The Ultimate Reality Check
The term ‘reality check’ denotes a critical stepping back from a situation, a plan, a conclusion, or even a state of mind, to ensure that our understanding or judgement is grounded in reality and practicality, and has not strayed into fantasy or deception. We are more apt to prescribe a reality check for other people rather than for ourselves! On a wider front, the term is loosely used to sift slanted or fake news from truth, or to expose fictions promulgated as if they were solid facts.
We can extend the concept of the reality check to the whole of our experience, and not least to the inner world of our thoughts and feelings. This is essential, because our mind is a dream-weaver par excellence, and our own mental activity can entangle us in illusions, or, if we choose, engage us in the greatest activity of all, the unveiling of our true Self as the ultimate reality.
The purpose of the non-dual teaching is to help us to uncover what is eternally real in our own being, in contrast to what is transient. This awakening to our essential reality reveals our perfect identity with the inmost ground of experience that transcends suffering and limitation. It is a realisation that confers perfect peace, freedom and fulfilment.
What do we mean by freedom? It is clear that our bodies can never be completely free, because they cannot avoid the processes of change, decay and decease characteristic of all living things. We must care for the body while it is undergoing this experience, but there is no point in having unrealistic expectations about it or investing all our surplus energy in physical culture. We need this energy for more important things.
What about the mind? There can be more freedom for the mind, if we treat it wisely. Through the power of our imagination, working in partnership with our will, we can lift our mind above the physical restrictions. We can evoke thoughts based on our higher idealism. But in the realm of the mind, even if we think great thoughts or if our typical mood is sunny and cheerful, we are still in a realm of limitations, change and instability. These limitations include the finite range of our knowledge, the distortions in our way of viewing things due to deep-seated mental tendencies, and the generally uncontrolled nature of our habitual mental activity. Therefore, no mental state is essentially secure. If we want security and freedom, we need to discover within ourselves something deeper than the mind. As long as our sense of identity is confined to the body and mind, we are in a kind of imprisonment.
There is another and truly progressive way of life that sees through our mortality to the eternal and non-material core of our being, the true Self. Being non-material, the Self need not be thought of as individualised in the different bodies; it is universal—one in all, and ultimately beyond all limited things. To be identified with the Self in this sense, is to enter the freedom of enlightenment.
Yet though transcendent and above nature and its laws, the Self is the indispensable principle in this transient world. For it is the very Being of the universe, that which underlies the qualities by which we distinguish objects one from another. Being—or Existence—is the supreme Fact that makes possible our conviction that things, including ourselves, exist; that something is. This intuition of Being is a subtle dimension of our experience that persists throughout all the passing impressions of qualities of objects, and their subtle traces in the mind as thought.
This same deeper Reality, identified with Existence, may equally be identified with that other great principle that is constant in all of our experience: Consciousness. Normally we assume that our mind is conscious, and that consciousness is somehow conditioned by our psychological life and physical activity. And yet we are also conscious of our thoughts and their changing patterns. To be aware of the mind, that awareness must be other than the mind. The one who observes changes in time must be unchanging and independent of time.
We may argue that such an awareness is undoubtedly part of the mind—that one part of the mind views another. Yet this judgement too implies an independent viewer of the mind, one who knows that ‘one part of the mind views another’. The process of knowing cannot be the subject of analysis or theory unless there is a conscious principle outside that process and to which it appears. There must be what the Upanishad calls a ‘Knower of knowing’. And this conscious principle is identical with Consciousness itself, transcendent, untaintable, independent of all it appears to be conscious of, yet the ultimate light which is the source of all knowability.
Like Existence, with which it is synonymous, Consciousness, the Knower of knowing, is one alone, one in all. Only this deeper Self deserves to be called real in the fullest sense of the word. Compared with it, body and mind are passing appearances, temporary coverings.
This deeper Self has been indicated by such words as ‘Existence’ and ‘Consciousness’, understood as universal principles. So the Self may be more meaningfully indicated by the phrases: ‘Existence Absolute’ and ‘Consciousness Absolute’. These indicators are highly abstract, and, as seekers, we may yearn for a more approachable indication of the nature of Reality—one that appeals to our emotions, our sense of beauty and poetry, and our love of peace. There are in fact many terms that point to the Self as the ultimate source of every human good. The path to enlightenment is characterised as a way of tranquillity that expands our understanding beyond the range of fear and anxiety. Therefore, a third word—ananda or bliss—is also used to indicate the nature of absolute reality.
Thus we have three terms, brought together, to indicate that Reality, called Brahman in Sanskrit: Existence-Consciousness-Bliss—Sat-Chit-Ananda.
Taking stock of our own present experience, what do we consider as real? The happenings in the world and movements of our mind are ever-changing, and, because of this transiency, cannot be established as absolutely real. These states do have a degree of reality as regards our practical life, but our quest is to discover that in us which transcends the process of change.
