Must've Been the Cookie

Last night I was riding in a bus with some friends when I remarked, as a conversational non sequitur, that many people who experience spiritual realization report that it feels like waking up from a dream. And they say the experience can be so subtle you might fail to notice the momentary shift.

My friends thought this must feel awfully strange, because the world seems so rock solid. I had to agree; my surroundings had never seemed more real and non-dream-like.

As the bus drove on, I gradually settled into a state of pure perception, with less and less post-processing of my moment-to-moment sensations. I let go. And I awoke. I yawned and stretched, and it wasn't until I'd lingered for a full two minutes in my bed at the Doubletree Hotel that I recalled what had happened. It was so subtle that I'd missed it.