Transcription
So you've had yourself an awakening. Now what? Uh, when somebody has had a shift in identity, which I also call awakening or kensho, um, when they initially ask—like that day, the next day, first few days, something like that—my advice is typically this. Uh, and and when they ask, they may say, "Should I do this? Should I do that?" Or or they may just sort of report their experience and then ask for suggestions. Uh, but in almost every case—not every case, maybe I say early on—don't try to do anything. Don't try to make anything of this. Don't try any sort of techniques, really, other than maybe what you already do. If you have a daily meditation practice, then be consistent. But you don't need to do anything about the the awakening. You don't need to do anything to solidify it or um or go beyond it or any of that stuff. That's all going to be heady material at this point. And this should be clear to the practitioner, and it usually is, uh, or essentially always is.
What I point them back to is what they've rediscovered, what's been revealed. Uh, and that's the obvious um insight of awakening itself. It's it's so simple and obvious, uh, and clear to the person who's had this shift that it's very easy to point them to that and just say, "Trust that." You know, maybe maybe I'll say, "Steep yourself in it, sit with it, sit in it, sit in that which is realized, which you see now." Because the awakening, you know, um, well, because of the awakening criteria I lay out essentially, uh, it is self-obvious, validating, so it's going to be obvious to this person, and I'll just say, "Just let that do the work. Let that do no work. Let that be what it is." You don't need to add to it. You don't need to try to get to a deeper state. You don't need to try to do shadow work right now. Uh, if any of that stuff comes up, so be it. If those thoughts come, fine.
But the insight itself is very much one about thought, right? It's it's an insight that tells us and shows us very clearly that the world of thought I used to think I lived in, that was defining me, that was causing so much struggle, strain, sense of smallness, sense of separation, is just thoughts, no better or worse than any other thought. Right? This is usually very obvious after awakening. So you'll see that anything that pops into your mind about deepening or getting somewhere, "What should I do?" or these are thoughts. Let the thoughts come and go. But just just remind yourself through instinct, right? Through intuition, through fluidity, through spontaneity of what was revealed, because it's all around you now. It is you. It is everything. It's not something you need to find anymore. It's not something you need to go out to and touch and uh practice toward or anything. It's just this. It's so simple. And that's the beauty of awakening. It's like, "Ah, man, I didn't have to do all that work. I didn't have to do anything. This is just here." It's so simple. So so so my initial advice is typically just steep yourself in that. If that means sitting silently with it, fine. If it means meditation, fine. Uh, but don't try to make anything out of it. Don't try to turn it into anything. And just be alert for the thoughts that come and go and see that those are mere thoughts, right? And depending on who's watching this or where you are as you watch this, uh, I don't know how that will land, but if you've just had an awakening, it usually lands very very well. It's very clear and obvious. Um, and it it's just it's just a reminder to be like, "Look at look at it. Look at look at this amazing truth is discovered that was never not there." Like it's ah it's so it's so such grace, right? So just orient to that truth or continue to let that truth show you what it is rather than doing something about it or with it, right?
Occasionally I'll tell somebody, you know, "If you have extra stuff planned, you know, that you don't need to do, maybe cancel it. Give yourself space to just sit in this," right? Because it's a wonderful time. So this is what I often call the honeymoon period. And this video is not really specifically about the honeymoon period, actually. This video is about what comes after. So what do you do when that honeymoon period is starting to falter or you know the the insight is there, of course, doesn't come and go really, the insight is what it is, and yet the the tension seems to return. Intense emotions come come back or come for the first time, uh, we start to feel resistance just like so intensely and so clearly in a way, right? Which is good. This is what this is the point of all of this. The point of this really isn't the honeymoon period. The honeymoon period's a freebie in a way. The point of this is to see what it is that seems to filter that out. Because with the awakening, it's seen that this is already the case. It already is just this. So simple, so clear, so fluid. And yet why in the heck did I overlook this for so long? Well, that's the that's the meat of realization. That's where the rubber meets the road is looking into why why is it obscured apparently? Why does it seem so obscure? Why does it seem so hidden? Um, what is this resistance appearing and so forth?
