Awake in the Night Where All Others Sleep
Where all beings see night and sleep, the self-governed one is awake; and what all others see as day and chase, to that one is like night.
Do I chase what everyone chases and sleep to what everyone sleeps to, never once truly awake on my own?
📝Reflection
This verse makes me ask what it truly means to be awake. The old teacher calls awake the one who passes by, unmoved, what the world chases, and sees alone what the world cannot see. It is not the arrogance of wanting to differ, but the eye that sees for itself without being swept along by the crowd. It is the same ground where Buddhism speaks of one awake among the sleeping. Before what everyone takes for granted and pursues, I cultivate the wakefulness to ask myself once, 'Is this really it?'
🌱Apply It Today
If you are about to do something today just because 'everyone does,' pause and ask, 'Do I truly want this too?'
This verse is read as universal humanistic wisdom, not religion — no faith is promoted, and the reflection is 100% original ONGO content.
