iRealization

How To Realize the I

Introduction

This is about the upcoming book. The working title is iRealization, or How to Realize the I.The format of the book is that each chapter has a prose section, and then followed by a set of questions and answers. This allows the material to be introduced, and then common misunderstandings are addressed. The current working table of contents are:0. Preface
It all began with an admission, and a question: I am certain I know what sleep is, I am certain I know what dreaming is.I know, for example, in dreams, I feel awake.
This present waking however, it also feels like dreaming, and one can’t really say for sure what exactly the difference between this and dreams is.So what is all this?1. The Question of Reality
The beginning of the questioning, and the non-dismissal of which leads to earnest investigation.
We often have dinner conversations over long bottles of wine: what is man? Who am I? What is the point of life? What is this experience at all? Then, we usually go to bed, and the next morning there are so many things to do!
But what happens if one does not forget this question?2. The Situation
Clearly understanding the current situation from a different point of view.
Similar to the visible Sun that moves across the sky every day, we see many things upon waking. We now know, that despite what it appears to be, it is in fact the Earth that revolves around the sun. What if our daily experience is not what it appears to be?3. The Test of the Real
On knowing how to recognize the object one is looking for.
When one says one wants the Truth, what does it mean? Who’s version? Do we even want some authoritative “truth”, or do we want our own? Or do we, in fact, want the Absolute Truth, something that transcends individual interpretation, and is something Universal, and Eternal? What else are the characteristics of Truth?4. Belief vs Reality
When everyone knew that the Sun revolved around the Earth (and that God wanted humans to be at the center of the Universe), people were excommunicated and killed for saying blasphemous things that disagreed with the Church’s view.
This was acceptable to society then, as everyone knew that in fact the Earth was stationary, for it was experienced every day: so this belief in their own interpretation of their experience led to their knowing of reality with extreme certainty, to the point of these senseless deaths.
In this situation, one must investigate: what is belief, and what is actually real?5. On Knowing and Perception
What is perception? And how does one know one has perceived something? If the knowing of the perception is the only clue, then is there any actuality behind the perception? Or is imagination, for instance, equally knowing?
And if that is true, then is it really “perception” of what is “out there”, or is it the projection of a reality that wasn’t even there before you “perceived” it?6. Concepts vs Actuality
A person who has studied for decades on the nature of the mango, and has a PhD in the workings of the mango tree and how the best fruits are grown etc, but has not eaten one, can never compare his knowledge to someone who has actually eaten a mango.
In this situation, one has to understand what is knowledge, or conceptual understanding of an experience, versus the actual experience itself. What is this cognitive barrier we are talking about?7. Mind, and The Primary Concept
Once conceptualization has begun, where does that leave us? What does our mind’s ability to understand things tell us about our understanding of the world out there?
And how does the mind understand itself? Is the mind aware of only other things, or is it also aware of itself? What is mind, exactly?
And what is the first concept?8. Duality vs Non-Duality
What does it mean to exist? To understand existence, one must necessarily grasp also non-existence. It is only the combination of the two that makes Existence possible, and this sets of opposites constitute duality.
However, can Reality, which is the very basis of everything else, can that itself be dual? Or is it, by necessity, beyond duality and non-duality? And what is such a state?
Can a mind built on duality reach this state?9. Dreaming, Waking, Sleeping
One must see clearly: what is called dream is called that only in the waking state. What is called the “waking state” does not exist during the dream state, for in progress, dreaming is waking only.
What then is sleep? And more importantly, who sleeps, who dreams?
And what then is the Awake state?10. The Nature of the Real
Having pointed out the nature of the unreal, we are now ready to discuss what remains when all the false is seen as false.
What is the nature of this Reality? Why would one even want to know, exactly what it is? And what is the Philosopher’s Stone?11. Birth, Death, and Reincarnation
What is the beginning of this waking/dreaming/sleeping cycle? What began? What will end? What will restart? What will continue as it always was?
And what never started in the first place?
And if something has no beginning, how can it have an ending?12. Experience, Memory, Thoughts, and Emotions
What exactly is experience? What is it that we remember? What is recollection? What are thoughts, and what is thinking? And how do feelings fit into the mix?
All this is mind stuff, yet it is apart from the Real.13. Time and Space
When you go to sleep tonight, and dream a beautiful dream of your centenarian birthday celebrations, with your whole family around you, 4 generations of it, and it’s such a beautiful day outside, and the birds are also singing!
You don’t suddenly stop to wonder where those 100 years went, or if the whole world is really present as it appears, if those stars in the night sky are real ... time itself is not questioned, nor is space.
So what exactly is the situation?14. Of Free Will, Causation, and Karma
The Big Bang set off our Universe on its journey of creation - everything since that massive primordial event has been an action and reaction of epic proportions.
If everything is an action and reaction to previous events, then everything has unfolded exactly according to the expected, predictable plan - therefore, the question of free will does not even arise.
Or does it?15. The Pursuit of Happiness
When I say “blue”, you get what I mean. Does it also mean that when I say “blue”, you see the same thing in your mind as I do? Regardless of what we each see, we can agree on what that something means, in this case the color named blue.
What if I say the word “happiness”? Could we agree on what it meant?
More importantly, do you know what it is? So that you know what to look for? Or so that you know you’ve found it if you do come across it?16. The Question of God
Now that we have examined the very fabric of Reality and Experience, one naturally must ask - what of God? How does God fit into this whole scheme? And what does it matter, what what can one do with it?17. Of Yogis, Gurus, and Magic
What is this one hears of magical feats performed by strange mystics from the east? And what of western mystics? What is a mystic? What is Yoga?
And what is a Guru? Can an illusory human being transmit understanding to another illusory being?18. What Meditation Really Is
Having come this far, if it is not already clear what the word meditation indicates, then this will be seen now. It will be seen that meditation is in fact the very background of reality that one is seeking, and in fact meditation is all there is.
How to meditate will become clear.19. How to Realize the I
There are many paths to what is called self-realization. We have referred to it using the more familiar word “I”. There is much knowledge about this I within the pages of this book - all of it not actually the Truth, but only a description of it, in this particular expression.
However, now that the description is understood, what about the actual?
Can this be known without knowing?20. Before and After
What exactly is the difference before the Awakening, and after? What exactly is the experience when everything is perceived as the self?
What is life in such a situation, and who is the one living?21. Living the Dream
Once all this has been transcended, you will be free. In that liberation, your experience of your reality will be no different than what is possible in dreams.
Indeed, there was never any difference.22. I
The conclusion.
And the answer to the question we started out with: Who Am I?Appendix I . An Unreligion for Tomorrow
All organized religions have failed humanity. However, this is to be expected, as organized religions are based around human ideas - or concepts - and as such have nothing to do with God or Reality whatsoever.
So what does a new religion, one that is entirely devoid of concepts - what does such an Unreligion look like?Appendix II. A Community for Today
Understanding the I is a process. Realization of it is the goal.
During this journey into oneself, a lot of questions and confusion can arise, due to the very nature of mind. It is very subtle indeed! To help, iRealization is hosted by the Woketype community along with apps, tools, and other helpful services to practice the approach described in the book.Appendix III. Getting help in the Now
The understanding of the I is changing how we understand mental wellness. This understanding is being applied by many therapists and practitioners who work with people in helping them resolve deep seated troubles.
The Nomindfulness community is pushing the conversation on using this model of the mind as the basis for healing, and creating new mental wealth.Appendix IV. Dreaming a Better World
With this clarity of vision, everything appears as Oneself.
In this situation, one is able to self-actualize one’s deepest potential in service to the whole. Anything and everything is possible - join us in creating a better now!

