In This Episode…

“From one point of view, spiritual practice is always a postponement of awakening, because awakening is about embracing our true nature exactly as we are right now. Yet, from another point of view, if we don’t practice with intensity, if we don’t undertake a conscious effort to embrace the truth of our inherent freedom, then awakening is probably only going to ever show up in fleeting glimpses because the habit of denying our true nature is so strong.”
—Craig Hamilton

For so many of us on the spiritual path, practice is everything. We meditate, we cultivate mindfulness, we refine our character—trusting that these efforts will lead us to awakening. And yet, in rare moments of profound clarity, we may glimpse a surprising truth: the very idea that we need to ‘get somewhere’ might be the only thing keeping us from seeing what’s already here.

This episode examines the delicate balance between effort and surrender, discipline and grace, and how to engage in practice without turning awakening into a future goal. Craig shares how we can approach this paradox in a way that makes space for awakening to happen naturally.

He also leads a guided meditation on surrender—an invitation to let go of striving, release resistance, and recognize the profound simplicity of being. Working with this practice offers a deeper understanding of how to embrace meditation while staying rooted in the truth that awakening is always, already here.

If you’re interested in exploring more of Craig’s approach to meditation, you’re invited to tune in to a 90-minute online workshop Craig will be hosting called Meditation 2.0 – The Miracle of Direct Awakening. Register for free at: FreeMeditationWorkshop.com

Discover More about Craig’s Awakened Life Membership Program

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

One way of looking at spiritual practice is that there are certain practices we can undertake to prepare ourselves for spiritual awakening. There are a lot of things we can do in practice that will cultivate our character, refine our mind and emotions, and align our inner being more deeply with universal consciousness.

The idea is that if we do enough of this preparatory work, we’ll eventually clear away everything that’s blocking higher consciousness, and it will naturally burst through.

Practices that Prime the Mind for Awakening

There’s a truth to this and it underlies much of the spiritual practice that’s been done for millennia and that many of us continue to engage in. We can do practices to cultivate our concentration—refining our ability to focus our attention.

When we turn inward, many of us notice that our inner world often feels like a disorganized, chaotic mess. The inner stream of consciousness and mind’s attention constantly jumps from one thought to the next. Emotional reactions arise, overtaking us entirely and we find ourselves swallowed by them.

Anyone who has studied the human mind and psyche closely can see how it often resembles a swirling, chaotic storm.

And we’ve all experienced what it’s like to be a person with all that inner chaos going on. Practices that teach us how to be more focused, more centered, less distracted, less reactive can really help. They enable us to navigate that swirling, chaotic mess without being in reaction to it.

It’s also been observed that we tend to dwell in negative states, often focusing on what’s wrong or unpleasant. We can do practices to try to reverse that and encourage us to focus on positive qualities instead. Many spiritual traditions include practices where we imagine beautiful, resplendent deities that are filled with positive wisdom and compassion. By focusing our attention on these qualities, we begin to cultivate them within us, aligning with the higher parts of ourselves.

There are also chanting practices designed to elevate our vibration, helping us resonate with a higher vibratory level. And, of course, there are countless other practices, all aimed at preparing us, making us more fit, for spiritual awakening.

There’s an entire dimension of spiritual and meditation practice that fits into this framework and has benefited humanity immensely. These practices have helped prepare us for awakening in many ways.

The Confounding Truth of Spiritual Awakening

But then there’s the confounding truth about spiritual awakening: any time we truly awaken—even if just briefly—we discover that our awakened nature, our true nature, this profound, sacred, universal consciousness at the essence of everything, is who and what we already are. It’s already the case.

And nothing we could ever do could generate it, cause it, or give rise to it. That enlightened consciousness has been the very awareness experiencing our entire life—we just didn’t realize it. We didn’t see it. It’s called our true nature because it’s what’s fundamentally true about us right now, whether we’re aware of it or not.

