The Value of Being On The Path To Awakening
What is the value of:
– being interested in spiritual awakening;
– becoming interested in penetrating the true ultimate Reality behind all illusions and lives;
– studying, learning and inquiring into the nature of that Reality;
– doing practices that may supposedly lead to directly experiencing or realizing our oneness with that Reality;
– spending time with awakened ‘masters’ who may impart wisdom or transformative experiences;
– doing selfless service or devotional practices to transcend our ego and self-focus
Nothing.
If it is true that…
– all there really is, is Awareness, the One Reality
– all seemingly-real objects, including all stars, planets, and beings on those planets, are just temporary ‘reflections’ of that Pure Awareness
– Pure Awareness is already perfect, complete, and fully Awake to Itself
…what could it possibly matter if any of these illusory reflections of Awareness, called human beings, endeavor to learn about Reality or become Awakened or enlightened?
Indeed, if there is only the One Reality, and all beings are simply reflections of that, there could be no individual ‘endeavors.’ The word endeavor implies personal volition on our parts, but if we don’t really exist separate from the One Awareness, there can be no personal endeavors. It could only be the One awareness’ volition that makes anything ‘happen.’ There could be no personal volition, because there is no person. A shadow cannot, of its own volition, walk away from the substance casting it. Nor can it ‘endeavor’ to become more One with it.
There could be no difference, or judgment of superior/inferior, between living out an ordinary, non-aware life and living a more ‘spiritually-aware’ life. No difference between a simple life of working, raising a family, having pleasures and pain, and dying, and a life of meditation and walking the path to spiritual realization.
At this level of relative or apparent reality, on this planet, the vast majority of people seem to live out very ordinary lives, with little or no awareness of, or interest in, the deeper levels of consciousness and the deepest Truths of non-dual Reality and Pure Awareness. Then, there seems to be a certain subset of people who are interested in That, in probing That, in realizing That (and some say that number is growing.)
Who cares? It’s just Awareness being interested in Awareness. It’s just Awareness ‘manifesting’ that desire in certain humans, to experience Itself as a human with that inkling, as opposed to a human without spiritual leanings. If we find that we are one of those humans with a strong penchant for discovering the Real spiritual Truth behind all illusions, it’s only because Awareness is manifesting itself that way in us. It’s just a ‘calling,’ an affinity, a predilection in us that Awareness put there. It doesn’t mean anything. It doesn’t mean we are smarter, more evolved, or walking a more ‘righteous’ path than those not interested.
When Awareness ‘wants’ to experience what it feels like to be a rock, It manifests a part of Itself as a rock. When Awareness ‘wants’ to experience what it feels like to be a tree, It manifests a part of Itself as a tree. Maybe it manifests itself as a long-lived bristlecone pine tree and gets to experience that for 5000 years. Sometimes it manifests as a sapling that lasts only a few days and is then gone. When Awareness ‘wants’ to experience what it feels like to be an ordinary, workaday human, It manifests as that. When It ‘wants’ to experience the feeling of a ‘spiritual’ human on the path to Awareness and ultimate Reality, It manifests as that. Maybe It manifests Itself as a long-lived human who’s generally healthy all his or her life. Sometimes It manifests as a human with lots of illness, pain or suffering who lasts only a few decades, or far less.
It’s just the ‘play’ of Awareness through every rock, tree and human. In a relative sense, you could say it’s Awareness’ way of ‘discovering’ Itself consciously, but it is truly cosmic play, not a necessity, because Awareness is already fully complete and awake. Indeed, It must be, because It’s the only ‘Thing” there is! So It doesn’t need to ‘endeavor’ to wake up, and as temporary shadow manifestations of That Awareness or reflections of It, we don’t need to endeavor to wake up, either. So what is the value or importance of being on path to awakening. To you? This seeming ‘individual?’ Absolutely nothing! It’s just where you find yourself. And even though it may indeed be just where you find Your Self, it’s not special. Indeed, until you know it’s not a special endeavor or accomplishment that ‘you’ have undertaken, ‘you’ will not find Your Self on any path to awakening. As long as you think it’s ‘you’ doing it, you cannot wake up. When you realize there is no ‘you’ doing anything, and that it’s just Awareness expressing Itself, meeting Itself, when ‘you’ disappear, then and only then can You meet Yourself.
We are not real individuals, living out our own personal, separate lives. We are simply sense organs of the Divine. We’re like the fingers on a hand, feeling out the Universe for the benefit of the One of which we are simply an extension; the fingers do not have their own separate lives.
As the extensions and feelers of Awareness that we Are, we walk the path and wake up. We do so because we must, because it’s the only thing we can do, because it’s what Awareness, as us, is manifesting right Now.