This is sooooo not what I thought it would be or what I was expecting it to be, this whole awakening thing.
It feels like I’m being wiped out, deleted, cleansed away, the little “me” anyways. I’m not completely done by any stretch of the imagination, but rather right in the midst of the process.
Alright, let’s get straight to the point. How do you actually do this? How do you get enlightened?
There’s so many gurus we can follow, all of whom give similar instructions, but they’re all variations on a theme. What’s the best path? The fastest path? The path that’s most appropriate for me? Is there even a best/fastest/right path at all?
How do you get enlightened? Let’s strip away the fluff and look at the core instructions on exactly HOW to do it as instructed from a variety of teachers:
People talk about having a “spiritual awakening” and being a “conscious being,” but what does this really mean?
Awakening and consciousness are words that attempt to define the undefinable, so it’s only natural that there will be numerous definitions and descriptions of awakening and consciousness. Not only this, but the word means different things at different points along the spiritual path so not everyone is always talking about the same thing.
Some people use the term “awakening” to mean that I am awake and not being currently controlled by the ego. If I’m Present in the Now, I am awake, but this is only one stage in the process of awakening.
I actually use the word “awakening” to mean something very different. In my vocabulary, it is synonymous with “enlightenment.” It means to realize your true nature, not just intellectually, but to actually BE it. It is a radical shift of identity that involves the direct realization of the nonexistence of the “me” that I think I am. It is the direct experience of Oneness and Infinity/Nothingness as One’s actual Reality.
Let’s take a look at several different stages of awakening.
The following is not by any means an all-inclusive list, but it does highlight some of the common stages along the path to enlightenment.
Last night I listened to an Adyashanti satsang called “The Three Phases of Awakening” and in his talk, he brought up some traps which really resonate with me, traps which I’ve found myself getting caught in.
The trap is that once you get a taste of the Absolute and realize that all is perfect, then who cares about the world of the Relative because it’s all perfect anyways. Who cares because it’s all an illusion? At this point, you even have the choice to sit back let the body waste away and not really engage the world because hey, it’s already perfect. What more could I do?
Let’s examine this together and see exactly what’s going on.
Many of us have a fear of death, yet there’s another fear that’s not talked about as often: fear of life. For some people, fear of life is even more intense than fear of death.
It’s like when we’re born, there’s all these bright lights, people pulling us this way or pushing us that way, lots of commotion, and then we get slapped. What an entrance. Perhaps there’s a part of us that says, “Man, I don’t like life. It was better before I was born. All of the sudden I’m suffering.”
It’s almost like some people don’t like life right from the get-go and this never quite heals.
This is a very common experience for people since life can be so unpleasant. Some people will try to escape life through drugs, alcohol, music, sex, food, sleeping, or whatever other distraction works for them.
Perhaps people get into spirituality with the hope that when they become enlightened, life will suddenly become magical and wonderful. It will be the solution to all my problems!
So they take this (inaccurate) idea with them, proceed down the spiritual path, and eventually they find themselves abiding in the Absolute reality.
In the Absolute, everything is as it is. Perfection is. What we call “real life” is seen to be totally an illusion and nothing really happens. Everything just is. It’s pure beingness. There’s nothing we could do to make life better or worse. Even the Hitler’s and diseases of the world are seen to be part of the perfection.
Now it is true that the world we live in is illusion and ultimately unreal, but there is still an element of experiential reality to it, is there not? It’s like, no matter how enlightened you are, if you get hit in the head with a hammer, it’s still gonna hurt.
The understanding that this world is an illusion and not real is an excellent instructional understanding, but there’s still a sense of practicality that needs to be integrated alongside this understanding. This is the part where we become “in this world, but not of it.” Rather than abiding in the Absolute as a way to escape the life of suffering, we recognize that All That Is INCLUDES the world of the relative, illusion or not. Read More …
Hi Ariel,
I was just wondering about this. I was fine with my understanding of non-attachment until this particular idea came and I’ve now confused myself…
I assume that the whole idea of incarnating is to grow and evolve and express your true essence.
And if we are not challenged, we have no impetus to grow.
So if we are truly operating from the Higher Self, making the perfect choices, and being detached from the outcomes, how does growth happen???
Maybe from a non-dual perspective it probably doesn’t matter, but it’s not clear why…
Your ideas on this would be appreciated.
Blessings
B.
Great question. So if our intuition is constantly guiding us, how does growth happen?
Effortlessly. At its own perfect pace.
You see, there comes to point whereby people find that using their own free will will never actually bring them happiness and lasting fulfillment, no matter how hard they try.
With the surrender of the personal will, the body moving, consciousness evolving, choices being made… all of that stuff happens seemingly on its own. In fact, it is only by truly letting go of the illusion of free will that you can be guided by spiritual (God’s) will.
We all have an inner voice, a silent still voice, that always knows what’s best to do. When we come totally from that voice without needing the mind’s second opinion, life seems to operate from a state of flow at its own perfect time. You “just know” the right choices to make.
The voice is NOT separate from you. That voice literally IS another aspect of you, just like the mind or the body. The voice IS you. It’s not some God “out there” somewhere.
