102. Real and the Imaginary.

Can you imagine what is real and unreal?. If so, the both are just mental constructs or imagination. Both, meaning, the so called 'Real' and the 'Unreal'.
Its difficult to pin the ‘Real’ using normal meanings to words. Words have a tendency to mean whatever the mind is expecting it to be, outside of any factual reasoning. Reasoning is a term for pleasing the mind. When the mind wants to conclude an activity on a subject, it feels that it has reasoned it out. Reasoning is simply a joke. Its meant for mechanical items created out of reasoning and not for natural items that was not your creation. In fact to have separate meanings mechanical and natural, as if they could be understood becomes a complexity.
At times, real means what we all agree to and at times it means- the ‘unchanging’ -and such other different interpretations. In the best effort that we can 'imagine' reality or meaning to 'real', it would still be in the realm of 'imagination'. So reality is just an imagined conclusion or meaning and so are all meanings of all things, words and the rest.

Reality with words makes sense only before one ‘merges’ with the Real, after which words are not required. Until then, the claim of reality is done at the level of mind. But mind itself has no features of reality. The mind is simply a gaming instrument. Mental gaming instrument. The realness of imagined reality is so only until proved false by the same mind that imagined reality to be so. We live on a sphere called earth etc. seems real. Even to say something is unreal, there must be some affirmation of reality to such saying. So unreal-ness also is subject to change sooner or later. So we are left with a feel of reality or unreality of things, only for the moment that it seems so.

Images are objectification or imagined meanings of events of what arises in the knowing, wherein factual meanings are simply not. They are only imagined imprints of contents of knowing, as if knowing could have separate contents. They take up the place of realness to shapes as if they are objects. In fact images of past and future always take up most of the mental 'time' as if past and future can exist as reality, independent of each other.
Mind has a way to take on images as real and express the same feel as reality of objects. It does so by having reality encoded in thought as if real. Thoughts are images or imagined reality. You always find mental communication happening between oneself and others on a non-stop level, in our own mind, until asleep. It keeps the thinking ‘on’ continuously. The ‘you’ that talks to ‘others’ in the mind, are both, mental images. At times we see that a ‘mad’ guy walking and talking aloud. The mental images in his mind of 'himself' and also that of the 'others' that he is talking to, are so real that the guy keeps shouting as if he really dealt with all these guys on the level of reality. We feel uneasy at his ways, because he seems to be flouting the decency of living a ‘human’ life. The difference between him and the rest of us, is that, we intuitively know that all our thoughts are really unreal and there is no need to regard them as real and ‘shout’. We allow the mental play of argument on a transient level, as a play, and forget it after a while. In case these thoughts are capable of generating ‘tension’ and ‘depression’, as if these thoughts could be real people and events, then,  we are no different from the ‘mad’ guy. We are worse, because it requires more effort to hide our state of madness from others, in case we get depressed or tensed. But we sulk, cry, laugh, and even go to the extent of ending one’s life because the thoughts are capable of taking the place of reality, which they are simply ‘not’.

In realising that thoughts are plain mental images, as if of real persons, created on the level of mind, there is a realisation that thoughts cannot harm you as they do not have any reality whatsoever in themselves. The fear that we have is generated at the level of thought itself and this realisation that thoughts are just thoughts, can go a long way to wipe out the root of fear. It is the fear which gives realness to thoughts and thoughts which give realness to fear, as if each is holding hand with the other. Once the mind is put in place, being only mental, fear is simply absent. This is the state of a realised mind, which we all posses but do not accept in our day to day walk of life. In fact life would be laughing at us, like we laugh at mad men, due to our priority given to thoughts.

