance. And so, reality constantly eludes us. The more we follow the stream of our intent into the outside world, the more we realize that because it is constantly shifting, dependent on numerous factors, and capable of being magnified or minimized infinitely, we cannot find anything substantial there. It appears to be real, but we cannot grasp it. The moment we name it, it changes; another element influences it, subdividing or multiplying it.
And here, step 3: Stop chasing after more.
Intent
When we look inward at our intent, we might assume we have come closer to reality. But deconstruct the intent and look closely: behind it is a narrative. There are characters appearing from the past, and a sense of “me-ness” or “I-ness” running through the story—often on a loop.
In the spiritual traditions of the Indian subcontinent, this loop experienced in life is understood as the way the “beyond individual” mind functions. Because of a misperception of reality, the sense of “I” carries forth tendencies—called samskaras—beyond the dying body and into a conceived body. These tendencies ripen and determine our habitual patterns. This cycle is what is called Samsara. Because we are unable to determine where this cycle started or where it will end, we choose to believe either that there is a controller (an eternal spirit) or that it is all meaningless and random.
We need an anchor in the chaos. That anchor is a simple belief or faith that there is an end to the suffering—whether that is merging with the creator, dissolution into nothingness, or a middle path. That itself is the great intent – to be free of our suffering. It manifests in action that frees others of their suffering.
Letting Go
Vairagya, or dispassion, is one important quality to cultivate. With it, objects that appear pleasurable are seen as temporary, while objects that appear frightful are seen as manifestations of the goodness of nature—the love that pervades all. In this way, the Vairagi cultivates an equanimity that is detached from the chase of pleasure and unbothered by the presence of pain.
Some mistakenly assume that renunciation is an escape from reality, but that is far from the truth. To be in reality, and yet to see it with clarity—that is renunciation. What it’s not about is: isolation, self-torture, denial of emotions, fear of the future, or insecurity in one’s ability to navigate the world. This then leads to a very fragile sense of reality and world.
When we recognize that nothing in the world can color the immutable mind; then, it is simply reflected in the spotless mirror of the mind. People, emotions, pain, pleasure, and confusion do not cease to exist—they just reflect onto a spotless entity and therefore cannot mark it.
Such an entity has not “escaped” reality in the conventional sense but has integrated all its aspects so thoroughly and intimately that it is unbothered by what appears and disappears—neither craving the good nor avoiding the bad, and not confused when neither are present. Thereafter, reality will be present to the practitioner in the most vivid way possible. It is beautiful.
Sarva Mangalam,
Amman
Amman Advaita 
Leave a comment