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With awakening, our sense of being an independent self, separate from the flow of life all around us, dissolves away. There is simply the seamless, wonderous, interdependent and everchanging process of life – just going on.

 

Experience continues, but there is no experiencer at the heart of it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Very few people are fully awakened. But many more of us experience moments of vivid expansion and self-transcendence. These ‘awakening experiences’ occur at different levels of intensity and may last for minutes, hours or days. 

 

Such experiences leave us changed. We see, feel and think differently. We are kinder, clearer, less self-interested, more naturally generous.

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Although historically associated with religious ways of thinking and practising, awakening is a natural state. It's just how the mind functions under certain conditions.

 

So the natural sciences - cognitive science, evolutionary psychology, neurology, systems thinking – can shed useful light on the experience. 

 

Art and the imaginative life in all its forms also enrich the discussion.

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Full and irreversible awakening is rare. But we can still really usefully orient ourselves towards it.

 

We can set out to cultivate mindfulness, kindness, an ethical attitude, clarity and new ways of thinking and seeing. We can come to new understandings about the world and our place in the scheme of things. We can develop a deeper appreciation of the natural world and the world of the arts.

 

Then, awakening experiences may arise – and they are wonderful. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The journey to awakening is deeply enriching. 

 

The Awakening Experience You Tube Channel sets out to share ideas and practices which can aid that journey. We will host conversations with artists, scientists, meditators, environmentalists, thinkers – people who can deepen, inspire and enrich our understanding of the journey. 

 

Do subscribe to it and help us to share it widely. Many of us seem to have lost our bearings in the world today and there is a huge amount of suffering all around us. There are ideas and practices here that can really help.

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