A common notion is examined.

~ * ~

T = Teacher
S = Student

S: I have a question.

T: OK.

S: I often hear this from spiritual teachers or read in teachings, that the world isn’t real, or is a dream. But when I hit my shin on the coffee table, it feels pretty real! Or when my client calls me up and says the website I built for him is down, I can’t tell him it’s not real, it’s all a dream.

T: Right. This is part of the dream too. This conversation about dream shins and dream clients. How real it seems. Or, it’s all absolutely real.

S: I’m not sure I’m following you. Just seems like it’s sort of just dismissing the issue by waving your hand and saying it’s all a dream. That doesn’t really go anywhere. And now too, you say it’s all absolutely real, or could be? I'm not reassured... (laughter)

T: Sorry, let me be more clear. Let’s look at the whole thing. It can’t be a mixed sort of deal, right?. If you say, the leg, the shin you hit on the table, and the table is real, but all the rest of my experiences are a dream, an illusion – that wouldn’t make much sense, right? We aren’t talking about the hallucination of an object.

S: Ah, OK, right…

T: So, we say it’s “an illusion”, but that doesn’t have much traction, by itself. Telling someone their problem, or seeming problem – some scary diagnostic word their doctor used, or a bill they got in the mail – is an illusion, isn’t going to fly. (laughs) We obviously have to take it seriously, in a sense, as it stands, on its own level. If we are on the street and a truck is bearing down on us, we jump out of the way. If a client calls up and says the website you made for them is down, you take it seriously in that sense, and help solve the problem, right? We, as a dream body, we want to get the hell out of the way of the truck about to hit us – it’s automatic. It’s like a program.

Or, if there is time to think, there may be a fear that comes up, and the thought is to take a quick action so as to not damage the avatar, the action figure, the “me” body. It’s not some big psychological issue, right? It’s immediate.

S: Right.

T: What is at issue is the anxiety, the reaction, a whole way of seeing things that is created, that arises. If there was no psychological reaction, no anxiety, about the medical words used, or the bill in the mail, then there would not be an issue, you'd take care of it, and you probably wouldn't go to a teacher or psychologist or go seeking, or take a drug to relieve the anxiety... or go running, or watch a bunch of videos, whatever. All those are fine things to do, but we are looking in a different direction.

Telling the client it’s all a dream and not really happening, would have dream consequences as well (laughs), unless the conversation actually was already going that direction; let’s say as a consultant or coach, and you got into some conversation about the client’s worries, and it got deeper.

So in what way does it have any relevance to say it’s a dream, or an illusion, or not real? Generally the relevance is for you only, the one asking the question, with the seeming anxiety. No one else… Unless we are trying to make some big philosophical case, which we aren’t... at least at the moment. (chuckles)

They, the others, are also part of this whole mental picture. So we have to stay looking in the right direction – that’s one way of saying why it’s "all or none". We aren’t looking at parts of the world, or parts of the seeming world, or the mind.

S: I, I, think I see what you’re saying.

T: Yeah, this is why we have to take a different tack, view it from a new angle. We can say it’s a dream, but it’s a real dream. In other words, there’s something real about it. And the “real about it” is that it’s happening... it’s being experienced. That much we know, right? It may ultimately be unreal in some sense, but it’s a real experience. And in the case of the shin hitting the table, it’s a damn real experience, right? (laughs)

S: Haha, yeah.

T: OK, so now we have a shred of reality, a little corner we can pull up on this page. The page says, it’s a real experience. A loud trash truck drives by, and the noise is, or seems to be, a real experience. There is an experience. We have to honor that. We can’t say, “No I’m not experiencing it.” and try to run away. It’s legitimate, in that sense. So, we know there’s an experience. It exists. And so, the question becomes, what is the nature of this – what is experiencing the experience?

S: Um. I... don’t know. The brain, I guess?

T: Don’t guess.

S: Oh, OK. (chuckles)

T: I’m serious. You see, this is the problem, we have a question, or an assumption, and we don’t really look at it or see it, we dismiss it as much as saying “It’s all a dream” can be dismissing it. We merely pick up beliefs, and then replace those beliefs with other beliefs, but don’t know what we are believing. Or get absolute about it.

