Pain As An Awakener

The Opium Den and Withdrawal Symptoms

The journey to awakening to the Real is not pleasant, avoiding the convenience of the Opium Den, which is all around within and without, requires the resolve and understanding that awakening happens through pain, and not as an avoidance of it. Whether you have the material satisfactions as your opium, or you have spiritual narcotics as your preference of choice, when material satisfactions fail to entrance. Choosing material satisfactions as the end station (which ends in your death) or spiritual beliefs and conveniences as the end all be all (which ends in your death) there is no difference. The result is the same (your death). You can come to the realization that both are traps of sleep and convenience, whether you choose one or the other, it ultimately makes no difference. What is left, when both these paths lead to the opium den of convenient sleep and avoidance? Stay with pain, however it presents itself, it will come sooner or later.

Gurdjieff, the Master who was alive in the early and middle part of last century, created situations of inconvenience for his disciples to wake up in. Osho, the Master of the later part of last century created, strong, fast, cathartic meditations to provoke pain and suffering, to bring it to an optimum, from where it was possible to wake up, to have a glimpse of your true reality. Once that happens you have a touchstone of what is real, and what is illusory (opium den of dreaming). Then you always have something that is Real in the midst of illusion-opium-creating-supplications. Staying with pain and confronting whatever presents itself within that pain, whether it be physical, mental or emotional, and deepening within, with the pain as a helper, as a secret-agent-infiltrating-your-state-of-convenience, keeping you awake and alert. It creates a distance, a separation, a disidentification, so that you can see clearly what is Real and what is the dream-inducing-trance-inducing opiate state.

You have to work through it, whatever presents itself as pain is only temporarily incovenient if it is used and understood to be an opening to the Real.

The Real stands in stark contrast to sleep. Neti neti (the path of negation) says not this, not this to all that presents itself, it deepens you into Yeti yeti, yes this, yes this (the Real). Let pain be an opener, suffer whatever comes out of it, it is an awakener, a motivator to the Real if you let it, if you allow it. It is not normal, or convenient, the alternative is the opium den of convenient sleep. Been there, done that. Why not try something new?

Only when you've hit rock bottom, you've tried everything, does something new present itself, almost against your will, against your conditioning, it comes when you are all out of options (it is a death - of the unreal).

And the choice is always available to awaken from the dream(s). You may find yourself becoming Real, coming Home to the Real for Real. Then you understand suffering and you understand awakening. You can be a help to others, but not before you face your own suffering to awaken you. Then the word compassion is true, is vibrant and alive, because you've been through it all, not before it. Conscious suffering to awaken to something else, to awaken something else within you that is real and alive.