On Spirals of Awakening
I wanted to share a resonant teaching with you in the hope that it fills your hearts in the way it has for me. The original teaching came from the late Sally Kempton and may any merit from this teaching be poured back to her.
This teaching puts forth the idea that awakening is not linear; that in fact we move through ever expanding cycles. It walks us through 4 “bus stops” on the road to awakening, all of which are, to me, instantly recognisable:
The awakening: If you’ve made it this far reading this blog, I will hazard a guess that you have already had some sort of awakening; this may have been a loud “my life changed in a moment” type of awakening or a quieter, slow, gentle whispering. It may have been a terrifying universe exploding wake up call or a gentle knowing that something in your life no longer feels that it aligns. All are equally valid; the universe speaks to us in accordance with how we hear, it’s important not to get hung up on the circumstances of your personal awakening because of course, it is not you having an awakening, because of course there is no you to wake up.
A period of practice: This usually takes the form of some sort of deep inner enquiry; yoga, meditation, psychological work, study of scriptures. If an awakening leads to practice, this is a hallmark that the awakening was indeed genuine.
Honeymoon: Most of you reading this will also have experienced this part; it’s the bit where you feel like you’re riding the crest of a wave. You have now reached a higher state of evolution and things will feel good, often really good! You will experience more love and bliss with everything and everyone around you. This stage however comes with a warning: It is usually temporary. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but next usually comes…
The fall: This can be a large life event; the death of a loved one, the break down of a relationship, the loss of a job. Or it can be small; an illness, a bad day at work or just having a period when it doesn’t feel like your practice is doing it for you anymore. It’s important to see this part of the cycle, as a completely normal part of awakening. What expands must contract, this is the nature of spanda; the pulsation that lies at the heart of everything. And if it wasn’t the fall there could not be another awakening.
Because yes, you’ve guessed it, after the fall comes another awakening. And a new cycle starts again.
But here’s the best bit, the cycles are experienced as an expanding spiral. Although we may land back in the same place, each stage will now be experienced at a deeper level of insight, awareness and spiritual maturity and this has certainly been my experience.
I can personally attest that experiencing these cycles in the knowledge of the teachings has been eye-opening. These teachings have been like bus stops on the route of my life over the last few years. It’s not that by knowing the teachings I was able to move through the cycle any quicker or get to the good bit any faster (I wish!) But by knowing the teachings I have found that I can trust more in my natural evolution knowing that if I am stuck at the bus stop of the fall for literally years then that’s OK because that’s where I’m supposed to be – waiting for an amazing awakening which is sure is come. I know that I am not in control of the cycle, how could I be, there is no me to be in control and with each stage, I found that it wasn’t until I had actually moved out of it that I realised “oh you’ve moved on.” It was just my time.
This trust in the flow, in the cycles of awakening has allowed me to accept that I am exactly where I need to be, learning the lessons that I need to learn. Until of course that is, the day comes that I find myself back on the starting line, only to realise that the starting line and the finish line are in fact in exactly the same place.