iRealization

How To Realize the I

Preface

I like to learn things in two ways: top-down, and bottom-up.Top-down is the big picture. The 100,000 feet view. The executive summary.Most times this is enough. If I am able to grok it right here, I move on.Some times, the abstraction level is too high. Or there are some leaky abstractions that drop me into a lower level, and I can only proceed after I’ve understand things at that level first. And then there are times when one has to drop all the way to the very bottom, and then climb all the way back up.This is a book about my journey of understanding the Truth. Yes, capital T.I grew up an engineer, I work in the software / tech industry, and I have fairly low emotional IQ. People call me frank and honest, which can be painful, but everyone always knows where I stand on issues. In other words, I like to get straight to the point.I say this because there is no other way to say some of the things I say in the book. If you keep an open mind, and keep reading, and suspend disbelief during your reading, everything will change for you. So here goes!For reasons that may become apparent later in the book, there came a time in my life when I began to re-examine everything. By itself, this is not particularly remarkable, but in my case the process didn’t stop as I might have expected. It turned out to be the door to a rabbit hole, one that has no ending, because it has no beginning.So, I found myself re-examining literally every thing in my life, all the way down to my moment to moment experience of the waking state. What I mean by this is that I began to question everything about what I had believed about myself and my reality, down to whether I was really awake, or if I was still dreaming.And here, a funny thing happened: I couldn’t be sure.Thus, when I began to question my very reality, I began to discover more about this experience we call waking. And this experience led me to understand the nature of all experiences, and to finally understand what Experience itself is.From here, the process unfolded itself – it showed me the nature of things As They Are, and also showed me my own True Nature.My experience is the experience of humanity. It is your experience also, if only you pay attention, not to my words, but to what they point to.I know my experience is your experience because I found out who I am.I am You.

