The January 24th UVic Stillness Within “Waking Up” meet up was well attended by nine people.
The topic – waking up – was very provocative we looked at what it means (e.g. spiritual awakening, enlightenment, self-realization, liberation and many other definitions). There was a fulsome discussion of how that happens for people, different spiritual teachers’ experiences, research that’s been done about what peoples’ common subjective experiences appear to be, and we also enjoyed some practical meditative exercises.
The content we looked at included written and recorded work from Salvador Poe, Daryl Bailey, Ella May and Krishnamurti. There was some discussion about the challenge of looking at awakening as something that happens, an event or an experience, when many who have had some kind of enduring revelation seem to indicate that it isn’t an actual change in one’s state, but rather a change in perception or awareness.
For example, Daryl Bailey has asked the question:
“Is an awakening something that happens as a result of having done lots of hard work on ourselves? No, it’s a recognition that we are an expression of something bigger… something we don’t understand with our mind.”
Ella May describes her own seeing as follows:
” In truth nothing has changed, ever. Although it appears that the inner environment has changed, there is no longer an illusion of a thinker or a doer or a have-er. There is just a mind, with thoughts, a body with sensations, awareness and feelings…. These words are words and are pointing to something so free and beautiful it cannot be known, I do not know it…. There is nothing more free than what is, which is simply this.“
We looked at our own paths of seeking, of insight and the falling away of what we thought it meant to be fulfilled. It’s hard to describe what was bubbling quietly within all the words and concepts that were exchanged at the gathering, but it was beautiful – to me, it felt like the face of a more innocent and precious ‘seeing’ was also peering out amidst the diverse thoughts and ideas in the room.
It occurred to me after the event to look in Krishnamurti’s Notebook, as it captures many glimpses into the small moments that speak of a quiet yet profound beauty beyond the sense of self. Krishnamurti was somehow able break through the barrier of words to beautifully express his own sense of awe and love of existence:
Walking in the rain he noted:
“Everything was being washed clean, the past and the present, there was no time, no future. Every step was timeless, and thought, a thing of time, stopped; it could not go further or go back, it had no existence. And every drop of that furious rain was the river, the sea and the un-melting snow. There was total, complete emptiness and in it were creation, love and death, not separate. You had to watch your step, the busses passed almost touching you.”
We’ll be looking more closely at Krishnamurti’s Notebook at the February meetup so come out and join us on February 26th (see the KECC calendar for details).
Thanks to KECC for hosting this meetup and for all those who came and shared their experiences.
