As you interact with reality, you are recording memories, forming ideas and making conclusions about what you observe.  These memories, ideas and conclusions are what I call The Image.  We each have our own private image based on our own life experience.  Consider, for a moment, how The Image that you have of reality causes all of your emotional pain and excitement in life.  Is it clear to you how this works?

When there is conflict between your image and reality then you experience emotional pain and upset.  The kind of emotional pain that you experience depends on the nature of the conflict in your mind.  Consider a time that you were angry or jealous or sad about something in your life.  Perhaps your wife left you or something precious to you was stolen or someone called you an insulting name.  In each case, wasn’t there a conflict between how you wished the world was and how it actually was?  It is this conflict between how you want reality to be and how it actually is that causes your emotional pain.  It is the conflict between The Image and reality that causes emotional pain.

When there is agreement between your image and reality then you experience emotional pleasure and excitement.  The kind of emotional pleasure that you experience depends on the nature of the agreement in your mind.  Consider a time that you were happy or content or pleased about something in your life.  Perhaps you got that bonus that you worked so hard for or you received a compliment from someone that you like or you felt particularly attractive in the mirror one morning.  In each case, wasn’t there agreement between how you wished the world was and how it actually was?  It is this agreement between how you wish reality to be and how reality actually is that causes your emotional pleasure.  It is agreement between The Image and reality that causes emotional excitement and pleasure.

This relationship between The Image and reality – its ability to create emotional pain and pleasure – is of great interest to me.  It seems that if you can control The Image then you can control your thoughts and emotions.  If it’s possible to change The Image then you can select a new emotion when you find yourself in the midst of pain.  Change The Image and you change your outlook and control your emotions.  The question is:  How can you change The Image?

It’s my experience that you can easily change The Image once you understand what it is and how it works.  In its most basic form, The Image is memories and thoughts about those memories.  Of course, you cannot change your memories, but you can change what you think about your memories.  What does it mean to change what you think about your memories?  It means to change what you believe about your memories and life experiences.  Right now, you have countless unconscious and habitual beliefs about what you remember of your life.  What I’m suggesting here is that you consciously choose what you believe instead of believing something just because it’s what you’ve always believed.  This choosing of belief is a path to creating the thoughts and emotions you want instead of suffering from the emotions and thoughts that you’ve been programmed to have.

To understand this more deeply, let’s go into what a belief is.  Have you ever considered what beliefs are and how they get into your image?  Take some time right now to consider a belief that you have.  Any belief will do, but it may be easier to see what I’m describing if you pick a belief that isn’t painful for you.  The belief that I’m considering as I write this is my belief in the color red.  Now that we’ve spent a few moments considering our beliefs, let’s answer some questions about them.  Why is it that you have your belief?  Think back and see if you can remember how the belief got into your mind.  Isn’t it that you learned this belief through your experiences with the world?  Perhaps someone taught you about the belief… or perhaps you learned about it on your own.  In either case, isn’t it obvious that you created the belief based on your experience with reality?  How do you create a belief?  You create belief through choice based on experience.  Your beliefs are, quite literally, chosen by you.

You experience reality and build The Image from your experiences.  Your memory records experiences and you choose beliefs about your memory.  These chosen beliefs also become memories and you choose beliefs about them as well.  You have layer upon layer of chosen belief… each layer of belief building on another layer of belief.  All of these “belief layers” rest atop the bedrock of your experience.  The wonderful thing about this is if you choose a new belief or change an existing belief, it automatically affects and changes all of the beliefs that are related to it.  And, the closer a belief is to the bedrock of experience, the more dramatic and powerful changing it can be.  Have you ever considered what an epiphany is?  Isn’t it just the feeling you get when a belief near the bedrock is changed?  Oh, that’s a delicious feeling.

To change The Image is a matter of changing belief.  The Image is, in part, what you believe it to be.  You remember what you experience but you choose what you believe.  If you are experiencing unwanted emotional pain then choose a new belief and dispel the pain.  How can you choose a new belief?  The same way you chose your old beliefs… through faith in your experience and in other beliefs.

Do you want to change The Image to suit your tastes and choices?  If so, then see clearly how you choose your beliefs based on both your experience and other beliefs.  See the value of faith in belief.  You take so many beliefs on faith alone.  Be aware of your mind and the thoughts that you have when you feel emotional excitement and pain.  Understand how those thoughts, and the resulting emotions, are given power through your belief in them.  If you truly wish to change The Image and take conscious control of your mind then you must become a master of your belief.  Belief is the key to power over The Image and your creation.