Extending this logic a little further, Mind makes thoughts as soon as we see, hear, sense etc. The thoughts starts interpreting things after a while. Thoughts become representation of things that we sense. This also means, without thoughts, things would be void of their thingness or meanings, concepts and reality. Its the thought that makes real objectification of forms. We experience the thought about things. So when we deal with ourselves and others and things, we are dealing with our thoughts about ourselves and others and things. Its all a mental exercise devoid of any reality, because thoughts are unreal in the first place. This is our reality. Similarly, thoughts of time other than 'now'makes 'Time' and thoughts of space other than 'here' make up for Space or Universe and Cosmos. Unreal time and space become Real, making meanings to forms and events, simply using thought profiles.It is quite stupid but it seems to be a way of life and it works. Once upon a time, intuition was available to ‘feel’ what realness was and now intelligence seems to be deteriorated by offering such intuition to the level of reason, knowledge, belief, intention, determination etc or simply the capacity of mind to evaluate reality of the world. One day we may go to the 'Guru' and ask him, are we in love?, as if it is beyond our 'feel' to know love on the level of reason. So thoughts seem to manage our life, as if the intruder starts ruling the household after a while.

Forms have no thingness to them, like person to a body, and thingness to shapes. But the mind is a pro at the game of projecting thingness to shapes and persons to bodies, as if reality, and thus lives in deluded ‘world’. As the mind is in no-one's control, this delusion becomes normal at some plane of activity. Further delusion is regarded madness within the madness, like the guy talking to himself.

How do we come out this hypnotic delusion? Is life after coming out of hypnosis better or delusion was the right place for us to stay put? This is a tricky question and mind will always project fear to keep its activity of being in charge active and alive. So it plays games, to think you can awaken, for as long as it can take and maintain the delusion. But in the end, it embraces its own insignificance and makes way for realising the absurdity of thoughts, and pay way for 'direct' living. Thoughts need not be despised. Nevertheless, they should not be given power of manifesting objective reality.

The mind really doesn’t deal at the root of problems. It uses a fantasy as a method of analysing the problem from all directions which can cause fear and allows a method of postpone total eradication, so that its activity is maintained. All our problems are in the thinking of it. If the thought of the problem does not occur, we are free from the problem for that much of a while. So instead of pushing the thinking mechanism to the background, we use it in the foreground, for offering solutions to problems. We have to get rid of the problems and not find solutions which are mostly temporary and generally worsen the problem. For example, we want to be happy. So we buy something that can make us happy for a day or two. We don’t like our boss, we complain, but we don’t change our jobs etc. Problems cannot end, unless the creator of problems is known and put in place. It seems impossible but at some level, we intuitively know that it is possible, though we seek confirmation from mind, and again lose the grip on reality. So we seek, which is another mental game to keep the game going on, as if seeking can end in permanent happiness. It is stopping the mental game than can pull us out of mental activity.

Reasoning is to bring about realness or authenticity to thought with more thought. It works in the plane of building houses and bridges, but fails in human relationships, including finding solutions to one’s own happiness. The very human image as ‘persons’ to bodies is an hallucination or is an imagination and hence doesn’t work well. We explain our failures and success ‘only’ to maintain that feel of being a  ‘person’ to body is ‘real’. But all ‘personalities’ are mental images and our reality cannot be reduced to simple and unreal mental images in mind.

In intuitively realising that all mental structures like thoughts and belief’s are just images about imagined reality, such activity can be ‘killed’ or given no significance. This practice can go a long way to remove self made fear or mind made fear and enable direct living as a way of life, rather than ‘you’ living a life, ruled by mind. In doing so, You will discover the lost Paradise as such direct living, happening moment to moment, without the pressure of thoughts that bring in pain of past and future to mentally spoil the present. Intuitively, mental images must be seen for what they are as images and must be given up instantly. Objectification only increases the spirit of mind game provided we can see the game that is being played by mind. When the game gets real, and affects our life, then we are no less than the mad man on the street, as its time ti kill the mind.

Subjective living is simple, more colorful and full of life, when images of things do not rule in place of things and images of people, do not disturb in place of people. So don’t think real. Be real. Know that mind is like an intruder that has come home and takes over command and even threatens to sleep with your wife, and that too, without your permission. It must be killed before it becomes too dangerous. Deal with reality rather than with concepts of reality. Its 'really' simple. Hahaha.