Seeing Reality As It Is
Inner and Outer Worlds
Just Seeing
There is something beautiful about the wisdom of Zen. The tree is still, the flower is red, the eyes can see.
It’s like a breath of fresh air. There is nature, the eyes are open, and there is simply seeing and being; nothing more is added. But the human mind likes to build upon this simple experience. It creates a narrative, woven from past experience, memory, concepts, interpretation, and personal preference.
Yogananda said it perfectly: “We see not the world as it is, but as our mind interprets it.”
The question that naturally arises is: Am I looking at the tree, or are my eyes simply seeing?
It might seem obvious—of course I’m looking at a tree. But if we deepen this inquiry, we discover that seeing is far more nuanced than it first appears. What seems like a simple act of looking is, in fact, an extraordinary process through which the mind constructs our personal experience of the world.
It is only when we begin to recognise these layers of perception that are clouding reality that we discover the simple, unified awareness that is always present.
What is real?
We often dismiss the experience of dreams or imagination as unreal, simply because they are not tangible objects available to our conscious or physical perception.
Yet, when you are in a dream, it feels entirely real.
I recall a time when I was fasting on water alone for one week. As you can imagine, my body and brain became incredibly hungry. One night, I had a vivid dream about eating toasted cheese sandwiches. I could see them, taste them, and I even felt the satiated feeling in my belly. When I woke up, for a split second I felt a wave of guilt, believing I had broken my fast—and then I realised it was just a dream! But in my experience, I had eaten those cheese sandwiches!
When you are in a dream, it feels very real; it shows us how the mind not only renders perception of the outer world but can also fabricate an entire inner world. Because that inner world feels so convincing, it has an immediate, physical effect on the body. The mind creates the environment, and the body responds as though it were happening in real life.
The Theatre of Light
The eyes, and all other organs of perception, are extraordinary sensors. They gather information from the world around us and transmit it inward, where it is processed into experience through the mind.
The outer world is not simply “out there”—it is a continuous movement of information.
“But the tree is not inside of me,” you might say. “I am looking at the tree which is over there.”
So let’s look at what is actually happening between these inner and outer worlds.
The tree, the flower, your dog, the glass of water in your hand—they exist, and they have form. You can interact with them, and others can also confirm they are there. This is the shared world we all live in.
BUT—and this is the key—you never experience this world directly.
You experience your mind’s rendering of it.
You don’t see the tree directly. What is actually happening is that the tree is standing outside in the sun. Light streams down, strikes the tree, and bounces off it. Some of that reflected light enters your eyes, stimulating impulses through your nervous system.
The tree remains out there in the yard. What you are interacting with is a theatre of light playing out on the dark screen of your own mind. Your intellect adds the label—‘tree’—but you are simply witnessing vibrations of light.
The mind builds the entire show. What we call experience unfolds upon the screen of awareness.
The Yoga Sutras describe a similar process: the senses bring impressions, the mind forms a mental modification (vritti), and consciousness knows it.
From Perception to Projection
This process becomes a trap, like our own personal Matrix, when we constantly mistake our mental environment for reality itself.
Consider how easily this trap springs shut in our daily lives. You are driving, and in the distance, you see a man and a woman from behind, walking along a path and holding hands. Hold on, the mind whispers. That looks like Peter, my husband. Who is he walking with? Why is he holding her hand?
In a split second, what started as simply seeing two people becomes a highly personal, painful narrative. An unpleasant thought generates a heaviness in the heart, and you close down.
When Peter comes home from work, you can barely look at him, already convinced he has been cheating. You begin probing him with loaded questions: “So, how was your day today? What did you do?” When he responds casually, as he always does, the fire inside you builds stronger. You are entirely trapped in a reality your mind fabricated. Later, you realise he was in a closed workshop all day without his phone.
When we understand how perception works, we begin to see that we are not reacting to reality itself, but to our interpretation of reality. Every fear, judgement, label, attachment and preference is added by the mind. This recognition creates space between awareness and its projections, allowing us to perceive with greater clarity and freedom.