If there was just one thing I could share with you it would be this: Get into direct contact with reality.  Touch reality.  Smell reality.  Taste reality.  Hear reality.  See reality.  Sense reality.  Feel it.  Being out of contact with reality is the cause of every emotional pain you have ever had.

Let me tell you what I mean when I say reality.  It's important that you understand clearly what I mean when I use that word.  Put simply: Reality doesn't exist outside of your sense of it.  At this instant, reality only exists from your point of view and it extends only to the limits of your perception.  There is nothing more to reality than your current fleeting sense of it.  Reality is your perception.

The prevailing view is that reality exists separately from us and we experience it through our senses.  This is what we've all been taught.  However, is that true?  How do you know that there is an external reality?  You sense it, don't you?  You have never experienced reality outside of your senses.  So, how can you say that reality is separate from your senses?

As you sense reality, you build an image of reality in the form of memories.  The feeling of reality existing separately from your senses comes from your focus on those memories and your ideas about those memories.  The separation of object from sense is an illusion of the mind.  You don't feel reality.  Reality is your feeling.

How is it that being out of contact with reality causes emotional pain?  It's really simple. When you're in contact with reality, you're focused on the sensations in your mind and body.  When you're out of contact with reality, you're focused on the thinking in your mind.  When you're in contact with reality, you feel the thinking in your mind and watch it.  When you're out of contact with reality, you believe what you think and react to it.  When you're in contact, you clearly see The Image and are not confused by it.  When you're out of contact, you believe you are The Image and are lost in it.

So, how can you be in contact with reality?  Get out of The Image and get back to your senses.  But, wait a minute!  Did you know that there's an extra sense they don't teach you about in school?  There are the five bodily senses: touch, smell, taste, hearing and sight.  There is also a sixth sense: awareness.  Awareness is what allows you to feel the other five.  It's also the sense that lets you "hear" your thinking... or "see" the memory of a loved-one's face.  Awareness is the most important sense.  It is the primary sense.

To get in contact with reality, you must be aware of your awareness.  You must focus on your awareness because your awareness is where it all happens.  Everything you ever feel or sense or remember or think happens in your awareness.  Awareness is where the rubber meets the road, so to speak.  It's the nexus point of your life experience.  That's where you will find reality... not in your concepts or formulas.

Reality is the sensation of thought, not the content of thought.  Reality is the saltiness of a potato chip, not the idea of saltiness.  Reality is the pain of a broken arm, not the concept of bones or breaks.  Reality is the feeling of having a memory, not the content of the memory.  Reality is to be found in the living freshess of your current sensory experience, not in the deadness and sameness of your memory.

Do you see this?  Is it clear to you?  Are you here with me?

When you are in contact with reality -- aware of your body, mind and awareness -- your experience is completely different.  You see the true value of your thoughts, beliefs and conclusions.  You intuitively understand the value of your ideas, customs and dogmas.  You see that such conceptual living isn't living at all.  It's like living through proxy.  It's like experiencing life through an actor or a symbol or a string of words.  It's like living your life by remote control.  Life is happening here and now in your current experience.  It is happening in your senses now.  It is not to be found in the deadness of your thoughts and memories.

The difference between these two experiences is beyond words.  It's like opening your eyes to a beautiful world that you have lived in unaware all your life.  It is bliss.  It is love.  It is wonder and beauty and peace and power.  Once you are in contact with reality you will see for yourself.  Do it now and you will see.  What are you waiting for?

What is love?  Have you ever given that question much attention?  Have you taken time to really go deeply into your image of love?  Take some time now and let's use our awareness to penetrate to the very core of what love is.  If you do this, you may see something startling about love.  If you do this, you will have the opportunity to see love for what it really is.

It will help you a great deal to think of someone that you love as we go into this.  Keep your memory of the person you love in mind as you read and answer the coming questions.

Is love compassion?  It seems that many people see that compassion comes from love.  Yet, are love and compassion the same thing?  When you are compassionate towards someone, isn't it that you feel sorry for them?  Isn't it that you see something in them or their behavior that is less than perfect by your reckoning?  So, compassion seems to come from the idea of superiority.  You compare yourself to the other and see in them something that you have already overcome.  So you feel bad for them and compassion arises.  Clearly this isn't love.  Compassion isn't love.

