Spiritual awakening is not about some big explosive shift in consciousness and that’s it; now you’re enlightened. Oftentimes when a person suddenly experiences an awakening or spiritual opening of some sorts, however small or big it is to experienced by the person, the ego takes ownership of it – and it’s important to be aware of the fact that even though we have an experience that shifts our whole perspective, the ego will still be there, and it will think that It has awakened if we’re not conscious enough to see it for what it is. The true spiritual path is not about avoiding pain and suffering and to always be in an everlasting happy and blissful state– that’s all the egos’ game. (And sales-pitch for enlightenment: “never be unhappy again” and “get what you want”). The ego is all about trying to do everything it can to avoid uncomfortable feelings and thoughts and to the ego spiritual awakening means to abide in an everlasting blissful state, a Nirvana-kind of place where there’s only clarity, love for all, and endless ecstasy. So often times when a person suddenly experiences an awakening or spiritual opening of some sorts, however small or big it is to experienced by the person, the ego takes ownership of it – The ego gets almost addicted to those experiences (spiritual ‘high’ states of mind), and keeps grasping after them, trying to re-create them and so on. Frenetically tapping on the meridian points or chanting mantras in order to create those good feeling places again and keeps looking for spiritual highs, just like an addict. “If I keep saying this mantra, I will get to that place again”, “If I mediate for hours everyday I will become free again”, “If I give up my desires I will be enlightened”, “If I cleanse my body I will get that feeling again, so I’ll fast for a week”, “If I surrender to the will of God I will get what I want”, “If I just get rid of the ego I will become enlightened”, and on and on it goes. In reality; you and I as persons can never ‘make’ any of those experiences happen, and actually, the more trying there is, the more we get nowhere – the more stuck we remain in ego-land. Just ask yourself, and I mean really ask (don’t just think it) Who is it that wants those experiences? Who/what is that..? Feel into that question, let it sink in and really listen to what comes up. Sometimes people share with me some spiritual experience they had years ago and all this time up until now they have wanted to get that experience again and they have tried all kinds of things to get them again and sometimes when I say that those experiences really don’t mean anything (they are not meant to be held on to and we don’t even have to understand them with our minds) and that they will come and go, they get offended, and their ego gets threatened and defensive. Only people who are willing to go beyond experiences (no matter how profound they are) will ever get anywhere in their own evolution. Ultimately all will wake up of course, but many people are not aware of the fact that awakening is from the ego; it’s not the person who wakes up. So it’s ridiculous if you think about it; the ego (the person we think we are) trying to both become awakened and get rid of itself, at the same time! So just because one has had a spiritual experience it doesn’t mean that they are ‘chosen’ – and I have heard people say that too, people writing to me as if we’re in some kind of enlightenment-club together and we are the chosen ones that shall save the world. Someone gets a spiritual experience and boom! They think they are chosen by God and now they are very excited and they want to share it with the world as in “I’m special, I have had this wonderful experience of oneness, so let me save you now you poor little sucker..“ When the ego thinks it’s enlightened, it’s very difficult to get through to that person, it’s just not going to listen. It’s just going to keep seeking for those highs, wanting them again, and it will throw fits at times out of frustration, decades can go by and they are still in that place of wanting – while at the same time ‘trying’ to be spiritually noble (“I’m very, very compassionate and caring spiritual person”) and even the surrendering always has an agenda! Spiritual surrender is about letting go of the will completely – and expecting nothing in return! That whatever comes, however Life decides to move – the ego will not protest, at all. The ego’s image of being enlightened is a glorified picture; it may include getting recognition from the world, specialness by being ‘somebody’, while Life may very well put us in a position that is less desired by the ego. We can never know. We may be called to do something that we could not have ever even thought of before. Something that gives us no recognition or specialness at all. It will just feel natural and obvious to us – but it may not mean that we are called to be some kind of saviors of the world. We will be at service yes, but it may very well be in so called “small” ways (small to the ego) that are not even recognized by anyone – we might not even get a thank you, but the difference is that we don’t care about those things anymore. We come from a totally different place and we really don’t care who sees it or doesn’t see it. Bliss is certainly a bi-product of awakening and it’s definitely what we will experience at times, but that’s not all there is to it. The human-ness will still play out its role, although from a completely different perspective. (Spirit) All those wonderful experiences of bliss, oneness and truth can never be manufactured by the mind, we can never make them happen by will or effort. Only by remaining totally honest with ourselves and turning within with a sincere desire to know truth, to the point that nothing else matters, will we ever find true peace and freedom. By being in a constant state of curiosity without trying to get anything out of it will we realize the peace that is already here. Not by any egoic agenda whatsoever. When all we want is truth – without grasping it; wanting it without wanting it, and that can’t be manipulated by any means. Knowing that experiences will always come and go, just like any other experiences we have in life, and by letting them come and go as they do we remain open and receptive to the flow of Life.
Posted on: Tue, 25 Jun 2013 01:06:10 +0000
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