Define spiritual sleep

[Zigzag Idiot]

Seeing that the thread Define awakening drew quite a bit of interest, I thought why not a thread on what it is that one awakens from. Deciding to phrase it as spiritual sleep and not just sleep.

Charles Tart coined the phrase “cultural consensus trance”. IME, this is in the ballpark of where spiritual sleep is located. I wanted to start off and leave it fairly open to see where everyone goes. If it goes at all. I may chime in later.

Okay,, for those who are interested. What is spiritual sleep?

[allislove]

Spiritual sleep is when it seems there is a difference between spiritual sleep and awakening.

Spiritual sleep is to close "the eyes" on what is. 

Spiritual sleep is to ignore feelings. 

[GreenWoods]

= Life

[Nahm]

“This place is a dream. Only a sleeper considers it real. Then death comes like dawn and you wake up laughing at what you thought was your grief”. Rumi

[Zigzag Idiot]

 

I remember in one of EJ Gold’s books. He said that after awakening, we tend to nap. This goes also with a saying in the Work I’ve heard that after awakening one will never sleep quite as comfortably again.
 

There was one excerpt on spiritual sleep in the Diamond Approach glossary.
At least one lineage of the Gurdjieff Work was influential on Almaas’s learning which impacted his Teaching that later developed. I’m pretty sure that Gurdjieff was the first to frame the spiritual sleep of contemporary man as “the terror of the situation”. Just remembered it was a chapter title in Beelzebub’s Tales to his Grandson. Anyway, from the glossary,,,,

Recognizing How Lost We Are

Unless guidance comes from that source beyond, we keep moving from one place in the conventional dimension to another place in the same dimension. We haven't got the vaguest idea of what awaits us, of what is possible in our potential. We don't know the extent, the depth, the infinite possibilities that lie underneath the surface. So we tend to judge everything by our knowledge, attitudes, and feelings that come from the surface. We don't know that by taking that knowledge to be final knowledge, we identify with the very barriers that prevent the depth from emerging and guiding us. This is why the conventional dimension is a state of spiritual sleep, of being spiritually lost. When we recognize that we are lost and that we cannot move out of our lostness with the conventional knowledge we have, we become aware of the terror of our situation. We recognize just how lost we are and how scary that is. We realize that whatever we try to do -- read books, practice this or that technique, attend this or that workshop, try to figure out things ourselves -- we do not feel any less lost. Our situation really is much more difficult, much more profound, than we allow ourselves to see for a long time. That's why we speak of the terror of the situation -- because it is so frightening to finally realize and admit how lost we are, and how at the mercy we are of so many elements that we have no handle on. The terror of the situation has a lot to do with how much we believe what we think we know, with how much we are caught in the gravity of our planet of conventional reality, believing it to be the centre of the universe -- and sometimes all that exists. We usually do not realize that our experience of reality has to shift only a little bit and all will disappear, leaving us totally terrified. Our only hope is a guidance, a discernment, an indication that comes from a realm beyond. 

Spacecruiser Inquiry, pg. 210 

 

Good article about the Terror of the situation here- http://sun-angel.com/articles/pw/thework/chapt1.html

The following are a few of the sentences that the author of this article put down in bold print.

A sincere evaluation of one's capacity to live in the moment will reveal that it is the singular most difficult thing to do.

It is possible to expand the brief moments we experience of a more awakened state if we are willing to undertake a deep examination of ourselves and our situation in order to uncover the barriers that exist in our inner world.

Verify everything!! Believe nothing

"The illusion is not external, but internal.

 our inner world is a chaotic place inhabited by a gang of disorderly people,

we are inhabited by many 'I's,

Self-observation is an essential practice for this.

 

[PureRogueQ]

Be careful, laughing is laughing matter, if you believe it all to be joke, you will have experience of it all being joke and very real, but only one there to laugh at is you yourself. Your attention picks up on your thoughts/intentions and can shape your experience quite drastically. 

[Zigzag Idiot]

2 hours ago, PureRogueQ said:

Be careful, laughing is laughing matter, if you believe it all to be joke, you will have experience of it all being joke and very real, but only one there to laugh at is you yourself. Your attention picks up on your thoughts/intentions and can shape your experience quite drastically. 

Who’s laughing? Who’s joking? 

Having scattered or dispersed attention would define sleep pretty well. Not being able to direct ones attention juxtaposed with having the capacity to direct ones attention,,,, makes all the difference in whether one responds consciously or reacts unconsciously. I’ve observed in myself that struggle. I would wager just about everyone here on whatever path they’re on either has or will later notice this phenomena in their inner world at some point. If a person’s attention is drawn by something, most likely it’s going to be emotional in nature and glue-like sticky. Identified completely = Completely asleep. No?