Is love desire?  It seems that many people say "I love you" when desire is in their hearts.  Yet, are love and desire the same thing?  When you desire someone, isn't it because you get some kind of good feeling from them?  You interact with your desired person and have all manner of good feelings within your mind and body.  Aren't these good feelings caused by the object of your desire meeting your image of how they should be?  "He's so smart."  "She's so hot."  "He takes an interest in my day."  "She loves to give me sex."  "He makes a good living."  "She cooks really well."  Aren't these statements of desire?  Don't these kind of statements tell you that the object of your desire is simply meeting your expectations?  What happens when your expectations change?  What happens when the object of your desire changes and no longer meets your expectations?  Doesn't your desire die then?  Something that is so fleeting and tempermental isn't love.  Clearly love isn't desire.

Is love the feeling of being desired?  Is love the feeling of being wanted and appreciated?  Surely when you are loved you feel desired, wanted and appreciated.  Yet, aren't these feelings just another form of desire itself?  You have an expectation in your mind telling you that to be loved you must be desired... that you must be wanted... that you must be appreciated.  When someone meets those expectations, you feel loved.  When they don't you feel rejected.  Clearly, this is just another form of desire.  This isn't love.

Is love the drive to protect and cherish another?  It seems that many people who say "I love you" feel as though they should protect the ones they love.  So, they keep a watchful eye on their beloved and help keep them from danger.  Yet, isn't this also a form of desire?  We become attached to those that give us good feelings.  We come to rely on them for the drug of good feelings that they give us.  What does that tell you about our drive to protect and cherish another?  Isn't it just a matter of us protecting our drug?  Don't we want to keep the other around to make us feel good?  There it is.  Another form of desire.  Clearly, the drive to protect and cherish another is not love.

The deeper you go into the symptoms and behaviors of love, the clearer it becomes that they are not love at all.  The symptoms and behaviors of love are not love at all.  They are conventions.  They are expectations that we have about how those that "love" us should act.  If they act in the ways we expect then they "love" us and we make good feelings in our body.  If they act in ways that we don't expect then they don't "love" us and we make bad feelings in our body.

Clearly, this form of expectation-based love is an illusion of our mind.  It is a result of our upbringing and programming.  It is a construct of The Image that keeps us from seeing love at all.

So, what is love?  Have you found it yet?  Drop your belief in the illusion of love that you have in your mind and you will have the opportunity to see love.

Seeing love.  That's the most beautiful statement about love that I can conceive of.  Because, to love something you must first see it.  How can you love something that you cannot even see?  As we focus on The Image we don't see what is really before us.  In this state what we are loving is not real, it is an illusion of the mind.  So, to see love, you must first see reality.

Once you see reality then you will love.  It is quite effortless and happens automatically.  Love is the result of seeing reality.  Yet, we've confused it with the highs and lows of desire and dependence.  Let me say that again, just in case you missed it: Love is the result of seeing reality.

Do you want to experience this love?  If so, then see.  Put your attention on reality and withdraw it from the illusion of your mind's image.  See clearly how your dependence and desire isn't love at all... it's addiction.  Watch yourself as you interact with your beloved and see the actual truth of this.  One moment you're loving and the next moment you're unloving.  When you're getting your drug then you feel loving.  When you're not getting your drug then you feel unloving.  This is the behavior of an addict, not a lover.

Waking up to love requires just one simple act of seeing.  The love born of this clear sight comes without condition.  It simply is.  You will love regardless of the drug you are getting.

Watch and you will see. 

See and you will understand. 

Understand and you will love.

If you look closely at how your mind operates you may notice something peculiar -- there is a tiny gap between your perception of a thing and the recognition of the thing.  There is a gap between the feeling of perception and the recognition of the feeling. 

If you pay close attention, you can sense this gap.  You can feel this moment before recognition.  As you read these words, you're first seeing the words and then recognizing them.  As you walk around, you're first sensing the movement and then recognizing it.  When you eat your food, you're first feeling the taste and then recognizing it.  When you're thinking, you're first sensing the thought and then recognizing it.  First comes the feeling -- the sensation -- then comes the recognition.

Of course, this description is not the truth.  It is only my attempt to put into words the experience that I'm having in every moment.  It seems to me that there is great value in focusing attention on the moment before recognition. Most people, it seems, focus on the feeling of recognition and pay precious little attention on the feeling of perception.

