Jim Carrey's Sudden Awakening
I came across a quote by Jim Carrey and I wanted to share it with you:
"After knowing Eckhart Tolle for a while and studying the books, I woke up and suddenly got it. I understood suddenly how thought is just illusory, and that thought is responsible for most, if not all of the suffering we experience.
And then I suddenly felt like I was looking at thoughts from another perspective, and I wondered, who is it that is aware that 'I' am thinking? And suddenly I was thrown into this expansive amazing feeling of freedom - from myself, from my problems.
I saw that I am bigger than what I do, bigger than my body. I am everything and everyone. I am no longer a fragment of the universe. I am the universe."
~ Jim Carrey
I like this quote but I worry it perpetuates the incorrect idea that awakening will immediately solve all of our worldly problems. It won’t.
“Spiritual awakening does not immediately solve all of your problems, nor does it mean your life from then on, will be free of challenges.”
~ Eckhart Tolle
Lots of people have the type of experience that Jim is talking about but it rarely lasts. And that’s OK. We don’t need to live a life free from worldly problems to be happy.
Meditation can lead to awakening but it also works on more subtle and less impressive aspects of our lives.
It can give us more energy, clarity and focus.
It makes us more resilient and better able to cope with the demands of life.
It enables us see our destructive thought-patterns so we become at ease in our mind and body.
It can even give us a glimpse of something extraordinarily mysterious, just like Jim Carrey had.
But the idea isn’t to bypass challenges and problems by becoming spiritually awakened and therefore detached and “above it all”
The idea is to become more empowered, resilient and skilful so we can meet the challenges of life head-on.
Spiritual awakening and enlightenment are real things, and I’ll talk about them in future emails, but they shouldn’t be thought of as a way to avoid the reality of our messy human lives.
Something to think about.
Have a great day,
Jimmy