What Your Holy Books Never Told You (or you chose to ignore) About Awakening

Sage Sarojini

(Even though I have recently made the decision to slightly alter the focus of this blog, the underlying purpose for it remains the same. This blog, at its root, is about spiritual exploration and living consciously. For the most part I deconstruct that premise and present it here on the blog in what I believe to be creative, thought provoking, unconventional and at times very provocative ways. Still, the premise is always the same. 

Sometimes I choose to address spiritual exploration and conscious living in much more conventional ways. That is what I am doing here with the reprint of my friend Sage Sarojini's essay, "What your holy books never told you (or you chose to ignore) about Awakening." The issue of awakening and the awakening process (in all the various ways that word can and cannot be defined) continues to be a foundational one for both spiritual seekers and teachers alike. From the very first time I read this piece, almost a year ago, I very much appreciated and admired the way Sage addressed the issue and the clarity she expressed. Sage's essay is reprinted here in full with the permission of the author. I hope you enjoy it!)


What Your Holy Books Never Told You (or you chose to ignore) About Awakening
By Sage Sarojini

Today I would like to take the time to address some things that you may never have heard about which happens upon or after Awakening / Enlightenment / Liberation. These happenings are usually never mentioned in the holy books, or if they are, they are totally ignored. This is merely a "check list", of sorts, to refer to when one is rather convinced that the whole world had this Awakening "thing" backwards (which, by the by, they do... but, this will be understood on its own in due time.).

1.) Awakening or Enlightenment is the last great disappointment of ego. In that non-instant there is the bewildered declaration of: "Are you kidding me!?", followed by utter perplexity that eventually yields to the deepest laughter ever encountered. Most of the "Awake" (or subsequent books about Awakening) discuss the laughter. However, the laughter doesn't come first; at first you will be baffled and will, more than likely, feel slightly let down for a few short moments. Welcome to the 'cosmic joke' (and yes, it was on you!).

2.) No one will notice a thing. Your closest friends and family will, more than likely, not see much of a change. You will not glow. Angels will not surround your home. Buddha will not come knocking at your door to welcome you into "the club". You may actually become more annoying to those closest to you. You will want to share in the delight of the Truth that has been uncovered, but your loved ones will: a) have no idea what you are talking about and quietly believe you have officially lost your marbles, b) could care less about your latest discovery (which, to them, is likely to be just another "aha" among a long journey of "aha's" that you've shared with them umpteen times before), c) your gibberish and inability to communicate what is understood sounds like an alien language that makes them dizzy, confused and quite irritated with you.

3.) You will feel emotion like you have never felt before. There is now a quiet, steady center that is constantly present; however, when an emotion comes along, its energectic depth will suprise you. You will realize that without any barriers in place (namely, the sense of a seperate self) that these energies are free to go from 0 to 100 in a matter of seconds. And they will. You will also realize that you had never truly experienced happiness, sadness or even anger as it is before. Do not be surprised and, by all means, do not attempt to block this from happening. The Freedom of Truth even allows the freedom of free flowing emotional energy. Enjoy the ride.

4.) You will forget what it's like to live without the Understanding of Truth. This will frustrate the hell out of you. You will attempt to describe, point and guide others that are not within this Understanding a thousand times; it will fail miserably. You are now unable to comprehend how they can't see This Truth (as you have forgotten what that's like and can't, even for a second, pretend to be separate from life again) and they can't understand a word of what you are saying. You will also give up trying to share hundreds of times. However, the universe will continually put you back in such a position again and again and again ... until you accept the frustration, accept that you can't make another Understand and humbly point to the ineffable despite the difficulities.

5.) A magical thing eventually happens; you are blessed with a "bullshit meter". It picks up on people's indiscretions, lies, stories, masks, fears, etc from miles away. It's now hard to play the game of "pretend I'm someone I'm not" with someone that really isn't what they are hoping to pretend they aren't. You will lose patience with people's utter insistence that they are real in the way they believe they are. You will lose patience with the same old storylines making an appearance within your life with those closest to you. You may even walk away from some old relationships, as you can now clearly see the foundations were based upon need, lack and the want for connection that is no longer necessary.

6.) You will unintentionally offend people ... many people. It will be difficult to pump up people's egos just for the sake of making them feel better; rather, you will share in an honest way and this isn't what most people want to hear. You will eventually learn when to speak and when to be silent; opting for the latter more and more.

7.) When you close your eyes, the world will disappear... there will be no cognition of anything. When you open your eyes again, it's like a magic trick when the cognition comes back. It's better than ice cream.

8.) Ice cream will still make the body fat. It hasn't lost the ability to gain weight.

9.) You will make mistakes. Many of them. That body is still an imperfect human being living within an imperfect world. Embrace this.

10.) You will laugh often. Outloud. To yourself. For no apparent reason. People will not understand this, as it's really an "inside joke". Their stares and your laughter will make you laugh harder.

11.) There will be "settling" or "deepening" into This Ever Present Truth.

12.) You will get lost gazing at the night sky. You will fall in love with flying birds. You will weep over the unnecessary suffering of any living thing. You will smile at the gentle cooing of babies. Life will always be the suprising gift that it is.

13.) If you had a Teacher (s), you will fall to your knees in utter gratitude and humility at the Grace and Guidance given. This will never go away ...

14.) You may have accumulated rooms and rooms full of spiritual paraphernalia and books. You will realize that these collections (which were pretty unnecessary) are now taking up all of your free space. Ebay is a great way to get rid of them and allow those currently seeking Truth to "surround themselves with holy things".

15.) All is holy. Even poop. But poop still stinks.

You will find the original essay here, at Sage's log, Silent Stillness