Virtual Samadhi

I was with some people the other day who were talking about Samadhi, and how wonderful it was going to be, and how much they wanted it. It was not the right forum for me to say anything, so I kept my mouth shut, but I realized as I listened that it didn’t matter to them that the Samadhi they were fantasizing about is part of the dream. They are desiring a dream Samadhi!

And we all do the same thing, when we think about awakening, being in a blissful state, removing all doubts, feeling permanently sure about our true nature: we are desiring a state within a dream that is about seeing through the dream. It can’t be done. That’s asking a dream character to do something real. Well, you can’t do anything real in the dream. There is no reality in the dream.

A dream character cannot see reality, because that would be seeing outside its own dream, the very dream that created it. Can a character in a novel converse with you? Does an avatar in a video game know what’s going on in world politics? Like these other fictional characters, the dream character “you” cannot see outside the dream that created it. 

Then how is true Samadhi possible? What does see outside the dream?

Reality. Reality sees outside the dream; and only Reality can see itself. But what we don’t realize is that we are Reality! We think we are people. We want to be people – with our own individual lives, in control of our own lives – who reach Samadhi. And if we can get it this way, we don’t even care if it’s is fake. We go our whole lives fantasizing about it, chasing after it, and devoting ourselves to it – all the while clinging to a fictional self like a drowning man clings to a log. And we don’t realize that the log is our problem.

It’s about letting go of the log, knowing full well you’re going to drown. Oh, beautiful death. It takes everything from you and releases you from the clinging. All burdens are lifted. Seeing yourself as a dream character frees you absolutely – and this is your true life. But it’s only without the log that Reality reveals itself. There is no Samadhi as long as there is a log.

But how do you let go of the log? Isn’t that just dream activity?

That’s right, it is. You can’t let go of the log. There is no future time to do this, and there is no one to do it. But that doesn’t mean the dilemma is unsolvable – it simply means that it can only be done without time and without a person. And how does that work? It works by your paying attention to right now, because right now there is no time, and there is no person. Right now is not a dream.

So notice this now. Notice that in your experience right now, there is only consciousness. This is not a dream. The clear, shining consciousness that is here in your experience right now is not part of the dream. Consciousness is Reality.

It’s easy to be in Reality because it’s all there is! Right now, this Consciousness is all there is, and it is not a dream! Keep coming back to this, over and over. This, right now, consciousness. Your distractions are free to clamor for your attention, but they are in the dream. This consciousness, right now, is not a dream. This is Real, this is You, and this is Samadhi. You can't get away from it, because it is You. Always here, always new, always You, this Consciousness shines.

Did you know you were this beautiful?