Awakening - the Next Stage in Human Evolution

     It's blatantly obvious, when an elderly person observes how babies physically mature into toddlers, then gradually teens, young adults, middle-aged folks, seniors and elderly. However, at none of the earlier stages can we fully appreciate the lived experience of any of the later stages of life. Our inability to understand the lived experience of later stages of psychosocialspiritual development is a far more serious problem.

    As an example, someone who is angry, bitter & cynical, blaming others for his misfortunes, just wants to wreak havoc on "the system" and fervently believes every conspiracy theory YouTube video out there, cannot be reasoned with. His powerful emotional charge (misdirected Life Force) has to gradually run down like an old battery in cold weather before it can sense the way Home. Even then, psychotherapy, possibly with medications, may be necessary to allow normal psychosocialspiritual maturation to get back on track.

    Many of us, even if we've lived a reasonably successful life, and are reasonably comfortably retired, do not seem to be ready, willing or able to actively participate in normal psychosocialspiritual maturation. DO NOT IGNORE this resistance! Life is shorter than you think & you have no idea what you're missing!

    As most of you who've been following my posts realize, I understand true spirituality as Perennial Philosophy - the common meeting place of ALL serious seekers of truth / wisdom, regardless of what tradition they started in or continue to support, be it Aboriginal Wisdom / Shamanism, Taoism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, etc. 

    For those who are ready, willing & able, I HIGHLY recommend this 67-minute video which beautifully summarizes the current spiritual understanding of many of the teachers I most respect: https://awakentheworld.com/film/awakening-mind-film-part-1-know-thyself/ 

Remembering Who We Really Are

     “Many people have intimations of their true nature in childhood – the sense of a benevolent presence guiding their life, a radiance that shines forth from all things, or a current of love that unites us all. …
     But we lose touch with this luminosity as we age … we forget who we really are and succumb to the way others see us until one day, perhaps, we have intimations of our immortality, our timeless spiritual nature, become seekers, and embark on the return journey home.

      Ultimately, your every desire – the desire for material things, relationships, career success, sexual gratification – is really the desire for the peace you experience for brief moments when you attain the object of your desire. Of course, such conditional peace is fleeting, and you move restlessly on to new objects and new desires in the hope of recapturing it. Until you know who you really are, know the freedom from desire that’s the true aim of every desire, you can never recognize the peace that can never be disturbed or lost.

      Our always already awakened true nature is our birthright, our inherent condition, our natural state, which we merely need to recognize, without effort or striving, in a moment out of time. … (this) echoed the teachings of the early Zen masters who were so revered (though not so often followed in practice) in the Buddhist tradition.

     As I’ve discovered, awakening doesn’t belong to one teaching or tradition, and in any case, once you wake up, you actually awaken out of traditional frameworks. After all, if you’re awakening to your true nature, the one you’ve always already been deep down inside, how could one tradition or approach have a monopoly on it? This precious spiritual nature has always belonged to you, and, like one version of the proverbial prodigal son, you’re merely discovering the diamond that’s been hidden in your pocket all along.
     In fact, more and more people appear to be awakening to their inherent spiritual nature, whether or not they’ve been practicing meditation or some other prescribed technique. Perhaps it’s just our technological times, when experiences are shared so much more globally through cell phones, e-mails, websites, and blogs, but awakening seems to have shed the garments of religion and revealed itself for what it is – a universal human experience available to everyone right here and now. Despite what you may have been led to believe, enlightenment is your birthright, your natural state – you merely need to reclaim and learn to embody it.

     Awakening is a fundamental recognition of the inherent insubstantiality or emptiness of the person you take yourself to be and a radical shift in your identity from being the suffering separate self to being the eternal witness, the limitless space or ground in which all experiences arise. In other words, you awaken from the dream of suffering and separation to the radiance and joy of your true nature. More than being merely one spiritual experience among many, this awakening (often called enlightenment) is the essential realization at the heart of the Eastern spiritual traditions of Buddhism, Hinduism, and Taoism, and it can also be found as a more subterranean current in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam – though mystics have been excommunicated, ostracized, or burned at the stake for making such pronouncements.”

