In this talk, Adyashanti looks at what is necessary in order to undertake the journey of awakening and uncover our always and ready true nature.
Show Notes
Being Here Now (Opening) – The most direct way to begin the journey of awakening in earnest is to get our orientation straight. Adyashanti looks at the importance of grounding our attention towards what is happening in the here and now – not the future and what might be.
“There are these two fundamental existential issues of life – how am I and how do I live? As far as the first one, it is so important to be oriented into the always and already, not oriented towards what may happen or come in at some point in time later. You know this, when you are sort of waiting and hoping to have one of these big experiences that you have heard about; when you are doing that you are literally pushing away reality. You are pushing away your conscious acknowledgment of your own true nature.” – Adyashanti
The Experience of Being (10:20) – How does our attachment to experience keep us from accessing our higher potential? We look at the way in which contemplative practice opens us to an undistracted experience of being.
“When you get out of the conceptual realm of spiritual fantasy and theology, spirituality is the deep exploration of the direct experience of being. It is not an attempt to escape the direct experience of being, which is often what is happening.” – Adyashanti
Listen to Adyashanti’s conversation with Raghu Markus about facing challenges along the spiritual path on Ep. 256 of the Mindrolling Podcast.
The Always and Already (30:35) – Adyashanti explores the nature of our paradoxical and ever-present awareness. Can we loosen our unconscious grip on identity without losing our identity completely?
“Always and already means even when I feel that I have lost something – I haven’t. I can only lose a particular experience, I can’t lose that clear and empty conscious space in which those experiences come and go. For the ego that is a tough thing to swallow, because the ego is completely addicted to experience.” – Adyashanti
Life Experiencing Itself (57:15) – We close with a reflection on what exists beyond the ego and attachment to identity. Adyashanti shares his perspective on how we can relate to this new way of interacting with the world.