Man is biologically predestined to construct and to inhabit a world with others. This world becomes for him the dominant and definite reality. Its limits are set by nature, but, once constructed, this world acts back upon nature. In the dialectic between nature and the socially constructed world the human organism itself is transformed. In this same dialectic man produces reality and thereby produces himself.
-Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann, The Social Construction of Reality
Joseph Goldstein speaks of the Third Noble Truth - the cessation of suffering - as a state of profound freedom. He describes it as "liberation through non-clinging" and "the unshakable deliverance of mind." This state, he tells us, is not dependent on external circumstances but arises from a fundamental shift in our relationship to experience.
Berger and Luckmann, in their seminal work, argue that what we consider "reality" is largely a social construction - a product of shared meanings, institutions, and practices that we collectively create and maintain. They suggest that our understanding of the world is not fixed or inevitable, but malleable and open to change. Both perspectives invite us to question our habitual ways of perceiving and interacting with the world. Goldstein speaks of the power of mindfulness to see through our conditioned responses, while Berger and Luckmann highlight how our social realities are constructed through ongoing processes of externalization, objectivation, and internalization.
Goldstein introduces us to the concept of "sudden awakening, gradual cultivation" - the idea that we might have moments of profound insight, but that these need to be integrated and stabilized through ongoing practice. This resonates with Berger and Luckmann's understanding of how new social realities can emerge and become institutionalized over time. Both traditions remind us that our experience of reality is not fixed or predetermined. The Buddhist teachings suggest that through practice, we can come to see the empty, aware nature of mind itself. Berger and Luckmann argue that by understanding the socially constructed nature of reality, we open up possibilities for social change. As we navigate the complexities of our world, these teachings offer us a path to greater freedom and agency. They challenge us to look beyond our habitual patterns of perception and interaction, inviting us into a more spacious way of being.
In the words of Joseph Goldstein, we're invited to recognize that "the not-finding is the finding" - that in looking for a fixed, inherent self or reality, we discover something much more open and full of potential. This aligns beautifully with Berger and Luckmann's insight that our social realities, while often appearing solid and inevitable, are in fact ongoing human creations. As we conclude, I invite you to reflect on how you might bring this understanding into your own life. How might you cultivate an awareness of both the constructed nature of your social reality and the open, aware nature of your own mind? And how might this awareness contribute to creating more compassionate, just, and liberating realities for yourself and others?
The Cessation of Dukkha
A Dharma Talk by Joseph Goldstein
When we look for the mind and can’t find it-in that understanding of its empty aspect, it's already pacified. And what's so interesting about this for me in that moment - not finding, already pacified - that is the moment of the mind free from craving. And this is where all the traditions just seem to all come together in their understanding of the nature of the free mind: the vocabulary is different, the metaphysics may be different, but the nature of freedom is the same.
Meditation Practice
When we step outside the usual temporal framework, we're also stepping outside the socially constructed notions of time that organize our daily lives. The dissolution of individual identity boundaries in this state suggests a freedom from the socially defined roles and categories that typically shape our sense of self.
Berger and Luckmann write, "Reality is socially constructed and the sociology of knowledge must analyze the process in which this occurs." The pure consciousness experience offers a unique vantage point from which to observe this process. In this state, we may glimpse a reality unconditioned by our usual social constructs, a freedom from the narratives and identities we've internalized through social interaction.
This experience of freedom, however fleeting, can be transformative. It suggests that our usual sense of self and reality, while deeply ingrained, is not fixed or inevitable. Just as Berger and Luckmann argue that society is a human product that then acts back upon its creators, this glimpse of pure consciousness can act back upon our everyday awareness, opening up new possibilities for how we understand ourselves and our world.
The challenge, then, is to bring this understanding back into our socially constructed reality. How might we live differently if we truly internalized the insight that our sense of self and time are, to a large extent, social constructions? How might it change our interactions, our institutions, our very sense of what's possible?
I intend to notice the subtle ways I construct my reality through habitual patterns of thought and perception.
