𝗚𝗼𝗱 𝗜𝘀 𝗢𝗻𝗲 - 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗼𝗳 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦. -Tibetan Buddhist teacher Over the last couple of weeks, I have been exploring a thought experiment that has taken me deeper and deeper into the Self. The more I observe life, the more waking reality reminds me of a dream. Of course, dreams and waking life follow different laws. But that is not the point. Nobody has ever returned from the grave to tell us what happens after death. Yes, there are stories of people who were declared clinically dead and later revived. But perhaps the doctors were mistaken about their condition, or perhaps their hearts had stopped while their brains had not yet suffered irreversible damage. None of this proves that someone has experienced irreversible death and returned. So, having never experienced death myself, I am left with the closest experience I have: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲. When we dream, everything feels real. People, animals, trees, love, fear, anger, desire. An entire world exists, and we believe in it completely. Then we wake up. Suddenly, we realize that the people, the trees, the animals, and even the person we believed ourselves to be were all made of the same fabric. 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗼𝗻𝗲. And perhaps this is the simplest way to understand the ancient idea that 𝗚𝗼𝗱 𝗶𝘀 𝗢𝗻𝗲. The most fascinating part is that I was no more real than anyone else in my dream. I wasn’t the one real person surrounded by imaginary characters. 𝗜 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗶𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝘁𝗼𝗼. Today, walking through the streets of Istanbul, I watched hundreds of people passing by. Different faces, different lives, different desires. Everyone seemingly living inside their own reality. And I asked myself: 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝗜 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗮 𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺? I assume these people have their own inner experience, just as I do. But I cannot directly know their awareness, any more than I can know the awareness of characters inside my dreams. Perhaps the only thing I can know directly is awareness itself. Whether dreaming or awake, experience is happening. Even deep sleep raises the question of whether awareness disappears or simply has nothing to observe. And this brings me back to the 𝘈𝘴𝘩𝘵𝘢𝘷𝘢𝘬𝘳𝘢 𝘎𝘪𝘵𝘢: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦. 𝘚𝘦𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴, 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭? Imagine realizing, while dreaming, that everything is a dream. Suddenly, the problems, ambitions, victories, and defeats lose their importance. They still exist within the dream, but 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲. There is nothing left to prove, nothing you must achieve. You can simply become still, observe, and turn inward. Perhaps waking life is no different. I don’t know whether reality is a dream. And I don’t need to know. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗶𝘁𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀. It loosens my attachment to the person I believe myself to be and takes me deeper into the Self. And here is the most important realization: 𝗜𝗳 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺, 𝗶𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗲𝗹𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝘂𝗻𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝗜 𝗮𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗮𝗺 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹. 𝗜 𝗮𝗺 𝘂𝗻𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗼𝗼. My memories, my personality, my ambitions, even the person asking these questions are all part of the same dream. Just as the dreamer is not the character inside the dream, perhaps I am not the person I believe myself to be. Perhaps what remains is awareness itself. 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘀𝗮𝗴𝗲𝘀 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘀𝗮𝗶𝗱: 𝗚𝗼𝗱 𝗶𝘀 𝗢𝗻𝗲.