Yagr's Great Awakening
yagr
Veteran
We didn't have a random thought forum so...
I woke early this morning. It was a gradual process. I imagine I slipped out of REM sleep and into stage three sleep rather effortlessly. Then, I imagine that I slipped out of stage three sleep and into stage two sleep - also effortlessly. Then, unremarkably enough, I slipped from stage two sleep into stage one. This is where it got dicey.
A flicker of subconscious recognition as the morning light is glimpsed through ninety-nine percent closed eyelids. Waking ebbs again and then a thought of todays football semi-final match finds a moment's purchase...waking surges forward, then ebbs again. The thought of a sixty percent chance of rain finds its way in somehow and looks for something to attach to. It finds the football match. There's no going back to sleep now. I am on the way to waking now and nothing short of a blunt object upside the head is going to stop the process. But it got me to thinking...
What kind of accomplishment is 'waking up in the morning'? How foolish we would think a person who says, “I am so much superior, having risen from slumber, then those who slumber still. Locally, and in time zones around the world!”
Comments
When you say Stage 3, 2, and 1... what were your experiences like, if you could describe them please. I am familiar with the categories but the actual experience of them I've seldom heard described by people who are aware (enough) during that period. Would love to hear your breakdown
@sova - unfortunately, I have had to trust the expertise of others to reach my (tentative) conclusions of stages two and three and can shed no light on it personally. But stage one feels a bit like coming out of hypnosis. It then occurred to me that this does not seem (to me) incompatible with descriptions (and my subsequent understandings of those descriptions after they go through all the flotsam and jetsam of my particular filters) I have heard in regards to becoming "Awakened".
For me the thought was a reminder that the poor fellow who thinks the world is coming to a swift and judgmental end because he can't fly the confederate flag on top of the state capital any longer or because gay folks can marry is simply in a deeper sleep than I - and yagr has done precious little to have reached this particular point in the waking up process. It was just a reminder to me that we are not that different, regardless of what me ego tells me.
Yeah, that's really good embodiment of Mahayana principles. We are as awakened as our fellow beings. So really, I love what you say, because arrogance can become a barrier to our progress just as much as ignorance. Losing the foolish aspects of our pride, we can embody helpfulness, loving, and compassion. "the distance between you and me is false" as a friend once said.