     Stephan Bodian. “Wake Up Now. A Guide to the Journey of Spiritual Awakening.” McGraw-Hill, 2008. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

 

Buddhist Perspective Regarding Other Religions

     "Buddhists have always believed that the same enlightenment or liberation that is found in Buddhism can also be found in other religions. In other religions these enlightened people are sometimes referred to as mystics. For example, Saint Teresa of Avila who was a Christian or Rumi who was a Moslem or Isaac Luria who was a Kabbalistic Jew are all examples of non-Buddhist enlightened people. Enlightenment is also found in the shamanic tradition of tribal peoples in Africa, Native America and the native cultures of the Pacific Ocean. Since enlightenment can be found by any person who looks within, as a Buddhist I am not so interested in convincing people to become Buddhists. 
      But I am interested that they become Buddhas (enlightened people). One way to become a Buddha is to practice Buddhism. Another way is to participate in the mystical core of whatever religion you now follow ... Christianity, Judaism, Islam and so forth."
 
      Shinzen Young     http://www.shinzen.org/index.htm

luminokaya.com

How Best to Mine Diamonds

     "my goal is to pluck the diamond from the dunghill of esoteric religion. There is a diamond there, and I have devoted a fair amount of my life to contemplating it, but getting it in hand requires that we remain true to the deepest principles of scientific skepticism and make no obeisance to tradition."
       Sam Harris. "Waking Up. A Guide to Spirituality without Religion." Simon & Schuster, 2014.

     The general idea of the above statement resonates. Harris would, of course, ridicule a religious person examining science WHILE remaining true to the deepest principles of her religion. 
     From my understanding, to plumb the depths of any discipline, one must completely immerse oneself in that discipline "with an open mind" - be it learning to speak French, play the piano, or pharmacology. Each discipline has its own internal logic and set of rules. This can, and should be done, without "parking your brains at the door before you enter". There's far greater clarity with direct perception than in today's "gold standard" of scientific skepticism.
     Immersive learning does call for psychological flexibility ie letting go of, if only temporarily, dogmatic rigidity (a psychological affliction in its own right). Huston Smith studied several of the world's major spiritual traditions (Buddhism, Islam, and others) by immersing himself in each for years at a time. Perhaps most inspiring are clergy, like Sister Elaine MacInnes, who while remaining a Catholic nun, is also a Zen Buddhist roshi (master), the highest level of teacher in Zen Buddhism.

Peter Essick, National Geographic   http://photography.nationalgeographic.com

Stuckness & the Many Ways Out

     Most of us have some sense of "who I am." There are two levels to our self-concept: obvious personal qualities we & others judge to be good, bad or ugly, & a more mysterious level that's largely subconscious. Many of us are sadly resigned about, & firmly identified with (cognitive fusion) the obvious aspects: "that's who I am, & I'll never change", "can't teach old dogs new tricks." This melancholy stuckness is strangely offset by the comforting sense of being a unique individual that, in our mind, remains untouched by time. Most of us stay clear of the mysterious portion - our subconscious. Most of us have no training to intelligently & wisely investigate this part of our life. We sense its power, but our fear & ignorance turns this vital part into a paralyzing taboo.
     EVERY aspect of the above universal human tendencies is considered by Buddhist psychology (& increasingly by Western psychology) to be misguided, AND to cause suffering. Many of us remain stuck in the above predicament for life.
     An ever-increasing number of us realize that all wisdom traditions (Taoism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, etc) were specifically designed to address this sad situation. All these traditions have 2 levels: 
          1) Basic support (dogma, rules, rituals, sense of community) for the masses who, like most of us, are also by & large avoiding the mystery.
          2) Specific guidance for an intentional journey along the well-travelled path into the heart of mystery - self-discovery, self-transcendence, & beyond. Traditionally this was, & mostly still is, restricted to monks ("mystics") doing long silent solitary retreats.
     North American Buddhism may be unique insofar as it is explicitly a path to self-discovery, self-transcendence, and beyond FOR EACH PARTICIPANT.
     Mindfulness training (MBSR) is even more easily approachable, since it is secular, starts at self-regulation ie stress-management, which naturally evolves into self-discovery, self-transcendence, & beyond FOR EACH PARTICIPANT.

     See: http://mindfulnessforeveryone.blogspot.ca/2013/11/432-i-try-and-i-try-but-i-cant-get-no.html

Steve McCurry   http://stevemccurry.com/