What Does it Mean to Awaken? (Part 1 of 4)

Part 1: No More Quiet Desperation

We don't have to lead lives of quiet desperation. Sensei tells us:
"The key to awakening is being aware of your own state, almost as if it's not your own."

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We don't have to lead lives of quiet desperation. Perhaps we are too lazy to investigate the nature of our own consciousness, perhaps we have doubts. We fool ourselves into thinking we can get true happiness from objects that are transitory and fundamentally... unsatisfactory. Sensei tells us: "The key to awakening is being aware of your own state, almost as if it's not your own." "Ask yourself one question: 'What is inherently unpleasant or uncomfortable or undesirable in this thing?' "In the process of taking apart your views of things, you find that a lot of the things you're building your happiness on are doomed to end. Can they possibly, then, create everlasting peace?"

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