Behind Doors

Awakening is what practitioners from spiritual and religious traditions worldwide have sought for thousands of years. Renouncing their regular life, these people devoted themselves to incredibly hard and rigorous practices behind monastic doors in pursuit of something about which regular folks had no inkling. It’s the pearl beyond price they have said, the treasure beyond all treasures, the peace that passeth all understanding, the very thing that sets you ultimately free. They chose this over the gifts and pleasures normal life had to offer. But why would they do that? What were they expecting to find? What exactly was this pearl, this peace, this ultimate freedom they wanted more than anything else? The domain of human potential, personal development and individual growth, which includes nowadays also spirituality and spiritual seeking, is comprised of three distinct and opposing movements. While all are about reaching freedom, happiness and peace, what it takes to achieve either, along with what the respective end results are all about - are not at all the same. 

One is about ultimate freedom or being awake from the world. The other is about being awake in the world. The third is well known and well publicized in our culture. It's the movement of going after one's wants and desires. The terms commonly used are follow your bliss or create your own reality or go after what you want or follow your soul's desires, -this one, has a huge sway over many people these days and is often believed to be the treasure beyond all treasure (you may be assuming this as well!). This is the ultimate for ego and most people are maybe not actually after ultimate freedom even though they may be saying they are. In all likelihood, they are after the bliss but do not know the difference because its not clearly stated in the current marketplace.