Self-Help & Spirituality Are Compatible...

[LfcCharlie4]

I've started writing some random shit in my spare time relating to awakening & what not, mainly for myself and just a way to journal, but I thought I'd share this as I think it could help some people (hopefully) 

 

Self-Help (Self-Actualization) & Awakening ARE Compatible…

 

Wait a minute, isn’t Self-Realization the realization that the separate self / little me / ‘Ego’ you believed yourself to be all these years is a bunch of bollocks, a mere concept & thought that you’ve kept running for X amount of years. It has never existed in it’s own right & never will.

Yes.

Put simply, it’s not only the realization that Awareness / The Self / The Absolute (I will use these 3 synonyms throughout these writings to refer to the un-nameable truth of your being, the ‘good’ Voldermort if you will) is what YOU are, but it is what literally EVERYTHING is, The Self is quite literally ALL that exists, for nothing but the Self could exist, when you investigate this deeply.

BUT, that doesn’t mean you suddenly become beyond human, or float off into space (maybe if you went for Mahasamadhi ?), no if anything it makes you more human, and more able to authentically express your individuality & your personality. Except you no longer identify as them.

In fact, the concept / function of an ‘Ego’ is actually very beneficial for the practicality of living. I mean without the ‘Concept’ of Charlie where would employers know where to send your money, who would the delivery driver to deliver your Food to? You get my drift.

The problems arise when we then entangle this with who we essentially are, then the I-thought is born, and as they say the rest is history. Only when we investigate this I-thought, it’s source & return it, to its source as we then able to bask in the joy of our true nature, while living as an authentic, unique, human that this understanding, happiness & love expresses itself through.

Anyways, returning this to the topic at hand, on why they are compatible.

See, ‘Self-Help’ is so broad, I actually recommend this video for realizing the breath and depth of the topic- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJXthKsytpE

As you can see, 35+ subfields of Self-Help!

Awakening alone isn’t going to make you a master of money, a health expert, an athletic beast, a productivity dynamo, a sex god, a tech wiz, a marketing master and so on and so on.

Awakening can certainly help with many topics related to Self-Help, but to think you won’t need further guidance and help on many of these, is simply naïve.

What genuine awakening will do, is stabilize you in genuine peace & happiness, absolute fulfilment.

Meaning, you will no longer use any external means- money, people, objects, knowledge- to try and fill that existential void we all know so well. For example, when teachers say ‘the end of Desire’ (Buddha, Francis Lucille often says the end of Fear & Desire) they mean the end of seeking fulfilment & happiness as a separate entity which is perpetuated by endless desire.

Then, desire simply arises from fullness, from happiness, as a means to express itself and have some fun! Oh, and of course from love, think of how many people (unenlightened as well) eventually turn to a ‘life of service’ which is unique to each body / mind, but comes from Love!

Life simply becomes a fun game, and unless you want to go and live your days in some sort of monastic community, or in a cave in the Himalayas, Self-Help will prove to be a great help to you, no matter where you are on the path.

It will help you not only integrate your awakenings deeper and deeper through work such as Shadow work, releasing trauma, overcoming addictions etc but used in conjunction with true spirituality can literally create the life of your dreams.

BUT, be careful not to use Self-Help for devilry, for example using the Law of Attraction so you can get a Bugatti to show off to your friends & make them jealous. (Nothing wrong with fast cars & nice houses, as long as they aren’t being used to fill a sense of lack!)

And, since awakening leads to true happiness & the end of the sense of ‘lack’ and ‘resistance’ that we became so accustom to, it actually makes Self-Help SO much easier. It makes life effortless, because you are doing things simply because you want to, not because you feel you need to, to find happiness or fulfil yourself.

In fact, I would also say, realization of the Self makes ‘you’ MUCH more powerful in your abilities to create your dream life, become the best version of yourself & be a force for good in the world, since you are no longer depending on a non-existent personal entity for your motivation & drive, but quite literally have the Universe at your disposal. One catch though, you won’t get away with a lot of the shit ‘normal’ people do, as your actions come from Love, Happiness & Truth,

So, don’t think that awakening means an end to the game of life, in fact it is only the beginning. And, it doesn’t mean Self-Help becomes useless, although maybe we could come up with a better term, since ‘Self’ tends to get a bad rap in spirituality, maybe ‘Life-Skills’ as that’s precisely what Self-Help is teaching, the valuable life skills & lessons that will help you live your best life.

 But, remember to live as & from the Self, not on behalf of a separate entity.

