No matter what worldview we prefer, it can be helpful to also understand awakening in an atheist and materialistic context.
WHAT IS AWAKENING?
I’ll give the short version I often use in these articles.
In one sense, we are a human being in the world. It’s not wrong and it’s an assumptions that helps us orient and function in the world.
And when we look a little closer in our own first-person experience, we may find something else. Especially if we are guided by effective inquiries and guides familiar with the terrain.
I find I am more fundamentally capacity for any and all of my experiences. I am capacity for the world as it appears to me. I am capacity for this human self and anything connected with it.
I am what the world, to me, happens within and as. I am the oneness the world, to me, happens within and as.
KEEPING NOTICING AND EXPLORING HOW TO LIVE FROM IT
This can be a glimpse, and this noticing can also become a habit. Throughout the day, we may notice this whenever we remember.
When it becomes more of a habit, we can explore how to live from this noticing. How is it to live from oneness? How is it to live from oneness in this situation? This is a lifelong exploration and new things will always be revealed.
And when the noticing is more of a habit, and we explore how to live from, something else tends to happen. And that’s a transformation of our human self. It’s a transformation of our perception, life in the world, and our human self and psyche. Whatever was formed within and still operates from separation consciousness (which is often a lot) comes to the surface with an invitation for it to align with oneness noticing itself.
THE LOGIC OF WHAT WE FIND
We may also discover that there is a logic to what we find.
If we “have” consciousness, then to ourselves we must BE consciousness. Consciousness is not some appendix we somehow have like we have arms, legs, and organs. It’s what we are in our own experience.
To us, the world and any experience happen within and as consciousness. The world and any experience, to us, happens within and as the consciousness we are.
Consciousness is inherently one and cannot be divided. (Although what happens within its content can obviously be divided.) And that means that the world, to us, happens within and as the oneness we are.
This also means that, to us, the world appears similar to a dream. It happens within and as consciousness, just like a dream (and any experience).
OUR NATURE VERSUS THE NATURE OF REALITY
What does this discovery allow us to say something about?
We can say something about what we are in our own immediate experience, and not so much else.
For instance, we cannot say if the nature of reality – of all of existence – is the same as our own nature.
It will inevitably appear that way since the world, to us, happens within and as the consciousness we are. It appears to us as if the world is consciousness. We may even call it Spirit or the divine or God. But we cannot know that for certain.
SMALL AND BIG INTERPRETATIONS OF AWAKENING
This leads us to the psychological (small) and spiritual (big) interpretations of awakening.
In the psychological interpretation, we talk about it as I do above. We keep it to our own experience, and we don’t generalize to the nature of existence itself.
In the spiritual interpretation, we take it one step further. We assume that our nature is the nature of all of existence. We assume all of existence is consciousness and what we can call Spirit, the divine, Brahman, God, and so on.
The spiritual interpretation is most common, perhaps because awakening has traditionally been talked about in the context of religions and spiritual traditions, and these use the spiritual or big interpretation of awakening.
THE VALUE IN THE SMALL INTERPRETATION
There is a value in the psychological or small interpretation of awakening as well.
It fits a range of different worldviews, perhaps nearly all of them. (I am sure it’s possible to come up with some that don’t fit but I cannot think of any of the common ones that don’t fit.)
It even fits an atheist and materialistic worldview. In our own experience, we are consciousness. That’s the reality in our own first-person view. And from a third-person view, it may well be that the most fundamental nature of reality is matter.
Taking this into account has value for those of us already exploring awakening. It helps us see that many worldviews may fit our experience. It helps us hold any preferred worldview a little more lightly. It gives us a common language to use when we speak with people from other backgrounds. And each worldview we explore may give us useful insights and pointers for our views and general and even how we live our life.
And it also has value in a more general sense. It makes awakening more available to more people. If it’s presented in a non-religious and non-spiritual context, then new groups of people may get curious about it. Some may even wish to explore it for themselves since they realize it may be compatible with their existing and familiar worldview. It’s more of an add-on or a nuance than a replacement.
WHICH IS MORE CORRECT?
So which one is more correct? The psychological or spiritual interpretation?
The psychological interpretation is safer. It stays with our own experience and doesn’t make assumptions beyond that. It allows us to consider different worldviews, hold them all more lightly, and find the value in each. It is, in many ways, more intellectually honest. It makes awakening available to more people. It goes to the essence of what mystics across times and cultures describe and can provide a common language for people from different traditions.
The spiritual interpretation may be more familiar to many. It may be more inspiring. And I personally suspect it may be more accurate. There are hints suggesting just that. (Sensing and healing at a distance, ESP, premonitions, synchronicities, and so on.)
On an awakening path, many of us experience things that best fit the big or spiritual interpretation of awakening.
And on a collective level, the more prudent approach is to hold that one lightly as well.
INITIAL OUTLINE
- Understanding awakening in an atheist and materialistic context
- what is awakening
- can use small or big interpretation
- can be very helpful
- helps us who are already into it be more honest, frees us from getting too caught up in one particular worldview or explanation
- makes it more available to those with an atheist or materialistic view
Awakening can be understood in a psychological or spiritual context. From a small or big interpretation of awakening.
…..
The spiritual interpretation is most common, perhaps because awakening has traditionally been talked about in the context of religions and spiritual traditions, and these use the spiritual or big interpretation of awakening.
And yet, there is a value in the psychological or small interpretation of awakening as well.
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Since these signs are not researched thoroughly by modern science, we have to hold that more lightly as well.