My Spiritual Path Towards Awakening: A Summary
I’m on a spiritual quest to awaken. If I were to say this to people in deeply spiritual countries such as Nepal or India, I’d be met with a shrug. “Of course you’re on a spiritual journey, Jon,” they’d say. “We all are. I wish you well.” Here in America, most people won’t be so kind. Worshipping at the altar of More is the capitalist spiritual journey, and straying from them means you’re some hippie that’s ready to join a cult.
No matter. I won’t be quiet about my journey. But it’s mad complicated, yo. You see, my journey involves three distinct but interconnected parts: spiritual oneness and duality via the tenets of Buddhism, knowing myself fully by untangling my past via psychotherapy, and the practice of interpersonal relationships to put into practice my learnings and derive even more insights.
Strange path, right? Luckily I’ve discovered my Awakening Bible entitled “Toward a Psychological Path of Awakening” by John Welwood. Mr Welwood is the only person I know who has attempted to join these three aspects of a spiritual journey together, saying that enlightenment requires deep work in all three areas. Spiritual awakening via Buddhism ignores our deep rooted behavioral patterns developed in our childhood that need working out. Folks in the west who attempt to solve personal problems solely through a spiritual practice often “spiritually bypass” their issues, choosing to enter transcendental states of being without really dealing with their problems. Psychoanalysis by itself encourages narcissistic navel gazing, ignoring the interconnectedness we all have with the world and the expansion of our Self definition that folks in the East take for granted. And without connecting with others on a deeper level, we don’t really get to establish ourselves in relations to others which inhibits growth.
Regular readers of my blog have seen glimpses of these three interconnected paths. “Shadow work” has involved bringing into consciousness things that I’d rather not deal with. But deal with them I have. In the past three weeks, thanks to my emotional processing, I’ve been able to move past the trolls and shrug them off, a seven month painful journey that forced me to confront socially “unsavory” parts of me that I’ve integrated into my definition of “me.” Spiritual connections with folks over video chats has helped with the interpersonal stuff, while I’ve begun in earnest to meditate a couple of times a day.
So there ya go. Expect to hear more from me about this conscious journey that I’m taking toward awakening on earth. I’ve never been more invigorated about anything in my life, and I hope you’ll earnestly follow along.
