Spiritual teachings often seem to ask us to detach from our feelings in order to remain centered and free from reactivity. But, in our lived experience, emotions are an important part of how we navigate the world. Can we awaken spiritually without losing touch with the wisdom of our feelings? In this short video clip from a recent Q&A session, Craig illuminates what an enlightened relationship to emotions looks—and feels—like, and why allowing ourselves to feel deeply is one of the most important things we can do on the path to genuine emotional freedom.
Below the audio is a downloadable MP3 and an edited transcript, if you’d prefer to engage the content in that way.
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Question:
Spiritual teachings often ask us to detach from our feelings. But emotions are an important part of how we navigate the world. Can we awaken spiritually without losing touch with the wisdom of our feelings?
Answer:
That’s a great question. The thing is that most human beings don’t actually feel all their feelings. It’s simply too overwhelming to feel everything. Look at how much horror is going on in the world on a daily basis. Look at how much pain and suffering is being inflicted by humans onto other humans. If we allowed ourselves to feel all that, many of us would find it debilitating.
Similarly, as we awaken spiritually, we start to come into contact with a depth of profound and sacred feelings that can utterly overwhelm our nervous system. It’s so beautiful and moving.
The depth of love that we start to experience is much more than an emotion. Love is the current of the cosmos, and it shatters our small, little personal world with its enormity. So, to become someone who can feel that deeply and fully requires an evolution of our consciousness.
It requires an awakening out of a very reactive relationship to feeling. In other words, what would it be like to feel everything fully and at the same time not be dominated or controlled by our feelings?
An unconscious relationship to feelings is one where we’re constantly reacting to them. We’re controlled by our feelings. We all know people who seem to be completely dominated and controlled by their emotional state. If they feel good, life is good. If they’re feeling bad, life is bad. They’re constantly being yanked up and down.
So the potential here is to be a truly, deeply feeling being, but no longer controlled by our feelings in the same way that we’re no longer controlled by our thoughts. We’re a free person.
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Graig: Thank you. Thanks for your generosity sharing your knowledge. Although I feel called and inspired by your Meditation method, and followed you from your first appareances in social media on or around 2012. I remember receiving your first CD with instructions to meditate to began my meditation learning journey. I maybe was 2012 or earlier. I was in the middle of moving and save it with my valuable possessions, and lost them later. I need to learn how to meditate because my busy monkey worrisome mind needs to rest and be centered. My subconscious be calm to recover my health. I don’t sleep more than 3-4 hours at a time. I have been diagnosed with cancer three times, and I can’t work at this time. My life depend on learning how to meditate and be mindful. I couldn’t take any class when I was working because I didn’t have time off and work alone rendering service to others in need. Money was not enough to hire anyone and delegate. Now, I have not money and I have time. Above all my healing and my life depend on meditating and quiet my mind, be present and mindful. Hope I can sleep and health to thrive. Would you please allow me to participate in your most popular meditation program, classes to learn and growth. Cancer show me how much damage my mind can cause to my body, my life. I can’t pay because unable to work with foggy mind and many others side effects from treatments. I need help. It is difficult for me to ask.
God continues blessing you, yours and your work abundantly.
Alex