AoA Introduction

Avenues of Awakening examines the primary components of what we may term spiritual investigation, insight, and development, including:

• Who Am I: What is my deepest identity?
• Purpose: What is my purpose or calling? How can I be of service?
• Inner Work: What about myself can I not see? What drives me?
• Principles/Metaphysics: What is the full scope of human potential?
• Transformation: How can spiritual insight relate to personal and social transformation?

Who Am I?

Fundamentally, this is the beginning and end (and new beginning) of all spiritual inquiry. The question, at its core, is “What is my ultimate identity?” Beyond personality, beyond thought, beyond memory, beyond action and inaction, beyond life and death, who or what are you, where do we come from, and where do we go?

Answers throughout history have included conscious, visceral, immediate, direct recognitions (i.e. not just as an abstract thought or belief), that then may be communicated or stated as “I AM GOD”, “I am Everything”, “ I am Nothing”, and “I am that I am,” among others.

There have been mystical writings in all traditions, and outside of religious tradition, which attempt to describe this Recognition.

This Recognition is most commonly stated as the ultimate goal of all spiritual inquiry.

Recommended Readings

• The Heart Sutra
• Pathways Through to Space; Franklin Merrill Wolfe
• I Am That; Nisargadatta
• Three Books of the Absolute, Richard Rose
• Psychology of the Observer; Richard Rose
• Cosmic Consciousness; Richard Bucke
• The Experience of No Self; Bernadette Roberts
• The Notebooks of Paul Brunton

Purpose

When we speak of awakening to purpose, typically we are talking about a use. It usually feels like something we give our time and energy to that is fulfilling, and that seems like a good use of our time. On a more subtle level, it actually is an act of love, and one that is highly personal, in so much as it uses our particular strengths, situations, and opportunities. Many people may refer to this as finding your passion.

Because it can be so different for each person, this section is the most difficult to speak about in a general sense. It can be subject to our present life circumstance, and our individual strengths and weaknesses. At times we may feel very on-purpose, and at other times we may feel adrift or astray from purpose.

Another way I look at this is like a lightning rod for our energy. What things magnetically attract us? But purpose isn’t just what we are attracted to. It is a distinct sensation that something is the most important thing that we could be doing. This doesn’t necessarily mean we spend the most time on it either.

Likewise, I have found in my life that most purposeful things stem from a combination of fulfilling inspiration, as well as dedication and discipline to stay focused and to see it through.

Fundamentally, purpose is felt as an act of giving–one that is done freely.

Ironically, we sometimes may sacrifice our deepest enjoyment or passion to meet the demands or obligations of our situations. This may be one of the trickiest things to negotiate in life, and again, it merits finding supportive friends or groups to help develop or stay focused.

We all must serve or give ourselves to something. The question is, what?

Recommended Readings

• Uses; Wilson Van Dusen

Inner Work/Shadow Work

“First, know Thyself” From this sentiment, combined with “Seek the truth of all things,” we can appreciate the importance of seeking to understand our own hidden motivations, patterns, desires, fears, and general makeup. All too often, I have seen deeply realized spiritual beings (in terms of having consciously realized their ultimate identity) have very undeveloped self-knowledge of their relative self or character. Subtle motives were there in terms of power, greed, or fame, to name a few. Likewise, a spiritual path is very often associated with an unconscious frustration on other levels, be that love, acceptance, sex, etc… This doesn’t diminish the value or importance of spiritual inquiry, but simply must be acknowledged as a fact. The repression, denial, or sublimation of frustrated desires eventually may resurface and create a corruption of the character. We all have our shadows and weaknesses. It’s our choice whether to face them or not.

Of course, these are the more extreme examples. At the least, we remain curious about our human motivations, or how our upbringing affected our lives and values. In doing so, we may gain a little space between our power of observation and our character. Any point of leverage is beneficial.

The basic point is, we as humans have conscious and unconscious fears, desires, and impulses. The objective is to know our psyche intimately, and as such, know the mechanics of human psychology in general. As patterns are recognized and the unconscious becomes conscious, we may become more adapted to our situation, find equanimity, and gain space to practice pure observation and right action from what arises in the show of life. Pure spirit and love are allowed to flow unperturbed, and at its height, miracles may occur, creating grace in the lives of those around us.

But first, we must look deeply, and reveal the truth of our nature.

Recommended Readings

• At Home With The Inner Self; Jim Burns
• Albigen Papers; Richard Rose
• Books by Carl Jung

Principles/Metaphysics

Principles are the study of universal laws or mechanics, which serve to help us find right action, and to be aware of how certain causes will create certain effects. These often are a central focus of religious teaching, and relate to “How should I BE in the world?” All realms of action have their own set of principles. For this website, we’ll primarily look at spiritual principles, such as karma, attachment, devotion, and love.

Metaphysics are principles that begin to emerge as spiritual understanding deepens. In other words, as different levels of identity are discovered and/or stabilized, and form and energy are seen to be deeply intertwined, new capacities of consciousness are unlocked. This can range from intuition, psychic sensitivities, healing, prophecy, and other such phenomena, culminating in what may be termed miracles as seen from the standard human vantage point.

While these elements are captivating, and merit exploration, there is a warning that the psychic realms, especially if you take them seriously, can expose us to other forces that we may not be equipped to manage. Likewise, our own motivations for entering these realms must continually be questioned, and our daily behaviors and habits should be monitored more closely while we are actively exploring these regions to ensure clean and clear perception. Ultimately, we may discover these realms to be amusing but unnecessary. Or, we may want to stay there for a while.

As with any new realm of empowerment, there can be responsible use, irresponsible use, naïve use, and corrupted or damaging use.

With these understandings, I nevertheless believe that these realms are part of our in-born capacity, and merit an open and honest discussion as we collectively become more familiar with their existence and uses. It is no different than adopting any other technology, or discovering any other new capacity. Denial or suppression does no good at this point. Rather, let’s be curious, careful, and conscientious as these capacities continue to emerge and evolve.

Recommended Readings

• Discourses; Meher Baba
• Tao Te Ching; translated by Stephen Mitchell
• The Discourses of So’taesan; Won Buddhism Press
• Magic: Black and White; Franz Hartmann
• Direct Mind Experience; Richard Rose
• Energy Transmutation, Betweenness, and Transmission; Richard Rose
• Gates of the Mind; Joseph Sadony
• The Celestine Prophecy; James Redfield