Tim Freke - Deep Awake: Wake Up To Oneness and Become a Lover of Life

GUIDED MEDITATIONS

You can download audio versions of the guided meditations in this book from www.TimFreke.com

DEEP AWAKE

WAKE UP TO ONENESS AND CELEBRATE YOUR INDIVIDUALITY

T!M FREKE

What we experience depends on how conscious we are. When we only pay attention to the surface of life were only superficially awake, but when we look deeper we can become deep awake. This feels like waking up from a semi-conscious trance and remembering we are alive. We become conscious of how profoundly mysterious life really is. We feel present in the moment and filled with wonder. Then, if we really immerse ourselves in the deep awake state, life becomes WOW!

Recently I dreamed I was standing on a stage about to talk to a large audience about becoming deep awake, as I often do in my waking life. Before I started to talk I paused, because I couldnt find the words to express how wonderful it feels. Then suddenly I knew what to do, because I remembered that I could fly! So I simply said, Being deep awake feels like this and I soared up into the air dancing ecstatically in the emptiness of space swooping up and down in effortless abandon.

I wish I could swoop and dive for you right now, to convey how it feels to be deep awake, but I havent worked out how to fly in waking life. And this is a book so you wouldnt see me anyway. That means Ill have to describe it in words for you as best I can. I know that wont be easy, but Im going to give it a go.

When I am deep awake it feels as if Im dissolving in an ocean of love. Theres an awe-inspiring sense of oneness with the universe. My sensual body comes alive. The search for meaning is resolved into a wordless understanding, which is so deep it must be felt not thought. Theres the silent certainty that all is well. And such a feeling of relief like coming home.

Ive been exploring the deep awake state since I experienced an unexpected awakening when I was a 12-year-old boy. Over the decades Ive had the privilege of being with many people when theyve found themselves in the awakened state for the first time. And the most common thing that people say is simply WOW.

The Deep Awakening is a transformative retreat I have presented around the world for many years, during which I guide people directly to the deep awake state. Afterwards I receive a large number of moving emails from participants and, again, by far the most used word is WOW, which is usually in capital letters followed by a string of exclamation marks!!!

I like the word wow. I think of it as modern American slang, but my dictionary tells me its a natural expression that originated in 16th century Scotland. Wow is a way of expressing astonishment and wonder. Its a great word to describe how it feels when we awaken, because becoming deep awake is a very big WOW.

Perhaps there have been moments in your life when you tasted the WOW of awakening? Most of us, at one time or another, have found ourselves suddenly seeing through the superficialities of life and diving into the mysterious depths. This can happen when we embrace a newborn child or listen to beautiful music or enjoy a deep conversation. It can happen when we confront death or feel defeated by failure or wrestle with a mental breakdown. It can happen at any time. It can happen now.

At the end of a Deep Awakening retreat in Las Vegas, while we luxuriated together in the wonder of the WOW, people attempted to describe what they were experiencing in various ways. Then a lovely woman called Kate said:

This is what everyone wants to feel.

I love that description of the awakened state, because its so simple and so true. Being deep awake is the WOW that everyone is searching for. We all long to feel alive and when we awaken we feel totally alive. We all long for freedom and when we awaken we know that were completely free. We all long for love and when we awaken we become immersed in limitless love.

Experiencing the deep awake state is traditionally called spiritual awakening, but you dont need to think of yourself as spiritual to experience the WOW. It is natural and available to all of us. Its available to you.

Spirituality is often misunderstood as a way of thinking about life, but first and foremost its a guide to transforming consciousness and experiencing something beyond words. Zen Master Daie put it perfectly, nearly a thousand years ago, when he wrote:

All the teachings the sages have expounded are no more than commentaries on the sudden cry Ah, this!

So let me plagiarize old man Daie and say right now:

All the ideas in this book are just commentaries on the joyous whoop WOW! This is it!

I remember many years ago, at one of my very first retreats, a young woman arrived dressed all in black and feeling very withdrawn. At the end, beaming and brimming with love, she announced:

I feel like a convert to something.

Yes! Thats it. Im also a convert to something. In this book I want to invite you to experience the WOW and become a convert to something!

Over the last four decades Ive studied and written many books about the major spiritual traditions of the world. These different approaches to awakening have all influenced me profoundly and I feel immense gratitude to those great spiritual explorers whove cleared a way for me through the bewilderment of life.

I love the simple naturalness of Taoism, the searing immediacy of Zen, the ecstatic devotion of Sufism, the philosophical depth of Advaita Vedanta, the expansive love of Christianity, the esoteric wisdom of Kabala, the magical earthiness of Shamanism. All these traditions and many others have touched me in different ways. But I dont see myself as part of any particular spiritual tradition, because I prefer to draw on all the wisdom of the world.

In recent years Ive been articulating a new philosophy of awakening. In my view spirituality, like everything else, needs to keep evolving. So Ive felt inspired to create a new approach to spirituality for the 21st century, which has all the depth of the traditions Ive studied, yet avoids some of the dead ends Ive been down on my own journey of awakening.

It seems to me that to be relevant to our modern world a new philosophy of awakening must distance itself from the irrational dogmas of outdated religion. We need to find new ways to express the great insights of spirituality, so that they sit comfortably alongside and complement the awesome discoveries of modern science.