The other day I was sitting in a coffee shop and overheard a conversation by some high schoolers, probably juniors or seniors. They were talking about how sophomores would look down upon the freshman and say things like, “stupid freshman,” and these kids were taken aback by this statement, pointing out these sophomores were freshman too not too long ago, and now they had turned against what used to be their own kind.
This pattern is pretty common, isn’t it? Although being a freshman is a necessary bridge that leads to being a sophomore, like all stepping stones they are needed until they no longer are. But what good does it do to invalidate that stepping stone just because you are no longer there?
If you like where you are now, why not simply recognize that that stepping stone, that bridge was necessary to get to where you are now. In this recognition, there is a feeling of gratitude and a sense of respect towards others who are walking the path you, too, once walked.
When you realize it’s a dream, you can afford to play. The same thing happens when you realize that ordinary life is just a dream, just a movie, just a play. You don’t become more cautious, more timid, more reserved. You start jumping up and down and doing flips, precisely because it’s all a dream, it’s all pure Emptiness. You don’t feel less, you feel more—because you can afford to. You are no longer afraid of dying, and therefore you are not afraid of living. You become radical and wild, intense and vivid, shocking and silly. You let it all come pouring through, because it’s all your dream. Life then assumes its true intensity, its vivid luminosity, its radical effervescence. Pain is more painful and happiness is happier; joy is more joyous and sorrow is even sadder. It all comes radiantly alive to the mirror-mind, the mind that doesn’t grasp or avoid, but simply witnesses the play, and therefore can afford to play, even as it watches.
-Ken Wilber
When I graduated from college, I deliberated decided not to get a job and do the whole career thing and instead devote myself fully to my spirituality, to really getting this whole enlightenment thing down.
Now, 3 years later, I have come to several conclusions.
One of the hardest things for some egos to accept is that they may be wrong, that what they strongly believe or the way they perceive things to be may not actually be the way things really are. As it turns out, there is tremendous freedom in allowing yourself to be wrong, and in fact that willingness allows something deeper to awaken, something that simply knows and exists outside the game of right and wrong entirely.
Below is a video post I recently created on the topic of being wrong.
Note: I’ve set it to play in HD quality by default, so for those of you who are on a low-bandwidth connection, when you hit the play button, fiddle with the HD button and make sure it’s black (off) so that you download the faster and lower quality version. (If you could let me know in the comments what you did to play the low quality version, that’d be awesome. You may need to turn it on and off. Thank you.)
For those of you who prefer reading, let’s summarize what was covered in the video here.
So when you heard about spiritual awakening or enlightenment, what was the prize that you wanted in the end? What was the story that got you hooked?
Perhaps it was something about experiencing endless bliss and joy, or maybe it was the end of suffering, or perhaps it was about experiencing constant Oneness with the Divine. Maybe it was the answer to all your life’s questions.
It may be something else entirely, but whatever the case may be, I’m sure the bait was very shiny and attractive, yes?
It turns out that they don’t give you the full story when you start playing the game. What I’m about to share isn’t meant to discourage people on the path, but simply to help them be conscious if and when these things start occurring. These things don’t necessarily mean that something has gone wrong, although it may certainly seem that way. A helpful book to those who are experiencing the following symptoms is You’re Not Going Crazy… You’re Just Waking Up!
Now, if spiritual awakening was to come with a series of warning labels, what would be printed on those labels?
The other day I was listening to a youtube video and there was a blip in the recording to where the words “me” and “ego” got mashed together and sounded like “mego.”
How perfect! An ego is like a mego! It’s like people have their own little mego’s running around. Do you have a mego?
Wait.. a mego? Amigo! A friend!
The ego is like your friend. He wants to keep you safe, give you advice, and alert you of danger in the world. He’s like a lookout, but sometimes he can be a bit overprotective and paranoid. Have you noticed that?
The problem is that we think we actually have to listen to our friend all the time. In fact, we’ve listened to him so much that we’ve forgotten that we are actually here listening to him independent of the words, and have effectively handed over our decision making to the chattery friend doling out protective advice!
The thing is though, we are not our friend. We are the one watching our friend talk. We are the one listening to our friend speak.
You are not your amigo. You are the one aware of your amigo being who he is.
Your amigo is your friend, here to help you separate yourself from perceived danger, but your amigo is not you. You don’t have to kill your amigo. Just recognize you’re not him and he’s not you.
