This is the fascinating journey that any human being can take, walking the path of liberation and spiritual elevation —the adventure of connecting with our pure existence.
The awakening
First, you wake up, and you realize that you see what you didn’t see, you see it. Waking up is that, just realizing that you are “it”, you are everything, that you cannot get here because you are already here, you have already arrived. You cannot do what you want because you realize that you have already done it. When you really open your eyes, you feel that you already “have it”. You don’t really know what it is (whatever it is), but you have it, it is inside you, and it cannot be explained. It looks like everything but in reality it is not anything and vice versa. There are no debts; you are already fulfilled, the pain, the love, the limiting beliefs, whatever, you see it, you appreciate it, you know it is there. Seeing transforms you because you will never see the same again.
Seeing consciously
Secondly, you learn to see, learning is understanding it, you empathize with whatever appears in your new visual space. Then a period of familiarization begins, and you begin to learn to notice everything that you did not see before. That allows you to become more aware of everything that you have not seen until now; true spiritual elevation begins with deciding to see with consciousness.
Acceptance
Thirdly, you accept, (or learn to accept it first). It comes to you, you see it, you can’t escape it, you shouldn’t, you know it’s there, and you know it’s not going to go away. You realize that it will continue there because it is part of the past and that cannot be changed, and it will continue because you do not know what will happen in the future. Then you accept that you cannot go back and do it in another way, or go forward to do it as you have it drawn in your mind. So, after suffering, frustration, submission, and a lot of practice, you finally accept that you cannot change even the smallest thing that is beyond your control.
Surrender
Fourthly, you surrender to it; you break down your own walls, you tear down the fortress of resistance against what you must accept and by your very nature. You must let it go. Then you say something like “take what you want, take what you want” or “do what you want with me, I am the puppet of destiny, a sailboat made to be carried by the wind of life, I surrender to you”.
When you surrender to reality as it is, when you allow what has happened to be true as it happened without having to hide it, pretend it never happened or appear invulnerable to it, that is when you connect with the vital current (the Tao). You let life happen exactly as it is (which happens whether you want it or not) and you become the water that flows unstoppably through the river, life and you are one in complete harmony. Therefore that separation loaded with suffering, which today is the great drama of human existence, disappears.
Universal love
Now, and finally, the fifth step, unconditional love, true love. Love accompanied by compassion, for any living being, and of course, for oneself, respect, kind understanding and union with anything that exists, because if you can see it if it is here in our reality. It’s because it’s as important as something that matters the most to you. Simply because it exists, the only reason we need. This is the only motivation, reason, purpose or passion that should really concern us, that kind of love that covers absolutely everything.
Spiritual elevation
The journey towards the spiritual elevation and liberation of the atman. The way to rediscover the purest essence of human existence.
And this is what I have to say on my return, after a month of rest for the soul.
Photo credit: Miao You Creative.