A pointer to the Absolute

Let's do a simple experiment to demonstrate what is truly real in this moment. This will help discern the transient from the absolute Reality.

Because Reality is present in every moment. It cannot be somewhere else.

So, for this experiment all you need is a bit of mindfulness and an object near you that's close enough to touch. We're going to put this mindfulness to good use. Because, usually, mindfulness is only used to observe the contents of the mind, but hardly ever used to understand what those contents reveal about the mind and the nature of Reality.

All right, so let's get going.

So, first of all just look at this object and notice that there's this feeling that it is quite real. Of course, it's real, you can look at it.

Now go ahead and touch the object. As you do that, it feels even more real. Something about being able to touch an object makes it very real. Gives it substance, texture. Now you can call it a physical object.

Because the eyes, you know, can trick you. But touch really convinces the mind that this is something real.

Now, you may notice that as attention shifts from just looking to touch, what was very real a moment ago, which was just the sight of the object, has now diminished in importance. Now the touch is the more significant proof of reality here; this object's reality.

And if you do it with eyes closed, now you're not looking at the object at all, and the touch; the sensation of that, is the proof of the object. Is the object itself.

So, what we're noticing here is that any reality the object has is coming from the reality of sight and sensation. The reality is of the perception.

Now, if you keep your eyes closed and stop touching the object, the only proof that is left of it, is the memory. And that is a bit more vague; bit more fuzzy and dreamlike. You can no longer say that the object is as real now as when you were directly perceiving it; experiencing it.

So, the object which looks and feels very real, in fact, is borrowing its reality from the sights and the sensations of it. This is in fact the reality of experience.

Every experience, in the moment that it appears, seems inarguably real. And yet, here are all these wisdom teachings calling this world an illusion.

This is because there's something even more fundamental here to understand from the observation of these experiences.

Each experience is different. It's local and transient. What feels real in one moment, gets replaced by what appears next.

So, experiences are not real in their own right. They depend on a more fundamental basis.

The reality of sight, and the reality of sensations, and sounds and so on, is a borrowed reality. At the normal pace of life, the mind mixes up the borrowed reality of the senses, and adds in its purely conceptual layer of thoughts. The model of the world built by beliefs. And through this everything is interpreted.

It will generate your feelings; how you feel about yourself and the world. This is your world. With its cast of characters; me, others, and all these very important matters and events.

There's a way of looking past all this, cutting through to what is truly real, and that is what this experiment lays out for you.

That if all this borrows its reality, what does it depend on? What does the reality of sight depend on?

You could say, "The seer, of course."

What about touch? The reality of the one sensing, of course. You.

This is true to an extent, but again the mind mixes up what is real, with what is only relative and local. The 'You' here is not the you that depends on consciousness.

That you, built around all these experiences, is a part of this world, a character that borrows its reality from the experiences. It's two steps away from Reality.

If you ask, "How do I know that I exist?" And the answer is, "Because of this experience."

You're using what is local and relative to prove your own existence. And so your identity will be at the mercy of whichever way the wind blows.

With this identity, if there's no seeing, and no sensing, or feeling; no experience, then you cease to be. This means you cease to exist every night and are reborn every morning. Reborn in every dream.

Is that really you?

Even when there's no experience, the basis for experience to arise remains. Even in the deepest sleep, or in a comatose state, there is the possibility of experience arising.

And at birth, when there was absolutely nothing for an undefined period of time, still there was the possibility of experience arising.

So, that is Reality. That which is there even in the absence of experience. Which allows for the existence of experience, and grants it its borrowed reality.

But Reality is just a word I like to use. You should know the truth behind this word more deeply than when you were touching that object. This is more real than that object.

This is the quality of being aware.

That is what allows experience to exist. Grants it the Touch of Reality. Grants it existence. For anything to be, to be known to exist, the quality of being aware must be present.

This is the most fundamental basis of this world.

That object that you used for this experiment, what would it be without the awareness of it? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

But the object is right in front of you, negating the concept of 'nothing'. That in front of you, is also none other than this Aware-ness.

When taking a specific shape or form, Awareness appears as these phenomena. These movements in Awareness we can call, Consciousness.

But in its original state, this Awareness is Reality itself. The greater mass of the Whole. Granting reality to all these transient forms by [the] sheer presence of It.

And to call It, "It," is absolutely wrong. Because Awareness is the true Self.

That which is aware, is I. I am nothing apart from this Awareness. There can be no observer, no self, that stands apart from this Awareness.

This is the truth of identity and the absolute Reality.

So, be mindful of this quality of being aware. You know this Awareness by being aware. This is more real than any object you may perceive or know.

All those objects are just passing movements in Awareness. They derive their existence from being known.

But to be aware is to be truly real. Independent of any phenomena that may be passing by.