Sloww Sunday: Mature Ego, Awakening Stages, Open Individualism, & More

Jung differentiates the first and second halves of life, with the first being largely focused on developing an identity to succeed in the world. As adolescents we explore different social groups and activities, internalizing aspects of these things to form an identity. Our identity often relates to what music we listen to, how we dress, our hobbies

The process of awakening might be viewed as the transition between these two poles; the journey from fear and wrong-making to gratitude and open-eyed acceptance.

To acquire this kind of being is to become illuminated, to be connected to a greater Intelligence that will guide us step by step on the way. The developed soul, instead of living in fear and uncertainty, becomes more and more able to trust the unfolding of life.

All of these subtle new perceptions stem from seeing the world with the eye of wisdom. The gulf that typically exists between objective reality and your subjective wisdom has been bridged. For most of us, the problems of life stem from the large discrepancy between reality and our subjective assessment of it. Now, perhaps for the first time in a lo

Spiritual evolution is the process of gradually expanding and integrating our experience of what it means to be human. As adults, we live most of the time within a very limited idea of who we are. Our minds are narrowed; our energy is held and compacted, or diffuse and unfocused. Our experience of life is constricted. In order to expand beyond our

The spiritual awakening I talk about in this book is not about protecting yourself more; it’s about realizing that who you really are does not need protection, that who you really are is so open and free and loving and deeply accepting that it allows all of life into itself. Life cannot hurt you, because you are life. So the present moment is not a