by Adyashanti; UPLIFT
The Foundation Of Enlightenment
The enlightenment I speak of is not simply a realization, not simply the
discovery of one’s true nature. This discovery is just the
beginning—the point of entry into an inner revolution. Realization does
not guarantee this revolution; it simply makes it possible.
What is this inner revolution? To begin with, revolution is not static;
it is alive, ongoing, and continuous. It cannot be grasped or made to
fit into any conceptual model. Nor is there any path to this inner
revolution, for it is neither predictable nor controllable and has a
life all of its own. This revolution is a breaking away from the old,
repetitive, dead structures of thought and perception that humanity
finds itself trapped in. Realization of the ultimate reality is a direct
and sudden existential awakening to one’s true nature that opens the
door to the possibility of an inner revolution.
Such a revolution requires an ongoing emptying out of the old structures
of consciousness and the birth of a living and fluid intelligence. This
intelligence restructures your entire being—body, mind, and perception.
This intelligence cuts the mind free of its old structures that are
rooted within the totality of human consciousness. If one cannot become
free of the old conditioned structures of human consciousness, then one
is still in a prison.
Having an awakening to one’s true nature does not necessarily mean that
there will be an ongoing revolution in the way one perceives, acts, and
responds to life. The moment of awakening shows us what is ultimately
true and real, as well as revealing a deeper possibility in the way that
life can be lived from an undivided and unconditioned state of being.
But the moment of awakening does not guarantee this deeper possibility,
as many who have experienced spiritual awakening can attest to.
Awakening opens a door inside to a deep inner revolution, but in no way
guarantees that it will take place. Whether it takes place or not
depends on many factors, but none more important and vital than an
earnest and unambiguous intention for truth above and beyond all else.
This earnest intention toward truth is what all spiritual growth
ultimately depends upon, especially when it transcends all personal
preferences, agendas, and goals.
This inner revolution is the awakening of an intelligence not born of
the mind but of an inner silence of mind, which alone has the ability to
uproot all of the old structures of one’s consciousness. Unless these
structures are uprooted, there will be no creative thought, action or
response. Unless there is an inner revolution, nothing new and fresh can
flower.
Only the old, the repetitious, the conditioned will flower in the
absence of this revolution. But our potential lies beyond the known,
beyond the structures of the past, beyond anything that humanity has
established. Our potential is something that can flower only when we are
no longer caught within the influence and limitations of the known.
Beyond the realm of the mind, beyond the limitations of humanity’s
conditioned consciousness, lies that which can be called the sacred. And
it is from the sacred that a new and fluid consciousness is born that
wipes away the old and brings to life the flowering of a living and
undivided expression of being. Such an expression is neither personal
nor impersonal, neither spiritual nor worldly, but rather the flow and
flowering of existence beyond all notions of self.
So let us understand that reality transcends all of our notions about
reality. Reality is neither Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Advaita Vedanta,
nor Buddhist. It is neither dualistic nor non-dualistic, neither
spiritual nor non-spiritual. We should come to know that there is more
reality and sacredness in a blade of grass than in all of our thoughts
and ideas about reality.
When we perceive from an undivided consciousness, we will find the
sacred in every expression of life. We will find it in our teacup, in
the fall breeze, in the brushing of our teeth, in each and every moment
of living and dying. Therefore we must leave the entire collection of
conditioned thought behind and let ourselves be led by the inner thread
of silence into the unknown, beyond where all paths end, to that place
where we go innocently or not at all—not once but continually.
One must be willing to stand alone—in the unknown, with no reference to
the known or the past or any of one’s conditioning. One must stand where
no one has stood before in complete nakedness, innocence, and humility.
One must stand in that dark light, in that groundless embrace,
unwavering and true to the reality beyond all self—not just for a
moment, but forever without end. For then, that which is sacred,
undivided, and whole is born within consciousness and begins to express
itself.
http://upliftconnect.com/the-inner-revolution-of-awaking-to-reality/