Gateways To Awakening
(This is an excerpt from a University Of Metaphysical Sciences course at www.umsonline.org,
please feel free to visit the school website)
After identifying ourselves with the body, mind, and emotions, there is a point for many of us when we find ourselves facing our underlying feelings of being unsatisfied with life and longing for something more. Facing these feelings requires that we stop from constantly acting on our thoughts. According to The Dalai Lama, “Once we finally recognize the suffering state we are in, the all-pervasive suffering that the afflictive emotions such as attachment and anger inflict upon us, we develop a sense of frustration and disgust with our present predicament. This, in turn, nurtures the desire to free ourselves from our present state of mind, the endless cycles of misery and disappointment.” (38)
When we begin to see the impermanence of our emotional states and the suffering involved in clinging to ideas of outward happiness, we can be impelled to seek something else in our lives, some further meaning to who we are. To come to this point of facing our inner suffering is an opportunity, or gateway, to awakening to the true Self. We may, however, misinterpret the call toward self-realization as a need to change the ego or outside world in some way. On the other hand, we may be at the point in our journeys when we come to know that seeking happiness in the outer world and ego does not produce lasting results and that instead, we must look deeply within for the true Self.
In this way, we can use the inner suffering that we feel as a gateway to the path of self-realization. Deeply questioning the meaning of life can also be a gateway to awakening. Yet another gateway lies in loving life and the Divine. Deep love can then spark devotion and lead to spiritual awakening. This is expressed in the following poem by Gangaji:
The light of love pierces this dream to wake us up And to reveal that it is itself the awakening.
Anyone on the path of self-realization has had some catalyst experience, which moves them toward a gateway of awakening. Ellen Grace O’Brian likens this experience to an alarm clock waking us up from sleep in A Single Blade Of Grass: Finding The Sacred In Everyday Life (2002). O’Brian states, “This alarm is a manifestation of God’s grace, that aspect of Divine Consciousness that is consciously striving to bring all souls back to Itself.” (xvii) There are numerous ways that peoples’ alarm clocks of awakening begin to ring. Once this happens, we begin to tune into a longing for self-realization. O’Brian states, “Just as the ocean pulls all waves back to its bosom, God is actively drawing all souls back to their divine home.” (85)