From Suffering to Peace in Three Steps

Reality has two aspects – what it is and how it appears. Reality appears to us through sense perceptions as a multiplicity and diversity of objects, seemingly divided into two parts: our self and everything else. The implications of this view are sorrow on the inside and conflict on the outside. Spiritual traditions tell us reality is not the ten thousand things it appears to be. It is one, whole, indivisible. There is no language to describe what reality really is, so we call it consciousness, love, or God. Three steps can take us from sorrow to peace experientially. The first step is to become aware of awareness. Ask, ‘What is aware of my thoughts, images, feelings?’ The first great recognition is 'I am awareness' itself. The second step is the recognition of the unchanging and eternal nature of awareness. Ask ‘What is the nature of awareness?’ The third step is the recognition that awareness is self-luminous.

Reality has two aspects – what it is and how it appears. Reality appears to us through sense perceptions as a multiplicity and diversity of objects, seemingly divided into two parts: our self and everything else. The implications of this view are sorrow on the inside and conflict on the outside. Spiritual traditions tell us reality is not the ten thousand things it appears to be. It is one, whole, indivisible. There is no language to describe what reality really is, so we call it consciousness, love, or God. Three steps can take us from sorrow to peace experientially. The first step is to become aware of awareness. Ask, ‘What is aware of my thoughts, images, feelings?’ The first great recognition is 'I am awareness' itself. The second step is the recognition of the unchanging and eternal nature of awareness. Ask ‘What is the nature of awareness?’ The third step is the recognition that awareness is self-luminous.