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.
on October 6, 2008, 12:20 am
I wonder if "this view" might be the truth, although you warn otherwise.
The watcher (awareness) separate from the watched (reality) which is often confused with the faulty recording (the image). Hmm, me dost detect a hint of the Holy Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost (perhaps but a coincidence, since you did warn of the untruth of this useful construct).
But don't mind me, it is late, I am on the edge of sleepy incoherence, and I do so love the tangled rubik's cube... especially the conundrum of:
1. Reality is that which exists. Reality is never the same.
2. Awareness is that which senses reality. Awareness never changes.
This implies to me that:
A. Awareness is not part of Reality. It operates on an un-real plane of existence.
B. Reality does not sense awareness (or anything else, I guess).
C. How intriguing that the sensor (awareness) can remain resolutely unaltered in any form, shape, or fashion (within its own un-real dimension), while sensing an endless flux of change. It would seem the very act of sensing involves detecting a difference between the different versions of reality being sense from one indivisible moment to...to...to whatever comes after an indivisible moment.
Okay, I'm really rambling incoherently now. 1:15 am Sunday night. I need to make sure I don't look at any more of these postings late at night.
Time to search for awareness's off-switch, and let reality fade into dreams of images of dreams...
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on October 6, 2008, 10:57 am
Does reality exist aside from your awareness? We each have our beliefs on that. However, you cannot know for sure.
What I do know is that I have never experienced reality separate from my awareness. Indeed, my awareness is what allows me to experience reality.
Ultimately the question arises: Is reality separate from awareness? My experience tells me no. Your mileage may vary.
Reality changes. Awareness stays the same. The Image is a distortion. Time is an illusion created by observing differences between reality and The Image. "The Illusion of Time" is my next essay.
steve
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