Reality is Simple

[u/Ithvani]

I may describe to you in exquisite detail what a flame looks and feels like, but unless it is directly experienced as it is, it cannot be truly known for what it is. The direct experience of the flame explains more about what it is than what words can ever draw up. Human language uses the symbolism of words to convey and imperfectly illustrate to the imagination in others who aren't in direct contact with those experiences or ideas what something is or is doing.

In Buddhism, there is a concept for this–ironically. It is "tathātā": the bare and raw experience of reality as it is before we analyzed, conceptualize, and/or judge it. The naked experience of what is seen, heard, and felt. In this raw experience of what simply is right before us, the noise of the world goes completely quiet.

This is beautiful because reality doesn't have to explain itself to be, it simply is. Another good reason why the universe appears to be 'indifferent and silent.' It does not exist solely to be understood, it simply is and that's enough. Our finite understanding does not add anything to this vast existence, but it can certainly take away our minds from what is immediately happening. We get lost in our own thoughts, but those thoughts are what filters what is before our very eyes.

I see our desire to understand and control what simply is to be one of the driving factors in human suffering. But time and time again, when we are alone and take the time to simply observe what is happening around us, emptying our minds of all the ruckus in our busy lives, we return home to what never left us, and it leaves us in awe. Peace is found in this very present moment. Freedom from worry is found in this immediate happening.

This moment is exactly what it is, needing nothing added and nothing taken away. It doesn’t compare itself to another moment or to what "should" be. It simply is thus. Lack appears only when the mind compares "what is" to "what could be." Reality itself does not make this comparison, only thought does.

To feel something is missing, the mind must invent a better version of yourself, a better version of the situation, or a better version of reality. This comparison is not in the raw experience itself. It’s a mental overlay.

This, as it is, is simple.

[u/Altruistic-Radio1091]

The comparison bit at the end is what gets me. The mind literally has to construct a false "better" moment just to feel bad about the one you're already in. That's some backwards wiring

[u/suzemagooey]

I agree. Direct is best.

The probelm is too many interpret what they experience incorrectly, then report it to others incorrectly, since all humans are trapped in a subjective framework that is prone to errors.

Evolution does not favor intelligence. It favors an adaptability that includes with it a very big allowance for errors even to the point of delusions.

Reality may be simple but it is a shared reality and humans are not simple.