Peace is Within

    Our, 'How are you?' is often answered with, 'Not bad' or 'No use complaining.' Most of us generally feel EITHER "Normal! - Just our usual 'ordinary unhappiness,'" OR Bad! - Stressed, contracted & pessimistic. This is NOT caused by terrible external circumstances, BUT by our negative internal conversations (self-talk) continuously droning on in your heads. 

    Ongoing self-talk is a product of the brain's left hemisphere, activated by greed (neediness, sense of lack, not enough, not good enough - low self-esteem is very common even among mental-health professionals.) AND aversion (anxiety, fear, anger, hostility, disgust, etc). So self-talk is a constant, anxious motivator to escape the present moment. We hope that by escaping and / or acquiring something, we might be happier, if only briefly. This drive to escape the present to possess happiness later is so strong & pervasive that a 2014 study conducted by psychologists at the University of Virginia found that when left alone in a room with nothing to do for 15 minutes, 67% of men & 25% of women chose to administer mild electric shocks to themselves rather than sit quietly with their own thoughts. https://www.science.org/content/article/people-would-rather-be-electrically-shocked-left-alone-their-thoughts 

    YET OCCASIONALLY, BRIEFLY, we find ourselves wonderfully alive, energized & engaged, even awed & grateful by what the present moment holds! It can actually be even something we've come across & ignored many times before, BUT now remarkably, we perceive it as a dramatically spectacular, never-to-be-forgotten experience. Instead of our usual anxious chase for relief, we actually feel peaceful, pleasant, awed, timeless, spacious, wonderfully optimistic & ever so grateful. We might even remark how it seems to make no sense to feel this wonderful when nothing in our outer world has changed at all! "Everything changed, yet nothing changed," is a common statement.

    "To be enlightened is to be intimate with all things." Zen Master Dogen   

    "And as far as we know, this intuition that we’re part of something greater than ourselves is very ancient. All these cave paintings from 20, 30, 40 thousand years ago, the practice of burying the dead, dealing with the dead in a ritual way, and so on, all these things suggest that this has been part of human consciousness for a very, very long time. No doubt the forms have changed, and the development of the great religions has put a more unifying aspect on these insights, but it seems to me that it’s been foundational to human life throughout almost all human history, with the brief anomaly of Western Europe and parts of North America, in the last 150 years.” 
    "Dr Iain McGilchrist & Dr Rupert Sheldrake - Intersection of Consciousness and Matter."  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAvwy2LTLMM  

    This makes no sense at all to our left hemisphere, the narrow role of which is to quickly grab what we need to survive & to solve simple practical problems - basically, the materialist reductionist perspective. 
    However, when the right hemisphere is given the opportunity (ie some peace, quiet & relaxation) to balance the left hemisphere, we're allowed to appreciate the right hemisphere's far broader perspective which includes intimate connection with all that gives our life meaning & value: love, gratitude, music, humor, the arts, ritual, dreams, awe, mystery, the divine, mysticism, spirituality, mythology, religion, metaphor, paradox, symbolism, etc.
    "Why the West is Losing Meaning - Iain McGilchrist interview." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C85Vyq-yQtk

 

    “Although we all have a fundamentally pure nature, it is not easy to get in touch with it. The gross way our mind ordinarily functions drowns out this deeper more subtle vibration to such an extent that we generally remain unaware of its existence. If we truly want to connect with this subtle essence, we need to quiet all distractions and loosen the hold our ordinary appearances & conceptions have on us. In other words we need to create space, space in which our essentially pure nature can function uninterruptedly. Then. . . we will be bringing to the surface the inner, divine qualities that have always existed within the depths of our being.” Lama Thubten Yeshe

    So we might say & actually believe that our self-concepts & worldviews are mature & even spiritual. BUT if most of our self-talk is negative ("broken"), this will make us feel miserable, which in turn indicates that our actual self-concept & worldview are darker than we imagined. 
    A negative / dark / pessimistic self-concept & worldview, according to wisdom traditions, the experience of serious meditators, the opinions of all the current experts I respect, and my own lived experience, is sadly distorted! 

    Mindfulness practice is very much about acceptance of what is real, seeing clearly & engaging fully with whatever the present moment holds. 
    Research findings are encouraging: 
        • we feel authentic & truly happy only when we're fully present; 
        • it’s the quality of our presence, not external environment, that brings happiness. 
    Killingsworth MA, Gilbert DT. “A Wandering Mind is an Unhappy Mind.” Science 2010; 330(6006): 932.

