# the prompt

I
# responses
*blueharpy:*
I would say it is primarily about seeing through illusions—ceasing to see or take things for what they are not. It could be also put as seeing things as what they are, but without assigning them any fixed meaning. I prefer the negative because it makes more sense to me, and I would describe it as a process of *unknowing.*
I see the negative formulation as more relevant because taking things as what they are not is not only "misplacing" things, but also trying to assign fixed meanings to them. The question of "what things are" is left open because then you'd be assigning another fixed meaning. That's why I call it a process of unknowing. You can recognize there are many ways of seeing things and each will lead to a certain way of functioning or outcome, but you can never grasp things fully because they are *empty*, they don't even exist as things. Any attempt to assign them fixed meaning or grasp "what they are" will fail.
It might be said that there will always be "illusion", as things will continue to appear, even though there are no real things, but you are able to see through those illusions
When we take things to be what they are not, we create expectations and relations with those things that cannot be; for example, that a certain feeling or relation will be forever, or that our thoughts or feelings are what define us, etc. and those misplaced concepts and relations create a friction with the reality of things (which is: not being what we are taking them to be), and therefore that will create suffering.
*tashi:*
Very generically I'd explain it as a different operating mode embedded within the same hardware, same body same brain but with training you can access a different way of relating to yourself and the world, which is less painful and more compassionate. If asked what it's actually like I'd probably say something like a more global rather than piecemeal way of relating.
All throughout life there are unconscious patterns we learned, and some of them relate to the mechanisms through which we perceive the world - which contributes to the sense that there is a separate perceiver on one end, and the perceived object on the other. This separation does not need to be there in the first place (though if you're of a scientific bent you'd probably comment there must be a survival value in it, which is correct) and it contributes to a lot of suffering in the world.
Maybe my unique take is that there is no unique take. I'm not trying to proselytize or flip anyone into it. I'll present what I know, if people like it and wish to know more I will tell them more based on their specific interest or needs. If not, it stops there.
*Why would anyone be attached to awakening another?*
*Wollff:*
> hey nerds, I'm accepting all of your submissions in response to the prompt:
> **What's awakening about? What's the insight?**
Awakening is coming to terms with the fact that nothing lasts. That's it.
Now, let's break it down: There are three parts to this explanation. The first one is "nothing lasts". That's the simple one, where everyone responds with: "Oh, I know that!"
And it's indeed as simple as it sounds. Nothing lasts. That's it.
The second part to it is seeing that as a fact. Also very simple. Nothing lasts. And that is true.
The third part is the difficult one: Coming to terms with that.
The problem with "not awakening" is that we don't behave in ways that are in line with the first two parts. Nothing lasts. And maybe, for some things, we deny that outright: "I will love you forever!", or: "Eternal life in heaven is granted by God", are two examples, where we say: "Nothing lasts, but for some things that's not true!"
But even beyond the obvious exceptions some of us embrace, we just think and behave as if we lived in a world where some things last, even without explicitly thinking about it.
We don't like to look at "nothing lasts", especially when it's about things we like or dislike a lot. I don't last. My thoughts, behaviors, opinions, feelings, all of them come and go constantly. This body and this mind, this form, probably won't last. There is a good chance that I will die one day.
So will everyone and everything I love. Everything and everyone I hate as well!
"Coming to terms with it", in this context means: "Thinking and behaving in line with it"
For that to happen, there again need to be a few parts: Intellectual knowledge that nothing lasts. The experience that nothing lasts. Trust in the truth that nothing lasts.
With those factors firmly established, one can't help but start coming to terms with the fact that nothing lasts. And, as I see it, that's where awakening starts.

*Gabo:*

*nottwo:*
awakening is recognising there's no one to awaken; separation is illusory.
yet nothing is recognised, as no one was ever asleep.
awakening changes nothing, for separation never happened.
this can't be said, yet it's all that's said; nothing has been said.
if you're looking for enlightenment, you're too late—
nobody already beat you to it.
your whole spiritual journey is a joke and you’re the punchline.
imagine investing your entire imaginary existence chasing a freedom you never lost, longing for an awakening that nobody experiences. and just when you finally get the punchline, there’s nobody left to laugh.
I love you.
*Have a nice David:*
> What's awakening about?
Direct experiential insight into the nature of reality, of what life “is”. Pre-conceptual apperception of what we are, in essence. Resolution to questions like “what am I”, “what is life”, etc
> What's the insight?
There are many! They might be broadly characterized as varying degrees of realizing our ideas about reality (even things like the idea of “me” and “you”) aren’t actually true despite potentially seeming very true.
Conceptually, that insight can look like going from “I’m me!’ to something like “I’m the spacious awareness that observes ‘me’!”.
At a more subtle, less conceptual level, it can show up as a _perception_ (not a thought) of unity: felt-experience that the thing which is looking, the thing which is seen, and the process of seeing are all one thing, that all of life is essentialy one movement (“everything is ‘me’!”)
More subtle than that, the entire somatic experience of “self” (even the type of “self” that experiences unty) can fall away. This is impossible to directly describe in words but can be talked around by some of its effect: there is no more psychological fear of death, great somatic release of tension, etc
*andy:*
## What's awakening about?

## What's the insight?

*sliqz:*
It's the punchline where everything else is the joke.
It's also being able to listen
and be there for anyone
be it a scary homeless person,
a hot woman you want to have sex with
but who only wants to be listened to,
Hitler or worst of all yourself.