Awakening sense

peeling away

What are the chances our consciousness-drop has of becoming the Ocean,
But through the mercy of Self's radiance?

How can we begin to see that brilliance,
But through a heart purified by love's fire, a mind cleared by its light?

What then can our imprisoning veils do but peel away,
Exposing ego-mind's soft underbelly?

Perhaps it can then submit and be of service,
Reconstructed, reconstituted, relinquished, released.

utterly helpless

Any insights into how to get out of the grip of ego-mind's imagination?

A start would be to truly know and feel its utter helplesness, that it can't approach our deepest core where the presence of the Beloved within might be witnessed.

But that doesn't seem a nearly active enough step.

If we sincerely see that attempting to contact what's real in us through the ego-mind is hopeless, that alone saves a great deal of fruitless action. The real active force is the Beloved, or the Presence, that draws us to our Real Self.

Any other steps or actions?

Just being willing to take a chance, make a mistake, even be deluded by ego-mind's sheer force and cunning. At the same time to be confident in the possibility that help is already here, that awakening is inevitable, that the urge to awaken is continuous and unstoppable in all of us and that the slightest spark between Conscious and Unconscious Self wipes out all manner of limitations.

In other words this will all come about, if not this time around then a future lifetime?

Or in the next moment, and that all the potential resources are at hand.

raw material

How did the title of these posts, Awakening sense, come about?

The title could have been 'a sense of awakening' or 'intimations of awakening.' But I wanted to make it more compact, open ended, even ambiguous I suppose. For example, awakening can be used as either an adjective or a verb in this title.

You mean more open to personal interpretations?

The title was primarily meant to convey that these posts reflect a beginning point in looking at this business of spiritual awakening---hints or glimpses that are sensed, versus finished products that are handed down as accomplished fact.

And yet they certainly make use of the intellect.

They certainly do, but striving to combine mind and heart, using intellect as a sword of discrimination to help cut through mind's mess. And at the same time the word 'sense' can imply an intuitive sense.

So encouraging something beyond thought.

Beyond our usual or programmed thought; an awareness that is also a sensation, more concrete than abstract philosophy.

Like a sixth sense?

Or even like a seventh sense, since this goes beyond the psychic. It's finally a matter of common sense as awakening becomes more commonly experienced. And here's my final two cents: scents, tracks, signs, hints, tastes, glimpses; all these are implied in the title.

transit signs

This transitional self that you often call the awakening-self; isn't it just another form of the ego-mind?

In a way, yes. But it's a form of ego motivated by the urge to awaken, an intention contrary to ego-mind's nature. Problems arise when ego becomes entangled with limited mind's circuitry, but disentangling changes the story.

What's an example of this disentangling?

For one thing, the transitional self wouldn't feed on negative emotions, rather it would consume or help transform them. And it could more easily be dispensed with when the time comes, when your train comes in.

Any other differences?

Many, but another that comes to mind is the desire for results, especially dramatic ones, would diminish as outmoded expectations drop away. There would be a feeling of being on track, regardless of circumstances, and less attempts made to control and second-guess events.

So one would be more grounded and less self-absorbed.

Yes, and more receptive to the whims of grace.