I get some fun and common questions in my inbox. For this post, I thought I’d offer some answers to a few fairly common questions and experiences that people email me about. My replies also include the question in the title of this post.
Enjoy!
How Do I Get the Bliss Back?
It feels so good to feel good. Why would anyone not want to hold onto a good feeling experience or find ways to make it happen again?
Such is the nature of our ego and our biological reward system. When our body floods us with fun feelings and sensations, it basically is treating us like a pet. We’re being rewarded for doing things it wants to do so that we’ll keep doing those things. Our ego uses the same system, so we easily get in cycles of doing things where we get these internal rewards.
Unfortunately, all experiences come and go, and feeling bliss is not the goal of the spiritual path. Going within to the space of the timeless presence isn’t grabbing onto and keeping one kind of human experience endlessly. It is going to a space of surrender that allows all experiences.
Lost in Spiritual Bliss: Reclaiming Yourself from the Trap of Good Feelings
The Bliss State Comes and Then it Goes
Coming Home to the Infinite Within You
What Is the Secret to the Spiritual Path?
There are so many assumptions behind this question, which I receive in countless ways. Those assumptions imply a goal of some kind. So to understand this question–which is an important aspect of doing self-inquiry into your ego–you have to look for your assumptions about the spiritual path.
Is the spiritual path meant to heal you so you are always healthy?
Is the spiritual path a tool for eternal safety?
Is the spiritual path a way to always feel good and happy?
The answer to this question is that there is no secret. In fact, the true spiritual path is very much ordinary and totally unexciting to the ego. It won’t find you the perfect soulmate. It won’t make you lots of money. It doesn’t care about fame, friends, relationships with family, or anything. It simply is, and it is in that space of “beingness” that we discover spiritual freedom.
Will Awakening Turn Me Into a Brainless, Hippie Zombie?
I get variants of this question from time to time, and the short answer is, “No.”
In spiritual transformation, things get a little wonky as we learn to look at reality instead of our ego fantasies. That can kind of put our “brains” in an offline standby mode as we get reoriented to reality.
Imagine standing on your head your whole life, and then for the first time, you stand up straight. Well, you probably try to stand up, but then fall down because you’re not used to standing. During this time, you feel woozy, disoriented, and very, very strange. If you do your inner work, this transitional time passes. You re-orient, and now you are learning–often for the first time–what reality actually is.
Reality is a very stable space, and it is very clear, which makes action and decision-making effortless.
So the transitional time periods are what make a lot of people feel weird, barring the use of mind-altering substances that add more confusion to an already disorienting time. These transitions don’t last, and they make space for you to be free to live in any way imaginable.
What Is a Spiritual Awakening?