Awakening into this experience and letting go of the illusion of free will does not mean that you become a bump on a log, a useless sack of meat and bones.
Quite the opposite in fact. Read More …
Dear Ariel,
I’ve been reading the descriptions of people’s experiences with their energy or their chakras and it’s more intense than anything I have experienced.
Is it that some people are more sensitive than others?
Or do my chakras need more work?I meditate 2-3 times a day and go to a meditation class once a week, I copied the affirmations of the lower 4 chakras on some flash cards and keep them in my wallet, I wear a pendant with some crystals in it all the time, and ive been reading lots of Eckhart Tolle.
I’ve been putting in more work than thought.
Thanks,
T.
Hey T, it sounds like you’re turning spirituality into a goal, a path, a quest. Enlightenment is not a goal.
If you’re looking for enlightenment, ALL it comes down to is Self-realization. Realizing your true nature. That’s IT.
All the “stuff” we try to do is ultimately a distraction in the end.
Working with energy is very similar. You can place your attention there, but it’s not something to grunt and struggle with. Energy flows better when one lets go.
In the physical world, the harder we push, the more work we do, traditionally speaking.
In the energetic domain, it’s the exact opposite. It’s about surrender, letting go, and releasing all resistances. It’s about allowing not pushing, almost like being a straw through which life energy can flow. It’s YANG by intention but actually YIN in operation.
Basically don’t try so hard and just allow it. Surrender to it totally. Live the lifestyle of balanced chakras.
Open chakras, knowing who you are, balanced energy… all that stuff is your NATURAL state. It’s not something we have to do. We only have to STOP doing all the hub-bub that is covering up and blocking our natural state.
You’ve been studying chakras so look at the affirmations associated with the chakras. They’re about letting go of resistance, trusting the universe, allowing yourself to Love. It’s not about trying to do stuff or forcing your chakras to open. You can’t force your way into heaven/enlightenment/balanced chakras.
Things like crystals may certainly interact with your energy body and have a positive influence in many areas of your life, but they’re just one part of the equation.
In my experience, the best “tool” for opening chakras is simply the power of intention.
Mentally and energetically intend to open your chakras, to live from the frames that are associated with each chakra such as abundance, compassion, or inner strength, and then go out and live that life.
As the Law of Attraction teaches us, our energetic experience of life is greatly in tune with our mental thoughts and intentions.
Sure some people are naturally more in tune with their body, but developing these abilities is something that any of us can do. All it takes is some knowledge, practice, and willingness to let go.
Thanks for your question.
It’s funny how many of us turn enlightenment into some accomplishment to achieve, like earning a million dollars. “Just tell me what to do, what formula I need to apply in life, and then I’ll get to experience myself being enlightened!”
Yet it turns out that the very search for enlightenment is precisely what keeps us from realizing that we are already exactly what we are looking for.
The “task,” if you will, is not to go search for some goal “out there,” but to simply look within and realize our True Nature, of who you actually are.
The mind will never give us the right answer. It’s designed to literally “make up” answers through the power of our wonderful imaginations. It will make up a story that says we’re NOT enlightened and thus we must do something or go somewhere to find enlightenment.
What we are looking for is located somewhere beyond the imaginative mind, in the most obvious place possible: YOU ARE WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR!
I just finished listening to an audio program by Adyashanti entitled The End of Your World. It couldn’t have come at a more perfect time.
If you have experienced a temporary awakening to your True nature and had an actual glimpse of Oneness as the ultimate reality, this is a very helpful program to listen to.
What I found for myself through this program was that it cleared up many confusing experiences I’ve been having, answered many questions, and showed me that everything that is being experienced is going perfectly according to plan. There’s nothing wrong with anything happening in my life.
One of the main things I realized from his explanations was that despite the fact that we tend to think there is this magical experience called “Enlightenment” where we finally hit it and we’re set for life, just coasting in this stage of awesomeness.
I’ve had one or two glimpses up to this point, before listening to the program, of experiencing the Divine as the One and the All. The “problem” was first that it feels like something wrong happened causing me to reidentify with the ego and almost “falling out” of enlightenment.
Second, there’s this certain level of confusion because on one level you know, you KNOW, that everything the mind is telling you is completely bogus. It’s literally 0% True. Nevertheless, you buy into the thoughts anyways. 
It’s somewhat of a disconcerting feeling.
He describes awakening as a maturation process and gives a metaphor of a rocket ship. When someone first experiences awakening, very often there’s a sense of lifting off the ground, so to speak, rocketing up into the heavens, and almost running out of fuel and crashing back to the ground.
The temporary awakening may be for just a moment, a few days, or even a matter of months. The rocket has not yet gone beyond the earth’s gravitational pull to where it can simply coast on to freedom.
This program is geared towards people who have already experienced a temporary awakening, yet it would be valuable for anyone looking for enlightenment.
Why? This program will help you understand more accurately what you’re getting into, realize certain expectations you may have about enlightenment that are distortions from it’s actually about, and prepare you for what is to come without getting unconsciously ensnared by some of the ego’s most subtle tricks.
For more information, or to purchase this audio program, head over to Amazon and/or Sounds True Audio.
Namaste.