What is this great value that I see in focusing on the moment before recognition?  The power of self-creation lives in this tiny moment.  Intention lives in this tiny moment.  The capacity for sensitivity lives in this tiny moment.  The gap between feeling and recognition is the birth canal to happiness.  Put your attention there and you will see.  Put your attention there and be born into happiness and love.

The cycle is: feeling then recognizing.  You feel something then you recognize it.  Even your recognition is a feeling that you first sense and then recognize.  The cycle is continuous... you feel and recognize simultaneously.  What you are recognizing now is a feeling that you had a moment ago.  That recognition creates more feelings that themselves become recognized.  Feeling, recognition, feeling, recognition, feeling, recognition.  That is the cycle.

As you watch this cycle take place, you may notice the tiny gap between feeling and recognition.  But, then again, you may not.  At first, the gap is very small.  It's quite difficult to see at first.  It takes desire and patience to see it.  If you, like me, greatly enjoy watching yourself then you have the desire.  It's like a bird watcher that is searching a tree canopy for a tiny solitary bird.  He waits and watches with immense patience as he knows he will see the bird.  Look at yourself with the same patience.  Watch yourself as you live.  Watch yourself as you think.  Watch yourself as you breathe.  Watch yourself as you eat.  Watch yourself and see the gap between feeling and recognition.

This seeing of the gap isn't recognition -- although once you see it you will begin to recognize it.  The seeing that I'm talking about is perception.  It is a feeling.  It is awareness of.  When you "see" the gap you will first feel the gap and then recognize it.

Comparison of The Image to perception is what causes recognition.  You sense reality and immediately compare it to what you know about reality.  The result of that comparison is recognition.  The result of that comparison is also sensed by you and itself becomes compared to what you know.  That is the cycle.  Where you direct your attention during this cycle will determine the kind of experience you will have.

If you focus on the recognition then you will believe The Image over reality. You will be caught up in the distorted perception that is created by The Image.  You will be lost... unable to see clearly why you think what you think or why you feel what you feel.  The more attention you pay to the recognition, the smaller the moment before recognition gets.  At some point, it gets so small as to be missed by you altogether.

If you focus on the moment before recognition then you will finally see what is real.  Your attention will shift from belief and recognition to seeing and awareness.  In this moment before recognition there is peace and sensitivity and understanding.  Why not try it and see for yourself?

The longer you put your attention on the moment before recognition, the larger that moment becomes.  Like water flowing through a tiny hole in a dam, your attention erodes dependence on recognition as the main form of experience.  In this state you will still recognize, but recognition becomes secondary to your perception.

Watch yourself and you will see the tiny gap between perception and recognition.  You will feel the moment before recognition.  Put your attention on that moment and you will find peace.  Put your attention on that moment and you will see the beauty and magnificence of reality.  Focus not on the deadening patterns of recognition, but on the living reality of perception.

Put your attention on the moment before recognition and be born into happiness and love.

Death is a fascinating thing to me.  Most people, it seems, have little interest in contemplating death or seeing death for what it really is.  In my experience, it's quite rare to find someone with any interest in death outside of avoiding it.  Don't you avoid thinking about death?  Why is that?

Have you ever taken time to really look at death?  I mean really look at it... not as some concept in The Image but as it actually is.  Take some time now to consider that you are going to die.  You are doomed... your end is inevitable.  Do you need help imagining this?  Imagine that you are dead, lying in your coffin, rigid and cold and unmoving.  This is your future.  Consider this now before reading more.

Don't you experience fear and anxiety when you consider your own death?  Why is that?  Isn't it that you don't want to die?  Aren't you terrified of dying?  Aren't you terrified of ceasing to be?  Why?

Some might say that you're afraid of death because you're afraid of the unknown.  That's false.  It's not possible to fear the unknown.  You can only fear losing what you do know.  You're afraid because you want to remain as you are.  You fear losing everything you know.

Fear of death comes from fear of change.  Fear of change is the same as fear of truth and reality.  Truth is reality and reality is change.  Isn't it clear that your fear of death comes from fear of reality?  You refuse to accept change and so you live in constant conflict with what is.

You know, death isn't a one-time thing.  You are dying now because you are changing now.  Every moment you are alive you are dying.  This is because death and life are the same thing.  Life is change.  Death is change that you do not want.  When you see death you see an ending.  Yet, outside of The Image, how can anything end?

