I decided to make this a little simpler.
Here are a few facets of waking up:
(a) Waking up from form. Finding myself as awareness, aware of the world. Mind releases identification out of form and identifies as awareness distinct from form.
(b) Waking up as form. Awareness awakening to itself as form, form as awareness/awakeness. The image of awareness distinct from form is recognized as only an image, a temporary misunderstanding.
(c) Waking up the patterns within form. The parts of me that conform to image and thoughts taken as true, are invited to align with reality- with the reality of all as Spirit, all as awakeness, all as love. This looks like healing, clarifying, purification.
(d) Waking up as capacity for all of this – awareness, the play of awareness as form. The Godhead wakes up to itself.
(e) Waking up – in many small ways – through experiences, maturing in a very ordinary way.
And it’s ongoing. New facets of reality awaken to itself. And God expresses, explores, and experiences itself as form in always new ways.
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Initial draft….
Adyashanti sometimes talks about waking up from form, and as form, and that’s been my experience as well.
In my teens, for about a year, there was a sort of awakening from form. Identification as awareness aware of the world of form – including this human self. I was an atheist at the time, and didn’t quite understand what was happening.
Then, it shifted into an awakening as form. Spirit woke up to itself as all there is, with no exceptions. All forms – the world, this body, emotions, thoughts, identifications – were seen as awakeness itself, as emptiness dancing.
At the same time, it wasn’t quite complete, not quite clear. Some images were still held as true, including of an I, and that awakening was a state, a particular content. It didn’t make any sense, of course. Spirit already had recognized itself as all there is, so how could this image of an I and identification as an I not be Spirit, how could states of dullness, suffering and confusion not be Spirit. And yet, these images were still held as true. They were held as true at an emotional and bodily level. They were not questioned in stillness and with some clarity, kindness, and sincerity.
That’s where another facet of awakening comes in. An awakening of form that’s a realignment of form with reality, with all as Spirit, awakeness, love. This is an ongoing form of awakening. It happens in any life, to some extent, just through living. It happens within an awakening from form, also to some extent. And it happens within an awakening as form. It’s the natural “wish” for confused parts of us, those formed from taking images and thoughts as true, to find liberation and align more closely with reality. They wish to go from aligning with beliefs, to aligning with all as Spirit, all as love. This allows more of this human self to be a vehicle for Spirit awake to itself.
So in a sense, there are three forms of awakening here:
Waking up from form, as awareness aware of the world. Here, there is still identification with the image of awareness.
Waking up as form. Here, what is awakens to itself as all there is – what thoughts may call awareness/awakeness as form.
Waking up form, inviting it to realign more closely with reality. Patterns in us formed from beliefs, from taking images and thoughts as true, are invited to align more closely with reality, with all as Spirit, awakeness, love.
There are many other facets, or perhaps even phases, of awakening. It seems it keeps unfolding, keeps on opening.
One is an awakening as capacity for all of this. Capacity for awakeness, for awakeness as form, for form realigning more closely with reality.
Another is the ongoing awakening that happens just because of ongoing experience. It’s an awakening that takes the form of quite ordinary maturing when there is receptivity and curiosity. It happens in any life, to some extent. And it’s a facet of awakening when Spirit is awake to itself.
Now, there are already five facets and/or phases of awakening:
Waking up from form, as awareness aware of the world, identified as awareness as distinct from the world, from form.
Waking up as form, waking up as the world, as form.
Waking up this human form, inviting confused areas – where images and thoughts are taken as true – to align more closely with reality.
Waking up as capacity for all of this, and all of this as this capacity.
Waking up through experience, in the form of maturing, learning.
And again, it’s ongoing. It continues to open up, to unfold.
What’s already here continues to reveal itself to itself.
And God continues to experience, express and explore itself in always new ways as content of experience.