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A place to explore spiritual awakening

r/awakened

Posted by10 hours ago

When we think of ‘Creation’, Genesis, The Beginning of Time - our minds naturally think of it in past tense. But it’s happening right now, literally.

Reflection

Literally this very second. The beginning never really started, it’s just here!

Our human minds need to logically process physical changes around us, so we are bound to the concept of linear time.

…that’s just a mental framework.

Creation never started.

You simply observed this universe, and cast a ruler against the ever-changing state of physical reality.

11 comments

Posted by10 hours ago

What does it mean to know yourself?

Metaphysical

To you. What does that mean?

I’m not looking for the obvious ‘there is no self’ talk, which I’m not discrediting - I want to read what you guys and gals think about literally ‘knowing thy self’.

I’ll go first. Personally, I struggle with identity sometimes, so ‘knowing’ one’s self feels hard to define. But I imagine it’s about understanding the qualities and attributes that you’re uniquely adept at using in this life.

Finding what those aspects are might be a big part of the journey.

Then of course, I know from a spiritual, meta, quantum - you get me - level, I’m also much more. Which is important to know, yes, though I think this question relates more to our individual experiences of ‘self’

Meh, idk. Interested to read your thoughts!

62 comments

Posted by20 hours ago

The End of Philosophy: Understanding Life Beyond Thought

Metaphysical

During my time as a Zen monk I had an experience where I felt like I almost went crazy.

Over several days I kept having this experience that something was “off”. I was reminded of a Zen teaching that says: “When I first began to practice, mountains were mountains and rivers were rivers. As I trained, mountains were not mountains; rivers were not rivers.”

I felt mountains were not mountains and rivers were not rivers - I was lost.

A took a long walk through the nearby hills and as I went I felt like a mad man swinging between “aha moments” of clarity and certainty and then sheer doubt of confusion.

Over and over it felt like my mind was tripping on itself. I’d try to be mindful of the present moment and just be there but it’s like I’d get cut off. I’d think “Am I doing it? Is this it? No something is wrong…” At this point I started to worry I’d given myself neurosis or something - it almost felt like I’d forgotten how to walk but instead of my feet not working it was my mind.

As I reached the top of Coyote Ridge, the tops of the San Francisco skyline drifted in and out of the mist and the dusky silhouette of the golden gate bridge peaked out behind the far hills.

And I was struck by the teaching of Dogen Zenji - “And yet, if a hair's breadth deviation exists, the gap is like that between heaven and earth; once the slightest like and dislike arises, all is confused and the mind is lost.”

This must be what he’s talking about. What is the root cause of all of this pendulum swings in and out of confusion? Thought!

It is my thinking that interrupts the flow of actual experience. It is thinking about experience that undoes the experience. It is the intellectual mind grasping and figuring out that collapses the function of actual experience.

Thinking about experience is not experience. Thinking about being is not being.

28 comments

Posted by7 hours ago

are all negative responses based upon trauma?

My Journey

Negative meaning not agreeable?

12 comments

Posted by21 hours ago

What is the spiritual purpose for anxiety and depression?

Community

I think anxiety seems to be like an alarm system from your soul letting you know that your going the wrong way. Depression seems like either when that alarm system is ignored the soul tries to make continuing down the wrong path so unbearable that your forced to look back and see whats really going on. Or possibly it is the loss of joy from being too far from your soul, you have gone too far down the wrong path and disconnected from your soul that the only way to find joy again is to turn around and come back home.

Any other thoughts on the purpose that these mental health issues serve?

38 comments

Posted by1 day ago

There’s too much egotistical nonsense

Reflection

People keep veiling their awakening under intellectualism and it’s incredibly damaging for an idea to grow when people present themselves or their observations again, and again as inscrutable. Anybody else see this?

47 comments

Posted by10 hours ago

Brain sending the body weird signals….

Help

I have been doing enquiry for a year now and recently noticed my body randomly having a felt sense of things not being ok. This is absolutely random and it often comes as an ‘icky’ feeling inside, for lack of a better word.

Has anyone encountered anything similar in their travels ??

I could just observe this as a passing event but it is quite draining on the body and difficult to not get sucked back into ego when the body feels like this.

Thanks I’m advance, kind souls !! I am truely at a loss.

3 comments

About Community

Awakening is the realization that far more can be found in direct experience than any concept, belief system, or narrative. The process of awakening is an ever-unfolding one, a deepening of that which is beyond all words and thoughts. We are in service of discovering that for ourselves.

Created Jun 17, 2012

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r/awakened Rules

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Post Guidelines

When posting, please try to keep these things in mind:

Posts should be about spiritual awakening: the direct experience of what we really are
Self-honesty is critical on the path of spiritual awakening, as such, take care to (i) only provide insights or guidance from your direct experience of awakening, and (ii) not to speak in such a way that indicates a level of spiritual maturity that is not reflective of your actual direct experience (this can significantly impede your own development and maybe that of others).
When giving advice, look to meet people where they are, consider: what is the very next thing this person needs to hear (based on their current development), rather than a one-size fits all answer.
You will benefit far more from asking sincere questions than providing insights or guidance that is not reflective of your actual direct experience. As such, questions are encouraged: be sincere and ask what is most relevant to you right now.
Please follow the rules.