Example 1- Earning money selling shitty products, then spending all of this money on prostitutes & shallow pleasures alone.

 

Or, earning money consciously through a business / career that helps people & that you enjoy, making smart investments that creates financial freedom for you & those around you, sharing your wealth & being generous, becoming in touch with the natural law of abundance & desiring for the sake of sharing, not simply for the self alone. Using money not just for yourself, but also for the greater good.

Self-Help can help you do both of them scenarios, they are 2 extremes, but it illustrates how different living from The Self is compared to living on behalf of a separate self.

 

How Self-Help Helps Before Awakening

 

While awakening can happen to ‘anyone’ at any time, many beings quite simply are not ready for a true spiritual journey, in fact the majority of people aren’t.

Go up to someone on the street and tell them the separate self they believe themselves to be doesn’t exist, and that they literally are Pure Awareness, and that you are them, and no other has ever, or will ever exist and they will call you crazy and carry on about their day.

However, go up to someone, tell them they can use the LOA to manifest their dream life, that you can teach them to start a business, quit their job, optimize their health and find their dream partner and they’ll be over you like a rash.

We’re all after happiness, and to find the source of true happiness we need to realize where happiness is not found first.

But, while getting rich, or getting in shape won’t make us ‘absolutely’ happy, they certainly will make someone feel better, relatively speaking, compared to being obese & broke.

Also, many topics of Self-Help are often infused with quote on quote ‘Spiritual Practices’ such as Meditation, Gratitude Journals, Overcoming Addictions (12 steps is VERY spiritual / religion based, just look at Russell Brand), releasing Trauma, dealing with emotions, Mindfulness etc etc.

Practicing these will help someone ‘get in touch’ with their True Nature on a regular basis, and will help them progress on the path so to speak.

Not only that, there are many foundational habits that I believe really help someone on their own spiritual journey, and just in life in general as I have outlined above.

Not only that, having these solid foundations in place, gives someone the inner space & outer freedoms to pursue awakening wholeheartedly without extreme anxiety, worrying about paying their bills, or weight issues troubling them.

So, Self-Help can act as a great pre-requisite for awakening.

Then, post-awakening, this incredible life that Self-Help has helped one build can then be evolved to become a true expression of The Self, instead of a means to fulfilling a separate self, and can become an expression of love for life.

The Business / Career, Relationships, Psychology, Fitness, Health etc can all be used in service of truth, and be used to not only better one’s life, but to help others.

For there are MANY ways to express this understanding that goes way beyond the token ‘Spiritual Teacher’ role.

In fact, as many more people awaken, we will begin to see awakened Personal Trainers, Therapists. Addiction Specialists, Businessmen, Relationship Therapists, Sexuality Coaches etc etc and having awakened beings at the forefront of these fields will only better them, to say the least.

So, when people say it’s either Awakening or (Insert typical thing here) or that awakening means to end to any form of Personal Development, answer them, well you might see it that way, but I’m going to have both!

As a quick aside, this doesn’t mean it has to be like that for everyone, each being is unique and has their own path, and many crave the quiet life, or the hermit life, or whatever life it is they want, and may not be interested in Self-Help at all, and that’s fine too.

This is simply meant to show you, how you can pursue these if you wish, and how awakening & Self-Actualization are 2 sides of the same coin, and beyond that actually fuse into one epic coin ?

Also, here's a link to the GOAT of this topic, Nahm's thread, he's the living legend in this realm- 

 

[LfcCharlie4]

Here's the thread- 

Just bought myself a whiteboard, looking forward to delving deeper and deeper, it's very fun! 

[Nahm]

Best of ‘both worlds’. ??

[electroBeam]

Didn't read all of it but totally agree with your points and think they are spot on. Lots of spiritual busters in there. I especially liked how you said a life of service actually helps you integrate and deepen awakenings. I never thought that was possible in the past till tried it.

I'd like to add an interesting point though. For very few in the population(who are enneagram type 5 scientific inquiry types) deepening awakenings doesn't have to be just through living a life of service, it can also be through actually still contemplating deeper into reality, except the inqury is no longer coming from a sort of desperate, sort of toxic unfulfilled need to relieve suffering or to end the game or whatever, it can arise out of a pure fascination for how consciousness works on a deeper level. You can actually still want to know more about consciousness while being deeply fulfilled within. Sadhguru talks about it actually a little bit. He said once that kriya yoga are for those who want to understand the mechanic of life and consciousness beyond enlightenment... that's what im trying to point to.

[Vision]

Good post. Thanks for sharing!