Awakening

Joseph Pham

There is one thing I can make sure that at least you have had a white night once of a time in your life, I mean a sleepless night you have experienced probably with your classmates around the campfire at the seashore or in the forest, maybe with your family at the new year eve, or probably in a hospital to take care of someone special,.. or simply yourself alone to think about something that you care for…So I want you to stop here now for some minutes to contemplate the feeling at that time.

Certainly when we  had a white night with whom or for whatever, we would experience this that we are awakening and others are seemingly sleeping. It seems that the night is longer while we are awakening than while we are sleeping. It is simply because of that sleeping is a state which our body and consciousness are temporarily off in term of time, while awakening is a state of fully consciousness of time which is flying regardless slowly or fast. Therefore, we are moving forwards instead of stopping, we are seeing instead of none, we are experiencing instead of none.

“Awakening” is a topic that great spiritual teachers like Anthony De Mello, Krishnamurti, and Osho loved to talk about in their life. They all shared the same in common this field and helped us to absolutely understand the command that Jesus Christ – the Greatest Teacher of ever has taught in His life “Be on your guard! Be alert!” – (Mark 13, 33). And so what is awakening and why do we have to be alert? And are we on our guard and alert?

In the literal sense, “awakening” means no sleeping. In the figurative sense, “awakening” means being completely aware of oneself and of what is happening outside the world. So if we are in the state of awakening, we can live fully our life and avoid serious mistakes caused by the non-awakening. Now, let’s take a small experiment about this in our life to see more clearly about this point. What will happen for us if we fall asleep while driving? Surely we may have a serious accident, or if we are lucky we will say thanks to God for saving us.

According to father Anthony De Mello, we are human beings who “The spirit is willing, but the body is weak” – (Matthew 26, 41b) always have a tendency to enjoy sleeping more than awakening. And that is why he confidently declares that the human race is sleeping alternative to awakening. We always love to sleep for the feeling of being very comfortable while sleeping, especially when we are hurt spiritually or physically. Furthermore, sleeping is a very good way to escape from facing the world outside where a lot of crimes and injustices still exist. Reading Anthony De Mello and Krishnamurti, I could see that they have the same in common, “sleeping is a state of stupidity”. And if we take time to think about this, we will see that it is true in our life, because each day many accidents happen in the world caused by this state.

They also said that an action or a decision that seriously harms oneself, others, and the world can be considered as a lack of necessary awakening. And from this point, we can see that, throughout the world history, world wars, civil wars, racial exterminations, racial discrimination, environmental damage etc. took place and still go on happening if we are still in the state of sleeping. For the lack of awakening, we try to kill each other nations to nations, races to races, skins to skins, families to families, and even bothers and sisters under a roof. For the lack of awakening, we allow ourselves to fall into gambling, alcoholism, drug abuse, drug addiction, adultery etc. and finally die for them. Also, we let ourselves live in negative emotions and bad characteristics like anger, greed, selfishness, , deception, betrayal, and the likes.

One more point about awakening we need to know here is that, also according to Anthony De Mello and Krishnamurti, a state of being totally conscious of that we are awaking means that we are sleeping and vice versa when we know that we are sleeping means that we are waking. This idea seems to be a very conflict. I also feel conflict when I first read them, but now I could see that there is no conflict here if we stop and think carefully about it in term of looking at ourselves with all dimensions of thinking and actions we have made. And to help you get a firm foundation to completely understand this seemly a conflict, I find a Bible verse stating the same “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” – (1Corinthians 10, 12). For example, when we think that we are so good, it means that we are not good at all, and vice versa. This is true, because when we are conscious of that we are so good, we will be fell into a state of being self-satisfied in which we will not want to master ourselves more. This is a one’s shortcoming. So, the key here is that we need to be humble enough to know ourselves fully and exactly so that we can adjust and change ourselves at the time needed without any regret of having done this or done that in life.

“Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation” – (Matthew 26, 41a) is a command that Jesus Christ gives us to keep on living this life without making so much mistakes that could be harmful to ourselves and others. If we are always fully aware of this command and live it perfectly in life, we will surely be very happy and make many significant contributions to this world, or vice versa, we will live in sorrows, fears, doubts, and destruction. This lesson also helps us avoid falling into the temptation of being over arrogant, but always be humble to learn, to live, and to love as God wants.

And now I would like you to spend time to think more about the farewell letter from the Nobel Prize writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez to see how he lives his final moments of life fully. He wrote when he was aware of that he would die someday for his serious cancer. And here is a short piece taken from the letter “I would values things, not for their worth but for what they mean. I would sleep little, dream more, understanding that for each minute we close our eyes we lose sixty seconds of light. I would walk when others hold back. I would wake when others sleep. I would listen when others talks, and how would I enjoy a good chocolate ice cream! If God were to give me a piece of life, I would dress simply, throw myself face first into the sun, baring not only my body but also my soul. My God, if I had a piece of life…I wouldn’t let a single day pass without telling the people I love that I love them…. I would show men how very wrong they are to think that they cease to be in love when they grow old, not knowing that they grow old when they cease to love! To a child I shall give wings, but I shall let him learn to fly on his own…. I have learned that everyone wants to live on the peak of the mountain, without knowing the real happiness is in how it is scaled…. I have learned that a man has the right to look down on another only when he helps the other get to his feet.”