What do we mean by Awakening?

 

We mean that a human being discovers or “awakens” to the truth of who and what they actually are.  This discovery is crucial to our happiness and overall well-being. If we don’t know who or what we are, we will continue stumbling our way through life at the mercy of our ignorance.  If we mistake ourselves to be something which we are not, all of our thoughts and actions will be based on that falsehood, and our life will be fraught with conflict.

 

For most people, asking the question, “What am I?” seems completely unnecessary, if not totally ridiculous.  We have a very strong belief that we know exactly who and what we are.  However, this question “Who am I?” this belief, is almost never examined.  After all, why would we question something that we have absolutely no doubt about?

 

We all have very definite ideas and detailed knowledge about the person we believe ourselves to be.  We believe that our personal story represents the truth of what we are.

 

The reason we are so sure about our identity and never question it, is because we are the ones who created it.  We are the author of our story that is all about who we believe ourselves to be.  This is why our feeling of self feels so very personal; closer than intimate.  It feels undeniable. Without ever questioning it, we believe it to be absolutely true.

 

Our continual, never-ending efforts to create and maintain our sense of self identity are mostly occurring subconsciously.

 

Without being aware of it, our sense of identity has been created by and is always being modified by our psychological mind.  This constant writing and rewriting of our personal story continues throughout our lifetime, resulting in a sense of self that is constantly changing and is very complex.

 

The identity of the person that we believe ourselves to be is made up of an evolving variety of different factors, some that change quite often and others that are more stable.

 

At the center of this self-inquiry, is our sense of self, that feeling of “me”.  What am “I” really?  Who or what is this “me” that all of us are constantly referring to?

 

Actually discovering who and what we truly are, not philosophically, not intellectually, but discovering what we are experientially, is what is meant by Awakening.

 

Shifting out of our very limited sense of identity with personhood, and awakening to what we naturally, effortlessly and universally are, this is the greatest discovery in all of humanity.

 

Awakening to the truth of our being blesses every aspect of life.