Resistance

Why don’t people want to wake up?

I am baffled after talking to various people. Most people seem to want to not suffer, be content and at peace. They might even be seeking enlightenment, nirvana, to wake up. But when presented with the possibility, there is huge resistance to LISTENING, to even considering the fact that there could be something as non-mystical and simple as seeing through the illusion of self (and the ensuing peeling of the layers of delusion) that can be the first big steps for this journey

Why? Why don’t we want to listen? Here are some thoughts I’ve put down.

1. We are happy as we are. But there is always a striving for something more, which is contradictory to this claim. On the other hand, this striving is what keeps people going in the world of duality.If you're happy, great!
2. We are secure in our ‘knowledge’ of how life is. The unknown is scary, even if the results are guaranteed to bring contentment. The continuing of a familiar, albeit suffering-filled life is the only acceptable option. People like the familiar, the known, the safe.
3. The conditioning goes so deep that the very thought of someone challenging the belief system is impossible and to be rejected.
4. We feel we will be lost without the framework of a given ‘law’, or guidelines on how to behave, what to do, etc.
5. We believe that this ‘version’ of awakening has to be false, it is something only our religious teachers or spiritual gurus can lead us to, after years of praying, practice and striving. How can it be so simple? Therefore it can’t work.
6. With the seeing through of maya, comes the dropping of identifications. What then of us as the victims, the worriers, the achievers, the seekers, the good wives, the excellent mothers? And so on. Who are we without our images of ourselves?
7. The seeking will stop. But the seeking is what keeps us going. It is like an identity, like so many others.
8. It cannot be something that us ordinary people can ‘achieve’. Only the pious and the saintly ‘super beings’ could possibly be spiritually enlightened.
9. There has to be a willingness to be brutally honest, to be brave enough to face that life may not be what they thought it was.  Perhaps some of us are not ready for it. It is much easier to pretend to oneself that we are moving forward on the journey, when actually we are not going anywhere at all.

One can go on analyzing, wondering. But I guess what the whole thing boils down to is FEAR, fear of the unknown, fear of losing what we have, which might not be perfect, but it’s what we know.

If you are ready, let’s take a jump into the unknown. It really might be worth it!