Wake Up! You've Slept Long Enough!
by Suzanne Matthiessen
Every group has its catch phrases, and the diverse world of personal and spiritual transformation is no exception. The granddaddy of them all is “enlightenment.” It’s always been proffered up as The Goal Of All Goals, The Holy Grail that is elusive yet what one is to aspire to if they are “really serious.” I have known many people (including myself at a more naïve point in my life) who have plunked down thousands of dollars in pursuit of this golden egg of consciousness.
But the definition of enlightenment is as varied as those who hold it above all markers of inner achievement. There’s even an entire magazine devoted to answering the question of what it means, and so far even its founder hasn’t come up with an across-the-board absolute quantifier of what we’re talking about here.
Some teachers claim to be enlightened. Others have proclaimed teachers they have met to be enlightened. Yet in my personal experience with several of these people with “enlightened master” as part of their identity (whether self-ascribed or not), their behavior didn’t necessarily support those claims. Student abuse ranging from financial to mental to sexual, raging alcoholism, rules that have nothing to do with spiritual liberation, the worship of money and materialism—all of these have been realities of teachers that are spoken about in tones of reverence and deference.
Wanting to believe is an innate trait of human consciousness, often accompanied by the need to belong. There are predators who purposely take advantage of this aspect of collective humanity, and others whose delusions and unrefined ego cause them to have the same destructive impact on their followers even if it is not intentionally chosen. Fortunately, it has also been my experience that many who teach about aspects of spiritual and personal transformation are not bad apples and they have much to offer. There are some great teachers out there, but one must be discriminating as to whom they entrust the care and education of their soul to.
Since nobody truly knows what complete enlightenment is, it remains a somewhat abstract notion, an enigma. There are qualities most agree to be “enlightened behaviors” but there is a vast argument as to what, and how many slices to that whole pie there are. But that doesn’t deter many from chasing after that pot of gold, running from teacher to teacher, workshop to workshop, trend to trend in an obsessive frenzy. It can be a consciousness marketer’s dream and a genuine but confused aspirant’s nightmare. Which path is THE way? Presently, Kabbalah is big in some places. A few years back shamanism was hot. And people in a desperate attempt to attain enlightenment—even though they can’t explain what it is—often wind up frustrated and questioning the very notion of their quest. This isn’t necessarily bad. In fact, it may be an important step.
The other catch phrase that has been tossed around for a while now is “empowerment.” When I was in my twenties, the most highly sensitive and eloquent astrologer I ever knew gave me a spiritual life path reading that proved to pan out over the years. However, one thing I seriously questioned at the time was that she told me part of what I was here to teach was about the misuse of power. I recall vividly saying to her at the time, “Power? Why would anyone in the spiritual world be concerned with power?” I was, as said above, pretty naïve in those days. I thought everyone wanted to be “enlightened,” and I didn’t see how the two could share the same rowboat.
Yet, there it was, suddenly placed before us like a jewel in the crown of awareness. Suddenly it was “power everything”: power yoga, power dreaming, power eating, The Power of Now, power phrases, The Power of Intention, power aging, protein power, power dressing…the list is practically endless! Somewhere along the line, power became equated with personal transformation. And it wasn’t necessarily all good.
It’s true, in a sense, that without our personal power engaged, we might be like slugs on a sidewalk waiting to be squished. However, having power can be as dangerous as not having any. Although I don’t know exactly who originated the quote, comedian Bill Maher once said something like, “Power is the most addictive drug of all.” He’s absolutely correct on that one.
Power is beneficial and necessary if used in a “positive” sense, but its temptations can also lure the vulnerable on a spiritually destructive, self-involved path. The downfall of some of the most highly revered spiritual teachers and leaders has been a misuse of power. It’s a loaded gun for some, and an empty gun with bullets ready for loading for others.
Obsession with power can leave us in an unconscious ignorant stupor. It can lead to a sense of entitlement, which shows up often in the New Age avocation of manifesting all your desires. Best selling self-help books by spiritual celebrities now tell us we can have anything we want, and not only that, we DESERVE it. Nothing is said about hard work and earning. What I find interesting is that so many people who consider themselves “spiritual” list material desires ahead of a desire to purify and eliminate personal inner shadows, possibly because the “abundance” mindset has been held in such a lofty position for so long. People considered “power manifesters” are treated like royalty even if they behave badly.
One of the most frightening, yet eye-opening books I have read in recent years is a book called The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene.