You find yourself on that train called “life”, and one day you wake up and say “how did I get here?" Where is the ticket for this – what’s the destination they are talking about, such as "success" or worse,  "death" –that doesn’t sound good at all. I didn’t sign up for this journey. Or the train pulls into a station called “Survival, Hardship, Suffering, and Struggle". Or just plain Hard Work.

Or "The Future Awaits you in the Future”, which is always in the future. And you aren’t so sure that was what you wanted either!

S: Ha, right.

T: Right? So here we are.

What brought you here?

S: Me? To this meeting you mean?

T: Yeah, what brought you here. Why did you come here.

S: Oh, well, I don’t know, I guess it was, like, because my girlfriend left, then work dropped off, and I was just sort of knocking around, not sure what I wanted to do , feeling listless, bored, kind of depressed, and I started reading some stuff, like a book I saw in the bookstore about phenomenology, and one from Eckhart Tolle about living in the now, stuff like that.

T: So you were searching, and had questions. You weren’t busy with the day-to-day moment-to-moment attention-grabbing things like the girlfriend, and plans, and work,a nd taking care of stuff you gotta do or want to do. And it was more than just having a little time off to drink a beer, or sit around and read an airport novel. Something stopped you in your tracks, so to speak.

S. Yeah, and then my mother had died too, a year before that, and all kinds of weird stuff happened, and it just made me think, seeing all these people on the subway, that everyone was running around, chasing things, not very happy, or fighting, and all the killing and nasty stuff in the news, the political infighting, or like rats in a maze... and I didn’t see the point, really. Like in that old song, "What's it all about Alfie."

T: Right, so the train stopped. An unscheduled station, and had to undergo repair, and you found yourself stranded. You found yourself at some strange little town called General Pointlessness, and started thinking. Started pondering, wondering, inquiring, asking questions.

S: Something like that, yeah (laughs).

T: You are lucky in a way. Very lucky. Most people never get off the train, never, or very rarely have an unscheduled stop of any real significance, and just keep going, pel mel, for decades, or an entire life, until they slam into something. Like retirement, a major loss, or close to death. They never wake up.

S: Retirement doesn’t sound half bad! (laughter)

T: In theory yes. But some people get very depressed, or become unhinged and start being mean to their families or doing crazy things. I’ve seen this. It happened to my father. His architecture career and other projects kept him going. And family life was not at all harmonious. Work can be literally an addiction. Retirement can be like a disaster, because their work kept them alive, psychologically speaking. It gives them a sense of identity, of purpose sometimes. It can be something to focus on, keep the mind off what one doesn't want to think about or feel – all those dark things in the background, the doom and gloom, the thoughts about “me”, the old angers and resentments, the brooding negative conclusion and analysis.

And all those monsters came out of the closet when the work didn’t keep their minds occupied. The basic insecurity that drove it all. They managed with their position as a manager of a business and family, say, or the interesting occupation, to stave off the demons. But now that they’ve lost that position, that occupation, who are they? What mental country do they occupy, so to speak? Who cares about them? Who are they? What are they? Why are they alive? Why are all these fears and nightmares there? See what I mean?

S: Yup. I've seen it too, with friends that would feel lost without their work, even though it's not hugely meaningful work. It keeps them going.

T: There you go. Those dreamy images in the advertisement for retirement accounts, where they are fishing on a lake and smiling, or tossing their grandchildren in the air with the sunshine in the background, don’t tell the whole story. It’s not always smooth sailing. And, not to blame the culture, as it's just a reflection of what's inside, but it's like a loop: there isn’t much in the culture to give one a structure for what is called "idleness", unless it’s chasing a new dream, such as travel, or some new kind of status or bragging rights for destinations and photos to post for friends. Or making that leisure pursuit into a "dream career". Which can quickly becomes another big job, a rat race to keep up with.

None of it means much, in the end. (pause) A retired executive or entrepreneur may travel around the world, but then still feel restless; after a while, they get bored or feel empty, and end up starting a new business. (laughs) A new pursuit of a new future to fill the void. Living for the future can go on a long time. Avoiding the present.

S: Wow. Huh. (sighs)

T: So you’re lucky. You got off the train, the train that was going in circles, a merry-go-round.

