Imagination vs. Reality....profound!

[RonSouther]

I read this quote today and it really grabbed me....

Q. I cannot distinguish between imagination and reality. Can I assume that I do not know reality yet, so why not enjoy watching the whole movie without trying to distinguish? Or, is it necessary to be aware of the difference between imagination and reality?


A. There is no question of making any distinction between imagination and reality. Imagination is that which disappears if you become aware of it, alert to it.

Reality is that which becomes more real if you become aware of it, alert to it.

You cannot distinguish between the two, because both are never present simultaneously.

And you need not worry about it. All that you have to do is simply be watchful. Whatever passes through your experience – thoughts, feelings – don’t let it go unwatched, and the unreal will disappear on its own accord. It cannot face the watching eyes; only the real will remain.

So for the watcher, there is only the real.

For the sleeper, there is only the unreal.

And they never meet, so the question of distinction does not arise. It is not that you can put reality on one side and imagination on the other side and make a comparison, or find differences.
For example, in this room, either there is light or there is darkness. You cannot manage to have both. Darkness appears to be as real as light, but it is not a reality because you cannot do anything with it. You cannot bring it in, you cannot take it out, you cannot cut it into pieces; you cannot do anything with it.

Just bring a lighted candle in, and the darkness simply disappears. It is not that it goes out of the door, or runs out of the windows. You can keep all the windows and doors open or closed; in either case darkness will not be found.

Light is real because you can do everything with it. You can bring it in, you can take it out. You can light a candle, you can blow it out. It is a reality.

Darkness is only an absence – an absence of light.

Light is presence, darkness is absence. Imagination is not even absence; it is simply a thought in your mind, just a signature made on water – you have not even completed it and it is gone.
So don’t be worried about these subtle distinctions; rather, simply be aware that shadows will disappear – the unreal, imaginative experiences will disappear – and only that which remains in your awareness and becomes more and more clear as you become aware is true, is real, is the nature of existence.
Imagination ? Reality ? Aware? ? Osho Online Library

[evolutionarypathways]

Originally Posted by RonSouther

I read this quote today and it really grabbed me....

Hey Ron, thanks for the quote...it's great!

I wrote an article about authenticity on my website a while back and wrote the following paragraph which I think alludes to what Osho speaks of above:

"Do you doubt your real self? Good! That's your false self at play and you can now put your finger right on it. The false self will always doubt the real self and the real self will always doubt the false. They are of different nature's and do not recognize each other. Yet, our awareness encompasses both." [link to full article: http://www.evolutionarypathways.com/...-be-true.html]

A while back an analogy came to me that I think is also relevant...

Imagine sitting in a theater watching a movie. You are fully engrossed. Nothing exists for you but what is happening on the screen. You see, feel and experience everything that is happening in front of you as if it is happening to you and with you.

Then suddenly the theater lights are flicked on. Your first thought is 'what the hell happened?!' Well, this would actually be an afterthought since in reality your mind is virtually stunned into non-existence. It is no longer there. You can no longer see the screen because the lights are on. You have been thrust into a whole new reality, a reality that you never suspected was there, but that was actually there all the time.

You look around and see other people sitting in the theater, but somehow their faces are still glued to the screen. They don't see you. They don't see your body. They are fully engrossed in the movie. Before the lights went on you also didn't even know that you were sitting with these people watching the screen. You only knew the life of the screen.

The lights may go back out again and you settle in and resume watching the movie. But something has changed in you. You can't be as obliviously lost in the movie as you were before. You can sense there are people sitting beside you. You can sense something outside of the movie.

But your mind may start to wonder, it may start to doubt, "What just happened here? Did anything really happen here, or was it all just part of the movie? Trying to figure things out the mind goes further with it's 'logic'... "Maybe the theatre was actually appearing on the screen and that's where the lights went on. It was all happening within the same movie. Wake up! Nothing has changed."

This is the mind trying to recover from the 'experience'. Nothing more. Beyond the ability of the mind to doubt or question a part of you knows that you have contacted the real. You know that you have seen something that is beyond doubt, belief or unlearning. You know there is no turning back because this 'seeing' had nothing to do with the mind. It had nothing to do your thinking or what you thought you knew. You know it has nothing to do with you - absolutely. So where could you have gone wrong.

I'll stop here for now. Thanks for sharing!

[Andras]

Great quote! Thanks for finding and posting it. As usual, Osho is right in its profound simplicity.

[ChristsLight]

Thanks Ron. I've said recently that I've seen the power of just watching. That which is false seems to collapse in upon itself when it is watched.

That light that comes in and illumines that which was dark is what I call Christ's Light, so it's a parallel and coincidence that this came up, as I've been exploring the full meaning of this.

[RonSouther]

Originally Posted by evolutionarypathways

This is the mind trying to recover from the 'experience'. Nothing more. Beyond the ability of the mind to doubt or question a part of you knows that you have contacted the real. You know that you have seen something that is beyond doubt, belief or unlearning. You know there is no turning back because this 'seeing' had nothing to do with the mind. It had nothing to do your thinking or what you thought you knew. You know it has nothing to do with you - absolutely. So where could you have gone wrong.

