Awakening from Illusion

When we talk about awakening we are obviously talking about awakening from something and to something else. But what exactly are we supposed to be awakening from and what to? In the context of this blog you would say it is awakening to the reality of Albion which is the spiritual counterpart of Britain, but, in a broader context, this means awakening from the sleep of materialism. However there are many kinds and degrees of awakening and some are just staging posts on the way to other, more complete, ones.

Fundamentally awakening is spiritual awakening. But we know that what is called spirituality can take many forms and we also know that it can be associated with different, even contradictory, outlooks. For example, most non-traditional spirituality (which term some readers might consider an oxymoron) has no difficulty in getting along with the results of materialism in the form of leftist ideology, regarding these as progressive but forgetting that progress along a path that leads in the wrong direction is not actually progress at all. Some spiritual approaches deny the reality of the person. Others think it is all-important.

I spoke of kinds and degrees of awakening. Some people awaken from the illusions of leftist propaganda with which we are constantly bombarded by the media, political parties of all stripes, educational and scientific authorities etc, but still fail to awaken spiritually. Others might awaken spiritually, or, at least, begin to realise that materialism is a false philosophy, but still be asleep when it comes to the nature of what spirituality actually is, what it entails and what it demands. See above. Some people might think they have awoken spiritually but fail to acknowledge the reality of Christ. Others might become Christians but only in a superficial sense, neglecting the deeper implications of what Christ means for us, and not applying their religion to every single aspect of life as should be the case. There are many partial awakenings but often a partial awakening is little different to being still asleep. One remains under the spell of illusion of some kind.

And that is what awakening really demands. We are awakening not from sleep but from illusion. This illusion may manifest itself in different ways, and some of them may actually be spiritual, but what they all have in common is a lack of true vision. Sometimes this comes from an inability to shake off the ways of the world. We turn to spirituality without turning away from the world (or the flesh and the devil, for that matter). Sometimes it is an intellectual failure, and sometimes it is a moral one. To have real spiritual vision or insight, something that is more than just head knowledge, does require a purity of heart and soul that does not normally come without struggle and sacrifice. We are told by the wisest and best person who ever lived that it also requires the love of God. Without that love to keep you on the spiritual straight and narrow, you are likely to stray.

Bruce Charlton has written of seeing through the falseness of the sexual revolution as a pre-requisite for spiritual awakening. I would agree. This is not a question of old-fashioned puritanical attitudes that deny, suppress or react out of fear, but of seeing the creative power as something sacred which is not to be treated irreverently or as a mere means of personal pleasure. For if you do respond like that, you cut yourself off from the higher manifestations of sexual love and that means you effectively cut yourself off from all higher manifestations of anything. That is because proper spiritual understanding can only come to the pure of heart. The higher consciousness can only arise when the lower (self-centred) consciousness, focused on the physical, emotional and mental levels, has been purified and raised above itself. Purity is not much valued in today's world but it is essential for spiritual awakening.

Illusion is the result of mental error but it can also be the result of a moral choice. I mean it can be freely embraced as an act of will. People can believe what they want to believe as a justification for some sin to which they are attached, be it pride, fear, envy, anger, lust and so on. If you want to free yourself from illusion, it's a good idea to look at yourself honestly and see what you might be thinking or believing because it suits you to do so. Atheists accuse believers of doing precisely this but true believers do not take to religion because of an inability to face a meaningless universe. They do so because they perceive its truth, and they do not then use it to support their failings but to reveal where they fall short and how they might bridge the gap between what they are and what they should be.

The world is sunk deeply in illusion. Human beings have denied reality and turned away from truth. This is usually dressed up as an act of intellectual honesty but often it is a deliberate choice and a justification for self-centred desires and rebellion against the idea of a Creator because we want complete personal autonomy. If we are not careful that is what we will be given. Unless we awaken from illusion we shall reap the results of its consequences, and our freedom won't be what we were hoping for. Freedom from God is not a good idea.