Clearing Clouds, Wiping Dust

Awakening – as a knowing – is already difficult.
As an experience, it is even harder.

Only a tiny fraction of humanity throughout history has ever truly touched it. Something so rare has naturally invited an enormous outpouring of words, time, and effort – all trying to grasp it.

Dreamy Đà Lạt No. 9
Oil on Canvas. 80 x 120 cm.

Precisely because it’s rare, it is also easy to misunderstand. If awakening were something one could “learn,” “buy,” or “attain,” then perhaps that percentage would be much higher. If it were easy, it wouldn’t be such an enduring mystery to the world.

And that’s why awakening can only be one of two things: it either is, or it isn’t. There’s no such thing as “becoming awakened,” or “gradual awakening.”

At its deepest level, awakening is not a “process” – not like acquiring a skill or climbing a ladder. No one becomes awakened, because awakening does not exist within time. There is no before or after.

It happens – like lightning.
It switches on – like light.
It’s like being asleep… and suddenly, you’re not.

But because we live within time, our experience of awakening often feels like a journey. People say “I’m awakening slowly,” not because awakening comes in parts, but because the veil of ignorance lifts gradually – layer by layer. We see more clearly. We recognize more deeply. But that clarity – that pure knowing – has always been there. It doesn’t increase or decrease.

The sun is always there. But if it’s hidden behind clouds, we don’t see it. As the clouds begin to dissolve, we say “the light is coming.” But the sun never became brighter. It has always been bright.

So yes, awakening is not a process. But experiencing it, as a human being, may appear as one.

You cannot “learn” how to awaken. But you can learn how not to block it. No more clinging. No more identification. No more bracing against life.

Then that clarity reveals itself. Like a mirror, wiped clean of dust. It doesn’t become a mirror. It has always been a mirror.

So what are these clouds that obscure the sun?

They are not bad. They’re simply patterns of perception – habits of mind formed since childhood.

They are clouds of concepts: Who am I? How should I be? What should life look like?

Clouds of memory: Wounds, failures, praise, rejection.

Clouds of desire and fear: Chasing what soothes us, avoiding what hurts.

Clouds of identification: With our roles, names, appearances, achievements, even with the pain we carry.

These clouds don’t need to be fought. Just seen. And once seen, the light behind them becomes visible again.

And the dust that covers the clear mirror – what is that?

If clouds are fleeting and changing, dust settles and stays. Dust is the repetition of unconscious reactions. It is old defense mechanisms: Staying quiet to avoid pain. Smiling to be loved. Tensing up to not seem weak. It is false beliefs: That we must prove our worth to deserve existence. That we are never enough.

Dust settles on the mirror of awareness. And you don’t need to polish the mirror. You just need to stop letting more dust settle.

The most important job in life is not being a CEO, a director, a novelist, or an artist. It is to clear the clouds. And wipe the dust.

Perhaps… the light was never absent. We’ve just walked through so many seasons without noticing we were standing in the sun.

At its deepest level, awakening is not a “process” – not like acquiring a skill or climbing a ladder. No one becomes awakened, because awakening does not exist within time. There is no before or after.