Q 12) Is organization distortion, or simply movement?

 

When we hear the words awareness and organization, the first thought that may come to our mind is this: if awareness is natural and spontaneous, then why do we sometimes feel that it has become organized? And if organization happens within awareness, is it a distortion or a natural movement?

Awareness is simply noticing our own experiences. Right now, as I am writing this article, I am sitting at a table on a chair, working on a laptop, and thinking about how to explain this question in simple words. I know all these moment-to-moment events. This knowing is awareness.

People often get too attracted to this word and feel that it is something mystical or special. But actually, it is something we experience all the time. A student may be sitting in a class, learning from the teacher, writing notes with his pen, and he might also feel sleepy. Simply knowing all these experiences is nothing but awareness.

Some kind of organization happens naturally within awareness. We cannot say that this organization is forceful or artificial; it simply happens due to the movement of experience. Yesterday I was cleaning the refrigerator. This involved first noticing the messiness in it, then gradually taking out the bad items, and finally placing everything back in an organized way. During this whole activity, awareness was not sitting like a manager trying to organize things. Rather, the organization happened naturally through the activity itself. All these actions appeared in an organized way within awareness. Awareness was simply knowing what was happening.

Another example is from yesterday when I was talking to a potential student client for my online classes. I was discussing with his parents the student’s strengths and weaknesses, the fee structure, class timings, and even negotiating the fees. All these events happened in an organized way automatically. I did not have to consciously think about organizing them. Simply being the knower of these activities allowed the organization to happen on its own.

Thoughts, plans, and decisions all appear within awareness just like clouds moving in the sky. The sky does not organize the clouds. Clouds simply appear and move in the sky. In the same way, thoughts, plans, and decisions appear within awareness.

Organization becomes distortion when we start forcing ideas that arise from imagination, fear, or rigid beliefs. For example, in the same interaction with the student’s parents, if I start thinking: What if the student doesn’t understand? What if the parents complain? What if everything goes wrong?—then these thoughts can create unnecessary tension in the mind. This is where distortion appears in awareness. Otherwise, organization is simply the natural movement of our daily life.

When we walk, our steps automatically coordinate with the movement of our legs, hands, and other parts of the body. Similarly, within awareness, many thoughts and actions organize themselves naturally. Awareness does not have to organize them intentionally. It is simply life moving.

Organization within awareness is just the natural movement of experience. Our thoughts organize different things, actions arrange things, plans appear, and decisions also happen. But awareness simply illumines them naturally, just like light illumines the objects in a room without any intention to control them.

Most of the time, our thoughts and perceptions are natural responses to situations, and they appear in an organized way automatically. Awareness is like a mirror—whatever comes in front of it gets reflected. Similarly, awareness illumines our moment-to-moment experiences.