 
     “Your consciousness, your heart matters enormously, and in a way, it is the only thing you’re asked to look after. 
    You’re not asked to solve all the problems of the world. That of course would be overfacing. Nobody could ask you to do that. But there is something that you can easily neglect that you are asked to do, which is to take responsibility for yourself. 
    We don’t know what this gift of life is, but my view is that it is something that we can either waste or we can use for good. And what it is there for is for us to respond to the ground of being - another way of talking about the God that created all of this. That is why we exist. Life is improbably hard to imagine occurring as a random event for all sorts of reasons, some of which I’ve expressed in my writings, particularly in “The Matter with Things.’ (also in: Alan Lightman. “The Ordinary Miracle of Existing. Being alive at all is the most extraordinary stroke of good luck any of us will ever experience.” The Atlantic, June 2, 2026.)
    But that aside, life involves quite extraordinary expense of energy, in a way which doesn’t deny the second law of thermodynamics but acts, for a while, very steeply against its tendency. In other words, the tendency of the universe overall is we are told, although it may only apply to the bit of the universe that we know of after all, is for energy to deplete – increase in entropy. But life involves kicking that trend extraordinarily powerfully, and the carrying on of the development of more and more sophisticated life is extraordinary. How do you account for this? Because already with very simple early organisms – actinobacteria at the base of the ocean, some single examples are a million years old. If the purpose of this game of life is to increase your life expectancy, then we’ve gone in the wrong direction. Something has put an incredible amount of energy into developing sophisticated beings that are relatively short-lived. What does this mean? 
    Well, to me it means that the things that we are capable of responding to, which are the great values that I think form the purpose of the cosmos, the expression of goodness, beauty and truth, and I would say also the sacred. The expression of these values requires a kind of reciprocation. 
    So I see God - the ground of being - and his creation as being in an ongoing reciprocal process whereby that ground of being is discovering about itself what its potential can unfold, as what is infolded is unfolded all the time into myriad complex and beautiful entities. And we are the creatures that can respond, reverberate, resonate, be responsible in a relationship, the primary relationship of all relationships that we have with God who is described as love. And love is nothing if not relationship. 
    And that’s not unusual. I mean around the world there are ideas of a divine essence which has different names – Dao, Logos, Yahweh, - it doesn’t really matter, but these ideas are foundational in all cultures that there is something there that has produced this lifegiving creative universe, and we play an important part in what that is. And that is not self-aggrandisement. In fact there is something self-aggrandizing and rather ungrateful in the notion that we should diminish ourselves, and indeed the tendencies in our culture towards lacking self-respect for the human species. 
    I think it’s very good to appreciate the things that we have done wrong, and the havoc we have wrought in the world in the last few hundred years. But I think it’s very, very wrong to vilify & debase humanity. The fact that humanity can do bad things is the flip side of the fact that humanity is capable of the most extraordinary, beautiful and good, and to me holy acts of creation that reciprocate whatever it is that gave us life. 
    And it’s this dance, this back and forwards, this magnifying, this ever creative, ever growing process in which the good and the beautiful and the true can find expression that is the gamble that that creative source of being took on in creating life and creating complex life such as human life.”
    "Why the West is losing meaning - Iain McGilchrist interview." 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C85Vyq-yQtk

 

    “The real question is: Are you willing, whether your experience is tranquil, turbulent, ecstatic, tragic, opulent, or austere, to give yourself wholeheartedly to what is truly alive in you?”
    Amoda Maa. “Embodied Enlightenment. Living Your Awakening in Every Moment.” Reveal Press, 2017.

"Don't judge each day
by the harvest you reap
but by the seeds
that you plant."

Robert Louis Stevenson

 

Aimee Carty - "Painter" 

I Am

         Within 18 months, even after major life changing events such as a major accident causing permanent disability or winning millions in a lottery, people tend to return to their individual baseline level of happiness. This is referred to as hedonic treadmill or adaptation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedonic_treadmill The topic is further complicated when we consider locus of control https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locus_of_control and openness to experience https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Openness_to_experience

    These Western psychological concepts likely overlap somewhat with one's level of spiritual maturity. I have no idea if & how spiritual maturity could be assessed, except perhaps by someone with an exceptionally high level themself and has integrated this as completely as possible into their day-to-day life ie consistently 'walks the talk.'

