Question:
Hi,
i know that the less you care about time, the closer you get to your your awakening. But even great masters such as Eckhart Tolle say it's a process that takes a lot of time. So, do you have to commit a lot of time (months, years) to your meditation. And even if you've witnessed a glimpse of that inner peace inside you, it's very hard or nearly impossible to maintain that state for a longer amount of time. So, is it really worth it? Especially for depressed people (like me) who are more enslaved by their minds - is it even possible for them (me)?
Response:
Don't worry about any of this. This is all still mind-play. It is true that some refinement/quieting of the mind can seem to take place gradually, and this is fine, but you need not tie yourself or "awakening" within a time frame. Never assume awakening is in the next moment. What are we even talking about when we say awakening? We are still using concepts. We are still assuming that there is a "me" who "wakes up". Don't even assume you are enslaved to your mind. It is useful to notice that the thinking mind seems to create a false self, and can appear to be taking attention away from stillness, but none of it is really true.
The state that you mentioned, I agree, is impossible to maintain. No-one can maintain it, because it is natural and without effort. The illusion is the belief that you are the personal energy which believes it can maintain the state or leave it. But you are it.
Perhaps it would be helpful to say "no, don't bother trying to wake up, just relax". Then what is left?
So to answer your question directly: "No, forget about setting yourself a time frame for meditation". All inner processes still take place within the awareness. Someone knows that last year they were depressed, and now feel much lighter, for example. The awareness is always here, and is not the result of some process. Without awareness, no process could take place!
Quiet time or meditation will happen if it is useful for you. It will just happen by itself. But meditating with the expectation of some awakening experience will keep you in the land of the mind. Just rest as being, as the simple sense of existence, which is not personal, and is not interested in "me waking up". It is natural existence. Be familiar with the feeling, relax the attention into it.
Anyone who awakens will usually say that there is no-one who awakens. Awakening is not a personal thing, it is the falling away of the personal thing. There is nothing wrong with personality, it does not have to be destroyed, but it may spontaneously be seen to not really exist. What is the mind? Can you locate it? Can you locate yourself within the body?
When meditation or "awakening" is approached from the perspective of "me", then it becomes extremely difficult, even frustrating. If the personal shape is not identified with, then there is no-one left to even be bothered about how awake they are.
With all of that said, the urge to be free, or the attraction to truth, will naturally turn the attention away from what is fleeting. So it is all fine. If you drop the idea of "me awakening through a process", then the "me energy" can drop off by itself.
Hope that helped, thanks for getting in touch,
Adam
Comments for Awakening - A Lengthy Process?
(from previous website)
Nov 05, 2014
great answer
by: Jon
Great answer Adam. It's true we already are awakened. We are just not conscious enough to realize it. Too much mind identification.