Waking Up Is Hard To Do: But a world of freedom awaits you
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Have you ever watched a butterfly emerge from its chrysalis? First, they have to live as a caterpillar, confined to their small leafy world, just getting by day by day, trying not to be eaten by a predator. Once they have ingested sufficient food, comes the day that they are ready and something strange and mysterious happens to them. Their reality starts to change as their skin forms into a protective cocoon (chrysalis), and there they hang suspended, while a great transformation occurs inside, hidden from the world. Some parts of the creature disappear altogether, while others reform into more useful adaptions for their new life as the emergent butterfly.
Like the transformation of the caterpillar to a soaring butterfly, waking up, for most of us is a process that occurs over time. You could say that the process never ends, it merely deepens. Here another metaphor might be better – the peeling back of the layers of an onion – as each layer is stripped away, more profound truths and knowing about ourselves and our world are revealed. As these layers unfold, we naturally seek and acquire more meaning and purpose in our lives.
What is waking up? I would call waking up the process that leads to the embodiment of Oneness, to know the Self and that Self as connected to everything and everyone. The thing is it’s pretty hard to define regarding the individual experience, as everyone’s experience of waking up is different.
The publishing house Sounds True produced an excellent series called Waking Upwhere the host, Tami Simon, interviewed 30 of the world’s leading spiritual teachers about waking up. She asked them to describe their experiences of waking up, all of which it turned out, were wholly unique to them individually and as diverse as nature herself.
For most of us, the awakening process is an evolutionary journey that can sometimes feel more like a game of snakes and ladders we are losing! It is, I can confidently say, a shift in our awareness, our very consciousness, our inner knowing, and these shifts will, for the most part, cause us to want to change our lives in some way.
These changes in consciousness, while a source of joy and much welcome healthy change, may cause us problems with our relationships as our understanding and awareness of the world around us evolves, changing our values, our way of being and how we relate. At times, just like the caterpillar, we may find ourselves cocooned in our isolation as a means of protection from a world that seems not to understand us.
We may feel dissatisfaction with some or all areas of our lives as we hunger for more meaning and purpose. We may also feel strange energies arising through our bodies (often referred to as Kundalini energy) or we may suffer from un-diagnosable illness, aches or pains and moments of overwhelming emotional grief and release.
Waking up to who we are – divine spiritual beings, individuated drops in the vast ocean of divine love - is not easy; at times it can also be very lonely and scary. Supportive community and mentors can ease the difficulties and may prove essential to your mental well-being, helping to normalise for you what others in your life, due to their fears, may ridicule or pathologise.
If you are willing to take this heroic journey to your deepest core, to awaken to who you really are, the rewards are vast – a deep sense of meaning and purpose, and a profound peace with who you are – a divine vessel of love in a world that sorely needs you
This beautiful track below from Darpan speaks to these times and the awakening many of us are experiencing. Listen carefully to the profound words and take heart that all will be well.
And if you are looking for support and guidance on your journey, I offer one-to-one spiritual mentoring. You can find out more here