    NOW as individuals, as a human race, and perhaps as the entire cosmos, we are ALL in the process of evolving spiritually and integrating this higher state of being into our day-to-day, moment-by-moment behavior. We are ALL starting to experience peace, unconditional love & joy that is independent of external conditions. 

    “By shifting our attention from the fluctuating nature of experiences ("I am this" or "I am that") to the simple, ever-present sense of "I am", we recognize the foundational being-ness that underlies them. As this recognition deepens, being-ness imbues all experiences, revealing a ground of peace that transcends understanding.” Amoda Maa

    Let us continuously remember who we truly are, our true nature, our authentic Self.

Amoda Maa "Recognizing the 'I Am' That is Always Present"

Getting Unstuck from Dark Emotions

     We routinely, automatically use our dominant approach to solve ALL problems. And when it doesn't work, we double-down and try even harder with the same approach! This simplistic rigidity seems to be our default setting.
    Since we're not dealing with a nail, let's set aside the old hammer, open up our neglected toolbox of far more sophisticated, evolved, subtle skills!

    Amoda Maa provides expert guidance on how to free ourselves from feeling stuck in the cycle of dark emotions. Listen to her short (9 min) video (bottom of page) and read along with this transcript :

    “When that feeling is here, contemplate, investigate within yourself as you sit here, and ask yourself, ‘Is it possible to recognize the groundless ground within which this feeling is being experienced?’

    This is not a denial of the feeling, which is a texture. But the texture, the tapestry is being woven upon a canvas. And in this case the canvas is invisible. It’s that very subtle sense of Beingness, is it not true, that’s always here, whether the feeling is prevalent or not?

    So this expands your attention. It expands the perspective. It softens the perspective, and it undoes the self, so there’s no self that’s being with the feeling. It is recognizing the groundless ground out of which self and all experiences appear.

    You may experience this as a kind of lightness (peaceful spaciousness). So when that feeling, that texture revisits you, it may – and we don’t know, you have to discover and be open to it – it may have a slightly different texture as time goes on. Your job, if you like, is to recognize that subtle, invisible groundless canvas space awareness Beingness that is always here, within which this feeling, this texture, this tapestry is appearing, and then disappears and may reappear.

    But you may find that the reappearance has a slightly different texture to it over time. Can you see how this shifts your attention? It’s not a denial. It’s not a pulling away from it. It’s recognizing what holds it. And what holds it is Open Awareness. There’s never anything else but Open Awareness that holds everything, holds the whole of existence. When I say hold it’s not limited by a boundary. It’s open, unbounded, infinite holding.”
    Amoda Maa “How to Break Through Feeling Stuck in the Cycle of Dark Emotions” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hejf275VKR4

    I HIGHLY recommend her VALUABLE book:
    Amoda Maa. “Embodied Enlightenment. Living Your Awakening in Every Moment.” Reveal Press, 2017.

Fear and Confusion turn Peaceful

    At times we become weary from the heaviness of life, and need to get away, if only for an hour or so. Pleasant, healthy getaways include playing with little children or puppies, walking or jogging outdoors, gardening, listening to or playing music, joking or watching comedy, reading a book just for fun, playing games with family and friends, etc. Most of us don't 'play' like this nearly enough. 

    At the same time, almost all of us have an understandable, visceral fear of death. We're so afraid of the dreaded "D" word, that we expend a lot of energy avoiding / ignoring / neglecting / delaying even things we associate with it: proper nutrition, proper health-care, exercise, meaningful discussions about sickness & death, meditation, meaningful spirituality, wills & estate planning. Many of us mistakenly assume that opening our minds & hearts to the deepest, most meaningful aspects of life will somehow "make us soft," threatening our ability to earn a living or even to survive. Fear of death confines many of us to the shallows of life's profoundly vast & deep ocean.

    “We look like (we're) rich from the outside, but mentally we have problems. (We're) all about 'face.' We don’t know how to talk (sincerely - from our true Self). We can’t ask for help. So many people are alone with their problems, and stuck, and their hearts aren’t touching. … It’s not that people lack friends. Facebook, Instagram— scroll around and you find (people) bursting with mugging, partying companionship. It just isn’t real, that’s all. There’s a real me and a masked me (and a) lonely gap in between ...” https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-incredibly-true-story-of-renting-a-friend-in-tokyo?utm_source=pocket-newtab

 

     “Our hearts do not need logic. They can love and forgive and accept that which our minds cannot comprehend. Hearts understand in ways minds cannot.” Lois Wilson “When Love Is Not Enough: The Lois Wilson Story” 2010 TV Movie – Prime Video

    "All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone." Blaise Pascal, French philosopher

    “the only thing really needed is to descend alone ... down into the silent depths of yourself to listen, and wait, and learn.” Peter Kingsley “A Book of Life.” Catafalque Press, 2021.

