WHAT IS TRUE SPIRITUAL LIBERATION?
As increasing numbers of people report “awakening experiences,” there is often confusion about what it means to be fully awake and fully human. Much of what is handed down as spiritual wisdom is an outdated perspective that does not speak to the totality of a sophisticated modern-day psyche. And with the modern-day spiritual culture of hopping from one teacher to another, and the general melting pot of teachings available on the Internet, there’s a tendency for myth making about how awakening is experienced and lived.
If awakening is to be more than just a state that comes and goes, if it is to be an ongoing reality with a very real impact on your everyday world, then a more accurate arrow of inquiry must penetrate your mind and heart in order to anchor the truth in your gut.
For spiritual liberation to be fully actualized through every aspect of your humanity, and for it to give birth to a new you and a new world, awakening has to take root at the core of your being. A complete inner revolution of consciousness must take place before any real change in your inner or your outer world can become a reality.
For this, your attention must be given with undying allegiance to the discovery of your innermost truth. It’s a turning within that doesn’t require you to renounce the world by living in seclusion on a mountaintop, but it does require you to surrender the need to control, possess, or worship anything in the world of form, whether it be a material accolade, a cherished belief, or a hope of salvation.
As long as you derive your identity from the world of physi- cal and psychological form, you will attempt to alleviate your suffering by manipulating these forms to suit your agenda for a better life. The seeking mechanism is a continuous movement from perceived lack to perceived fulfillment to disillusionment to longing for fulfillment to looking for something that will satisfy this longing. This sequence takes place in the imagination: it’s a horizontal movement of the mind (moving backward and forward from the past to the future), a kind of “mental masturbation” that becomes an addiction. It is this addiction that drives most of humanity’s behavior.
To end this addiction is revolutionary. This ending has the power to bring down the entire edifice of your inner and outer world.
The decision to stop investing a sense of personal ownership in the movement of the mind, and stop believing that your seeking has any basis in reality, is a radical step toward real change. In this decision, you are offered the opportunity to stop getting lost in the momentum of seeking and to turn your attention to what is truly there, whether seeking happens or not. It’s as if the seeking mechanism turns in on itself and seeks that which is within the seeker. This total turnaround in the focus of your attention has the capacity to cut the root of suffering. It’s a 360-degree revolution in consciousness that changes everything from the inside out.
This inner revolution is the death of all stagnant stories and the birth of something radically vibrant. It’s the discovery of who you really are, and the start of a whole new relationship to life.
Namaste.
(image by Stefan Keller from Pixabay)
Are you interested in our upcoming ‘Tantra of Life’ 7 Week Meditation Series?
As Amoda wrote, ‘This Meditation Series is an immersion into the path of saying a big “YES!” to life. It is the path of “totality” — a coming together of deep acceptance and absolute awareness — that forms the basis of true tantra. Ultimately it is the path of “surrender to what is”, an all-inclusive way of transcending the divided state of the “me” identity.’
Last year this course was amazing.
As a participant said, “These meditations have enabled me to enter life as a silent vastness. A beautiful transmission!”
Check it out: https://www.amodamaa.com/events/tantra-of-life