So the point of this video, finally getting to it, I wanted to make is a very simple and singular one. And if I were to say, you know, "What's the what's the one thing that's best to do after after awakening?" Um, it's probably this. Uh, and that is notice when tensions arise in the mind. And when any kind of strain seems to arise, something that feels like grasping, something that feels like rejection, something that feels like no, resistance, struggle, notice when that's arising in the mind or what what when it's appearing. You also kind of notice what's causing it to appear or what seems to cause it to appear, but notice the appearance of that struggle and strain and resistance. Uh, and don't react to it. Don't use that as a marker to go unconscious. And the temptation to go unconscious will be strong here. Still, uh, the temptation to distract, fantasize, um, you know, basically those distract or just use the mind as a pacifier. Uh, resisting that temptation is actually rather easy in the immediate. It becomes much harder once you've reestablished the habit of using the mind as a pacifier, then it becomes a lot more confusing, more challenging.
I feel pretty confident that in most cases I can point people back after awakening, especially even when they get lost, I can point them back usually pretty readily because the insight is still there. However, it's very easy to get lost in that. It's easy to get lost in thoughts. It's easy to get lost in using the mind as a pacifier, pushing and pulling, which is all pacification. Um, and all you're pushing and pulling on is the mind itself. So the point is there is a signature of when that starts to occur, when that starts to arise. And it's often conditions based, based on what's going on around you. And just notice, you really don't have to do that. You don't have to create an inner world. You don't have to create a a life in there. You don't have to decide what you want and what you don't want. You don't have to decide what you're going to do with realization. You don't have to decide what you need to do about resistance right now or right here. You don't have to decide which kind of practices are um indicated because of whatever resistance pattern seems to be occurring. What what I want to offer instead is just notice again, notice when the resistance comes into the mind. And this is the tricky part. This next part's the tricky part is noticing its correlation in the body because it will have a correlation in the body. And now you can see it because of this insight, this awakening insight. And this is the tricky part. Noticing you don't have to react even to the physical sensation. That's the simple three-step process. Notice when resistance occurs. Don't react to it. Resistance in the mind. Don't react to it. And then notice that it has a correlation in the body. And notice you don't even have to react to that. This is it. This is the simple pointing that I really want to um communicate, if possible, to save you a lot of struggle after awakening. Uh, it's it's interesting because as this unfolds, at some stage of realization, at some level of maturity, having gone through shadow work, you will arrive at this conclusion. You will, but there's no reason you can't be at this conclusion earlier too, uh, and use this simple process, this simple three-step process, to essentially remain in presence even when the conditions are compelling, strong resistance patterns. The resistance patterns will settle. Takes time, can take years, but they will settle. And the key is this, seeing the resistance pattern of the mind. This is thoughts. Don't get entangled in that stuff. Notice the dropping that's always here. Notice the the dissolving that's always here. Notice the letting go that's always here. And then notice there's going to be a correlation in the body. That's the part that's hard not to get triggered by here after awakening. It's easy, much easier to not get triggered by thoughts after awakening. It can be very challenging not to get triggered by the body after awakening for a few reasons. One is you may have been completely numb to the body. So now these these sensations can feel like so intolerable. They're not. They're not intolerable. But you have to teach yourself that. So then don't react to the sensations and just stay in the dropping. Stay in the the letting go. Stay in the falling. Stay in the dissolving, the unbinding that's always here. And it will pass. Maybe rather intense, but it will pass. And it'll come again. And it'll pass. And then a new set of conditions will appear. And a new emotion and set of mind tensions will appear. And then a new set of body tensions will appear, and then they will go away. So if you can really gel this in, uh, after the awakening, uh, honeymoon period or even during the honeymoon period really, uh, this isn't a doing, it's a it's a non-doing. It's a non-reacting. But it's helpful to know what you need to not react to and see that first it's the mind. You're learning not to react to the mind, then you're not then you're learning not to react to the body that you don't have to. So let me know how that lands. Hopefully that's helpful. But uh, stay with that. It's a very very very simple practice, and it will take you a long long way. Take you all the way really, if you really stay with it.