It’s an arresting discovery. The first time we discover it, it often takes our breath away as we realize, “I’ve been looking everywhere but here. I’ve been searching everywhere but at the very nub of the perceiver, the experiencer, the person I actually am. I thought it was outside of me, but now I see it’s closer than close. It’s the very knower that I am. It’s the very experiencer that I am. It’s this person. It’s me—not the ‘me’ of my life story, but the ‘me’ who has been having it, experiencing it all along. The sacred essence of the cosmos is that… and I am that.”

Was All that Practice Just a Waste of Time?

When we discover this truth, it’s common for people to immediately think, “All the spiritual practices I did were a big waste. They had nothing to do with this. In fact, they might have even taken me further away from it because they were based on the assumption that I wasn’t already here. They were rooted in the idea that I had to do something to get somewhere else, that I wasn’t already complete.

If only, from the very beginning, I had stopped insisting that something was missing from this moment—stopped insisting that I was not the one which I was seeking—maybe I wouldn’t have wasted decades on meditation practices, retreats, workshops, and everything else!”

Because the truth has always been right here. It’s always been the same. And it’s easy to feel like nothing we did really had anything to do with this realization. This is a common response to the profound revelation of awakening.

In fact, this realization has led many spiritual teachers throughout the ages—and many contemporary ones as well—to denigrate spiritual practice altogether. They say, “Call off the search right now. Any spiritual practice you’re doing is part of the delusion, part of the story that you’re not already awake. Your practices are only pushing the truth of who you are into the future, instead of stopping and embracing it right now.”

But this perspective has created its own set of problems. For most of us, simply recognizing the truth of who we are and how things are—even in a profound moment of awakening—isn’t enough. I won’t say it’s not enough, because it’s always enough, but we’re not ready to embrace it. We’re not ready to accept it.

A Paradox in Practice

I hope you can appreciate the paradox here. The challenge is that, from one point of view, practice is always a postponement of awakening. And yet, from another point of view, if we don’t practice with intensity and wholehearted dedication—if we don’t consciously make an effort to embrace the truth of our inherent freedom, to stop denying it—it’s likely to only show up in fleeting glimpses.

Why? Because the momentum of our old habits is so strong. The habit of assuming this is not it. The habit of looking somewhere else, rejecting this moment in favor of some imagined, better moment in the future.

At its essence, enlightenment—or awakening—is a transformed relationship with all experience. It’s a complete shift in how we relate to being alive, to being conscious, to being a person. It’s an utter reversal, a turning over of the entire paradigm.

A Shift in Practice – Accepting Our True Nature Right Now

It reveals itself in very noticeable and predictable ways, and it’s something we can consciously undertake as a meditation practice. When we truly commit to the practice, we find that it’s no longer an obstacle because we’re no longer using it to push awakening into the future. Instead, we’re practicing accepting our true nature right now. We’re practicing embracing the fullness, wholeness, and sacredness of this moment exactly as it is right now.

We’re practicing bringing our attention to universal consciousness—just accepting, embracing, and noticing that this is the consciousness that is always here. It’s the only consciousness there is. And we’re practicing not making the error of relating to it as my personal consciousness tied to my little life story. Instead, we’re learning to see it for what it truly is and to relate to it as it really is.

The reason I want to underline and highlight this is that it’s so easy—in any moment of practice—to start relating to the practice itself in a way that moves us away from its true purpose. It’s easy to think, Okay, I’m going to do this practice, and hopefully, I’ll have a powerful experience of awakening. Maybe it’ll be so powerful that it will start to permeate the rest of my life.

And so, we sit there with an expectation—waiting for something to happen, for something transformative to take place, for an experience that’s different from what we normally feel. We hope that this will change us. Even practices specifically designed to help us let go of this expectation can still be engaged in that same way, often without us realizing it.

We’re Here To Sustain Awakened Consciousness

The fundamental orientation I want to invite us to hold—and to continuously challenge ourselves with—is this core thing: we’re here to sustain awakened consciousness.

Awakened consciousness is none other than our own true nature. It’s never anywhere but right here. You can’t get to it somewhere in the future. The part of you that imagines it’s somewhere in the future, waiting for you, will never be ready for it.