S: A not a very merry merry-go-round.

T: Indeed.

So where were we? (laughs)

S: The dream.

T: Yes, the dream. The Great Illusion.

S: Is the world real?

T: Got it. (pauses). So we took this little segue, a little detour to talk about retirement, because it illustrates why we start asking these questions, how the unexamined life can become the examined life – such as in your example, where you ran into a patch where suddenly there was an absence of things that kept you occupied, gave your life meaning – the girlfriend and work and so forth. And you happened to be a thoughtful person, and didn’t just escape into drugs or reading mystery novels or a new work venture. There is a sensitivity. Ramana Maharshi called it the "religious impulse". I'm not big on religion, but you get the idea.

S: Uh, true. Well I tried the drugs some. (laughter)

T: Sure, but it didn't become yoru whole life.

S: True.

T: This is one of the mysteries of life, how some of us seemed to be wired, or by karma, or some fate of an unknown source, are destined to travel to a place… Or conversely, if I may play with the word “place” and change it to “palace” – a palace where we wonder at the unbelievably beautiful architecture, the art that blows our mind, the views that are so magical it stops the mind in its tracks, and we have an experience that says “Yes! This is what life is about. This all makes sense now", and it can be so amazing, so incredible and wondrous that it seems like the final answer.

S: That’s happened to me a couple times. Once on mushrooms (laughter) and another time just spontaneously, when I was out in the desert. Yeah it was pretty incredible.

T: So there you go. On the one hand you have this vast emptiness or a depression or a longing, or the General Pointlessness sense, that makes you ask questions, and on the other you may have some mystical experience. And thus is born the seeker.

S: Yeah, but I ...

T: Hold on, I’m going somewhere here.

S: OK, (laughs)

T: Why is it that some have these deep questions that grab hold, and they can’t forget, they can’t escape them? There are questions that are deep enough such that they throw everything else into question, since they form the basis for action, for decisions, for reasons for living, for doing anything in life. You see, and some of us, or most of us, are told these are just teenage phases and preoccupations, youthful problems of adjustment, growing pains, or psychological conditions, and given drugs or coping strategies, and dismiss them. Or they are called “late night dorm room marijuana bullshitting sessions”. It all gets trivialized, ridiculed in a way, judged, dismissed and shoved under the carpet, and into the background.

S: For sure.

T: But the reality is, they never really go away. And for some of us, who are blessed or cursed, depending on how you look at it (chuckles), some of us that are deep thinkers and deep feelers, we especially cannot simply dismiss these things, except to our own peril. That sensitivity and thoughtfulness will affect everything we do, and how we react and see things, and we will get sick, physically and emotionally, unless it is seen and honored, cared for, by ourselves if no one else. Call them natural artists, or philosophers, if you will.

And more generally, those who, via tragedy or a huge loss, or for whatever reason, come to have doubts and questions that likewise will not go away, need a way to have our doubts and questions answered, with a teacher or within ourselves, the teacher of life.

And so here we are, with the question of reality, of whether or in what sense life is an illusion, is like a dream. It’s an age-old question that's been around for thousands of years.

S: And the answer is? (laughter).

T: The answer is to ask a better question. Because otherwise, you’ll be stuck with that question forever, or a long time. The way to turn it around, the better question, is the one the ancient Vedantic mystics found, is to ask, “Who Am I?” In other words, who is asking the question? Or, “what is asking the question?” is a better way to put it, since “Who” presumes too much. But anyway, that’s the advanced question – let’s slow down and start at the beginning, with the "who" question. (laughs)

I was lucky, because early on, I was tortured by this very question. The “who am I?” question. What I experienced inside and what society was telling me were radically different. It would not let me go. It was so bad, it interfered with living; it was so bad I ended up getting a philosophy degree (laughs), and goig to a therapist for three years. That didn't help, but was interesting in the way it didn't help.... in any case,  I was already in the tiger’s mouth, as Ramana Maharshi put it.

