“Behind my eyes, God is shining within you, Life is awake in you, and Love is alive within you.”
In the spirit of love and play, I want to share a perspective on “awakening” that challenges a common belief that waits for the world and other people to… wake up, or become more conscious.
This spiritual belief, like so many other beliefs, assumes the final answer or solution for “world peace” (or whatever) exists in a future where circumstances are different, or there’s some “event” that changes everything. It’s the classic “if only” belief.
- “If only other people were more awake, more conscious, or more spiritual, THEN… all would be well.”
What I find to be so fascinating is the mind’s capacity to believe such assumptions, even to the point of internal dis-ease and the withholding of love for anyone who does not live up to our “if only” ideals. You can find these same assumptions playing out in all circles of society.
- “If only” other people voted for who I vote for, then the world could finally be a better place.
- “If only” other people lived their life this way and not that way, the world could be more harmonious.
- “If only” everyone adopted my religious ideas and believed what I believed, Life would be so much better.
Craving Something More
Naturally and understandably, there’s something we crave to experience, and then the mind creates conditions, assuming that if those conditions were met, then we could have that experience we long for.
A beautiful and sweet example of this, that takes me way back to my teenage church days, is the old preacher who’s holding on for dear life because Christ is coming back soon.
I have seen this so many times, and the way it plays out in this religious context is the same mechanism that plays itself out in spiritual, political, or societal dynamics.
The sweet old preacher is convinced, based on his interpretation of the Bible and what he’s been told, that Christ (in human form) is actually going to come back. Descending from the clouds, and essentially/adorably prove his beliefs as right. In the validation of his beliefs, there will be the sweet relaxation he’s longing for – nothing left to worry about.
There was this “interpretation” of biblical stories that said the prize, the main future event, was Christ’s return. We’ve been preparing our lives for that moment; it’s that moment that’s going to validate all the hard work we’ve put in.
“If only it were true,” gives a gentle false hope that leads us to assume the “real answer” is somewhere “out there,” in some future moment, separate from what we are – here and now.
In a very playful way… to bring more clarity, I could say…
- “Christ comes back, when you see that Christ has already come back.”
Stories Stories Stories
Stories, all stories, are only pointers to something beyond the stories. They point to something that is here and now, alive and true right now, available right now.
All religious and spiritual traditions tell stories, and we as beautiful humans love to believe the stories, rather than see what the stories point to. We love these stories so much that we fight over them, we kill to protect them, and we withhold love from anyone who doesn’t believe the same stories we do.
We identify with the stories, we use the stories to tell us who we are, rather than seeing that stories can’t possibly say anything that’s true about what you are.
“I’m this story, I’m that story!” No… you’re not; not really, sweet one. What you’re essentially saying is… “I am a product of my imagination, I am a thought, I am the unreal!”
Even a “name” is a story, an idea, the imagined. So, humans even give God a name, and then they argue and fight about what name is the right name. When… God cannot be named. Those who fight over the “true” name are no longer available to connect with the real thing; they’re too busy protecting their egos, as they are afraid they might be wrong (which they are).
When the World Wakes Up?
You see, we have this idea, this story we tell that we are headed toward some moment in the future where heaven will arrive (in a manner of speaking). A moment of finality, a moment of validation, a moment where everything will be in its proper place (or more so than now) and we can finally relax.
The case I’m making (and the case being made for thousands of years) is that this moment is right now, and it’s just not seen yet.
Of course, the mind says… “How could that be?! There are still so many terrible things happening in the world?!”
So naturally, this person goes on a quest to first fix the world, to make it right, to remove what it deems (judges) as bad and unworthy so that this future prize might be realized or manifested.
Depending on someone’s intensity in their belief about the world being hell and not yet heaven, I often see that people are simply not ready to give up that idea. They need more time to play their futile game of trying to change the outer world, so they can then change their inner world. They need to see more directly that it doesn’t work that way.
This futile struggle, the… suffering over it, has a special way of bringing a sense of humility and openness, where there is then some more space within us to see things in a new way.
When YOU Wake Up?
You know what this struggle reminds me of, this struggle of waiting for the world to change? The same struggle where the human is waiting for himself/herself to change?
“So, naturally, this person goes on a quest to first fix the world themselves, to make it right, to remove what it deems (judges) as bad and unworthy, so that this future prize might be realized or manifested.”
This is our big confusion, that it’s not yet done, that we are not yet lovable as we are. The same for the world, it’s not yet lovable as it is. Don’t you see, this is, yet again, another beautiful reflection that shows us that we see the world as we see ourselves?
If you see yourself as… “almost there,” then you will see the world as “almost there.” If you see yourself as being in a process of waking up, then you’ll see the world as being… “in a process of waking up.”
If you see yourself as drowning in hell, then you will see the world as a hellish place.
My goodness.
Don’t you see, for thousands of years, people believed that the “final big event” was just around the corner? For thousands of years, people have thought… “I’m not yet there, I’m not yet lovable.”
We are pushing away what we crave…
When you put the prize in the future, you are pushing the prize away. You’re saying… “Nope, it’s not here right now, I don’t want to see it yet.”
- This is like someone offering to love you completely as you are, and you love them too… but you run away.
You say… “Hmm, I’m not ready for that; maybe in the future. There’s still too many things I have to fix about myself, before I’m worthy to be fully loved.”
In the same way, we look at the world, and we say… “Nope, not awake yet, perhaps in the future; there are still too many things I judge as unworthy of being loved. Too many things that, I think, should not be. Too many things I don’t understand.”
The interesting thing here is that if you look for things to judge, you will find them. Such is the nature of an infinite delay. We can run away from the truth of this love – our whole lives.
All these things we judge, we are simply not seeing what they really are; we are seeing our ideas about them, our fearful conditioning. We are confusing Life with the mind’s content (ideas, stories, and beliefs), rather than letting go of our ideas and truly seeing Life.
The Truth of the Matter…
I understand that it might be a stretch, or that perhaps this all sounds like nonsense; however, for myself, I can’t escape the truth of what’s being pointed to here. And, humorously, I understand the possibility that I might not be pointing to it very well 😂.
Here is what I see…
Even in the mess that you might think you are, even in the 10,000 things you might want to be different about yourself or the world, I see you as… a beautiful expression of Life’s brilliance; playing your part perfectly.
Behind my eyes, God is shining within you, Life is awake in you, and Love is alive within you. Who am I to say, it should play out differently in your experience? Who am I to say that Life made a mistake?
Behind my eyes, Life is already awake, the world is already awake, everyone and everything is playing out exactly how it’s supposed to be playing out. It cannot be any other way than this.
Even though I might not understand the 10,000 creatures in the forest, what I do understand… is that every creature is playing its perfect role, that ultimately allows the forest to continue to be the forest.
Oh… how easy it would be, to argue about 10,000 things, arrogantly thinking I know what’s best for the forest to be the forest. No, my dear, Life/God has already figured that out. It’s already done.
