Nothing At All
Beyond the veil
What is there to say?
Even though I am looking at what we call a “tree” in the English language, I see nothing at all. I could sit with it for hours and it wouldn’t mean any more or less to me than it did at the very first instant of my relationship with it.
It is neither “ordinary” nor “extraordinary.” After all, this is just an illusory dichotomy of the mind anyway. The words themselves carry no inherent value, and yet most people would be inclined to categorize everything in one way or the other, perhaps even combining the categories for a unique perspective. But why?
Anyone who calls a tree “ordinary” has unconsciously replaced his direct experience of the tree with mental constructs, leading him to believe that he already understands it before having yet truly seen it. He does not perceive its magnificence and mysterious nature because he has already placed it neatly in a conceptual box. Such a person may think that it’s an exaggeration to look at a tree in awe. “What, you’ve never seen a tree before?” he says.
On the other hand, one might see the tree as “extraordinary” simply because he has been conditioned to think so, perhaps for cultural reasons or otherwise — however, the word can also be used to describe the genuine sense of wonder that a person may experience while looking at a tree. But why should this sense of wonder be selective? What about when I’m looking at my kitchen sink?
The truth is that there’s nothing really special about trees, because absolutely anything that allows a person to temporarily pierce through the conditioned veil of mental constructs may be called “extraordinary,” whether it’s sex, romance, nature, psychedelics, mystical experiences, or something else. As such, it is not the object or experience itself that is extraordinary, but rather the fact of briefly seeing beyond the cloud of thoughts and beliefs that were previously painted over Reality, limiting the profundity of Life. There is nothing in particular that is seen as extraordinary when one has moved beyond this veil altogether, but most people have not. One cannot move beyond the veil unless one has looked very clearly at it without judgement.
I have explained all of this to say the following: if I do not see the tree as ordinary or extraordinary — good or bad; this or that — then I merely see it as it is. And because its essential being is no different from anything or anyone else that I perceive (not even “my own” body-mind), it’s as though I am looking at nothing at all. Everything is distinct and dynamic, yet everything is the same and completely unchanging. Unless one sees this for herself, my words are nothing more than concepts to be believed or disbelieved.
But what is the use of words and beliefs when direct perception is already a perfect description?
