...is simply seeing a truth that is contrary to something that has previously been thought or something that remains unsuspected. People have all kinds of realizations all the time, both big and small. The small ones are usually so insignificant that we don;t reflect about them. Maybe we're driving somewhere new and the road signs in relation to our map don't make sense. At some point we suddenly realize that we're driving in the wrong direction. The truth dawns on us, and we turn the car around.
I've had a postural headache for almost six weeks, and that is something I've never previously experienced. This morning at 3AM I woke up and suddenly realized what is probably causing the headache (a combination of some prescribed drugs, the dosage of which was changed about six weeks ago).
These are minor examples compared to existential realizations because they don't affect strongly conditioned thought structures. The idea that there is an objective reality, and that we are separate entities existing in space and time, etc. are, by contrast, strongly held beliefs. Seeing through these kinds of ideas is a major brain revolution by comparison, and probably explains a lot of the phenomena associated with such realizations (euphoria triggered by the release of endorphins, unusual perceptual phenomena, etc).
In the field of science a "eureka" moment is a conceptual realization, and can be quite powerful. In one of Whitehead's books (Creation? Creativity? Something like that) he recounts several of the more famous eureka moments, like the guy who suddenly "saw" the molecular structure of the benzene ring. Many scientists have written about how stunned they were when the solution to some problem suddenly hit them.
These kinds of moments are trivial when compared to major existential realizations. Our ideas about the world are extremely powerful, and when they collapse and the obvious truth is seen, it can be an earthshaking event. When I look back, I can identify several very powerful realizations that changed my understanding of the world, and I'm sure you can, too. The big ones always caused me to laugh because the truth was so obvious compared to what I had previously thought.
I recently read about a guy who was a stockbroker who wasn't very happy with his work. It's a long story, but one day right out of the blue it suddenly dawned on him that he had always wanted to be an artist. He had become a stockbroker for a long list of reasons, ideas, events, and conditioning, and when it sudedenly dawned on him that he had always wanted to be an artist, he started laughing at the obviousness of it. He immediately quit his job, began doing art, and was happy as a clam. He suddenly got in touch with some deep truth of his being and it revolutionized his life. He realized that he didn't care anything about money; all he wanted to do was paint, sculpt, and draw, even if it meant being poor compared to being a rich stockbroker. This guy got in touch with something deeper than mind. Leading up to the moment of realization there was probably lots of internal questioning about the nature of his life, but the actual realization occurred suddenly.
Even this example is fairly trivial compared to breaking through the ingrained idea of an objective reality or the idea of selfhood. Those beliefs, and the conditioning behind them, are incredibly powerful, so when they are suddenly penetrated and the truth becomes obvious, the effect can be monumental.
The reason that shifting attention away from thoughts to what can be seen or heard is likely to trigger existential realizations is that ingrained patterns of thought are bypassed and something deeper becomes more accessible. Everyone already knows the answer to every question they have, but a certain amount of mental silence may be necessary to access those answers. This will vary from person to person.
In my case I had been utterly consumed with existential questioning for almost twenty years, so it only took a few months of formal meditation and internal silence for the truth to break to the surface, so to speak. To penetrate the big issues idle curiosity is not enough; the interest has to be all-consuming because the conditioning that needs to be penetrated is so powerful.
I've had a postural headache for almost six weeks, and that is something I've never previously experienced. This morning at 3AM I woke up and suddenly realized what is probably causing the headache (a combination of some prescribed drugs, the dosage of which was changed about six weeks ago).
These are minor examples compared to existential realizations because they don't affect strongly conditioned thought structures. The idea that there is an objective reality, and that we are separate entities existing in space and time, etc. are, by contrast, strongly held beliefs. Seeing through these kinds of ideas is a major brain revolution by comparison, and probably explains a lot of the phenomena associated with such realizations (euphoria triggered by the release of endorphins, unusual perceptual phenomena, etc).
In the field of science a "eureka" moment is a conceptual realization, and can be quite powerful. In one of Whitehead's books (Creation? Creativity? Something like that) he recounts several of the more famous eureka moments, like the guy who suddenly "saw" the molecular structure of the benzene ring. Many scientists have written about how stunned they were when the solution to some problem suddenly hit them.
These kinds of moments are trivial when compared to major existential realizations. Our ideas about the world are extremely powerful, and when they collapse and the obvious truth is seen, it can be an earthshaking event. When I look back, I can identify several very powerful realizations that changed my understanding of the world, and I'm sure you can, too. The big ones always caused me to laugh because the truth was so obvious compared to what I had previously thought.
I recently read about a guy who was a stockbroker who wasn't very happy with his work. It's a long story, but one day right out of the blue it suddenly dawned on him that he had always wanted to be an artist. He had become a stockbroker for a long list of reasons, ideas, events, and conditioning, and when it sudedenly dawned on him that he had always wanted to be an artist, he started laughing at the obviousness of it. He immediately quit his job, began doing art, and was happy as a clam. He suddenly got in touch with some deep truth of his being and it revolutionized his life. He realized that he didn't care anything about money; all he wanted to do was paint, sculpt, and draw, even if it meant being poor compared to being a rich stockbroker. This guy got in touch with something deeper than mind. Leading up to the moment of realization there was probably lots of internal questioning about the nature of his life, but the actual realization occurred suddenly.
Even this example is fairly trivial compared to breaking through the ingrained idea of an objective reality or the idea of selfhood. Those beliefs, and the conditioning behind them, are incredibly powerful, so when they are suddenly penetrated and the truth becomes obvious, the effect can be monumental.
The reason that shifting attention away from thoughts to what can be seen or heard is likely to trigger existential realizations is that ingrained patterns of thought are bypassed and something deeper becomes more accessible. Everyone already knows the answer to every question they have, but a certain amount of mental silence may be necessary to access those answers. This will vary from person to person.
In my case I had been utterly consumed with existential questioning for almost twenty years, so it only took a few months of formal meditation and internal silence for the truth to break to the surface, so to speak. To penetrate the big issues idle curiosity is not enough; the interest has to be all-consuming because the conditioning that needs to be penetrated is so powerful.
