Waking Up from Awakening
For those of us who are currently experiencing the awakening of consciousness taking place on this planet right now, there are many rabbit holes we can fall down that lead us to believe we are fully conscious and awake when we are really waking up out of one layer of the world dream at a time. No two paths are the same even though there are world issues that affect the collective and information cross intersects.
Any plateau we have become attached to on our journey can create a sort of dogma within us that can act as a repellent toward higher states of consciousness because we may already believe we are at the pinnacle of being “awake.”
Because of this, one of the most challenging trials in the awakening process is being able to cultivate a quality of fluidness so as not to become static in our ever-expanding worldview.
We can take a cue from Mother Nature on how to lean into this one. When it comes to healthy sources of water in nature, rushing water is the cleanest source to drink from because it is full of vitality and momentum. This movement is what purifies the water whereas stagnant water from a pond has built up bacteria from its lack of circulation. So too are our egos when we become energetically stuck to our belief systems.
Beliefs can harden us and sometimes even defeat the ultimate purpose of the beliefs by how dogmatically we identify with them. Everyone has their gifts and talents to bring forth for the whole. We are all called to the areas where we can best contribute to the holistic mandala of life that we are co-creating. However, we lose our own range of motion when we get stuck in tunnel vision and let our beliefs create a fortress against a new layer of reality that is reaching out to us. Sometimes righteous indignation against the system can bleed into obsession and we become spiritually exhausted in this manner. When we move out of the exoteric realm and into the esoteric realm of a matter, we begin progressing at the soul level.
Exoteric knowledge is knowledge in its most reduced form. Pertaining to the external, outer layer of knowledge that is base in nature. It is available to the masses and is likely to be understood by the public sphere. If you were to imagine the layers of an onion, the exoteric realm would be the outer layer of the onion. On the outer layer, there is a superficial level of perception. We may interpret the world of the inner layers as scary, or even dangerous. That is because a person who resides in the exoteric realm is more familiar with the exoteric version of teachings that do not extend beyond the surface.
Whereas esoteric is the inner or hidden dimensions of reality
This is the subtle realm that deals with essence. Esoteric knowledge is the ageless wisdom and deepest meanings that are likely to be understood only by a small majority, not because the knowledge remains unavailable to the masses, but because the knowledge requires labour and preparation to innerstand. It’s communicated through encryptions such as allegories, parables and symbols known only by those who have developed the eyes to see and the ears to hear its most refined truths. Ultimately, the esoteric requires direct experience. When Esoteric concepts are interpreted by the exoteric, they will likely confuse the context and meaning for the profane or malevolent. As we transition our point of reference from the exoteric to the esoteric, the quantum field opens up and we start to experience the living reality of synchronicity.
That’s why whatever teachings and information we resonate with now may only be the building of the foundation for larger revelations. Just like an empowering belief on one stretch of the journey may become a limiting belief holding back our expansion on another stretch of the journey, our vantage point shifts as we are willing to reflect and take inventory of the beliefs that we have outgrown and have become limiting.
We are all operating from certain layers of reality and one of the ways the ego can deceive itself, is by believing that it has already fully awakened in order to avoid another round of expansion. At the heart of the matter we fear the death of our worldview. The ego isn’t horrible, it just has a prime directive: survive. Its very purpose is to identify. Not only is it in a constant state of identification, but it also must identify potential threats to its survival while maintaining a sense of physical and interior security in its environment. From a compassionate perspective, it’s attached to what it feels is safe and our beliefs are our safety regardless of whether they are pleasant or not. The ego is simply afraid and is fighting to keep its sense of home.
Anytime we cling to our level of awareness and resist the unknown, we create tension and projections that defend our consciousness from "dying." Expansion can be experienced as death if we are attached to our level of awareness, or it can be experienced with more ease if we regard the unknown as a mysterious ally.
Once we go through the process of opening our heart center, we see that every leg of the journey is valid and honored as a part of our growth without needing to demean where we came from or currently reside. We can see how each experience that led us up to this point was cultivating our highest evolution and as a natural byproduct of this grace that we give ourselves, we can offer that same understanding to others wherever they may be on their own journey.
That said, it is important to trust that whatever new horizon needs to come our way will find a way to do so and that our part is to remain open and fluid when the time comes for us to shift to the next plateau. We don’t need to force new revelations; we only need to stay open to them. The harmonious recognition of “becoming” and “being” as equal parts of “to be” is the magic to enjoying the three.
© 2015 Sarah Elkhaldy
