It is imperative to define reality to understand my awakening. If I search the internet, I find a surprisingly accurate definition of reality:
Reality is the sum or aggregate of all that is real or existent within a system, as opposed to that which is only imaginary… In physical terms, reality is the totality of a system, known and unknown.
According to this definition, there are two primary dichotomies in reality: real and imaginary, known and unknown. I would add one additional sub-dimension based on what is knowable versus unknowable. So we have the following dimensions comprising reality:
- Real versus imaginary
- Knowable versus unknowable
- Known versus unknown
The first dimension of substance is the most important because it lays the groundwork for the subsequent two. It introduces another important dimension of reality: sovereignty. Who gets to decide what is real and what is imaginary? Who is the authority over reality? Who is the sovereign of substance? This is the very first decision I have to make in defining reality. Who decides if something is substantial (i.e., real) or notional (i.e., imaginary)? I have two options: me or someone else. Iamist and iamnotist reality, respectively.
Suppose I contend that reality is best defined by outside experts and authorities, scholars, academics, governments, or other prestigious institutions that are not me. In that case, I assume that reality is defined by individuals and organizations I can only imagine. I cannot, at this moment, validate that any of these authorities exist by experiencing them. They are literally imaginary.
This is not a good start to defining reality. It is more logical instead to ground my concept of reality in the only thing I actually know exists: me, right here, and right now in this very moment. In this way my definition of reality is not based on anything imaginary; it is based on the most tangible part of my actual experience. The Iamist declares himself the substantial authority over reality.
However, there is another clarification to make. Am I the sovereign of the substantive now, or at some point in the future, presumably after I have learned something I do not yet know? Again, the future is only ever imaginary, so if my sovereignty only begins at some imaginary point in the future, am I not just unnecessarily delaying the powers of my own sovereignty? Why would I do that other than being timid?
As the sovereign of reality, my next question is what is real and what is imaginary? This is actually simple. Reality is that which is the most substantial the moment I consider it. Right now, the chair that I am sitting on is more substantial than the chair I sat on twenty years ago. Or even five minutes ago. So what is real is what I presently experience. My moment is constantly dissipating, and with it the forms I experience are as well. The chair I sit on now is very different from that chair I sat on 20 years ago. That chair from 20 years ago, frankly, is no longer knowable. Only the chair I am sitting on know is knowable.
The knowable and unknowable is a feature of my moment. My awakening moment is an experience of constant change and fluctuation. My moment is singular, but dissipative. My awakening moment that I might explain as constant change, is the experience of my secondself and thirdself forms evaporating and reshaping into new forms.
The other cogent question to ask myself is whether the form of the chair I am sitting on is actually important? Sure, there are many changing forms, structures, relationships, and components in my awakening experience, but what parts of that are actually important to know? This introduces the fourth and final component of reality, and one that has, until very recently in my own awakening, remained obscure:
- Potent vs impotent
Potent knowledge is that which is useful to my core mission, my core desire. Impotent knowledge is that which is useless to my core desire. What is my core desire? Peace. To return to where I came from. To not be lost in this awakening. To overcome the experience of awakening. How does knowing the square root of pi, or the imagined happenings 200 years ago, or global politics help me achieve my core desire? They do not. Impotent knowledge is useless in helping me achieve my core objective of escaping my awakenings; it only further entangles me in the objectives that keep me here, in my awakening moment.
Aside from impotent knowledge being useless to my core mission, it can be far removed from my mission of escape. Impotent knowledge may require years of studying, training, and practice. My expertise in impotent knowledge is often certified and validated by outside authorities or consumers. Impotent knowledge is valued among and shared with people. My possession and exhibition of impotent knowledge is a performance, and different groups of people the audience.
Potent knowledge, on the other hand, is imperative to my healing and does not require the certification or validation of people or any outside authorities. Potent knowledge is directly and instantly knowable in my moment. It is unchanging; it is the same in every instance and state of my moment. I can know it instantly and immediately, and the only authority over whether I do in fact know it is me.
To define reality I must ask myself these questions:
- What is real and what is imaginary? My moment now is real.
- Who decides? I decide.
- What is potent and what is impotent knowledge? Potent knowledge is that which is essential to my healing, and impotent knowledge is that which is inessential.
- What is knowable and what is unknowable? All potent knowledge is knowable, and impotent knowledge may be either knowable or unknowable.
- What is known and what is unknown? The unknown is a decision I make that there are certain valuable forms of knowledge that are unknown.
…