Subject #26: On immediate realization

Realization is about seeing reality as it is & being right here and now (there being no difference between these two). Realization is not a gradual process. It is not result of gathering knowledge. It is not a goal. Its nature is immediate, available right here and now. The whole easiness of it is the difficulty. Our mind is so used to work hard in order to achieve a goal that breaking up from accumulated ideas seems challenging.

There are such terms as ”satori” and ”kensho” which are used in Zen to describe immediate realization. Another term that is close to realization is awareness, which I have written about earlier. I use them so that realization is a glimpse and awareness is a vision. Realizations happen with all of us while awareness is continuous realization.

In the past I didn’t pay attention to these ”satori” experiences but right after I become interested about spirituality I started noticing them. Naturally there’s no formula in order to create them. Once you are experiencing it (that’s bit misleading way to say it - better description would be: there is just reality in its wholeness) there’s tendency to prolong it as long as possible but it will come and go as it will and clinging in ”satori” is still clinging.

The eternal question ”what do I have to do to experience that?” is a ”wrong” question. In ”satori” there’s no experiencer and experience – experiencer is the experienced. No boundary between you and reality – you are the world and the world is you. You can start noticing when that happens just by giving more time to yourself and becoming more observant.

Gurdjieff put it like this:

Self-observation brings man to the realization of the necessity of self-change. And in observing himself a man notices that self-observation itself brings about certain changes in his inner processes. He begins to understand that self-observation is an instrument of self-change, a means of awakening.