    "I live in that solitude which is painful in youth, but delicious in the years of maturity." Albert Einstein

    “It is perhaps the ultimate paradox: At the heart of our loneliness, at the core of our longing for life, we find an exquisite aloneness, a Oneness with all creation, our true salvation.
    We find God in the forsaken pit of the psyche; we find the Divine in the abyss.
    We find astonishing light in the darkness of ourselves.
    This is the true enlightenment. To be alone and to be found, to be lost and to be saved, all before the moment even begins.” Jeff Foster

“In the beginning, mind is like a torrent rushing down a gorge.
In the middle, it flows gently like the river Ganges.
In the end, it’s like a stream returning to the sea.”
    Tilopa, 10th century Indian sage, on the progress of meditation over the stages of its practice

“If you look for the truth outside yourself,
it gets farther and farther away.
Today, walking alone,
I meet her/him everywhere I step.
S/he is the same as me, yet I am not her.
Only if you understand it in this way
will you merge with the way things are.” Tung Shan 

 

    Amoda Maa's pointers to help you find your true Self:

    “True healing is what happens when consciousness recognizes its own wholeness amid what appears to be broken or wounded.”

    “Moving from the stillness & silence of being gives you the freedom to start wherever you are, without having to change, fix, or improve anything. … simply but utterly present in what you do, work becomes spiritual practice.”

    “The real question is: Are you willing, whether your experience is tranquil, turbulent, ecstatic, tragic, opulent, or austere, to give yourself wholeheartedly to what is truly alive in you?”

    “If you truly want to enter the ‘kingdom of heaven’ and be free of suffering, you must put down the burden of all acquisitions and be fully here, in this moment, without a story. This freedom is available to you here and now if you are willing to die, in this moment, as empty awareness.”

    “When the dream of separation becomes unbearable, and you have the courage to honestly say you have had enough of suffering, then awareness has the possibility to turn back in on itself and recognize the deeper dimension of formlessness that exists prior to all forms.”

    “All forms are transient, even the most spiritual ones, and without an anchor in the deepest dimension of beingness that does not come and go, the vicissitudes of the world will threaten to wipe out the satisfaction, joy, and fulfillment derived from external manifestations.
    Your true purpose and fulfillment have nothing to do with what you imagine yourself to be, but everything to do with what you do with who you are beneath and beyond all forms. The invitation is to stop asking, ‘How can I manifest my dream of a better life?’ or ‘How can I do something special / important / unique / spiritual in the world?’ and to turn your attention to the primary purpose of your life: awakening out of the dream of separation. Your true purpose is an inner, not an outer one. Without staying true to this, you will keep on chasing dreams.
    If you are on a path of spiritual inquiry, your commitment to realizing your inner purpose prior to finding your outer purpose is likely, over time, to unravel all agendas and expectations of what you should be doing, what you will be doing, and even of what you want to be doing. This unravelling allows the revelation and release of an essential quality of beingness that wants to express itself through you as you. Not as a future dream, but as a present moment reality. This quality of beingness exists prior to conditioning, and is experienced as a subtle felt-sense (such as clarity, playfulness, devotion, or harmony) when you are still and silent inside.”
    Amoda Maa. “Embodied Enlightenment. Living Your Awakening in Every Moment.” Reveal Press, 2017. HIGHLY-RECOMMENDED WISE, VALUABLE BOOK

Amoda Maa "Falling Open in a World Falling Apart"

Anxious, Afraid & Confused?

    We are ALL anxious, afraid & confused! The most important difference among us is how aware or conscious we are - a major determinant in how we deal with our anxiety, fear & confusion.

    There are still populist politicians / dictators, CEOs, & less visible sociopaths who seem to be full of aggressive conquering bravado but are actually running SCARED and UNCONSCIOUS. Amazingly, they cling to a certainty that by following a few simple (-minded) rules they're guaranteed to emerge a 'winner' from (the rest they regard as) losers. 'Grab what you can!' 'Anything goes!' 'Winner takes all!' And only 'winners' deserve & get the spoils of war. After all, it's 'survival of the fittest,' 'law of the jungle,' and 'if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen!'
    Sadly, more and more countries are democratically electing such 'strong men' (sociopaths). This trend has historically lead to catastrophic wars. And despite annual Remembrance Day ceremonies, most world leaders, & those who elected them, fail to learn from deadly mistakes from history.
    At least a bit more curiosity, courage, imagination, energy and, perhaps above all else, good will towards our fellow humans, other life forms and the Earth itself, would really help!