Here, I looked it up for you just now – I wanted to confirm he said this, because I only heard it from a friend, one that likes to tell stories:

“Ramana Maharshi, the great Indian sage, once said the path of a religiously oriented person is not an easy one and once you have taken that path, ‘Your head is already in the Tiger's mouth’, meaning it is impossible to ever return to your life as you knew it before and your life is no longer in your control.”
How My Head Got In The Tigers Mouth

Well, I never thought of myself as religiously oriented, not in the least. Maybe having some spiritual interest – but anyway, that’s the same idea, but more of an Indian way of framing it.

S: It sounds like you were out of control. Or I mean, it was not in your control.

T: Well, yes, I don’t know if it was ever really in your control, as far as being some local separate something in control. Call it a "choiceless choice". No more than when you’re in a night dream and wake up to this waking state, which is a kind of dream. It’s a kind of metaphor. Because that sense of clinging to ways of seeing things can suddenly go poof, disappear in an instant. While in the dream, there seemed to be this whole set up: a certain world one was in, a certain body or identity, some kind of action going on, and dream thoughts, or a dream mind you could call it.

Well, what was the real world, body, self and mind in that dream? What was it made of? You could say it's made out of “mind” but the word doesn’t matter so much as the fact that it was insubstantial. The proof being how it all, that body-mind-world, disappeared in an instant when you woke up. That whole “frame” disappeared.

So in waking life we are in a kind of frame too, and just as in the night dream, we can’t see it or comprehend it, where it’s from or what its real nature is, from that frame. Though we may intuit it.

Then you wake up, and poof, see it was “just a dream”. Likewise, whatever was problematic or enjoyable in the dream, disappears too. So that can be nice or not depending on whether you wanted to cling to it. (chuckles)

S: Mmm. Yeah in life we can be kind of clinging to things. Or trying to escape, run from the things we feel we don’t want.

T: Yes, aversion and attraction it's called. Something to be seen. And the strange thing is, we create the scary thing that we may be trying to run from. Ultimately, I mean. Not personally. We, this universal, whatever-we-are. We create either the scary dream images, or create the whole seeming external setup.

And we are talking about the so-called "internal" here, not the supposedly separate external one. These words start to break down as far as meaning, when we get to these ultimate matters. As we have seen, the external is the internal one. In fact, there are some exercises you can do along these lines. They aren’t really exercises so much as experiments, let's say. We can try those a little later.

S: If there is something I am trying to run from – like, let’s say I feel a certain anxiety around certain topics – health concerns, money, time, people, stuff like that – what, uh, can you do?

T: If you really are aware that you are running then in a sense you aren’t. The running you’re talking about could be said to be unconscious programs. But if there’s an awareness of them, you’re halfway home.

S: It’s almost like the running and the anxiety are the same… thing.

T: That's a good insight. Yes, it’s like the monster in the dream. You stop and – you stop running –  and just look, as it comes right near, and it just dissolves, as if you had magic powers (laughs). Or if it gets right near, it turns into something else. Like we created it in the first place, and the running was part of the whole story, keeping it alive.

S: Yeah, it’s like that. There’s like a kind of contraction or vibration it feels like. The dragon can smell your fear, haha.

T: Yes, but there’s no fear. Not to be pedantic, but the recovery folks—recovery in the sense of the addiction field—have a phrase they use: FEAR is “False Evidence Appearing Real”. And that’s what we are talking about. These self-created dragons.

S: That’s what I am trying to get a handle on. Some dragons here.

T: OK, yes. And some of us apparent beings may have certain programs, certain dragons, around certain topics, that we’ve built a lot of subprograms on. So in your case you mentioned health for example. We may avoid looking at or thinking about certain things. Our experience is, it's OK if it’s about someone else, then it's like watching a movie or reading the news, and we may even relish or enjoy it if it’s about them, not us. But we certainly don’t want it about ourselves. No sir. If it’s our own body, or seeming body, then that’s a different story.

But you see it’s the same deal, of the engine of mind, the discovery of the fuel. Take the fuel out. Stop feeding the dragon. See it’s not you.

S: Wow, even as you’re saying that, I can feel a certain relaxation, a relief. Like the air just kind of left, some of the air, from a balloon.
“Stop Feeding The Dragon” you could call it!

T: Indeed. (pause)

S: It’s like that drivenness, the go go go, was the result, the action, the running, running away. We were just… going with the program.

