PRIME POST: What Initial Awakening Is–And Isn’t!
Hello, everybody! I got an interesting letter from an ex-client of mine this week, which I’ll be sharing below. This is someone who could hear me very clearly–until he woke up! At that point, as often happens, he was then content to fly by his own guidance again. It’s not very far fetched to say that his own guidance told him something along the lines of, “You finally got this thing! You did it! This is all there is, too! When you got it, you got it ALL!!”
If this sounds a little silly, let me tell you that it’s actually very common. It happened to me. When I woke up I just KNEW that no one had ever gone THERE before. And wasn’t I special? That notion was a combination of innocence and hubris, and it was off, but only by about a mile. So it happens.
The only thing that makes this particular guy stand out is that he did the same thing time after time without ever learning anything. That is the definition of an addict, and this guy was an addict for the thrill of freshly awakening. It’s a powerful drug, but the problem with that addiction is that in order to feed it, you have to pretend to go back to sleep all the time.
Finally we quit working together. Given our history, I can’t know if he still feels today like he did a few days ago when he had this latest awakening experience, but the truth is here in this email, regardless of who is, or is not, currently seeing it, so I present it to you in a nutshell. It is precisely what I told this young man–and what I’ve told lots and lots of clients, readers, and viewers.
1) Awakening is typically an event-style recognition that doesn’t happen to anyone; it only happens to Awakeness itself.
2) There is a spiritual experience that accompanies many awakenings. That spiritual experience is simply a flashy vehicle that’s carrying a brown paper package. All the stuff that counts is in the package, but we typically get fixated on the vehicle. We share our experiences, and then other people get fixated on these vehicles before they even have one–and that fixation may keep them from ever receiving the brown paper package.
3) For almost everyone, and I personally know of no exception, awakening is a vertical arising on a horizontal line. We clear, we wake up, we clear some more, hopefully a lot more, as we move in the direction of abidance and embodiment. We do not get to graduate like we do in high school, nor do we get to pass Go and collect $200 like we do in Monopoly. The balance of our clearing is gradual, though it may be sparked quite often with new insights that can feel like new awakenings. In between those insights we may experience what we call oscillation, which is simply consciousness re-identifying with the unit.
4) You are beyond space and time, but that unit you’re wearing lives right slap dab in the middle of both. Thus, on the illusory relative level, it will appear to take time for clearing to occur. It may take years. Conscious Awakeness has been flowing through this unit for more than eight years, and trust me, it is not up for graduation.
5) Continued clearing means continued attention on clearing. This calls for consistent–not just episodic–patience, humility, and work. If you don’t have any more of those things than I did, then settle down and plan to stay at it for quite a while.
And now here’s that email I promised:
Hey Fred. so I came across this quote from Adyashanti and it really hit me, and really humbled me. I wanted to see if you can confirm that this is indeed what you have been telling me all along regarding working towards embodiment….
December 15, 2014 @ 3:33 am
Morning Fred,
O’ what a relief !
Enlightenment happens – or not
delusion happens – or not.
The scent of a rose
the smell of dog shit.
God laughs to see such fun – or not.
the silence is like an atom bomb going off !
What to do next ?
Hahahaha hahahaha what nonsense.
Time for breakfast, hahahahaha .
Thanks Fred, your beautiful, Hahahahahaha
December 15, 2014 @ 7:31 am
Hey, Miles! 🙂
December 15, 2014 @ 7:34 am
Thanks for sharing, Leo. Resistance is futile. 🙂
December 15, 2014 @ 8:22 am
Yes! It’s all true. That’s just the way it is.
All joy, all joy.
Garydas
December 15, 2014 @ 8:32 am
Hey, Gary! Great to hear from you!
Fredananda
December 15, 2014 @ 2:30 pm
Hi Fred,
Went to go purchase the audio version of “The Book of Undoing” but it is not showing $7.77 but $14.95. Can you fix it?
Great article, BTW.
Thanks, Sandy
December 15, 2014 @ 2:40 pm
Thanks for the compliment.
For some reason WordPress is not letting me insert a link in this reply to your comment. However, I’m thinking it must just be an Amazon offer. Go to Undoing on Amazon, and see if that’s the trick. It’s showing $7.77 right now from my PC. It must be full price if you go through Audible. Do let me know, please! Thanks again.
Fred
through Audible?
Fred
December 15, 2014 @ 2:45 pm
No, I’m going through your link to amazon but it’s still showing 14.95 for me.
December 15, 2014 @ 2:46 pm
No kidding! I’ll have to remove that note from the post. I do an awful lot of business with them, and I guess they’re just offering it to me as a consumer. That’s weird, because as soon as I got there it tells me I’ve already purchased it. Sorry for the blind alley!
December 15, 2014 @ 5:01 pm
I removed the link to the audiobook. Thanks, Sandy.
December 15, 2014 @ 9:24 pm
I like the brown paper package analogy. That’s the real treasure!
I think it’s natural to want to feel blissful, special, free from danger and harm, loving and loved. That’s our spiritual yearning and drive. But the key to achieving this is to identify with Awareness, which always knows these things.
The spiritual “high” is really Awareness momentarily breaking through the ego. But if the ego seizes onto that sensation and clings to it, then it eludes forever.
December 15, 2014 @ 9:36 pm
PERFECT, Kathleen.
December 15, 2014 @ 10:38 pm
Fred, can you make printable version of your articles, so when I print, they don’t include people’s comments ?
I love to read those articles. Thanks Eva
December 15, 2014 @ 10:45 pm
Hi, Eva! I’m flattered that you’d want to do so.
If that’s technically possible, I don’t know how to do it. BUT, what I do when I want to pull that off, is simply left click on your mouse, and then highlight the article, but not the comments. Then right click and choose “Copy.” Next, open up a new Word document–or whatever kind of similar word processing software you might have–and then right click again and choose “Paste.” It’ll now be in your word processing document. All you have to do now is hold down your Control button and type the letter “A.” That will highlight the whole document. Choose a font and a font size that you like, and print! It works great. 🙂
December 16, 2014 @ 11:04 pm
Thank you Fredness, I will follow your advise. You are my reflection ,love your work.