Awakening

[Sighclone]

Or using thoughts to build a whole new spiritual self and unconsciously avoiding emotions that are believed to be detrimental to that self. It's suble, but the ego can slip in through the back door in this way. I think it's what some term spiritual bypassing?

Building a 'whole new spiritual self,' (the wonderful new and powerful "me" - Spiritualized Andy!!) is indeed a trap. But 'spiritual bypassing' was coined by John Welwood to mean something slightly different. It's that behavior of 'dropping out' of normal social and family roles and responsibilities to 'bliss out' in some sort of personal meditative cocoon. I do think an authentic awakening experience could lead to spiritual bypassing of everyday life without reconstructing a spiritualized ego, but I'm splitting hairs.

RT - Great to have a Vedantic term, and validation for the witness - thanks!

Andy

[smiileyjen101]

RT said: Unless we suffer, we don't really surrender or become vulnerable or let go. And unless we do all that, we don't have the impetus to find our true nature.

This made me wonder RT. When young children, or innocents, play or 'be' they don't even know they are vulnerable or authentic, there is no other way of being ...when/why does it change? What, as a species - or maybe its not the whole species, but cultures (?) brings a sense of lack or the fall from grace that makes people clothe their beauty with false selves, only then to suffer and re-find their innocent selves?

[logan65]

from what I've learned it happens in early childhood..conditioning

[steve Davidson]

Dont know if this was posted on this forum at some point or not, but here is a good intro to the psychology of spiritual awakening by Steve Taylor, who is endorsed by Eckhart Tolle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUeuV3C5IIg

[Sighclone]

Thanks for the Taylor link -- wonderful book, by the way.