Not As We Imagine
Reality isn’t as we imagine it to be.
One of the most important things one can investigate is that, contrary to our most deeply rooted beliefs, reality isn’t made up of distinct parts—it’s not truly divided into people, objects, situations, things to acquire, or things to avoid.
Reality is not something that can be grasped or held within any definition or frame of reference. It’s a boundless, ever-shifting flow, constantly transforming into something new while always remaining the same in essence.
Despite our familiar representations, there are no real situations in which one can be truly stuck, nor are there circumstances where one can truly lose themselves. First, because situations and circumstances are essentially projections that can only exist as part of narrative frameworks. Second, because the individual to whom these situations and circumstances are said to happen is itself also a fiction—an imaginary construct.
You might be tempted to see what’s being said here as an abstraction, a philosophical stance, or even pure madness. Yet, it is a simple, verifiable truth, available to anyone willing to look honestly into their own experience of reality. In fact, this is how we constantly perceive reality—purely, without conceptualizations—before that perception passes through the mind’s filter to create the illusion of the world as we imagine it.
In other words, we always perceive reality as it truly is, effortlessly, though we habitually don’t give much importance to it, if any. Instead, our focus remains on the stories elaborated by the mind, which is more appealing to us, giving the impression that something dynamic and dramatic is happening.
To explore this consciously, one must be ready to look beyond appearances and the consensual terms by which reality is usually accepted as real.
How to do this? To see what lies beyond appearances, one must return to the root of all experience—the source of all thought and perception. What is a thought made of? What gives form to this very moment? What underlies the idea of self and the concept of reality? As we trace each aspect to its origin, we find that everything we’ve ever known is essentially made of a single substance—a common essence—called by many names, each imperfect: Existence, God, The Unified Field, Fundamental Reality, Awareness, Being, etc.
However you choose to name this essence, the most important thing to observe is that it’s a single, undivided whole, forming everything you have ever experienced. Before becoming anything in particular, before any form or label, before thought, there is simply Isness. This Isness is silent, formless, colorless, without any attributes. It simply Is, beyond any possible description. Even space and time are ultimately made of it. It is the foundation from which all experiences, perceptions, and concepts emerge.
All seeming objects, identities, and circumstances in life arise from this ground of Being. They appear real to the mind because, of course, it is the mind that created them! If they didn’t appear real, they wouldn’t appear at all. Yet they are projections woven from the same underlying essence.
This essence is like the gold from which different pieces of jewelry are made. Some may be roughly cut, others elegantly shaped; but it’s the substance they are made of that gives them value. When we lose ourselves in the details of appearances, it’s easy to forget the essence. But the key to everything lies in the essence of things, where Reality has its roots. Paradoxically—since reality often is paradoxical—it’s within the heart of the ever-changing flow of reality that one can find what is truly unmoving, invulnerable, and eternal.
There are only two ways to approach Reality: from the perspective of thought, within the imagined constructs of the mind, or rooted in the direct, unfiltered awareness of Being. The former breeds division; the latter, freedom. Living from appearances leads to confusion and the feeling of being stuck in endless situations. Living from the root allows one to move with life as it is—fluid, boundless, free, and whole.
Ultimately, there are no real differences between the two: Reality simply is as it is. It includes its infinite aspects and paradoxes while never departing from what it truly is in essence. But that essence is intrinsically free of every limitation thought may impose on it.
IMF - La Cathédrale Verte, le 26 octobre 2024
