Moving over from imagination to reality

We live in an illusion that we are just one. Who we are is one thing and what we suppose ourselves to be is another thing. The person we suppose ourselves to be needs to be observed. We observe the world outside but we have to observe the world within. Our thoughts and feelings have to be clearly observed.When we observe ourselves we find that our imagination takes control of our life and then we superimpose our imagination on the reality. It is this superimposition one has to observe.How does this understanding help us in our relationships? A husband and wife have to be sensitive to see whether they are seeing objective reality or their own subjective reality. Many of our misunderstandings emerge from our imagination. We imagine how a husband should be or how a wife should be. When they don’t fit into our concept we are hurt. We are not hurt with “what is” but with “what should be.” We have the freedom to imagine but we also should have the wisdom to realize that the world is not obliged to fit into our imaginative concepts. We form maps of people and suffer. This understanding will make our perceptions more accurate. This will enhance the quality of our relationships.Will discarding our imaginations make us miserable? Life is interesting with imagination, is it not? We are free to imagine but let us not treat imagination as reality. Unless an imagination becomes a reality it is still imagination. Discarding imagination does not make us miserable. What makes us miserable is expecting imagination to be a reality. What is more interesting is that the reality is full of wonder and marvel but we are not able to see it. For instance, look at your eyes, they can see millions of things, look at your ears, they can hear millions of sounds, look at your nose, it can smell millions of things … you are not able to see this marvel but instead say to yourself, only if I see this form I will be happy. Only if I hear these words I will be happy. Only if I taste these things I will be happy. We are limiting ourselves with our own expectations. Without expectations life is infinite. Why limit ourselves to limitations? We have not tasted the world of reality and feel the world of imagination is more fulfilling.Where does expectation fit into our lives? A life without expectations is empty in the area of relationship, is it not? But expectations should not be like a begging bowl. It creates misery. If two beggars meet in a relationship then beggary increases. Let expectations be a creative springboard. Expectations should be a creative centre not a begging centre. A life of begging is miserable. There is such a thing as an enlightened expectation.Is this not difficult to practice in one’s daily life? Difficult or easy depends on the individual. For some, killing flies is difficult whereas, killing a child is very easy for a terrorist. So please don’t take shelter under such logic. Learn to enjoy difficult situations. Develop the skill to enjoy even difficult situations.(For more details kindly visit www.prasannatrust.org)