The Image is at the root of all your death fears.  You are aware of your image and have confused it with yourself.   So you cannot accept that it will one day dissolve.  You can't accept this because you do not see reality.  You only see your image.  You hold on so tightly to your memories and history and refuse to see.

Death only exists in The Image... it only exists as a concept in your mind.  In reality, there is no death, there is only an ever-changing now that you are creating and experiencing.  Do you see this yet?

Think of it this way:  Does a dog fear death?  Have you ever seen a cat have anxiety over its inevitable death?  Have you glimpsed a tree sobbing over it's dead parents?  Of course not.  What's different between you and the dog, cat and tree?  You have an image of death in your mind.  You have built up a concept of death in your mind that you use to torture yourself.

The problem with this concept of death is that it isn't real.  Death has no reality outside of your mind.  There is only change that you refuse to accept.

Do you want to be free of your illusion of death?  If so, then look unflinchingly at your concept of death.  See clearly how nothing really dies, it's only constant change that you've confused with death.  Observe how you have created death as a reason to avoid fully living.  Life is change and you avoid life through your focus on the illusion of death... through your refusal of change.

Welcome change and you will welcome both life and death.

Stare down your fear of death and pass through it to a love of life.  Then you will see that the illusion of death has no power over you except the power that you give it through your belief.

Has it ever occurred to you how much violence there is in your relationships?  For some of you the violence comes about as physical abuse.  For most of you the violence comes about as emotional conflict.  Is there a single person you know that has a relationship free of all violence?

Emotional violence in relationship takes many forms including: intolerance, anger, jealousy, sadness, a desire to control, judgment, belittlement, greed, frustration and emotional withdrawal.  What is the cause of this conflict and violence?  Why is it that we create such negativity towards those that we call friend and lover?

It seems to me that a useful story to help understand this is: 

Imagine that we each have a little tyrant living in our minds.  This litte tyrant has a checklist of things that are required of those around us.  The little tyrant checks his list regularly to make sure that our relationships are meeting all of his requirements.  When someone doesn't meet the checklist then the tyrant gets upset.  When the tyrant gets upset he magically creates bad feelings in your body. 

This little tyrant is very smart... he's been in your mind for a very long time and knows you well.  He creates just the right bad feeling at just the right moment to cause you to feel maximum pain.  He's trying to get his way afterall.  He wants the people you know to match his checklist.  Sometimes you resist the little tyrant.  When you do he gets even more upset.  The longer you resist, the more he creates bad feelings in your body.

Finally, when you cannot stand it any longer, you act out to make the tyrant happy.  You just want the bad feelings to stop.  The little tyrant whispers the reason why his checklist isn't being met to you.  He whispers things like "She shouldn't be looking at you that way." or "Are you going to take that from him?" or "They think you're stupid when you do that."  The little tyrant always has a reason and a plan of action for you to take to make things okay with him.  So, you act because of the tyrant-created pain.  You lash out, you make others wrong, you hold grudges, you try mightily to make others match the tyrant's checklist.  Sometimes you even lash out at people that have nothing to do with what caused the tyrant to get upset.  That's the power of the tyrant's torture.

If you succeed in changing the situation then the tyrant relaxes for a while.  But, watch out!  He's still checking his list... and the next time someone doesn't match it he will torture you again!

Of course, in reality, there's no little tyrant.  There's only you and The Image.  The little tyrant is caused by your belief in The Image.  When people don't match your image of them, you create bad feelings in your body.  When life doesn't match your image of it, you create bad feelings in your body.  You literally torture yourself just like the little tyrant in the story.

You are the little tyrant.

Do you see how this causes all of your discontent with the world?  Reality doesn't match your checklist so you torture yourself.  Your precious object breaks and you torture yourself.  You get a bad grade and you torture yourself.  Someone looks at you funny and you torture yourself.  You get cut off in traffic and you torture yourself.  You lose your job and you torture yourself.  You lose your hair and you torture yourself.  You see wrinkles on your face and you torture yourself.  Your husband cheats on you and you torture yourself.  People are fake around you and you torture yourself.  You literally have a million reasons to torture yourself.

So, you live a tortured life... going from one drama to the next.  Always looking for peace where you cannot find it.  You beg for peace and cannot find it.  You subject yourself to countless hours of psychoanalysis and cannot find it.  You meditate and cannot find it.  You pray and cannot find it.  You cry and you cannot find it.  Try as you might you are tortured... by yourself.

