You have heard words like clairvoyant — clear seeing. Clear hearing, clear knowing, clear feeling. They sound like gifts for a chosen few, something mystical or even magical. I have come to believe they are simpler and kinder than that: clarity is something all of us have, buried under filters we built as children.
Clarity is what remains when words are deconstructed
Clarity is not a technique for seeing more. It is what is left when a word stops doing your seeing for you. Each deconstructed word — its judgment removed, its emotion named, its opposite recognized — is one less filter between you and reality. This is why so many traditions work on language itself: the cloud is made of words, so the clearing must happen word by word.
How the cloud forms
When you learned language, you learned labels, stories, judgments, and emotions to attach to them. That model became "reality" — and the broader, direct experience of reality faded behind it. Every adult lives with this clouding. Spiritual awakening, in large part, is clearing it back out: deconstructing the words, the interpretations, the judgments and emotions layered on top of what you actually see and hear and feel.
As the filters thin, perception changes. You see a person behaving a certain way and you understand, almost immediately, what they are feeling and why. You know when to be compassionate and when to set a boundary — not because you studied them, but because you stopped clouding them with your judgment. It can feel almost magical. It is not magic. It is clarity.
And if God is speaking?
If you believe God made reality and speaks within it, consider: clouded words and a clouded inner world can block that voice like static. Clearing your judgments — of yourself, of others, of the situation in front of you — is also a way of listening. Give the judgments up. Let your awareness stay with what is actually here.
In my own words
Key lines from Wake Me Up, lightly punctuated from the transcript so they read as I spoke them:
“Clarity is a superpower.”
“Is this some mystical, magical, superhuman power — are they a witch? No. This is something that all of us have. All of us can experience and see far more than we typically do.”
“These are just human abilities. These are human abilities that all of us have and cloud naturally as we develop, and it needs to be cleared out. All of our misconceptions and judgments need to be cleared out for us to achieve clarity.”
“When you deconstruct the words and your filtering and interpretations and judgments and emotions on the words, your whole experience becomes clearer.”
“You do not have these filters between you and reality. … If you are filtering God’s reality, your clouded vision, your clouded words and your clouded inner world are blocking God’s voice from reaching you.”
“Clarity: washing away all the judgments of yourself and them. Give them all up to God so that you can have clarity, so that when you see something going on, you don’t cloud your awareness with judgment.”
“And it is almost magical how much more effective you can be with this clarity. But it’s not magic. It’s mystical.”
One small practice
Pick one ordinary thing — a bird, a tree, a face. Spend one quiet minute with it before naming. When a word arrives, do not obey it. Deconstruct it on the spot: what judgment is in it, what emotion, what opposite? Then return to color, movement, sound, texture — the experience the word was about to replace. One minute of that is a real taste of clarity.
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A gentle note: this guide shares my experience and is not medical or mental-health advice. If you are struggling, please reach out to a trusted person or professional in your life.