Awakening has nothing to do with the achievement of a special state of consciousness. It has everything to do with presence and openness.
When you live as presence and openness - in all ways and always - you are the light of the world. You haven't achieved a special state of consciousness or become saintly … but something has been purified inside. It is your heart that is purified. It is purified because in presence and openness you are no longer projecting your unconscious beliefs onto the world. In other words, you are no longer coming to a conclusion about the world. And when I say the world, I mean everything … your relationships, your work, your body, everything that you relate to, everything that you experience to do with your personal life as well as to do with the global collective situation. When you come to conclusions about what you see, about what you feel, about what you experience, you are polluting the world. You are polluting the world because you're adding to the argument … you’re adding to the division. When you come to a conclusion, you have to take a position. It's this position or that position. It’s either a good position or a bad position. In this way, you add to the weight of divisiveness in the world.
When you meet the world without division, when you simply meet the world without coming to a conclusion, then there is no pollution. This doesn't mean you lose discernment. This doesn't mean you lose objective clear seeing when you see injustice, when you see abuse, whether it's in your personal relationship or whether it's in the wider global arena. It doesn't mean you turn a blind eye and say, “Well I'm not coming to a conclusion la, la, la.” No. It means you see and you feel, you let it penetrate you all the way. You let that injustice, you let that suffering penetrate you all the way so it pierces your heart open .. and remains open. From this place you can respond intelligently, not reactively.
When you react, when there's a knee jerk reaction, a knee jerk conclusion, this is pollution, not truth. Truth is clear-seeing and the absence of resistance to what is. From this place there is either movement - we can also call it intelligent response - or there is no movement, just stillness, just silence and just an open heart. Movement or no movement .. it is right action when it arises out of an inner environment that is free of the pollution of conclusion, position or opinion.
This changes everything. This changes you. And it changes the world.