There's a lot of talk these days about "Waking Up". That leads to the following questions..., “Wake Up to what?” and “How do we do we Wake Up?”
Waking up is a choice. You choose to wake up, because you long to finally know, remember, discover and become aware of “Who I am.” You are ready for something more, which means you are ready to change. However, you might also choose to not wake up, because it is often human nature to fear the unknown.
Just know that when you wake up, you will change, because you will see how your limiting beliefs have caused imbalances in your life; and your natural tendency will be to correct those imbalances once and for all.
To wake up, means to make a conscious decision for this to be your last lifetime on Earth.
Waking up is a lot like dying; because it means dying to your past beliefs, and to all that once was. One of the world’s masterpiece stories on the subject of death and dying was ‘The Death of Ivan Ilyich,’ by Leo Tolstoy.
In 1896, he wrote; “What tormented Ivan the most was the deception. It was all a lie, which for some reason they all accepted, by saying he was not dying, but was simply ill. He only needed to keep quiet, they said, and undergo the treatment, and he would somehow get better.”
Ivan life had been simple and ordinary, and therefore most terrible. While a simple life is generally considered a virtue, Ivan's life was simple in the wrong way, because he was a conformist. His values, desires and behavior were wholly determined by the opinions and expectations of his social superiors. His choice of friends was based upon their social standing. He decided to marry because it was considered the right thing to do. Ivan's life was terrible, because it was a life devoid of any true freedom, and of true individuality.
In a sense, Ivan was a robot; and his biggest fear was that everything he believed to be true might not be true after all; and now he was going to die.
***
Beliefs are the basis of your broad interpretation of the world, but your beliefs are not as stable as you might think, and are constantly changing, sometimes on a day-to-day basis.
Beliefs are often conflicting, create confusion and hold you back from being fully conscious. Beliefs keep you from being sovereign, and keep you from experiencing freedom, because beliefs keep you inside of a box.
Just because you believe something, doesn’t mean it’s actually true, and more often than not your beliefs are not even based upon truth; they’re just made up. Someone you trusted said it was true, like your parent, a teacher or a friend; and you believed them; but where did they get it from? What if they were wrong? Much of what we believe has been passed down from generation to generation for hundreds of years, or even thousands of years, from some very ignorant and superstitious people.
Your ‘personal truth’ about reality is something like a bubble, based upon what you believe to be true. What you allow your bubble to experience is based upon your beliefs; that is, until someone, or something, comes along and literally bursts your bubble.
According to some of the Eastern teachings, the only ‘real truth’ that anyone can rely on is that of impermanence, change and transformation.
Beliefs are subjective, and vary from time to time, especially when we are actually confronted with real life situations.
For example, many people tell you they don’t believe in killing, but when push comes to shove they will kill if they are attacked, which includes swatting flies, spraying ants and slapping mosquitoes. Because our lives are so full of such contradictions, we blow them off and call them paradoxes, instead of trying to explain them. However, it simply comes down to the fact that we all have conflicting beliefs.
The more things you believe in, the less conscious you are, and the more limited you become. It’s like putting your mind on auto pilot, only seeing and hearing what you believe in. The more limited you are, the less your awareness becomes, and the less you are willing to experience in life.
Religious beliefs have been the cause of massive conflicts and 'holy wars' since the very beginning of humanity, and are perhaps the worst kind of beliefs you can have.
This is because religious beliefs limit your growth by placing your mind into some kind of ‘God Box.’ They say, “This is what God is,” and then try to keep both you and God locked away in a church that looks very much like a prison.
People are always trying to discover ‘who they are,’ but rarely do they try to discover ‘what they are.’
‘What you are’ is Consciousness, and you will never discover the ‘Consciousness you are’ if you are full of limiting beliefs; and more importantly, you will never wake up.
So what does that mean…, to wake up?
Waking up is when you make the choice to allow yourself to be Conscious.
Consciousness is not a belief, and is not thought. Consciousness uses your physical brain to function in this dimension, but consciousness itself is multidimensional.
Therefore, in order to connect with the higher spiritual aspects of yourself, it requires that you somehow bypass your brain, and your beliefs, which is why meditation is often the easiest and recommended method for doing that.
What it all comes down to, is getting past all those beliefs that are holding you back from being conscious, aware and awake. When you choose to have limiting beliefs that guide your life experiences, it prevents you from connecting with the higher aspects of 'what you are.'
Wisdom comes from awareness, which can only happen when you are being conscious. You don’t acquire consciousness, you expand consciousness.
Consciousness wants to fill itself with life experiences so it can expand and explore all of its potentials. The human mind and brain are mental and complex; but consciousness is simple, open, feeling, sensing, fluid, expansive and allowing. So by letting go of old beliefs, you are allowing yourself to wake up and become more conscious.
I’m not saying, ‘Don’t believe in anything at all.’ What I’m saying is, ‘You don’t need to believe in anything at all,’ or to have beliefs you can’t let go of.
“What?” you say, “Don't I have to believe in something?”
“No, you don’t 'need' to believe in anything.”
Simply realize that what you currently believe is what you are allowing yourself to experience, but also realize that what you are experiencing is not the entire ‘bigger picture.’ There’s so much more you are not experiencing.
Let go of your beliefs, and you’ll expand your awareness, expand your consciousness, and experience the greater realities that are all around you.
Each morning, after a sound night of dreaming, sit up in bed and say, “I am choosing to wake up;” then try to spend your day not believing in anything.
You may find yourself becoming more conscious, discovering more about yourself, experiencing more about reality, and becoming more aware of what’s really going on around you. Best of all, you will begin to get back into balance.
Let go of your beliefs, instead of dying with your beliefs, so that you don’t end up like Ivan, at the end of your life, still asleep and wondering if everything you believed to be true might not be true at all. Just assume they’re not true, and be willing to let them go. For those beliefs you do hold on to, hold them lightly, and accept that they will change and evolve, as will you and your experience as an Awakening Human.
For more information, check out my web site at, www.TheLastAvatar.com
