Awakened living becomes possible when we live with acceptance, joy, and enthusiasm. These constitute “the modalities of awakened doing.” according to Eckhart Tolle in his book, A New Earth — Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose
So it is not so much what we do, but how we do it. Acceptance, joy, and enthusiasm each represent “a certain vibrational frequency of consciousness.” To live in denial of these would be to live in unconsciousness.
These components of awakened living require a focus on the present moment, which is the sole domain of consciousness. When you are living your life in the past or in a projected future, you are living life mechanically and therefore, unconsciously. The past and future are domains of the ego. When the ego is in charge, consciousness is lost.
There are times in life when we are all faced with seemingly unpleasant tasks. Maybe you have to fix a clogged toilet, or change a flat tire, or paint the ceiling of your house. Maybe you have to take a job to make ends meet because you are out of money.
These are all things that are not joyful or exciting, but they are things that you need to do. When you can bring acceptance in to these things you bring peace into what you do. Instead of labeling them bad, you see them as requirements of life and so you do them willingly. The Sufi master Inayat Khan once said, “Nothing is good or bad, it is the mind that makes it so.”
Acceptance is not a state of unhappiness, but a state of peace. To be in acceptance means to be calm. You bring not reactivity to the situation but poise. To bring acceptance into what you have to do is to bring consciousness into what you have to do. There is a higher energy vibration flowing into it. There is peace attached to it.
When consciousness unfolds your life into awakened living, what you do becomes a source of joy. There is aliveness, a blissful awareness in your actions. And you don’t achieve this state of awakened living in the past or the future. The awakening of consciousness grows out of living in the present moment.
There is an inherent quality of satisfaction in what you are doing when you experience joy. You are not performing a task as a means to an end, but as a creative expression of spirit.
I read a wonderful description of awakened living in Meher Baba’s Discourses
If I could express in the world of forms – truth, love, purity, and beauty, every day and in every way, that would give me all the joy I ever need.
A writing teacher once told me that this is the difference between the artist and the hack. The artist is expressing his inner joy, mastering his craft. The hack is calculating the surest way to make a lot of money. Why is there so much sex and violence on television? It’s a commercial formula for monetary success.
Can you imagine a world where the majority of people do not have wanting as the prime motivating factor in what they do? Instead, they have joy. That’s a mystical state of being. That is awakened living. What we are in essence becomes more important that what we want.
That is the way towards freedom from suffering. When that happens on this planet, a new consciousness will have replaced the old. A new reality will fill people’s awareness. And that reality is universal consciousness.
Universal consciousness includes everyone. Our main task as human beings is to be aware of that wholeness, to connect to it. When that awakened living unfolds in anyone, the habit of wanting, which comes from fragmented thinking, is greatly diminished. Why? Because we experience fulfillment in who we are.
Joy is not a selfish pursuit. It is a dynamic process. It helps others. It inspires others. It awakens love, creates harmony, and fosters oneness.
Joy is an avenue that consciousness uses to awaken others, and that in turn elevates the consciousness of the whole planet. Joy manifests in what we do when we allow it. As Tolle states, “Joy does not come from what you do, it flows into what you do and thus into this world from deep within you.”
A singer discovers she is a singer. A painter discovers he is a painter. A writer discovers she is a writer. Career goals arise. This is the beginning of enthusiasm – a whole new world of possibilities open up. Enthusiasm arises when we attach goals to our joy, when what we enjoy becomes our outer purpose in life. This is awakened living at an even higher intensity.
The key to living in enthusiasm instead of stress (the stress of trying to meet a goal) is to stay in the present enjoying what you are doing. Have a roadmap to your goal, but don’t be in a hurried state to be there. Enjoy what you are doing now. Enjoy the ride. Follow your bliss. St. Theresa said “All the way to heaven is heaven.”
Wishing to already be at your goal’s destination when you are still on the road to the destination is to dwell in unconsciousness.. To be under the delusion of the ego-mind means that you are either living in the past or the future. To be conscious is to dwell in the present moment.To be enthusiastic is to be awakened, not only with inner purpose, but with outer purpose.
Enthusiasm has a high vibrational frequency. It has a transforming effect on others. It’s a dynamic energy. With enthusiasm you can achieve more than most people ever believe is possible.
What you accomplish will amaze even yourself. And with this amazement your goals might change. Instead of consciousness expressing itself through you, the ego might take over.
To the aspiring novelist, the goal of writing a novel to uplift people could become simply a goal to produce one novel every six months. Instead of being successful, you might instead want to become wealthy. Instead of inspiring millions, you might want to make millions. This is the return of the ego in all its glory.
You need to be careful when success breeds ambition and goals like this. That is why so many men and women go through mid-life crises. When they reach their goal of owning a business, or having a million dollars in the savings account, or putting their kids through college, they have no more purpose.
Static goals are not empowering goals. They are dead-ends. Dynamic goals, however, connect you to other people. If you were a writer, a dynamic goal for you might be to enlighten people around the world.
When your outer purpose is to connect, to enrich the lives of others, you have a source of fulfillment that will never run out. It is the cornucopia of existence when consciousness is flowing through you as enthusiasm, uplifting others.
That is awakened living in a most useful way.
