Awakening is a topic fraught with dilemmas. It resists analysis, but is utterly basic and simple. We thirst for it intensely, yet we are afraid to leave our deep slumber for the awakened state and it cannot be forced.
What exactly is awakening?
Anyone who is in any stage of awakening knows what it is and knows that the impulse to awaken cannot be reversed or diverted by anything, whatsoever.
Awakening, could be described as becoming increasingly conscious of our intrinsic and immutable link to nature, to the boundless, infinite universe which surrounds and necessarily, includes us. Awareness of this connection and inclusion is not the discovery of something new. Rather, it is returning to something that was always there, but lay dormant, obscured by the overlay of a persona fabricated by the social order of the world we were thrust into at birth.
Like a finely tailored set of garments, started at the moment of birth, we have been fitted and clothed with a self, seamlessly constructed and centered around an ego driven mind. This self or me has been magically designed to take on an individual, customized, accessorized, completeness that includes a gender, a name, an occupation/career, a set of beliefs, preferences, habits, traits, quirks, etc. -- in total, a recognizable personality.
The world of daily life, from the dreamlike perspective of the socially fabricated me continuously and seamlessly unfolds, reinforcing our perfectly tailored self. Ultimately, it becomes who we unquestionably believe we are. It becomes the lens through which we see the world -- a world, bounded by the limitations, fictions and delusions that characterize contemporary society. It is a world gone awry that is teetering on collapse. The human species is at the threshold of extinction, and it has delivered itself there as a result of faulty navigation. Reason and the socially installed individual and collective egoic mind have, until now, served as the prevailing navigational instrument. It does not work. It is not aligned, even slightly, with universal intent.
Awakening from this life, dreamt and held together by the agreements and beliefs of the vast herd of me units is the default, evolutionary step necessary for survival of the species. The impulse to awaken, which is resonating through humanity, is not sourced in the social order. It emanates from the unbounded, infinite universe to which we are connected. It is a powerful, omniversal signal reaching and affecting everyone. How strongly and recognizably it comes through depends on individual clarity and readiness to respond to the signal, the wake -- up call. This readiness cannot be forced and doesn't need to be.
The instrument of change is there, in place, ready to awaken, engage, operate and prevail. It is locked within each of us and needs only to be accessed and followed. It is our irreducible, unbounded, essential aspect, our true self, our inviolable, connecting link to the infinite totality of the universe. It is there; unused, dusty and dull, completely overlaid and eclipsed by the reigning master of the ship, the socially created and installed, ego driven,me.
Once the signal is perceived, however faintly, the impulse to awaken and take off the clothes of the world becomes invincible. The possibility of stripping off and shedding the delusional garment of the dream, now, while still alive is a chance for ultimate freedom. To experience the deep, inner peace that comes with dying while still living is awakening..
This prospect may appear frightening because we are conditioned to believe that the persona defined by the socially fabricated, egoic mind is real and all we have. If we let that die, if we give that up, then what is left? Awakening is detaching from a handful of distortions and fictions and opening the curtain to the unbounded totality, to everything, including our true selves. The dream is so complete and powerful that it has made us forget where we came from and what our purpose was for coming here.
Metamorphosis and evolution can occur as rapidly as the environment mandates adaptation. We have unwittingly created and set up ultimately powerful conditions prompting the adaptive change we call awakening. Human activity has triggered an accelerating free fall of environmental collapse. Turn on the news, or read the UN reports on the state of the environment, and catch the wake-up call. It is deafening to the extent that even the pathologically obtuse and reactionary are noticing it.
There are no limits, boundaries or rules. There are only process and reality. There will be, upon awakening, Terra Nova, New Earth.
Anyone wishing to explore these perspectives in greater detail can read Joseph Carlisi's book, " Playing God on the Eve of Extinction", available from Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=node%3D154606011&field-keywords=playing+god+on+the+eve+of+extinction )
Carlisi's paintings can be viewed at:
http://www.josephcarlisi.com