How can you free yourself from this?  Awareness.  You aren't aware of the little tyrant acting through your image of the world.  And, because you aren't aware of it, you don't understand it.  Because you don't understand it you are at its mercy.  The problem is, it's merciless.  You're merciless to yourself.

How can you free yourself from the little tyrant?  Be aware of the checklist that you have in your mind.  Watch how you constantly check the world against your list of how it should be.  See clearly how you create the bad feelings in your body when your checklist is violated.  You're doing this to yourself.

When I say watch and see, I don't mean with your eyes.  I mean with your awareness.  Be aware of yourself.  Be aware of your body.  Be aware of your thinking.  Be aware of your checklist.  Be aware of your little tyrant.

You know, the little tyrant can't get away with what he's doing if you're aware.  It's only when you're asleep -- when you're not aware of him -- that he can get away with torture.  Like a thief in the night, he comes when you're sleeping.  Wake up!  See the little tyrant of your own creation and watch him like a hawk.  Then you have the option to be free of his torture.

What you do with that freedom is up to you.

It seems to me that you can view existence as three interrelated parts: reality, awareness and The Image.  While this view is not the truth, it can help point you to an understanding of why you live your life the way you do... and how to finally break free from the destructive and painful patterns in your life.

Let's take each part in turn:

The first part is reality.  Reality is that which exists.  Look around you and within you.  That is reality.  It is where we experience our daily lives.  More correctly, we are part of the living reality.  The most important thing to know about reality is that it is constantly changing.  Reality is never the same... it's always changing and changing again.

The second part is awareness.  Awareness is that which senses reality.  As you look at reality it is awareness that sees.  As you feel emotional pain, it is awareness that does the feeling.  When you taste your food, it is awareness that does the tasting.  When you think, it is awareness that senses the thoughts.  The most important thing to know about awareness is that it never changes.  Awareness simply is.

The third part is The Image.  The Image is reality interpreted and stored.  It is the result of your interactions with and awareness of reality.  The Image is your memories, judgments, thoughts, assumptions and conclusions.  The Image is your habits, knowledge, reactions and history.  The most important thing to know about The Image is that it's a distorted reflection of reality.  The Image is not reality... it is a funhouse mirror that we believe as reality.  It's a mirror that is colored by our prejudices and knowledge.  It's a foggy mirror that, as long as we confuse it with reality, keeps us from seeing reality at all.

Reality is that which exists.  Awareness is that which senses reality.  The Image is reality interpreted and stored.

See clearly these three parts of existence: reality, awareness and The Image.  See how you interpret reality through the distorted mirror of The Image.  See how you rarely sense reality directly -- your attention is so firmly fixed on The Image.  The secret to clear sight is disbelieving The Image.  As long as you believe The Image over reality, you cannot see.  If you cannot see, you cannot love.  If you cannot love, you will always swing between emotional extremes: sadness to excitement, desire to disappointment, tension to release.

Imagine someone who is stuck in a dream.  They've been dreaming so long that they no longer even realize that they're dreaming.  They take the dream as reality.  This is the perfect analogy for you and The Image.  The Image is your dream and you believe the dream over reality.  This one fact is the source of all the emotional pain and discomfort you've ever felt.  You are asleep --  content to live life by habit and repetition.  You are a slave to your image; a slave to the distorted illusion that you hold as truth and reality.  Emotional pain exists to help wake you up.  It's the clue that shows you the error in your thinking.  Emotional excitement and pain is the effect of believing in The Image over reality.  It is the effect of believing the dream over reality.

Do you want to be at peace?  Do you want to be free to love and to live without being weighed down with doubt and fear?  Do you desire less emotional pain?  Do you want to be free of your endless cycle of pain?  If so, then wake up.  See clearly how your belief in The Image over reality is what feeds all of your excitement and pain.

How do you see this?  It's quite simple, really.  First, see clearly that you relate to reality through the distorted mirror of The Image. Observe how you habitually react to situations based on the past stored in The Image.  See that you cannot see reality as long as you believe The Image is real.  Then, go out into the world and see.  Look at people and things.  Be with nature and just look.  Look at reality and your reaction to it.  Watch reality and your image of reality interact.  See this and you will understand the depth of your dream and belief in illusion.  You are, quite literally, lost in a dream world of your own creation.

Watch and you will see.  See and you will understand.  Understand and you will love.