Is there anything in our immediate experience that meets these criteria of immutability and transcendence? Yes! It is the fact of our being or is-ness that underlies all experience. And this is indicated by the expression ‘I am’. The particular states of thought and activity are, as it were, superimposed on that which is unchanging and fundamental. The ‘I am’ is beyond the grasp of our thinking processes, yet is the pivot on which all experience rests. The non-dual enquiry leads to the realisation of the infinitude and immortality of the ‘I am’. To awaken to this Truth is to transcend all suffering and limitation.
There is a saying: ‘Two prisoners share the same cell. One sees bars, the other sees stars.’ The saying suggests that our sense of being free or confined is not so much dependent on where we are, but on our inner state. Yet it would be wrong to regard our higher development as just a type of positive thinking. The inner faculty through which the hidden truth is unveiled is deeper than the stream of thoughts, and does not function as a sequence of inner events, but as a steady light of pure, inwardly-directed concentration, supremely attractive, and with the power to silence all motions of the mind. Such concentration produces an inner expansion that is deep, lasting, and carries an intimation of yet further developments advancing towards a climax and completion. That completion, as we have indicated, is the uncovering within of the great reality of Existence-Consciousness-Bliss Absolute, that is eternally present as our true Self.
The interior quest only becomes meaningful when we have a growing sense that whatever we do or gain in life, lasting happiness will not be part of the reward. Our material possessions are with us for a time, but the infinite reality within us—our true nature—will never perish, and the inner wealth of a higher understanding we develop in this life will never be lost.
To follow the path to inner freedom, what do we need? For one thing, we need the strength to ignore the outer suggestions, which may include the criticism of those who are still rooted in the outer path. To follow our own inner conviction is more important, in the long run, than acting to please others. For we will gain what is priceless and beyond description. We will realise desirelessness in the highest sense of absolute fulfilment.
We also need to make time to reflect, pause occasionally and consciously become aware of what we are seeking in life, and why we act and react in the way we do. In other words, we need to be clear about the springs of our motivation. Think whether your life has a goal, and whether you are happy with the way things are. This is to give oneself a reality check.
When we forget to ask ourselves these questions, we often slip into a false position and follow a way which is not in harmony with our deepest wishes. But there is a means of reversing this trend, and of guiding our life on an upward path. For, with training and practice, our mind can be transformed into inner peace and light.
Why is the mind so important? We noted earlier how our mind can easily lose touch with reality, or, on the positive side, can train itself to bring about its self-awakening and liberation. To do this, we regularly need to check our mind and to recognise when, for example, it is lost in daydreams or speculations about what might happen, and other kinds of imaginative thought that have little or no connection with the situation we are in right now. How do we gain the insight to step back and examine our inner state in this way? It is through inner peace and harmony that we gain insight into the workings of our mind, and beyond that, into our free, infinite nature. The Yoga of Self-knowledge shows us how to create in our mind those conditions which are favourable to an illumined understanding.
The highest use of our mind, and its ultimate fulfilment, is to serve as a channel for the limitless light of the supreme wisdom. Our true Self is comparable to an inner sun, self-luminous, and it is the light of consciousness which makes all experience possible—the ultimate reality of our being.
The apparent veil which hides the inner sun is not a physical one. It is a subtle concealment brought about and sustained by the innumerable ways we think about ourselves. These habitual ways of thinking have a deep root, namely our sense of identity with our body and mind. This identity seems to be a self-evident fact. But is it the reality of what we are in Truth?
Our most intimate sense of ‘self’ also needs to be subjected to our critical enquiry. The non-dual teachings focus on this question of true identification. They show us the way to transcend our sense of identity with the body and mind, and realise our true Self as the infinite consciousness. Through learning to quieten the mental activity by practising meditation, the mind itself is slowly transformed so that it becomes aware that the root of our nature—our ‘I am’—is always pure and perfect, ever free, ever illumined.
Our main concern is to remove the apparent veil that seems to hide our true nature. This is a veil formed by our thoughts and the ideas of self which are sustained by these same thoughts. If we can learn how to thin this thought-veil, we will find the path to freedom.
Each of us has a real choice in life. We can choose to put our mind under a new and enlightened management, so to speak, and launch on our programme of inner unveiling. Or we can ignore the great teachings and go on experimenting in the world.
Let us assume that we have recognised that the mind needs to be transformed, and we make this course our main interest. How may we sustain our creative efforts? Progress is rarely straight-forward. In daily life, many things arise which cause us to forget the ideal we are trying to follow. They consume our time and energy, and divert us from our higher purpose.
For progress on our path, we have to stay consciously aware of the choices we are making all the time. We ask ourselves: ‘’What am I giving the first place to? Is it in conformity with my goal of awakening to reality?’ In this way, we are honest with ourselves, and this is a great step in self-knowledge.
Following this way, our sincere desire for liberation will give rise to a master sentiment—a psychological force able to with-stand distractions and keep us on track, come what may. This master sentiment will grow strong if we nourish our mind with ideas that come from those who have awakened to the deeper Reality—the Self-realised sages. These teachings are an effective reality check or wake-up call to snap the spell of distraction, and reconnect our intelligence to our own higher being. We will become inwardly strong, because we uncover the ultimate source of inner strength.
B.D.