The moment you see this misunderstanding, awakening is immediate
One of the most subtle illusions on the spiritual path is the belief that awakening lies somewhere ahead.
We imagine it as a distant summit —
something to be earned through time, discipline, insight, or effort.
So we practice.
We search.
We strive.
Yet hidden inside the act of seeking is an assumption:
It is not here now.
And that assumption is the only barrier.
Awakening Is Recognition, Not Achievement
Nisargadatta Maharaj repeatedly emphasized:
Awakening is not an event in time.
It is recognition — available only now.
Seeking is the spark of the journey.
But clinging to becoming turns it into obstruction.
To seek implies absence.
To strive implies distance.
Yet what you are looking for
is not somewhere else.
It is the awareness in which this very moment appears.
You Are Not the Body, Nor the Mind
We habitually define ourselves as:
-
the body
-
emotions
-
memories
-
roles
But look closely.
The body changes.
Thoughts come and go.
Emotions rise and fall.
Anything that appears and disappears cannot be what you truly are.
What remains?
The knowing presence aware of change.
The silent witness present in childhood, present now.
The body is like clothing.
Thoughts are like weather.
You are the sky.
Death Is a Misunderstood Transition
Fear of death comes from identification with form.
But what if the body is simply a role?
Like an actor removing a costume when the play ends.
If you can perceive the world,
you cannot be limited to what is perceived.
When identity shifts from appearance to awareness,
death loses its sting.
Not because life is denied,
but because continuity is recognized.
Freedom Is Not Found in Circumstances
We attempt to secure freedom through:
Success.
Wealth.
Relationships.
Recognition.
But anything dependent on conditions will shift.
True freedom is not controlling life.
It is no longer misidentifying with what changes.
When identification relaxes,
a quiet clarity emerges.
Not dramatic.
Not ecstatic.
Simply stable.
The “I” Is a Thought Construct
Examine the personal “I.”
It is built from memory.
Conditioning.
Roles.
It is a concept.
When believed, separation appears.
When separation appears, fear follows.
Observe the “I” carefully —
it is only a movement in awareness.
When this illusion loosens,
what remains is not emptiness in a negative sense,
but completeness.
Reality Is Not Divided
The mind categorizes:
Life and death.
Gain and loss.
Self and other.
Useful distinctions —
but not ultimate truths.
When mental division quiets,
a sense of wholeness becomes evident.
In this wholeness, fear softens.
Greed dissolves.
Suffering lessens.
Not because circumstances improve —
but because the separate sufferer is no longer believed.
Silence Reveals What Words Cannot
Lao Tzu once asked:
“Do you have the patience to wait until your mud settles and the water is clear?”
Silence is not the absence of sound.
It is the presence of being.
When striving stops,
stillness is recognized as always having been here.
Love Without Conditions
When separation dissolves, love remains.
Not as moral effort.
Not as obligation.
But as natural expression.
Like sunlight that does not choose whom to warm.
Compassion is not cultivated —
it is uncovered.
The Dazzling Simplicity
Perhaps the most radical truth:
There is nowhere to go.
Nothing to become.
Nothing to achieve.
When the search ends in understanding —
not resignation —
life is revealed as sacred in its ordinariness.
The extraordinary has always been within the ordinary.
And in that recognition,
the long journey home is seen to have never begun.
A Gentle Reminder from Zenify
In a world that constantly urges us to improve,
perhaps peace is not about adding more —
but seeing clearly.
A small zen garden.
A quiet incense ritual.
A simple stone.
They do not create awakening.
They simply remind you
to pause…
and notice —
You were never separate from stillness.
