The awakening process tends to have several side effects. Some of these happen during certain phases of the process. Not all are experienced in all cases. And some seem more or less unavoidable and inherent in the awakening itself.
I’ll mention a few here that I am familiar with from my own experience and that seem relatively common based on what I hear from others.
POOR MEMORY
It’s quite common to experience poor memory at some point in the awakening process. Our memories used to feel solid and real, and now they feel ephemeral and difficult to grasp.
We may also have a more general sense of cognitive dysfunction. It seems that our mind doesn’t work very well, and may be surprised when we actually are able to function and do what we need to do. It’s as if the abilities miraculously come online when they are needed.
DREAMLIKE QUALITY
The world may have a dreamlike quality to us. It’s as if we can put our hand through it. It feels ephemeral.
The world and this human self – and any content of experience – feel like a dream to us.
This can feel disconcerting, although here too, we may find that we can still function fine in daily life.
THIS HUMAN SELF LIVES ITS OWN LIFE
Another common side effect is that this human self lives its own life.
Anything connected with this human self – thoughts, feelings, words, actions – happen on their own.
It’s always this way. And noticing it is now more unavoidable.
IT’S NORMAL AND WE GET USED TO IT
All of this can be disconcerting to our mind at first.
And all of it is normal and we get used to it.
We may develop strategies for remembering certain things. (I write anything down that I may need to remember in the future.)
We trust that we will function OK in the world even if it appears like a dream to us.
And we also develop a trust in this human self being able to take care of itself, even if it is living its own life and anything connected with it is happening on its own.
WHY DOES THIS HAPPEN?
There is a reason why we may have these experiences, and it’s inherent in the awakening dynamic itself.
Poor memory
In an unawake state, we tend to hold many of our thoughts – mental images and words – as inherently true. That gives them a charge for us, and it makes them seem real and substantial. This also applies to the mental representations we call memories, and the charge and sense of solidity make it easier to bring them up. It’s easier for us to remember things because these memories mean something to us.
In an awakening, we tend to recognize all mental representations as just that. They are representations aimed at helping us orient and function in the world. They may be more or less accurate in an ordinary sense, and they are unable to hold any full, final, or absolute truth. For this reason, they tend to lose charge for us and they generally seem less substantial and solid. And that can make it more difficult for our mind to bring up memories. They don’t have as much charge for us, they are more ephemeral and less solid, and we recognize them as a mental creation happening here and now.
Dreamlike quality
The world takes on a dreamlike quality because it always is like a dream to us. Dreams also happen within and as consciousness. And the world to us – this human self, the wider world, any content of experience – happens within and as consciousness. To us, it all happens within and as what we are, which a thought may imperfectly call consciousness, and it’s always that way. It’s just that we didn’t notice and now we do.
Lives its own life
This human self appears to live its own life because that’s how it always is. Its thoughts, feelings, words, and actions are always happening on its own. All of it is living its own life. It’s just that in an unawake state, we added a sense of an “I” or “me” doing it (a human self, an observer, a doer, etc.), and now we recognize that as a mental add-on.
NOTE
As mentioned earlier, there are many possible and typical side-effects of awakening. One is that thoughts quiet down. They appear when needed, and otherwise, it’s mostly quiet. There is just perception and a general absence of noticeable thought. And it’s not always this way. For instance, Byron Katie, rapports a great flow of thoughts, and that’s perhaps why she was moved to formalize her approach to inquiry. (The Work of Byron Katie.)
DRAFT FRAGMENTS
There is a reason why we may have these experiences, and it’s inherent in the awakening dynamic itself.
In an unawake state, we tend to hold many of our thoughts – mental images and words – as inherently true. That makes our images of the past seem substantial and solid and they often have a charge for us. And that makes it more easy to bring them up. In an awakening, we tend to recognize all mental representations as just that. They are representations aimed at helping us orient and function in the world. They may be more or less accurate in an ordinary sense, and they are unable to hold any full, final, or absolute truth. For this reason, they tend to lose charge for us, and they seem less substantial and solid. And that can make it more difficult for our mind to bring them up. Our memories become more ephemeral for us, less solid, and are more easily recognized as just a mental creation that’s happening here and now.
The world takes on a dreamlike quality because it always is like a dream to us. It’s just that we are now noticing it. The world to us – this human self, the wider world, and any content of experience – happens within and as what we are. It happens within and as what a thought imperfectly may label consciousness. And dreams are that way too. Dreams also happen within and as consciousness.
This human self appears to live its own life because that’s how it always is. Its thoughts, feelings, words, and actions are always happening on their own. All of it is living its own life. It’s just that in an unawake state, we added a sense of an “I” or “me” doing it (a human self, an observer, a doer etc.), and now we recognize that as mental fabrications.