T: OK, let’s try a little meditation or experiment.

Find a comfortable position, and just listen, or read and try it.

 

 

An Experiment in Awareness: Listening Now

What is there now really: all of this thinking about the world is in fact, now, just images “in the mind” and the sounds of talking to oneself – what we call thinking “in the mind”.

In other words, it’s not something out there – and besides “out there” (and this is easier to see with the eyes closed) is also a conception, an image “in the mind”.

Sound via the senses, such as whatever sounds are in the room, and sights on the back of the eyelids, are included here. Bodily sensations as well, are part of the overall “now” of happening “in the mind”. One can feel part of the feet for example, the physical sensations on the skin, or the amount of warmth or cold.

And, here is a subtle yet important point: all the “in the mind” things we just talked about that in sum total we call the “mind” or “in the head” are also “in the mind”. That is, we have to admit there isn’t really a thing called “the mind”: it’s another conception we use to lump together all the “subtle” experiences of imagination, self-talk, memories, and so forth, as well as whatever is coming via the senses. All that stuff that is “inner” in the sense we don’t see it running around out there. I can’t bring out an image of a table “in the mind” and hit it with a hammer, or measure it with a tape measure.

In seeing all this though, it’s not to feel that one is somehow in a bubble, or separate, but rather the experience is one of sinking into a background of greater peace or bliss, or presence, and it all losing importance.

After all, if all this stuff that we call “in the mind” is constantly changing, like the content on a movie screen, are we really so sure and right about its absolute truth? What were we scared of, frightened about, feeling anxious or morbidly worried about? Rather than getting into topics or images, we can simply see we were believing our own propaganda, basically. That thinking we know what we think we know, was the issue, not the contents of what we think, “in the mind”.

Returning to the movie metaphor, we are like that audience in one of the first ever movies shown to the public, where a film of a train bearing down on them caused many in the audience to scream and run out of the theater, so convinced were they by the images and sounds.

All of the certainty one had about these big conclusions and what was happening in the world, or in us, or what was going to happen to us – in this, we are like a captive audience – using a metaphor of a stage play now – I changed it from the movie (chuckles) – we are looking onto a stage, or zoomed in with our opera glasses on the action, absolutely captivated, suddenly absorbed, attached or riveted by what was going on, what we see and hear.

This is why it is sometimes helpful, as a little trick, to focus on part of the body. It temporarily brings the attention from the more imaginary subtle contents, to the, well, less imaginary subtle contents, so to speak – more immediate in a sense.

One can also can do this “tantric trick” with sensory perceptions. We can call it an experiment, since it's not meant as something to do as a dead habit.

For example, sitting inside or outside in a fairly quiet and pleasant time and place – it’s easier in those conditions, at least at first, if it doesn’t seem too overwhelming – a major city street will be your “advanced” assignment (chuckles) – you can simply listen and see, as I will show you. And, by the way, it’s easier if you close the eyes, since visual perceptions are more prone to automatically be perceived to be about objects out there.

With the eyes closed, simply notice sounds.

If the mind is agitated, this may be more difficult at first, but don’t worry, as those subtle choppy or fast movements may seem distracting, but it’s OK – it’s just a temporary filter in place. It is still possible to “see through” it all, so don’t give up – you will find the agitation dissolving, to a smaller or greater degree.

Simply notice that, before there is even a thought, hearing is happening. There’s a perception of a bird singing, say. Or of a distant car.

Nothing happened to make this happen: you didn’t exercise a hearing muscle, or go to classes for hearing. You just stopped paying attention to something else, such as thinking going on. The hearing of sounds happens all by itself. I am not referring to a memory of something you just heard, and thinking about that, imagining it. I’m simply pointing to actual, raw experience “in the now” so to speak. Notice that.

Another remarkable quality of this—in this case, hearing&mdashbesides the effortlessness of perception, is its globality, to borrow a word from the wonderful nondual sharings of Jean Klein. So for example, as one hears the bird song (with eyes closed), notice that the location is not specific, or drawn sharply, and sort of blends off into infinity. In other words, while it has a general direction that it's coming from, it appears in a space without borders or limits that one can find; and, even more significantly, cannot be made to point back, or does not point back, to a listener. It's rather remarkable, when you see it.

