Meeting our Essence
A Glimpse of Truth
A glimpse is indescribably beautiful. It is the best moment of your life. Even so, there is often fear and the fear closes down the glimpse. In the beginning it will just be a glimpse, a flash where the clouds (the structures of the mind) in the blue sky part, and you get a glimpse of the blueness. You feel this very deeply. It is very beautiful but it is not something you can do, it just happens. In that instance the whole sense of self disappears.
This is what is really important. The sense of self – this ‘me’ that we are so attached to – disappears. It is a completely shocking moment.
It is tremendously life-changing because once this small moment has happened then you know something that you didn’t know before. You know yourself in a new way, but then the Self we’re talking about is no longer this rather small illusionary self. It is suddenly another Self, the Self, the authentic Self, vast, a feeling of oneness, tremendous love, tremendous connectedness.
After a few seconds the normal self, normal ‘me’, usually comes back very quickly because the glimpse in that moment is frightening, shocking, completely unexpected, magnificent.
It`s extremely simple and you don’t have to do anything. It’s a given. Almost everyone who has some kind of glimpse is surprised because they thought they would have to do something: ‘Oh, it just happened.’ You don’t have to do anything to be who you are.
Awakening
Awakening is a moment when we are going from our normal, ego based life, where everything is me, me, me, suddenly something happens energetically and there’s a tremendous expansion inside. Usually it seems the first time is particularly strong because you’re going from strong ego bound to suddenly free.
When an awakening happens the lid of the pressure cooker is removed and very often this happens in an explosive way, because the realisation is usually happening very suddenly. The lid blows off and there’s a tremendous amount of energy released. It can also happen over time, in an imperceptible way. Then it is quite common, that the physical body doesn’t function for some time, perhaps for a few hours or a few days.
Then the amazing thing is that you can function extremely well afterwards, even better than before because there isn’t the constant filter and static of the mind.
It takes some time to understand this and when you do, it just happens. There is no formula, there is no practice. I know a lot of people who have had such an opening, even if it was only for a short moment.
This is what is really important. The sense of self – this ‘me’ that we are so attached to – disappears. It is a completely shocking moment. As a spiritual seeker you probably expect an awakening to be amazingly special, but when you awaken it is completely ordinary.