So let all of that go. Always let all of that go. Give yourself to the practices with the fundamental understanding that this is it. This moment—right here, right now—is the moment of awakening. And awakening is not some special experience you’re trying to achieve. It’s simply the embrace of who and what you truly are. There’s no other place to get to than this one.

So, the question becomes: how do I engage with my experience right now in a way that no longer pushes my awakening or freedom into the future?

Let’s explore this together in practice.

Settle into a meditation posture that works for you, and we’ll go ahead and begin.

I’ll be offering occasional guidance throughout the period of meditation. I’ll be giving initial instruction and then some time to be quiet. I’ll also be offering additional pointers throughout.

Guided Meditation On Surrender

One of the most fundamental postures of awakening is what we call the Posture of Surrender, which I’ve defined as the humility to give up control.

Many of us have been taught that the spiritual path ultimately ends with surrender—that it’s all about letting go, giving up control, and allowing something greater to have its way with us.

But in this practice, surrender is both the end and the beginning. It’s what allows all practice to occur.

So in this moment, I want to invite you to completely give up control.

Just Let the Outside World Go

Most of us spend our entire lives trying to control things, trying to steer things. It’s how we accomplish goals, achieve success, and get what we want. Without a doubt, some element of that is valuable in living a life out in the world.

But here in meditation, we have a rare opportunity to let go of all control.

Of course, right now, we’re just sitting still. Letting go of control—of trying to achieve goals or make things happen in the world—feels easy and even obvious. There’s nothing to accomplish or make happen while simply sitting still.

Maybe that’s the first simple step—just letting go of the need to control the world, life, or other people, since you can’t anyway. You’re just sitting here. So, for now, accept that there’s nothing you need to do about anything outside of yourself. You can just let the world go.

Give Up Control of Your Inner World Too

The bigger leap in meditation—the one that’s much more subtle—is letting go of control over our experience. Often, when we sit to meditate, we find ourselves trying to change something about the experience we’re having. Our mind, the presence of thoughts can seem like an obstacle to meditation, so we try to quiet the mind or shift our attention away from it.

Or certain feelings arise that seem like obstacles to meditation. Maybe we feel tension. Sometimes, when we sit to meditate, we can start tying ourselves up in knots—feeling tense or anxious. Thoughts like, Am I doing this right? My mind’s too busy. It shouldn’t be this busy. I feel tense; I shouldn’t feel tense. Something’s wrong. I need to change all of this so I can meditate—start to take over.

The invitation here is to give up control of your inner world—let go of trying to control your mind, your feelings, your sensations, or even your meditation. Simply allow this moment to unfold exactly as it’s happening.

The truth is, there’s nothing you can do to control your mind. Thoughts arise automatically, mechanically, all on their own. So stop trying. Instead, rest in the simple truth that you can’t control your mind.

Let that free you from any struggle with your mind and from any involvement with thought. You don’t need to give thought any attention. You don’t need to engage with it at all. It’s just like background noise. You let it be there without involvement or engagement.

This is a practice of total non-resistance. Non-resistance to what is and letting everything be as it is right now.

Let Everything Be As It Is

Whatever you’re feeling right now, let it be as it is. There is no feeling that is an obstacle to meditation, that is an obstacle to awakening. Meaning there is no feeling state you could possibly have that would block your true nature from being your true nature or that would prevent you from seeing it or knowing it. What a relief to not need to control anything about your feelings, to embrace them all, to allow them all.

This means you don’t have to worry about your feelings, or to try to change your feelings. You don’t need to give your feelings any attention in meditation. Just let them come and go, which is what feelings do. They come and they go. They intensify and then they gradually are replaced by a different set of feelings. We don’t need to work with them, process them, hold onto them, or push them away. We just allow the fullness of feeling to come and go.

Surrender completely to this moment. Give up any attempt to control anything.

[Meditation bell sounds]

I now want to invite you to allow yourself to gently let go of the meditation posture.