    “The government you elect is the government you deserve.” Thomas Jefferson

    "... the external world that humans have created is a reflection of egoic patterns in the human mind. So that is your function, to be a midwife to help bring about the birth of the new consciousness ..." Eckhart Tolle

    PRACTICAL alternatives to today's spiritually-bankrupt populism ARE WISE, CONSCIOUS, PEACEFUL ways of managing our 'anxious quiver of being.'  

    For thousands of years, people from every part of the world & every culture, have been devoting their lives to finding answers to our most important questions: who we truly are; how we deeply relate to ourselves, each other, to life itself; what is the meaning of life; and most importantly how can we live meaningful lives. 

    These mystics - ancient to current Shamans, Yogis, Taoists, Monks & Nuns of all wisdom traditions, but mostly anonymous serious individual seekers of Truth - evolve well beyond religious customs for the masses, to directly experience profound understandings beyond words & concepts. And yet, there's a striking commonality to their insights because these are the pinnacle of human understanding, hence the term, 'perennial philosophy' : http://www.johnlovas.com/search?q=perennial

 

 

    “The real question is: Are you willing, whether your experience is tranquil, turbulent, ecstatic, tragic, opulent, or austere, to give yourself wholeheartedly to what is truly alive in you?”
    Amoda Maa. “Embodied Enlightenment. Living Your Awakening in Every Moment.” Reveal Press, 2017. HIGHLY-RECOMMENDED WISE, VALUABLE BOOK

 

 

"I've been asked many times whether this is the Aquarian Age, and it's all just beginning, or Armageddon, and this is the end. And I have to admit, I don't know,
but whichever way it goes,
my work is the same.
My work is to quiet my mind
and open my heart and relieve suffering wherever I find it.
May that be the work for all of us.”
Ram Dass

 

“Deeply rooted in the present moment
With a clear open spacious mind
Seeing beyond doubt and fear
Abiding in the luminous heart of equanimity
The way unfolds before me.” Atum O’Kane

John McDermott's cover of Eric Bogle's "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda"

Awakening and the Ego

    I value what serious spiritual practitioners have learned from many decades of continuous practice & teaching. Here is part of Roshi Gerry Shishin Wick's talk: “What I learned from almost 60 years of Zazen” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlsgX5oH_HQ

    “To paraphrase the Buddha, ‘In my many years of practice, I haven’t gained anything, but I’ve let go of a lot.’ The Buddha said that everyone, without exception, has the wisdom and virtue of the Buddha. We’re all intrinsically as complete and spacious and as virtuous as the Buddha. Yet we obscure that truth with all kinds of attachments and opinions, judgments, projections and deluded thoughts. If we can just let go of these obscurations, our intrinsic wisdom will shine through.
    So what is it that prevents us from being able to let go of all these attachments? This is what I learned. It always comes down to our image of who we think we are, and our persistent attempts to maintain & protect that image.
    One thing I learned is that there’s no fixed, abiding self. That fact is hard for most people to swallow. How can I function if there’s no self? Can you believe that the notion of a ‘fixed self’ is just that – a notion, a concept, an idea? And even the teaching of ‘no self’ is a concept.
    Concepts can be used to guide, but they’re not the experience itself. Some concepts can lead us astray because they’re like conspiracy theories. Other concepts can guide us to experiences that lead to the lessening of suffering. But remember, the concepts are like the fingers pointing to the Moon - they’re not the Moon, just like the map is not the territory, or the menu is not the meal. Our practice is beyond words and letters.
    What that means is that our concepts do not describe the experience of awakening, insight or enlightenment. The best we can say is that the Self cannot be grasped, it is unknowable.
    The more we are able to let go of our attachments, the clearer the Moon of wisdom will shine within us. So I did not gain anything, but I did let go of attachments that obscured my Original Self. But it’s an endless practice." Roshi Gerry Shishin Wick

        My current favorite serious spiritual practitioner & teacher, Amoda Maa, wrote this on the same topic: 

