Nothing begins
During one's life, there is the discontent for what is. This discontent might be temporarily satisfied by passing pleasures, like sex and entertainment. But it is nagging. It persists. So, one might suddenly see or finally face the fact that nothing material can satisfy this discontent. This discontent is much deeper, burning at a much more fundamental level. So, the search for the eternal begins and can begin in all earnest.
This is the path for truth, or at least what one thinks of truth. This quest is the quest that might burn away all other quests. One might finally make the commitment, that without realizing truth, the eternal, the boundless, the ultimate meaning, there cannot be any rest or meaning to life.
During one's quest, one might hear some say, that the search for truth is what denies truth. The seeking of reality is what prevents the perception of it. This profound saying rings true to the seeker, and it begins to battle within the seeker's consciousness. Therefore, one seeks to end all seeking, which is of course only another form of seeking.
During this restless quest, also, one might find that to end one's seeking, there is a great deal involved. There might be the sensation that one is going deeper and deeper into oneself, and still finding this seeking present. This seeking might appear to the seeker to be something incredibly fundamental. It pervades all aspects of life, or what life is to the seeker. This gives rise to the sense of progress, that the seeker is stepping closer to the eternal, that the seeker is peeling the onions layer by layer until the truth stands revealed.
Of course, this sense of progress is only another story to continue the seeking. Seeking never stops, because the seeker persists. The seeker's food is this story of progress. Without this food, the seeker might die, and that is the fundamental dread, the fear of nothingness.
Day after day, the seeker asks itself, has it realized the eternal yet? Again and again, the seeker answers no, or pretends to answer yes and be satisfied with it. Discontent creeps in again and shatters all satisfaction, and the seeking continues. Suffering is this very process. Pain is psychological, and can be physical as well. Yet, momentary experience of insights, aloofness, and freedom also gives the seeker hope, that one day it can finally realize what it calls the eternal and be permanently satisfied. This persistent seeking might be called the final barrier, but in reality there is no barrier. When all hope to change reality is let go, the mystery happens by itself.
Then, truth stands revealed, as all that is, and as nothing. Truth is nothing and everything, the unmanifest and the manifest, the appearance and the unfathomable depth. Yet, nothing happened. No discovery was made. No one realized. No truth was revealed. Everything is exactly as it is. Nothing changed, and everything changed. This is the leap into the unknown, the real mystery, and no one can make it happen, no mind can comprehend it, because it happens all the time. The seeking is still there, but it is understood to be nothing but an appearance which comes from the unmanifest. Nothing is personal. Everything is impersonal. The personal is impersonal. The seeking has no time, comes from nowhere, and leads nowhere. This is the highest, the ground beyond which there is no other ground. The higher is still this. The deeper is still this. All progress is still this. Nothing escapes this. Everything is this. The imagination of the other, the beyond, is still this. This is all. This is that. This is the unmanifest appearing as manifest. There is nothing behind or beneath, so there is no need to find anything. Everything is causeless. The cause is causeless. The cause appears without a cause. The mind might continue to make up concepts to defeat truth, but truth is indestructible, because the very perception of destruction is truth appearing.
There is no shape, no sound, no vision, no concept, no perception that can contain truth, because truth is all form and formlessness. The eternal is beyond time, as time is the eternal appearing as continuity. The seeing of truth is the eternal. There is only that which is. What is, truly, is the most sacred.
Cover photo by Aman Upadhyay on Unsplash
