Unlocking the Power of Meditation
The 5 Meditation Mistakes Most Seekers are Making and How You Can Move Beyond Them to Access Authentic Spiritual Awakening
By Craig Hamilton
Chapter 8: Opening to the Miracle of Awakened Awareness
Chapter 8
As a teacher of Direct Awakening, one of the questions I hear most often is: “Is Enlightenment really possible?”
Of course, it doesn’t always come phrased in such simple terms.
But, however it is expressed, the question so many of us are asking is: “Can I really elevate my consciousness and my life into a consistent, sustained expression of the profound depth I’ve glimpsed in my most sacred moments?”
Is it possible, in other words, to be truly free, unconditionally awake to the sacred depth that is our own true nature beyond the mind and ego?
When we started out on the spiritual path, most of us had a sense that an extraordinary spiritual transformation was possible—a radical realignment at the deepest levels of our being that would not only liberate us from personal suffering but would infuse our life with a sacred, cosmic sense of meaning, purpose and wholeness.
Yet after years or even decades of working on ourselves, many of us have begun to doubt whether that initial intuition of our higher potential was more fantasy than reality.
My hope is that what I’ve shared in this short book will give you faith that the highest possibility you’ve glimpsed, the most glorious potential you’ve sensed, is not a figment of your imagination but a real, living possibility.
And that even more than that is possible.
It is possible for life to make perfect sense. It’s possible for YOUR life to make perfect sense.
It’s possible to come into such profound alignment with the moral and spiritual axis of the cosmos that every moment of your life is a walk in grace, and a living demonstration of the mysterious, inherent goodness of the life process itself.
It’s possible to awaken so deeply to the sacred evolutionary impulse at the heart of existence that our words, actions and choices become a dynamic expression of the highest possibility there is.
And in this transformation, it’s possible to discover an unimaginable and abiding liberation from the suffering of the confused, neurotic, separate sense of self.
It’s possible, in other words, to be truly free.
What I’m speaking about is a completely different kind of human life than most of us have ever encountered.
This is not simply about “being in the now” or “loving and accepting what is in every moment.”
It is not about simply accessing a more expansive state of awareness or being able to stand back and abide as the “witness” of all that arises.
All of these are good experiences to have and important capacities to cultivate. But I’m speaking about something more.
I’m pointing to authentic spiritual awakening in which the ego has been radically overridden by the Ultimate principle, by the creative force of the cosmos, by the infinite depth that is none other than our own true nature.
It’s a life in which our endless quest for self-fulfillment has been replaced by a passion to give everything to bringing our life into alignment with the sacred perfection we’ve discovered in our deepest moments.
In this ultimate surrender to and alignment with the Absolute, we become a living, breathing force for higher evolution and awakening.
This changes our relationship to being alive in unimaginable ways.
Experientially, we find ourself in a state of profound receptivity and openness. A deep and abiding simplicity pervades our life, and an ongoing sense of flow permeates every moment.
We have let go of identification with the mind and abandoned any attachment to the self, enabling us to live as a transparent, vibrant vessel for the Infinite.
Amidst this profound openness, there is remarkable mental clarity at times, but there is no clinging on to that clarity. Insights come and go, but there is the knowledge that “I can’t hold onto any of this,” and so there is no grasping onto certainty. Yet in moments when clarity is needed, it miraculously appears, integrating all of our knowledge and lived experience in a flash of intuitive knowing.
“It’s possible to awaken so deeply to the sacred evolutionary impulse at the heart of existence that our words, actions and choices become a dynamic expression of the highest possibility there is.”
Spiritual experiences come and go, too, but there is no longer any clinging to ecstasy, bliss or love. We have discovered the source of all these things, and so feel no compulsion to cling to them.
More importantly, and contrary to popular belief, we awaken to a profound awareness of what we might call the heart of the cosmos.
We feel, in a sense, for the Whole of Life. We feel the pain of the whole and the joy of the whole as our own pain and our own joy. We become a seeing, sensing, feeling organ of Reality itself.