Simple say, “Hey, I’m not that voice in my head. Not a single thing that the voice in my head says is actually me talking. Here I am, listening, and there is my friend, talking. If I want, I can simply stop listening and pay attention to something else, like the listening itself. I can be more interested in awareness itself, which is what I’m doing, than the words that are being spoken, for the words being spoken by someone else. The words I hear are never what I am! No thought or idea can ever actually be who I am. Here I am, regardless of if my amigo understands something or not! Here I am!”
That’s it. Complete and total disidentification with the little voice in your idea.
It seems like one can reach a point where this Love no longer really disappears. Instead of fear replacing Love, it merely attempts to cloud over it at best with things such as painbody attacks or whatever else, yet this fear can never fully override love, despite the fact that it may look like it on the surface. Just like on a cloudy day, you can still notice the way the sun makes the clouds glow from behind. The sun doesn’t fully disappear anymore.
Have you ever noticed how the ego really likes to juice negative situations? It’s like it derives a certain sense of satisfaction out of stewing in anger about a situation, regretting the past, worrying about the future, wallowing in sadness or self-pity, exacting revenge on another, and so on. You know.. typical ego “stuff.” It’s almost like a “guilty pleasure,” in a sense. If we’re honest with ourselves, even though we know it’s bad, on another level it can still feel oh so good…
Yet even though this “bad” stuff is happening, Unconditional Love is always here. This Presence, whatever it is, is undeniable.
Because it becomes so obvious and everpresent, it may begin to feel like a burden to the ego, like a thorn that just won’t go away. No longer can you sit in your own self-created pile of poo, ignoring Love. Logically we wouldn’t want to do that of course, but it can feel comforting to rest in our ego. There’s a sense of familiarity in it if it’s what we’re used to.
With sincere devotion to Truth/God/Love, it’s like its presence can no longer be suppressed and will continue to power its way through your crap, as if it is here burn through your junk. No longer do you have the luxury of ignoring it and pretending it doesn’t exist. And this is so fortunate, as uncomfortable as it may be to surrender away yet another layer of crud.
This Unconditional Love that arises is not really a choice. It’s not a decision. It’s neither logical nor illogical. It simply Loves because that’s what Unconditional Love does. It is its nature. There is no other option. This Love just powers its way through what you think you are, transmuting everything into itself. In shines from within, transforming everything it touches as it radiates both through your body and out into the world. This Love is not always soft and quiet. No no. It can also be quite intense and powerful as well.
Unconditional Love itself, its very presence, is very upending to one’s ego. It’s like it’s shaking the ego from its comfortable position on its throne. Who’s gonna get to sit in the throne? Love or fear?
If you surrender and let this game of fear vs. love happen, well, let’s just say that love is a big girl and she can take care of herself.
Yet another experiential thingy that can be experienced in this singular timeless moment.
For some reason there is the belief in the human mind that physical reality is what’s real, but it is nothing more than just a belief. It’s the illusion.
When awareness gets amped up and it’s realized there is nothing but awareness, the content that awareness focuses on feels so… empty and light.
Everything is nothing.
What’s the difference between physical reality, imagination, the dream world we visit at night, wherever we go after we die, locations experienced when astrally projecting, experiences that arise in deep states of meditation, and everything else?
The rules are different. Certain laws, like the laws of physics, may apply in one place and not another. Certain colors and forms and shapes appear in one and not another, but that’s about it. They’re all just different illusions appearing within awareness. They’re all like different movies that awareness can watch.
Awareness is.
and awareness is SO much more real than any observable reality.
Now as you guys probably know, my awakening is occurring with many glimpses and whatnot. There’s a whole bunch of non-abiding awakenings. For a while my mind said it was b/c I kept doing something wrong.. yet I’m starting to see what a tremendous gift this is.
For example, in an post that forum member Lee started on Transparency, I shared how my sense of transparency was temporary. Lee has shared her abiding experience as well, and I invite you to check out her explanation too.
The cool thing about these repeated non-abiding awakenings is that without a sense of false self, I get to watch it try to be created again and again and see exactly how the “me” gets hooked right back into existence.
It’s literally getting watch creation happen right before my eyes.
It’s like watching a sports play on instant replay again and again and seeing what I missed the first couple of times.
You Are Truly Loved features content designed to guide people towards enlightenment, unconditional love, and living a life of joy through Self-realization and proper application of the Law of Attraction.
How’s this for a wonderful little play on words? 
It seems like one can reach a point where this Love no longer really disappears. Instead of fear replacing Love, it merely attempts to cloud over it at best with things such as painbody attacks or whatever else, yet this fear can never fully override love, despite the fact that it may look like it on the surface. Just like on a cloudy day, you can still notice the way the sun makes the clouds glow from behind. The sun doesn’t fully disappear anymore.
