AWAKENING IS NOT A PICTURE

It is so tempting to take "a picture of awakening" and superimpose this upon one's own desire for liberation from the suffering of this life. It is seductive to the acquisitive mind to listen to this teacher's story and that teacher's description of how they awakened, to read about that guru or that spiritual master, and to imagine that this is the way it could be for you. It's particularly seductive in today's age of "spiritual pick'n'mix", in which you trawl around until you find the story that appeals to you most and then try to recreate it for yourself. Phew, what an effort, what a waste of the true possibility of liberation!

You see, my friend, there is only one guarantee in all this (awakening is never guaranteed) ... and that is, your journey is unique and the portals for discovering freedom will come in the way that is appropriate to you. We don't all have to go to India, we don't all have to meet this master or that master, we don't all have to follow a specific path, we don't all have to have gone through the dark night of the soul, or have been blessed by shaktipat or grace or whatever. Each of us is a unique individuation and the circumstances of our lives are perfect for the ripening of our search for truth. Surrender (surrender of the seeking mind, surrender of the separate self, surrender into the heart of being) can take place any time and any where. For some it has been in the midst of intense suffering, in prison, in pain, or at the brink of suicide. For others it has been whilst taking the footstep across the lawn just as the sunbeam reaches your eye, or as the inner gaze opens whilst looking at an infinite sky, or just standing at a bus stop in the rain.

The only thing that is important is the deepest desire to find what is more true than anything your mind can describe, or anything your spiritual ego can achieve, or anything that upholds your position that "this shouldn't be happening" or "this should be happening". In every circumstance you can either resist and argue with what is, or you can deeply surrender into what is. There's no need to overlay your picture of awakening onto this simple invitation.

So, my friend, stop ... and be here fully. Stop following the acquisitive mind, stop following any imagination of what awakening looks like or what you have to do or what it will do for you. And you may actually discover what awakening is ... and it will be totally fresh, as if it has happened for the first time ever in the whole wide world. And only after this, will you begin to understand the words spoken by those who have already known this awakened consciousness ... and you will recognize both the the universal and the individuation within those words.

Awakening, my friend, is not a picture. It is free of all ideas of what it is.

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