iRealization

How To Realize the I

The Test of the Real

So this is what happened to me.I found myself in this situation, where I was unable to say for sure, if this was waking or dreaming. In other words, I realized that when I dream, I feel myself to be awake, with a life, and a world around me. I realized that all of that came out of me, and that in my dream, all there was, was me.But in the so called waking state, which I used to treat as real, it was the same situation. There was no essential difference, for only after “waking” does the “dream” become a “dream”, for before the waking, it was itself waking. It is termed a dream, only upon the knowledge of it’s non-existence comes into being, which is itself called waking up from the dream.So when I realized that nothing around me was dependable in the search for the truth, I became single minded in my mission. It became completely and utterly clear to me that no other pursuit could be of more importance.

After all, how does one continue to live in a simulation, once one finds out it is itself suspect? Without definite proof, it is faith based living. Faith in that there is some meaning to this, faith that there is a purpose, faith that all this exists in some divine sort of way, and that we are perhaps part of something greater.But we don’t know.And I was a rational being.And I had to know, to find out. What else could be more relevant to the one who seeks Reality?### What is Real?So after seeking for a short time, I stopped dead in my tracks. When one become focused on something, one does not become unfocused. Otherwise, one has never become focused.My mind become focused on this problem, it became obsessed with it.I just need to know! How could one possibly live in a simulation or dream or whatever, without finding out! This whole “God” concept never occurred to me as an actual answer, it was as much a theory as many others.The key to Reality, had to be in it, else how could it be Reality?And that was when I froze.

What was the word “reality” meant to indicate?How would I know it, if someone gave it to me, or told me the Truth?You see, I had no test for the Real!I had no idea how to judge if something indeed was Reality or the Truth.In other words, if I didn’t know what I was looking for, and if I didn’t know that I found it even if it danced naked in front of me, well – my seeking would never end. And hence, the test of the real.### The TestWhat can one say about Reality?One can only attempt to qualify it. Like a few things that must be true about whatever the Truth might be. Like a test of sorts.I asked myself what questions would I ask of it, and what would satisfy me. This was when I realized the quality of Truth. Here they are in no particular order:Was this “truth” really the Truth? In other words, is it someone’s opinion? A subjective truth that is relative to something or someone? If that was so, it was not, by definition, the Absolute truth, or what I call, the Truth.So I was after the Absolute Truth.

Hence, the Truth would need no intermediary, it would not need translation or relative explanation. It would be Directly, the Truth itself. There would be no other support needed. No supporting arguments, no nothing, it would be the support of all else. The Truth would be the basis of all other “truth”, or relative truth, hence the term the Absolute Truth.In other words, the Truth would be Self-Explanatory.And it would be not just for me, but for anyone who came across it, and was desirous of knowing it. In other words, it would not be for “someone” in particular, or only some people – the Truth would be Absolute – for All – in a Self-Effulgent manner – it would radiate itself to anyone that was ready to accept the knowledge of it.In scientific terms, within the sea of “relativity”, we are seeking the very thing that makes relativity possible – the background common to all “relative” ideas and concepts, the very ground of relativity.In a way, I was seeking the Grand Unified Theory of What Is. Except, this “theory” would be cognizable by anyone, for it would need to be, as described above. So, a kind of Grand Unified Truth.The Truth would also need to be always the Truth. In other words, something that is Absolute Truth, can never change. It can not change into the relative, it would always need to be the Same. It would be timeless, for it could not have a beginning or an ending, which would imply change in it. Hence I understood it would need to be “Eternal”.This was the definition then, the test – Absolute Truth would be Self-Effulgent, Eternal, and Never-Changing. It would be this Truth that explained all else, this Grand Unified Truth, something that I would know to be Real.

