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From:  http://networkedblogs.com/6JBra
Posted by SAROJINI
at 2:40 PM, TUESDAY, AUGUST 10, 2010

What your holy books never told you (or you chose to ignore) about Awakening

Today I would like to take the time to address some things that you may never have
heard about which happens upon or after Awakening / Enlightenment / Liberation. 
These happenings are usually never mentioned in the holy books, or if they are,
they are totally ignored.  This is merely a "check list", of sorts, to refer to when
one is rather convinced that the whole world had this Awakening "thing" backwards
(which, by the by, they do... but, this will be understood on its own in due time.).

1.)  Awakening or Enlightenment is the last great disappointment of ego.  In that
non-instant there is the bewildered declaration of: "Are you kidding me!?", followed
by utter perplexity that eventually yields to the deepest laughter ever encountered. 
Most of the "Awake" (or subsequent books about Awakening) discuss the laughter. 
However, the laughter doesn't come first; at first you will be baffled and will, more
than likely, feel slightly let down for a few short moments.  Welcome to the 'cosmic
joke' (and yes, it was on you!).

2.) No one will notice a thing.  Your closest friends and family will, more than likely,
not see much of a change.  You will not glow.  Angels will not surround your home. 
Buddha will not come knocking at your door to welcome you into "the club".  You
may actually become more annoying to those closest to you.  You will want to share
in the delight of the Truth that has been uncovered, but your loved ones will:
a) have no idea what you are talking about and quietly believe you have officially
lost your marbles,
b) could care less about your latest discovery (which, to them, is likely to be just another
"aha" among a long journey of "aha's" that you've shared with them umpteen times before),
c) your gibberish and inability to communicate what is understood sounds like an alien
language that makes them dizzy, confused and quite irritated with you. 

3.) You will feel emotion like you have never felt before.  There is now a quiet, steady
center that is constantly present; however, when an emotion comes along, its
energectic depth will suprise you.  You will realize that without any barriers in place
(namely, the sense of a seperate self) that these energies are free to go from 0 to
100 in a matter of seconds.  And they will.  You will also realize that you had never
truly experienced happiness, sadness or even anger as it is before.  Do not be
surprised and, by all means, do not attempt to block this from happening. 
The Freedom of Truth even allows the freedom of free flowing emotional energy. 
Enjoy the ride.

4.) You will forget what it's like to live without the Understanding of Truth. 
This will frustrate the hell out of you.   You will attempt to describe, point and
guide others that are not within this Understanding a thousand times; it will fail
miserably.  You are now unable to comprehend how they can't see This Truth
(as you have forgotten what that's like and can't, even for a second, pretend to be
separate from life again) and they can't understand a word of what you are saying. 
You will also give up trying to share hundreds of times.  However, the universe will
continually put you back in such a position again and again and again ... until you
accept the frustration, accept that you can't make another Understand and humbly
point to the ineffable despite the difficulities. 

5.) A magical thing eventually happens; you are blessed with a "bullshit meter". 
It picks up on people's indiscretions, lies, stories, masks, fears, etc from miles away.
It's now hard to play the game of "pretend I'm someone I'm not" with someone that really
isn't what they are hoping to pretend they aren't.   You will lose patience with people's utter
insistence that they are real in the way they believe they are.  You will lose patience with
the same old storylines making an appearance within your life with those closest to you. 
You may even walk away from some old relationships, as you can now clearly see the
foundations were based upon need, lack and the want for connection that is
no longer necessary. 

6.) You will unintentionally offend people ... many people.  It will be difficult to pump
up people's egos just for the sake of making them feel better; rather, you will share in
an honest way and this isn't what most people want to hear. You will eventually learn
when to speak and when to be silent; opting for the latter more and more. 

7.) When you close your eyes, the world will disappear... there will be no cognition of
anything.  When you open your eyes again, it's like a magic trick when the cognition
comes back.  It's better than ice cream.

8.) Ice cream will still make the body fat.  It hasn't lost the ability to gain weight. 

9.) You will make mistakes.  Many of them.  That body is still an imperfect human
being living within an imperfect world.  Embrace this.

10.) You will laugh often.  Outloud.  To yourself.  For no apparent reason. 
People will not understand this, as it's really an "inside joke".  Their stares and your
laughter will make you laugh harder.

11.) There will be "settling" or "deepening" into This Ever Present Truth.

12.) You will get lost gazing at the night sky.  You will fall in love with flying birds.
 You will weep over the unnecessary suffering of any living thing.  You will smile at the gentle
cooing of babies.   Life will always be the suprising gift that it is.

13.) If you had a Teacher (s), you will fall to your knees in utter gratitude and humility
at the Grace and Guidance given.  This will never go away ...

 14.) You may have accumulated rooms and rooms full of spiritual paraphernalia and books. 
You will realize that these collections (which were pretty unnecessary) are now taking up all
of your free space.  Ebay is a great way to get rid of them and allow those currently seeking
Truth to "surround themselves with holy things".

15.)  All is holy.  Even poop.  But poop still stinks.