THE INCONVENIENT TRUTH ABOUT ENLIGHTENMENT
As a spiritual guide it is my duty to put a word of caution out there to seekers to be very discerning about their spiritual activities and accepted beliefs. I speak from YEARS of experience when I say be careful of the new age gibberish and its scented version of enlightenment.
Enlightenment has nothing to do with power and permanent happiness and if you find yourself continually shopping for enlightenment in books and crystal stores then you are sadly misguided. It has nothing to do with playing with your chakras and crystals all day and being high vibe and happy.
The inconvenient truth is that enlightenment is only achieved by the crumbling away of untruths and seeing through the tricky workings of the ego. It is concerned with inner spiritual warfare that makes the Godfather seem like playschool. The real route there requires you to discipline your bodily senses and continually be on guard for intrusive energy. It requires you to continually wage the sword of love and awareness to conquer the workings of the ego so you can experience a mystical state of sacred PRESENCE. You may have experiences moments of this but the mission is to be in this state more than not.
Firstly you will be reincarnated a shit load of times before you truly learn to master your consciousness and become more spirit than ego. It is not something you will achieve by continually searching outside yourself.
Most people are enamored by the idea that enlightenment is your ticket to a happy existence but nothing could be further from the truth. Firstly enlightenment is not a magical event that will catapult you into an eternal state of joy. It is this manufactured idea of enlightenment that has billions scrambling for a fast train to nirvana, giving rise to spiritual consumerism in which soul seekers jump from guru to guru, shopping for enlightenment as if shopping for shoes in a department store.
As a spiritual mentor I see people wanting to reach enlightenment, imagining it is going to take them 8 sessions to get there! At this point I make people aware that my role is temporary and I can help them begin to slowly expose their deepest shadows and that this exposure and training of the soul is going to hurt. You will be humiliated and ashamed. You will be stripped bare. The ego will fight, kick and scream. It will want to pull the plug as you have to be willing to be extremely uncomfortable and vulnerable. You have to let go of all that owns you and ....it will not take 8 hrs to get there! It is a life long pursuit and inner battle. There is nothing glamorous about the journey, let me tell you.
There are many deceptions along the way and the shocking truth is that as people abandon the tried and true path of religious based practice in search of a less disciplined path, they become more vulnerable to the illusions of the new age movement.
Yes it may shock you, but the truth is that the new age movement is not all light! You will get some profound-sounding galactic nonsense with rainbow farting unicorns and you may eventually end up as crazy as the most religious fanatics; you will be in a deeper ditch of delusion in fact.
I know because I WAS ONCE THERE. Truth is that much (not all) new age spirituality is concerned with carving out a new, more exotic role for the EGO to play. It may even fill you with pride that you're more AWAKE than other people. It's called spiritual superiority complex!
Don't be fooled! Being 'awakened' is an ongoing journey and enlightenment is not going to make you special. If you happen to sit among friends and casually discuss how awake you are and think that you are somehow more special than others in any way, then I can tell you now, enlightenment is very far from you reach.
The truth about enlightenment is that when it is authentic, there is no real awareness of it. Humility is so profoundly overriding the ego that the person themselves has no awareness of their awakened state.
The road to enlightenment is a disempowering one for the ego. Pride cops the worst ass kickings, which makes for a very empowering process for the soul. It is humbling! It is painful. It strips you of anything that you perceive makes you special and leaves you raw in your sameness. It leaves you breathless in realising the unification of all things. It dissolves separation and duality and sees you hovering in a space of awareness that is mystically transcendent and awe-inspiring.
If you're a true Spiritual Gangsta you will not be looking for something to make your ego self HAPPIER, you will be looking for something that requires you to work harder to break the ego so the REAL SOUL self can finally be free to shine. This path is the path towards spiritual authenticity. That is why much of my work is not about coaching people happy, it is based on coaching people FREE. It is not for everyone, and neither am I, but I am happy knowing my time is spent on those dedicated to in serious evolution. I am far from enlightened and sometimes I question my own sanity in even doing this work however I learn more from teaching than I do from reading. Each client is a mirror reflecting my shadows and my light. Each one helps me on my path, just as I help them. The Divine is without doubt the force guide us both. It is such an incredibly blessed expereince.
Real spirituality has nothing to do with creating roles, true spirituality is about the complete dissolution of identity. Anything that pumps up your ego will be in fact delay enlightenment as you are only building up more resistance for the soul. True empowerment comes by shedding the false selves and creating space for the soul to finally lead. It is about inner contentment, divine confidence, spiritual communion, dedication to ego slaying and spiritual authenticity. It is the breaking away of attachments and ego. Expanding ones consciousness is not all roses but it is THE ONLY mission in life that will reward you in THIS LIFE and BEYOND.
Remember that enlightenment is about sacred presence both inwardly and outwardly. Get in touch if your soul needs navigating through this incredible journey đ "One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious. The latter procedure, however, is disagreeable and therefore not popular.ââCarl Jung E R Y K A . S T A N T O N Spiritual Teacher / Coach / Author
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