Yikes. There seemed nothing in the known universe that seemed to satisfy these things. In fact, it seemed to eliminate everything.Just that last one – something that never changes – and is always the same. Every atom, every energy particle in the universe is in constant motion. Nothing is static, whatsoever. Change is all there is! So what is left?!#staytuned

iRealization

How To Realize the I

The Situation

So there I was, convinced that I was now convinced of nothing.If this was the situation, that one could not trust one’s experience of “reality”, then how on earth does one get out of the situation?To make this clearer, imagine you woke up trapped in someone else’s body. The analogy is not exact, but go with it. You’re now suddenly this other person that everyone around you expects you to be. And you can certainly “go with it” quite naturally for some reason, for that it what it means to be that person or character, and to take over their body.The thing, though, is that you know the situation! It is all going on, and you seem to be doing their thing, and everyone is cool with it, but you also know at all times, that wtf! You even find yourself thinking their thoughts! This is a sticky, strange loop.

In this situation, speaking of this to anyone “there” is going to get you in the loony bin. In truth, all your experiences are suspect, for not only is it the situation that you’re not really that person, but the whole world is now equally suspect.Are these other people also in the same situation? Are they even “real”? Where are you? Is it a dream? A simulation? Magic? Madness?What to do?And just to make things really clear about how unclear this situation is, let us examine a more common one.William S. Really, or Will as we’ll call him, goes to sleep tonight. In his dream, he sees himself as a young professional named Adam, who has a great life, and is finding himself chatting with his friends Brad and Jane.They’re talking of many things, mainly that despite their apparent material success, they really didn’t seem to be all that happy. You know, the typical dating issues, and what not. As usual, Brad being brad, and rather codependent, he was talking about all his woes with the wife…And Jane seemed particularly distraught that afternoon, as she drank her wine a bit too quickly in her angst and anxiety with her whole situation with her dad. She just had to disown him, she’d decided – it was too much for her now…Now, let’s pause. A few questions I’d like you to consider:Question 1. Does Jane know she is not a real person?Question 2. Does Brad know he’s not real? Does Adam?Question 3. Is Adam special in this situation?Question 4. If Adam realizes he is in a dream, what can he do to wake up?Question 5. What, if any, is the actual reality of this situation?

We will examine these and related questions in much more detail as we travel this journey together. It is probably useful, however, to pause for a little while, and really ponder the situation, and try to answer these questions for yourself.

iRealization

How To Realize the I

The Question of Reality

For as long as I can remember, I seem to have been interested in ideas, thoughts, knowledge, perception, meta-cognition.Why? No one knows is a valid answer. There is another answer, which explains why things happen the way they do. We will come to that.In the mean time, I wanted to relate this one very unusual incident. And before I do, please understand I grew up totally agnostic, and never really bothered with the whole institution of religion thing… I always claimed that I had a direct connection to God, and I needed no one in the middle to broker my relationship with him. But this was entirely intellectual, I really had no idea what I meant by that. Still, being an engineer, of an open mind, and having grown up in India, I did go on occasion…This one time was different. I remember having had really vivid experiences in certain temples, very moving, very fundamentally altering moments, what may be called intensely out of body experiences. This time was a big one.Most of the times we dismiss these as “a religious experience, whoa”, and move on. Whatever that means. You know what I mean, everyone has experienced something like this. Some spiritual mumbo-jumbo.

Again, being an engineer, that just didn’t fly. When it happened to me that this time, it shook my very foundations of perception, and everything just stopped: what the heck was that?! What the thoughts that came, and the experience itself, these are not the important bits. The question that awoke inside me was: what the heck is any experience at all?If something like walking into a temple, or smoking weed, or dreaming even, causes one to perceive this reality very differently, or even completely replace this reality for another dream world, which felt exactly as real as this one, then what the heck was not “unreal” but actually “real”? And what on earth is reality, itself? What makes one thing real, and another thing “not real”?This may sound repetitive, but there are two types of questions one has about this type of stuff, what is reality, who am I, etc. The first type of questioning is typically characterized by the idea that this is a philosophical topic with no real “answer”. The second has nothing to do with any other idea at all, just the one in question – what the heck is this experience, in actuality, in this moment, what the heck is it?!This second type of questioning comes from just a basic wanting to know. It is not already colored by ideas of what the answer might be, or how the question ought to be dismissed as quickly as possible, in order to get back to “real” life. Intense Catch-22.When one admits to oneself, that one really doesn’t know what this waking/dreaming experience is, then one can seek answers purely for their own sake. Not for the sake of any other idea and certainly not influenced by what anyone else might think. After all, “any one else” only appears within these waking dreams …