We Are The Glimpse Of Reality

As we recognize ourselves as the “flow of aware experiencing” and not a body or a mind, we glimpse the reality we are. This glimpse is the taste of freedom, beauty, intelligence, love, wisdom, and courage, among other qualities. These qualities are echoed in both our body and mind but are not of them. In the beautiful words of Tennyson, speaking of this glimpse of reality; 

“A kind of waking trance I have frequently had, quite up from boyhood, when I have been all alone. This has generally come upon me through repeating my own name two or three times to myself, silently, till all at once, as it were, out of the intensity of the consciousness of individuality, the individuality itself seemed to fade away into boundless being, and this not a confused state, but the clearest of the clearest, the surest of the surest, utterly beyond words, where death was almost a laughable impossibility, the loss of personality (if so it were) seeming no extinction but the only true life… I am ashamed of my feeble description. Have I not said that the state is beyond words?”

As we abide in this glimpse of the reality we already are, we can view the fluctuating and temporary experiences of a body and a mind with open welcoming that is simultaneously objective and not attached. We can discern the fluctuating and temporary inner and outer sensory experiences that include what we call a Universe, including inner sensations that we will later label emotions in the mind. We can discern the fluctuating and temporary experiences of thinking, visualizing, and perceiving. As these experiences do not define us, we remain free of the fog of personalized thinking. We can discern the innate intelligence of these experiences of mind and body that follow beautiful patterns with sharper acuteness and sensitivity and act accordingly with respect and love for this intelligence that we know is an echo of the intelligence of the glimpse. We can conduct a beautiful and sensitive dance as causeless happiness with the causal experiences we call the body (that is the Universe) and mind. Revealing ourselves as the glimpse of reality in complete peace, we can freely enjoy the rich nourishing “celebration” of the extraordinary ordinariness we call daily life.

Those body-minds acting from ignoring of the glimpse of reality see things those body-minds acting from the glimpse do not. They see things that obscure the reality of the glimpse and clarity of the world. Instead of seeing what is. They see what their minds superimpose onto what is. They see separation instead of oneness. They have temporarily lost sight of the order that is there already to see. They seek to create order by reordering the disorder of personalization in their minds and bodies. They have lost the ability to follow thoughts, admire their beauty and let them go. To feel at peace and maintain patient attention on what is beautiful, loving and true. To allow sensations and perceptions to come and go.  To embrace their psychological wounds with love and respect. They will be feeding on thoughts too much and not on the space between them. They will equate being busy with living and being anxious when there are no things to focus on.

How do we stay as the glimpse of reality in the face of such overwhelming unhappiness? Abiding as the glimpse of reality, we can be unafraid in the face of ignorance appearing in the world and though we might be appalled to witness it we do not stand in judgement of it. We can do courageous “yoga with the world”, remaining open and courageously face of challenges, knowing that we are standing on a solid permanent rock of the experience of the glimpse of reality we are. We can face impermanence with permanence and stick to our course no matter what. When we encounter other people, we can speak to the permanence we know is their true nature and not the impermanence we may see displayed before us. In the beautiful words of Albert Camus,

“My dear,

In the midst of hate, I found there was, within me, an invincible love.

In the midst of tears, I found there was, within me, an invincible smile.

In the midst of chaos, I found there was, within me, an invincible calm.

I realized, through it all, that…

In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.

And that makes me happy.

For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back.

Truly yours,

Albert Camus”