The Miracle in a Glass of Water
I know, we’ve all heard the spiritual clichés about how we are all connected, and how the table in front of us isn’t actually solid. But when you are staring at a glass of water after seven days of drinking nothing else, you don’t care about metaphors. You see the sheer miracle of it.
If the mind can construct an entire, tangible reality out of nothing in a dream, what does that say about the solid “real world” we wake up to each day?
Let’s look at that glass of water. Is there water in the glass? Yes, as we know it. But science, through measured experiment and direct observation, shows us otherwise. Look more deeply, and we find H₂O molecules. Look more deeply still, and we discover those molecules are composed of atoms, which are themselves composed of subatomic particles—like tiny ripples arising from underlying quantum fields. What we experience is the mind's rendering of this remarkable physical reality.
At their core, the building blocks of everything we perceive as solid matter—including the water, the tree, the dog, and our own bodies—are not fixed objects, but an unfolding process. What appears solid and permanent is, at a deeper level, dynamic and ever-changing.
The yogic traditions have long described creation in this exact way: as an ongoing, cosmic dance of manifestation, sustenance, and dissolution. The Nataraja, the dance of Siva, isn’t simply Siva dancing in the universe; the dance itself symbolises the ceaseless movement of existence—the arising and passing of forms. This sits beautifully alongside the scientific observation that what appears permanent is, at a deeper level, dynamic and relational.
The Gold of Pure Being
Every great mystical tradition—the Tao, the Gita, the Bible, the Torah, the Kabbalah, and the Sufi teachings—ultimately points toward this same doorway, inviting us to see beyond the illusion of a separate self.
Science can describe the behaviour of matter with extraordinary precision. It can tell us about atoms, particles, and quantum fields. But it remains largely silent on the nature of consciousness itself.
Vedanta begins precisely where that question becomes unavoidable.
The body, too, is composed of atoms, molecules, and fields. Every cell of our being is part of the same physical universe we’ve been examining. If I reduce the tree to its underlying, dancing constituents, shouldn’t I be willing to do the same with myself? At what point do I arrive at the “I” who says, This is my body?
Imagine stepping into a jewellery shop and browsing a collection of lovely gold ornaments—rings, necklaces, and bracelets, all crafted from pure gold. Because they are pure gold, there is no real differentiation between the ring and the necklace at their essence. The only difference lies in their temporary shape and form. Strip away the design, melt them down, and the boundary vanishes. In essence, they are all entirely the same, pure gold.
The same is true for us. The mind looks at the world and sees a vast array of separate things—a tree, a glass of water, a dog, a person. But these are simply the temporary shapes and forms. When we look beneath the surface, the boundaries dissolve.
The gold never stopped being gold. Only its appearance changed.
Returning to Pure Seeing
Modern spiritual circles often say that “we create our own reality.” But if we look closely at our direct experience, we aren’t actually creating anything. The mind interprets what comes in through the senses. The illusion begins when we mistake that interpretation for reality itself.
Perhaps this is why every great contemplative tradition ultimately invites us to stop adding, stop interpreting, and simply see.
The tree is still.
The flower is red.
The eyes can see.
Thank you for joining me here,
Jenni M
Author’s Note: Seeing reality is only half of the inquiry. Equally important is understanding why the same reality can produce such different experiences within each of us. That is where we’ll go next.
In the next article, we’ll explore the nature of experience—the nervous system, nature, the butterfly and the snake, and how meditation gradually shifts the centre of gravity from mind to awareness.
Donald and I often have this discussion. How our perception creates our reality, he will also talk about how we are all made of the same matter, even the stars. Myself, I can stop the thoughts and just see the flower is red. Much simpler 🌹 Beautifully written, perfectly explained Jenni, thank you 🙏
The words I often use to remind myself of Reality — rose is red, sky is blue, grass is green.
It was a good article Jenni, and I loved listening to it in your voice. 🙏🏻
I wonder how you did the 7 days water fast. Maybe you can write about that too 😊..