“Life is a journey” - a series of steps toward something greater.
Yet this idea of a “journey” is a subtle way the mind shifts from presence into thought, creating a sense of movement or distance where, in direct experience, there is none.
Overlooking “This”
In truth, there’s nothing to journey toward; there’s only this immediate, seamless, whole experience. The concept of a journey implies an arrival, but any destination is just another presently experienced thought, layered onto presence. Even in the ‘background’ - the idea of a journey or purpose inherently adds a sense of lack, a belief that a fulfillment or something better is being created or lies just out of reach.
This “journey” isn’t an actual path; it’s an abstraction - a way the mind overlays or obscures the reality of direct experience. The simplicity of This doesn’t need progress, growth, or unfolding; it just inherently is, as it is. Whether through personal growth, political change, or collective evolution, each story layer only seems to separate what’s already whole, perpetuating the search for “better”, in an illusion of beyond This.
Reification in Action: Politics, Evolution, and Relationships
In politics, - a narrative of a journey toward an ideal society. Each campaign, ideology, or movement seems like a step toward a better world or life, yet these ideas are just conceptualizations - aversion from, and not direct engagement with reality. This view misses the interconnectedness already present, reducing life to labels and agendas, reinforcing separation and an illusory identity therein - and though perhaps unseen… this is felt nonetheless.
Similarly, the concept of “human progress” suggests a journey toward something higher. Yet this notion of advancement shifts focus from the immediate miracle of life, from direct experience, to an imagined path. These interpretations add layers of meaning & purpose to what is already unfolding as direct experience - creating the illusion of a world or universe “beyond” it.
In relationships, too, the idea of “working toward” an ideal connection creates a subtle but illusory separation. Rather than directly allowing and experiencing connection, ideas of growth or improvement are clung to, as if relating is something to be achieved rather than simply & presently lived & fully enjoyed.
Why Reification Arises
Reification arises from the mind’s craving for structure, purpose and explanation, imposing ‘order’ & causation upon what’s already naturally free. The journey narrative offers a sense of control, continuity and coherence - for the presumed separate self of the very same apparent activity of thought. This ‘looping-drive’ reflects a constant overlooking of simplicity, a subtle move to make the boundless feel manageable by mentally, conceptually, dividing it into parts or steps.
Living Without the Journey
Seeing through the illusion of the journey reveals that no path, progression, or destination can add to or take away from what already is.
Living without the journey allows each experience as it were - to be just as it is - free from ideas or narratives of progress or lack. Here, frameworks and paths lose their weight. Pressure, urgency, expectation and a sense of confinement and the resistance felt therein - naturally fall away. Everything simply arises and dissolves within the same presence - enjoyed as it is, unburdened by becoming or achieving.
To live without the journey is to rest in the immediacy of & as oneself, the gentle, pure freedom of being, free from concepts of beginning, end, or in-between. Nothing is ever missing; only the fullness of This remains, whole and unbroken.