That is, just as there is no sharp origin point or line or circle where it’s coming from, there is no sharp receiver location. Trying to find one in actual experience, it’s not there. Not unless you imagine or say something, talk to yourself about it. But this is simply direct. There is just hearing happening without a hear-er. It is all completely effortless, insubstantial, light, immediate and free. You didn’t have to meet any special requirements, train for it, or pay a registration fee. Try it now.

(End of Exercise / Experiment)

 

 

Further Notes for the Curious and Committed

Now, getting back to the question that was the title for this little foray into an experiential experiment — “Is the world real?” — it was brought up because, not only is it a common question that students of spiritual traditions such a Advaita (nonduality) bring up upon hearing some of the things said, as well a bone of contention, debate and irritation for many, but is indeed a very practical and realistic consideration, in the sense hinted at near the beginning of this essay.

The task here is not to prove some final philosophical point and shake up the academic, scientific, or world of intellectuals (and pseudo-intellectuals), but simply share something that may be of interest, service, and have a bit of fun along the way. This is a greatly enriching journey, I assure you. Of course, it may indeed bring doubts to seemingly solid and unexamined notions, but the point is not to win arguments or vanquish perceived enemies or change the world — or even to help anyone per se— since I am absolutely confident of your innate abilities already – rather, it is more like art, in the sense there is no objective agenda in the usual sense of the term. It’s “from the heart”... Call it love, if you like. We are not trying to destroy anything that you wouldn’t want to lose, given the benefits – the side effects – nor do so by violence. Nor is it necessary (though occasionally a bit of surgery on stubborn notions may be called for).

Focusing again on the listening experiment — and if one was successful in greeting sensations with an open, welcoming presence without any resistance — one may notice several things. One, is a certain joy felt — an innate joyfulness or lightness in the quality of the experience. It may be tiny, it may be subtle, or it may be absent, but it is nonetheless one of many possible “side effects” that can be experienced.

I bring your attention to these qualities, not as a goal to go after (which won’t work, any more than trying to grab a butterfly will help you win or own it’s beauty in flight) but more because it’s recognition is like a confirmation, that yes, we are onto something — a hint at an innate grounds of reality felt rather than seen — and sensing a raw quality of life unbidden and undeserved.

More importantly though than a juicy experience, it hints at something that goes beyond the personal feelings, assumptions and stuck notions that undergird the worry and morbid fears that spurred this brief journey.

To tease this out a little, here is what is being hinted at – and mind you, too direct a statement is merely going to bring up resistance, or arguments of a intellectual sort; and if they are exciting ideas, then a fruitless making of more mental objects, more of interest to academic activity about things (not to mention potential social media memes or battles of words more than a fruitful practical inquiry) – we are here dissolving or dismantling the illusory difference between the [absolutely] subjective and objective.

In the parlance of the spiritual world (Advaita, Buddhism and so forth), this is the holy grail of “non-dual awareness”. It has also been called the experience of “emptiness” (though not a state – more on that later).

However, it is much more ordinary and available than we may commonly be led to believe, what with seeing the rigors and austerities, the complexities of spiritual culture and practices, or the assumed amount of time and money involved in reaching something seen as higher, loftier and more rarified – perhaps only for a very special few beings.

One may even be distracted, shall we say, by the pursuit of a new, more or less outward goal or agenda – that is the great golden ring prize of (a state of) “enlightenment” (a state without a state). Sort of the spiritual equivalent of “wealth”, or the political goal of “freedom” – we can barely manage to define what they are, and do it without prejudice, much less reach them… but let’s leave that for other fun essays, or to the crowd to sort out.

Here, however, we have a more down to earth meal on our plate.

I don’t care about beliefs — I don’t believe in beliefs — only knowledge.

My respect for people is based on what Jesus, Buddha, or Muhammad would value: coming from their heart, what's real, their truth—insofar as they are channels for honesty, knowledge, love, and beauty—as evidenced by humor and light, not their social position

 

Is the world really a dangerous place? We can talk about that. Depends on your perspective, or I should say “outlook”. But this is enough for now.

Peace, shalom.