How do you view reality and can you ‘access’ it?

by Vic Shayne
author
13 Pillars of Enlightenment: How to realize your true nature and end suffering

I was recently asked how someone can access reality beyond the superficial.

This idea of reality can be confusing, because of the implications of the word itself. What is reality? In my experience it is where the attention is placed and the mind and senses have accepted as being an existence. Therefore, reality is what is commonly believed to be this earth with all of its inhabitants and goings-on. But it is also that world that one experiences when “high” on hallucinogens. And it’s the world wherein out of body or near death experiences take place. It is also the world of dreams. And it’s even the world of a schizophrenic trying to make sense of a scattered perception.

So, reality is not a singular state of existence or place. And, further, it seems to be subjective.

Observing for yourself
As with all questions of this sort, we have to understand that unless the individual observes reality for him/herself, then the only thing that is gained is secondhand information. In other words, if I say that reality is nothing but this physical world and all of its phenomena that is limited to the materialist paradigm, then you can either accept or reject it based upon your preconceived mindset. Or you can look into the matter yourself and find that the materialist point of view is limited and clouded by certain beliefs.

There’s nothing to access, nothing to gain
Now, you asked about how we can have “access to” a reality “behind appearances.” I say that you already have this. The problem is not a matter of having access or attaining a certain state, but rather one of accepting the egoic mind as a belief, because it interferes with your knowing this. Once this egoic mind is removed from the operating system, then reality changes. It becomes clear that you have been perceiving, reacting, believing, accepting, rejecting, and living a deluded existence.

I am reminded of the teachings of the Indian sage Ramana Maharshi who said that reality is that which never changes. All else is a sort of illusion.

Thought is unreal
If you observe yourself, thought, the body, relationships, life, and so on, without judgment, you will discover that all that is considered reality by most people is impermanent; it seems to come and go. It is built upon thought, and thought is changeable and unstable. People remember from one second to the next, carrying forward thoughts in the form of memories to allow a deluded sense of reality to exist and persist.

On the other hand, the core of who you are is permanence; it is awareness. This awareness is unchanging, unbounded, permanent, limitless, without form, and indescribable. There is really no “you,” no “I,” except as a tightly held belief anchored to identities and associations. But the fact that awareness itself never changes and is prior to all movement — even the movement and composition of consciousness — then it is the ultimate reality.

Meanwhile, if the attention of consciousness buys into the reality of what it is deluded into accepting, then this is deemed reality for as long as it lasts. And, it can be argued that even the agreed-upon reality of “this world and this life” is not really that which is experienced by all people, subjectively.

This is my answer based upon years of observation rather than something I have heard, read about, or taken as a belief. Anyone can observe to find out. I am nothing special in having done this.