What Does “Waking Up” Mean?

What does “waking up” mean? What does being “deluded” mean?

I think that for some spiritual seekers in the West there is some kind of idea that “waking up” or “self-realisation” is like a kind of volcanic eruption – one minute we are this and the next minute, here we are, wise and sage and knowing! It just happened! Voila! 😂 – Gather round all!

But I believe that “waking-up” or little energy shifts are happening subtly to us all the time as we navigate through our life. We don’t just suddenly “wake up”, we evolve- provided we do the work.

For example, shifts in our awareness and energy occur any time that we go through dramatic life changes – particularly things like birth or grief where we suddenly truly “know”and understand something on a deep level that we could only sort of imagine previously. Shifts also happen as we mature – most sages are not young – and also (usually) when we practise meditation / yoga regularly and begin to reflect. But, to me, getting too caught up in some kind of spiritual realm before learning to cope with what is happening on this Earthly realm is problematic and could be described as “delusional” since it’s not much different to all those other coping mechanisms that we humans use to avoid reality! If we are not grounded in absolute reality then how the hey will we cope when the you-know-what hits the you-know-what? Know anyone like this?

The only way to learn and understand and discover our true nature is to be with and work through all that life throws at us. We don’t have to “like it”, we don’t have to feel comfortable with it – in fact, it may be incredibly challenging! But, there is no way to fool our subconscious self! In the end, we all end up stronger and more resilient – more “awake”- if we simply say no to all those avoidance tactics and try to accept our reality just as it is in each moment. Work through, acquire wisdom, help others.