    “Another tenacious concept that perpetuates the myth of enlightenment and creates much confusion in the spiritual seeker is the belief that the ego dies, and with it all personal history is erased. In this myth, the ‘enlightened one’ supposedly has no sense of self and no story, and therefore he or she is expected to never talk about themselves, to never use the word ‘I’ or ‘me,’ and to never refer to ‘my life.’ The ‘enlightened one’ has supposedly seen that the body and the world are an illusion, and therefore is totally unconcerned with physical well-being or worldly affairs. This image of enlightenment is a fantasy upheld by millennia of religious dogma and patriarchal spiritual traditions. It also taps into our childlike need to enter the kingdom of heaven or nirvana, where bad things never happen, and we are rewarded with endless peace.
    The stark reality is that awakening is not a death of the ego. As long as you’re alive as form, the ego cannot die. Ego, as a primary sense of ‘I-ness,’ must exist, otherwise you’d be unable to discern inside from outside. It’s very likely that, without an ego, the voices in your head would be undifferentiated from my voice, from someone else’s voice, or from the voice of God, and you would be in a state of psychosis. You might even be a blubbery mess, unable to function in three-dimensional reality. If you’ve ever taken too many psychedelics, you’ll know how disorienting and even terrifying this can be!
    As long as we operate within relative reality, the relative function of the ego must continue to operate. A sense of self as a separate entity is absolutely necessary for both physical and psychological survival as form. Death of the ego only happens when form dies. Luckily, as long as there is a functioning neurophysiology, there is a sense of self. It is a sense of ‘I’ that increasingly develops as we emerge from the womb and gives us the capacity for self-reflection and self-awareness. It’s actually the seed of awakening, because without it we would not be able to become conscious of consciousness.
    Awakening is also not a transcendence of ego. Transcendence of ego certainly can happen in a variety of circumstances, such as when you experience a mystical state or a state of expanded consciousness such as in deep meditation (samadhi), long-distance running, or giving birth. It also happens if you have an out-of-body experience or near-death experience. The initial experience of awakening can also be an intensely transcendent experience. But if you continue to identify with this transcendent state, you are likely to develop a ‘spiritual ego.’ There is no transformation or evolution of consciousness in the identification with this state, because when the inevitable return of old egoic patterns and personality traits appear there is a tendency to deny that any of this belongs to you.
    In true awakening, there is neither a death nor a transcendence of ego. Instead, the location of self is released from its entanglement with the unconscious ego (in other words, the conglomeration of conditioned mental, emotional, and physical responses.) Liberated from the prison of egoic identification, the ‘I-ness’ becomes nonlocalized and unattached. Having recognized awakeness as the inherent nature of all that is (including the self), the self becomes an ‘awake I,’ undefined and unrestrained by relative reality.
    Another way of saying this is that the self experiences itself as inseparable from the totality of existence. While certain survival-based impulses continue (protecting the body from danger, the impulse to eat when hungry, drink when thirsty, or rest when tired, and so on), they now happen without interference. They simply happen as life’s natural and intelligent movement toward what needs attention while form is alive. The ‘awake I’ is therefore free to respond intelligently & creatively to the moment, and this gives you access to a power that is at one with life itself.
    So what happens to the ego in all this? From one perspective, nothing happens. From another perspective, everything changes. In the process of liberation, the once ('noisy') unconscious ego transmutes to an evolved ('quiet') or ‘aware ego’ and gives itself in service to the ‘awake I.’ In other words, the ego stops being the master and bows down to awakeness.
    ((From an Internal Family Systems [IFS] perspective, this represents unburdening of protective 'parts' [subpersonalities], resulting in becoming Self-led. IFS psychotherapy appears to be an exceptionally valuable link between traditional ego-strengthening psychotherapies and spiritual practices serving to evolve consciousness.))

    So, yes, in awakening there is a death. There is a death of the self-identity that is wrapped around the ego. But there is also a birth of a whole, integrated human being that includes both the surface sense of self as a separate entity (the self that is born & then dies) and the deeper layer of undifferentiated beingness (the self that was never born & can never die).
    Awakeness embraces the paradox of self & no-self. There is no conflict in this apparent duality. While the mind finds this intolerable, the heart abides in unfathomable acceptance. When the silent mystery of spacious acceptance becomes overridingly preferable to the habitual struggle of making sense of it all, the search for a mythical state of enlightenment comes to an end. However, the ever-unfolding deepening into authentic awakening never stops.”
    Amoda Maa. “Embodied Enlightenment. Living Your Awakening in Every Moment.” Reveal Press, 2017. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED BOOK

The Fall Season's Beauty