Oakville Zen Meditation
What is Awakening? Part 1
Awakening is a shift of consciousness from ongoing thinking to active awareness, allowing awareness to take over our constant daydreaming thinking in which we are trapped and lost, and what Zen calls.
“Day sleepwalking” or “Thinking zombie ”.
Awareness, as a direct consequence of Awakening, is experiencing surrounding concrete realities of the present moment – your body- what you are doing- your thoughts/feelings, and your environment.
Awakening-based awareness exists already in all of us as our default mode, but, over time, is totally neutralized by our continuous thinking. Babies and toddlers practice active awareness all the time w/o knowing it because thinking is not yet their dominant mode.
Therefore Awakening-based -based awareness is freeing us from our ongoing daydreaming trap. Instead of controlling you, thinking becomes the servant of awareness.
For most people, awakening is not a sudden event but a progressive process in which the new state of consciousness gradually flows into and transforms everything we do.
It becomes integrated into their daily lives.
Non-decisional thinking including illusion and delusion then ceases to be an ego-driven self-serving autonomous thinking activity that takes possession of us and runs our life 24/7.
The 3 common misunderstandings about Awakening:
First: Is it a bliss?
Awakening is not a divine, mystical, supernatural, and miraculous state in which permanent bliss, peace, and serenity of mind can be achieved. On the contrary, Awakening is 100% down to earth, in the present moment, and only uses the mind as an analytic and decisional tool. It is not either a mental concept.
Second: Is it intellectual?
You cannot make Awakening happen by accumulating credits towards it. There is no tidy sequence of intellectual steps that leads toward Awakening, although the ego-driven mind would love that. On the contrary, whatever you try hard to do is the ego trying to add awakening or enlightenment to itself as its most prized possession thereby making itself more important and bigger.
Instead of awakening, you just add the concept of awakening to your mind, or the mental image of what an awakened or enlightened person is like, and then try to live up to that image. Living up to an intellectual/emotional image that you have of yourself have of you is another unconscious trick the ego plays.
Third: Is it thinking about thinking?
For some, the awakening happens as they suddenly become aware of the flow of thoughts, they are victims of, especially persistent negative feelings, illusions, and delusion that they have been identified with all their lives.
But thinking of thoughts is not part of Awakening; it is just thinking of thinking.
The first glimpse of Awakening appears only when consciousness is free from thoughts. It cannot be reversed, although it can be delayed or blocked by the ego.
The good news:
Again, Awakening-based awareness is already present in all of us as our default mode at birth.
However, very soon as we age, the thinking mode including illusions and delusions becomes dominant.
You can prime yourself for Awakening by practicing diligent daily meditation since mindfulness meditation is practicing Awakening that is separating genuine awareness of your breath from thinking.
You can also practice “awareness on the go” which is focusing thoughtlessly on your body, what you are doing, what you are thinking, your feelings, or your environment several times a day.
Remember: practicing awareness is cumulative. TX Next time: Being Awakened.
