When we notice – quite clearly – what we are, there is a waking up out of stories.
There is a waking up out of the story of I. A doer. Observer. Thinker. An I with an other. A center with periphery. An inside and an outside.
And with it is a waking up of any other story as well, including the stories of maps, models, religions, spirituality and practices.
We see that what we – already and always – are, cannot be touch by any of those stories. They can be very helpful in a purely practical sense, for this human self to function in the world and explore who it is and what it really is.
But they are also, quite literally, imaginary. They are creations of the mental field, overlaid on pure perception. And reality cannot be touched by any of them. Not in a conventional sense. And not in the context of all as God.
Each story has a temporary and practical value only.
This means that if we practiced within a certain tradition, we wake up out of that too. We realize how limited and small that tradition is, however sophisticated it may. We realize how much of an illusion any maps are, even if they can have great practical value.
So one of the outcomes of this, for a human self functioning within the context of awakening, is to sort out how to use these stories. If this human self is going to function in the role of a teacher, what stories is it going to use as tools? For practical reasons, many choose to still function within their tradition, maybe with some changes here and there. Others may start there and move beyond. And yet others may chose to clean the slate as much as possible and see what emerges.