↩ Homepage of the site 'What to do with your life?'
      

What is awakening?

Awakening is the ultimate result of a Buddhist spiritual approach, namely freedom from all psychological suffering.

This simply corresponds to overcoming the two main characteristics of our human nature which are social ambition and cognitive dissonance:

Limits of Awakening

First of all, there is a marketing dimension in awakening aimed at Westerners in need of life, who by coming to seek liberation from their dissatisfactions, provide the subsidies which make the ecosystem of spiritual development work. The awakened sage represents the mythical figure that we want to resemble, like the rockstar or the sports champion.

Then, if the awakening ensures to behave well from the point of view of the question 'What do you have to do to be a good person?', it does not guarantee the ability to be indignant and act accordingly. See question 'What is an adult?' criticism of the disempowerment of emblematic figures of Buddhism.

Finally, as in the case of coaching, the promise of a possible complete awakening conveys the myth of an all-powerful individual, who would only have to free himself from the shackles he imposes on himself, thus minimizing constraints linked to the social environment, as well as personal predispositions. See questions'Why is coaching a dangerous illusion?' And 'If they want to succeed, people just have to work. We are in a democracy!'.

Go deeper

Refer to the questions:
What is a human?
Why do you need to control your ego?
What is Buddhist nonduality?
Ne pas juger
Faut-il écouter ses émotions ?
C'est quoi un adulte ?

Text evoking the risks linked to the search for enlightenment at all costs:

↣ Warning about the Path of Nonduality

PS: This article 'Warning about the Path of Non-duality' is apparently no longer available online, which I venture to interpret as an illustration of the difficulty mentioned in the question 'What is an adult?'