When we look for the ‘I’, we Awaken

Waking-up means, in effect, jumping out of the space-time conceptualizing of the dream. In this living dream, the live-er of this life must necessarily continue his dream life until the instantaneous apperception of his true nature takes him out of the confines of space-time created by his conceptualizing and 'wakes him up'. This-that-we-call-life is really a dream dreamt by THAT-which-we-are, and indeed that there is no 'we' prior to all conceptualizing but only THAT. (Ramesh Balsekar)

The hunt for enlightenment in our spiritual community reminds me of a bunch of horny teenagers who discuss ‘the first time’. Some claim they had it and describe it to the intimidated others based on some porn movies they have watched. Some had the beautiful experience but they keep quite, not to interrupt the boisterous boys. Fact of the matter is, it’s a state that we can only try describing after we experienced it, and the less we try to anticipate it, the better off we likely are.

Spiritually, while the actual ‘enlightenment’ experience is beyond us, there is a lot we can do to experience life as a series of meaningful satori moments. We can Awaken to the workings of the ego, the times when we project our longings and fears into others, and the times when we abuse ourselves. Once we Awaken to these inner workings we don’t fall for these psychological tricks and suddenly have a shot at experiencing the magic of the moment as it is, rather than projecting into it or wishing it away.

In the teenage example, by opening up to love and the beauty of the girls who are in our vicinity we may get girlfriend who loves us. She might not sleep with us, but we are a step closer to the first love-making with someone who actually cares for us. Similarly, there is process to Awakening that can be consciously lived. Mooji says, ‘When we look with the ‘I’ we dream. When we look for the ‘I’ we Awaken. Anyone who is on a spiritual journey looks for the ‘I’, and as we do, the Third Eye opens.

Take good care of your girlfriend, one day you may get lucky.