Vince Grace

Realization is the awareness of reality. Realization can have other names like awakening, spirituality and many others. Although, they all end meaning the same one thing in reality.

All and everything arising here is within consciousness. Nothing is separate, related or outside in any way and not even possible to be – outside of consciousness. There is no outside or other or different. Therefore all arising is the image of consciousness or reality. Before I realized this I was confusing an activity I was doing with knowledge and/or a being. Everything that I am searching for like happiness, love, comfort, satisfaction and endlessly more, is already the case in reality or consciousness. I saw that I cannot go and was not capable of going beyond actual experience. This place is the opposite of reality. I knew this instinctively and hence pursued all the qualities of consciousness but was never able to achieve them. I am karma here forever until I realize consciousness and awaken.

How would someone describe something that has no limitation? Can someone picture the same cottage I stayed at in the mountains if they were never there. They can picture a cottage, but made from imagination of past experience. It would not be the actual cottage. So, a small analogy. It might be easier to say what realization is not. This makes it possible to give descriptions from the position of experience and possibly making it easier to understand.

It is not an escape. It is not a change. It is not doing something or keeping busy. It is not about solving problems. It is not about having desires fulfilled. It is not about making reality another place for comfort or relief. In that case, I would be putting my own need to escape on reality, which is not possible at all.

Within reality there are no truths or lies. There are no opinions, favourites or familiarity. There is no choice of black or white or up or down. There is no unhappiness, no un-love and no loneliness. Again, these are all signs of sufferings here that I began to recognize as suffering. If I have an opinion or experiences about reality, I would not be talking about reality.

These things listed among countless more were demonstrations of daily suffering and dissatisfaction of life here and they were my motivation for realization. I was not content with any of it and I just would not believe that we have to search for happiness, love or satisfaction and loss (in any way), then we die.

So that was the beginning. Part of the process was understanding where I am here, which led to what I am doing, which led to a not doing and doing something else. This doing something else pointed me to my purpose in life.

Realization is not somewhere else, and it is not here. It is not a way back, it’s an “is”. Realization happens when my attention is not here. It is a state or non-activity. That seems/seemed really simple. Well, for me it took a lot of work and many years.

When all of this is observed I would see that reality is love, peace and happiness in a never ending state.

Reality is absolute.