+1,000,000

Day to day, I feel like I'm watching a circus...I wish there was some kind of "smelling salt" to spread around!

[RonSouther]

Originally Posted by ChristsLight

That light that comes in and illumines that which was dark is what I call Christ's Light, so it's a parallel and coincidence that this came up, as I've been exploring the full meaning of this.

I'm wondering if it keeps coming up because it's a truth revealed? That we are seeing it everywhere more and more as we grow? That "light" is becoming a larger description of our lives?

[RonSouther]

I struggle often, wondering whether I'm imagining this waking up stuff or living it. I can see evidence that I'm living huge changes in my life. It's the stuff in my head that can be so hard to tell whether it's imagined or real.

As I've come to see the limits of logic, I've also come to see that whatever that is in my head must be tested. If it's real, I will see real results that are harmonious. If it was imagined, then chances are I will be rewarded with a can of worms that I just popped the top off of.

If I can't do a reality check, then I need to drop the thought altogether because that just proved that it was imagination.

For me, "reincarnation" is a topic that I can't waste my brain cells on. It may or may not be real but I've got no way RIGHT NOW to prove it, so whatever I think will be imagined using the opinions or teachings of others that I've read. So I got the concept but can't test it so I'm not going to do anything with it.

[ChristsLight]

Originally Posted by RonSouther

I'm wondering if it keeps coming up because it's a truth revealed? That we are seeing it everywhere more and more as we grow? That "light" is becoming a larger description of our lives?

Yes, I do think it is Truth revealed. That Light will become a larger part of our lives as our illusions are broken down.

[sonde]

Originally Posted by RonSouther

I struggle often, wondering whether I'm imagining this waking up stuff or living it. I can see evidence that I'm living huge changes in my life. It's the stuff in my head that can be so hard to tell whether it's imagined or real.

What part of thought is not imagination?

[bodi]

"Once I, Chuang Tzu, dreamed I was a butterfly and was happy as a butterfly. I was conscious that I was quite pleased with myself, but I did not know that I was Tzu.

Suddenly I awoke, and there was I, visibly Tzu. I do not know whether it was Tzu dreaming that he was a butterfly or the butterfly dreaming that he was Tzu

[RonSouther]

Originally Posted by sonde

What part of thought is not imagination?

Just a couple hours ago, I was wondering if my mind habitually puts thoughts in my head roughly equating what I'm "seeing".

Or if I see multiple things is the mind working to find something logical that ties them all together which may be the source of an "aha" when a bunch of puzzle pieces suddenly fit together?

I don't, just off the top of my head.

[bodi]

Originally Posted by sonde
What part of thought is not imagination?

well, i know what you mean. Of course, we don't just think. we also perceive, and know...

[sonde]

Originally Posted by RonSouther

Just a couple hours ago, I was wondering if my mind habitually puts thoughts in my head roughly equating what I'm "seeing".

"Seeing" is no different than "knowing" in essence is it?

[RonSouther]

Originally Posted by sonde

"Seeing" is no different than "knowing" in essence is it?

For me when I "see" something, literally I see it. It's like if you were to remember what your car looks like, you can see it in your head.

When an intuition comes it's like a flash of light and then my mind goes to work elaborating all these different angles, which to me is that the "light" is passed over all the unreconciled stuff in my head to see if there's a match.

Like watching my life pass before my eyes...the a-ha does some laps in the mind, but the a-ha itself is an instant recognition of some sort.

Whatever it is, I'm really enjoy them!

[bodi]

Originally Posted by sonde

"Seeing" is no different than "knowing" in essence is it?

Hearing, seeing, touching, and knowing are not one and one;
Mountains and rivers should not be viewed in the mirror.
The frosty sky, the setting moon-at midnight;
With whom will the serene waters of the lake reflect the shadows in the cold...

-setcho

[bodi]

Originally Posted by sonde

"Seeing" is no different than "knowing" in essence is it?

they are 'different' but...interrelated

[ChristsLight]

Originally Posted by RonSouther

For me when I "see" something, literally I see it. It's like if you were to remember what your car looks like, you can see it in your head.

When an intuition comes it's like a flash of light and then my mind goes to work elaborating all these different angles, which to me is that the "light" is passed over all the unreconciled stuff in my head to see if there's a match.

Like watching my life pass before my eyes...the a-ha does some laps in the mind, but the a-ha itself is an instant recognition of some sort.

Whatever it is, I'm really enjoy them!

I agree with what you are saying about when intuition arises vs. when the mind tries to figure something gout. Intuition/inspiration happens instantaneously, always. The mind works in the realm of time, so it might take seconds, minutes, hours, days to figure something out. It works through steps, it computes logically, etc. Intuition just arises. It is the best way to live.

[RonSouther]

Originally Posted by ChristsLight

I agree with what you are saying about when intuition arises vs. when the mind tries to figure something gout. Intuition/inspiration happens instantaneously, always. The mind works in the realm of time, so it might take seconds, minutes, hours, days to figure something out. It works through steps, it computes logically, etc. Intuition just arises. It is the best way to live.

it's like the mind just got a fresh delivery of new perspective to crunch on...and away it goes, greedy for solutions to the problems we give it.