The Thin Veneer That We Call Reality from Steven Kaufman's blog

Reality is a thin veneer

that lies over and obscures

what is actually there

where reality appears to be.

 

How thin is the veneer of reality?

As thin as a reflection on a pool of water.

 

But that reflection can only hide

what lies below

as long as you think

it is what you are.

 

For when you think

it is what you are

you remain focused upon it

and what is actually there

remains hidden

while still in plain sight.

 

What is actually there

where reality appears to be?

What is it that remains hidden

while still in plain sight?

 

Nothing that seems important

as long as the forms

that you apprehend as and call reality

seem to be

of primary importance.

 

And that is how it remains hidden

while still in plain sight.

Because as long as you identify with the forms

that you apprehend as and call reality,

as long as you think those forms

are what you are,

those forms, those realities,

which are only reflections,

only a thin veneer,

seem more real

than the underlying Actuality

upon which they rest,

seem more real

than the underlying Actuality

by which they are apprehended and known

as reality. 

 

So what is actually there

where reality appears to be?

What is it that remains hidden

while still in plain sight?

 

It cannot truly be said,

because what is actually there

where the forms

that you apprehend as and call reality

appear to be

is not Itself a form

and so is not itself a reality.

 

And yet it Is,

else no form, no reality,

could ever exist,

or be known to exist.

 

And so what is actually there

where reality appears to be

can only be pointed toward

by saying that it is That by which

the forms that you call reality

are apprehended and known as reality.

 

And it can truly be said

that That which is not itself a form, not itself a reality,

and yet is That by which all forms are known as reality,

is what you truly are

and is also what you can know yourself to be

once you recognize reality

to be but a reflection,

to be but a thin veneer,

and so turn your attention

away from the reflection

toward what lies below,

toward what was always there

but was hidden

while still in plain sight

while your attention remained focused

upon the forms, upon the reality

that you only thought you were,

upon the forms, upon the reality

that you only seemed to be.

 

What we experience as reality,

emotional, mental, and physical,

is nothing more than the forms that arise

like a sort of boundary or etching

as That which is actually there,

as That which is beyond reality,

as That which is beyond words,

as That which is beyond conception,

flows in relation to Itself

and so becomes defined in relation to Itself,

and then apprehends as reality

the forms, the etchings, the boundaries,

that have arisen within Itself

as a result of its flow,

as a result of its movement,

as a result of its being,

in relation to Itself. 

 

And so it is not that reality

is not real,

because it is.

 

It is only that reality

is not really

what we are.

 

Put another way,

it is not the realness of reality

that is in question,

it is only the realness of reality

as what we are

that we need to question.