We also find that, because we are no longer obstructing the infinite power and depth of awakened consciousness, many of the capacities and qualities we’ve been trying to cultivate in ourselves are suddenly available to us without effort.
We find that we’re filled with a dynamic source of energy that is seemingly limitless—energy to do whatever needs to be done in each moment. This energy is no longer coming from our body, but from somewhere mysterious that we can’t see.
We also find we can tap into a seemingly infinite well of creativity, as though the creative power of the cosmos is coursing through us. Whenever we need it, it is available.
We discover we also have access to a wellspring of inner strength that gives us steadiness and confidence in the face of life’s challenges. No matter what life throws our way, we’re not daunted. We have a fundamental trust that we’ll find our way, that the resources needed to meet life’s demands will appear. From where, we don’t know, but we trust that they will, and we find that they do.
I’m not talking about trusting that an all powerful God or “universe” is going to take care of us, or that mystical things will happen in our life to make everything work. Instead, there’s a kind of trust in an inner resource that is always readily available to us.
We also find an unprecedented ability to be present in a way that most of us have never experienced. And in this powerful presence, we become a finely tuned receptive instrument that can sense into the deeper needs and feelings of those around us, and into what we might call the evolutionary needs of the moment. This profound attunement enables us spontaneously discern the path of positive action in a way that transcends mere cognition.
And at the center of our being is a burning passion for evolution and transformation, a calling to transform the world into an expression of the great perfection we have discovered to be its source.
All of this may sound very lofty and beyond reach, but I want to make it clear that this is not a pipe dream drawn from ancient books. This is a real and living possibility for each of us. This is what human life—your life—can become.
The game-changing discovery behind the Practice of Direct Awakening is that there is a deeper essential supernature that already exists within each of us fully formed. This enlightened essence already contains the extraordinary capacities that most of us are striving to develop. And now, instead of spending decades doing “indirect” practices to try to develop all of these abilities one at a time, we can literally practice tapping directly into the source of these capacities every single day.
This is the true promise of meditation.
* * *
An Invitation to Awaken
Thank you for taking the time to read this book. My goal in creating it was not only to illuminate some common misconceptions about meditation, but to share a new way of engaging with this ancient practice.
If the possibilities I’ve raised in this book call to you, I invite you to join me for my upcoming seminar: Meditation 2.0 – The Miracle of Direct Awakening.
In this 90-minute workshop, I’ll share in more detail how The Practice of Direct Awakening actually works, and guide you through a simple set of practices that can open you to the life-changing discovery of awakened consciousness.
I’m thrilled to be offering this workshop at this pivotal moment when so many of us are searching for a meditation practice that can deliver on the profound promise of sustained spiritual transformation.
If you decide to join me, I look forward to sharing the essence of this practice with you, so that you can experience the miracle of direct awakening in your own life.
Register at No Charge Here
Participants Share Their Experiences of the Practice of Direct Awakening
“I sense this ongoing meditation flow around me even when I’m not formally meditating and I love that I now have the tools to step into that flow at will.”
—D. Alston
“I’ve studied Buddhism for ten years and probably have tried every form of meditation under the sun, but I’ve found no more powerful meditation than these practices that Craig offers. By practicing these meditations daily, I am able to remain consistently more centered and serene during the day, much more than I had with any of the meditations I’d done prior.”
—J. Sullivan
“Your meditation is bringing us to our deepest sacred place. No words can describe what you have brought to me in this meditation.”
—N. Israel
“I have had a daily meditation practice for over 30 years but I have never enjoyed the practice so much.”
—R. Wood
“These meditations have opened up a whole new world for me. My mood is typically elevated and bright (often causing others to joke about wanting some of whatever I am “on”), and I continuously experience a sense of ’roundedness’ which allows my responses to be more measured, appropriate and clear. Probably one of the best things I have ever done for myself and for the world.”
—S. Friese