What is it to be alert?

True alertness is the state of selflessness in which one is instantly and directly able to respond. This is the way things are reflected in a mirror, just exactly as they are. If one has something in one's mind, the outside world will not be reflected perfectly, nor will it be possible to respond at once. The practice od meditation is a way of realizing this truth: that the real acceptance of and response to the world has nothing to do with one's own judgement.