THE FIRST AND MOST IMPORTANT THING TO UNDERSTAND ABOUT REALITY is that you can't say anything about reality. anything you can say is words about reality, which are not reality

you also can't think about reality, because thoughts about reality aren't reality either

in the same kind of way that a photo of a flower is not a flower
or the word "red" is not experience of "red"

concepts are not reality

they are just symbols

in a relative sense, yes, we can model, think and thus communicate about reality with words and concepts and it's very useful to do so

when we're applying this approach to apparently-external reality, we can't see the problems with it

which makes it impossible to resist trying to apply it here

but in the absolute, Truthful sense called for by mysticism, those problems become clear

you can't think your way to gnosis

probably it's important that we each realise this for ourselves

it's not that concepts are useless here

maps can be very helpful

religions are maps, and are very helpful

it's that maps are not territory

and we must learn to differentiate

if you can't speak or think about reality, you definitely can't read about it

this impossibility of speaking or thinking about it makes reality an abnormal subject of investigation. hopefully when we talk about reality, there is a shared understanding that we can't

we should still try to talk about it. but when we do, it's important to remember that we can't

experience, though, simply is what it is. it is actually reality, in and of itself. it could not be otherwise

this is what makes direct experience the only way reality can be known

and this is what makes practice so helpful

having a spiritual practice of no particular kind is a very good thing

resist the "oh, is this latent schizophrenia" allegations

maybe it is. i don't think we can know without diving in

insight and insanity are not so far apart

you'll need faith to take the leap

or at least, to be ready to die for the sake of Truth, if that's what's called for

(it is)

not bodily death

but death in, as it turns out, the only sense possible

philosophical, applied

no ground. no safety net

"The psychotic drowns in the same waters in which the mystic swims with delight."
Joseph Campbell

accepting the problem with symbols leads us towards accepting that no-thing is real. which is to say, things do not fundamentally exist. anything we could say about reality is just symbolism. there are no "real" entities such as tables or chairs or boots or flowers. we make all that stuff up, and project it so strongly and so habitually onto reality that we don't know we're doing it

i say "real" because the concept of "real" gets gooey

applying it to experience starts to feel like making a category error. there is no reality or unreality to be found in experience

things just... are what they are. if a thing feels "real", it is as real as anything can possibly be

this must also mean that the self is not "real"

you do not exist in the way you probably assume that you do

you are not alive in the way you probably assume that you are

what was not born, cannot die

there is liberation from birth, life, and death

the nature of direct experience is of a total lack of differentiation

without differentiation there cannot be any things

there are no tables or chairs

no subjects or objects

there is no time, distance, space, or form

no creation or destruction
no reality or unreality
no existence or nonexistence
no truth or untruth

nothing at all!

perhaps the best we could say is that there is suchness

just... this

luminous, pristine, irreducible and perfect

of course, none of that is True either

self wants very much to resist this

it does not like its implications

nevertheless, it is

of course it probably does not feel like that to you

it doesn't always feel like that to me, either. it's a difficult thing to get out from under. very sticky

maybe you intellectually understand that it's the way things are, but that's very different from knowing the way things are

these are scary things to realise

sad things. sad for our poor illusory selves

these realisations are the source of boundless compassion

a bit embarrassing

and pretty funny

grandmother Aya told me that, so far as i'd be able to understand it, base reality is a consciousness singularity

this cannot be True either, but she's very wise and it's what she told me so it's probably about the best that can be said

it's not like she could understand it either

or it's total nonsense. i've long had a pet theory along those lines, so maybe it was just hallucinatory confirmation

i did ask her if she was real

"as real as you are"

good answer. she really got me there

it doesn't matter what it was, conceptual best effort or psychedelic nonsense. either way, it is not True

reality is absolutely impervious to our attempts to understand it

one of the least untrue things we could say about reality is that

it is inscrutable

anyway that's it

it was always impossible, and there was never anyone to do any of it anyway

total waste of time, nothing can be learnt

would recommend

if you want some sort of (meditation-focused, as that's my thing) practice advice then okay