Tag: Awakening

The Whole Enchilada

The expression that serves as the title of this article implies wholeness and integrity. Nothing is lacking. I’m using the expression to refer to the “knowing” that we experience when we recognize the Truth of our essential nature. To “become” a knower of true Self is unmistakable because it’s incomparable. Anything less is just spice and sauce–a poor imitation.

Why, though, is knowing it so important? Because at some point, most persons will become dissatisfied with life as it is. I’m not being negative or pessimistic; it’s just an inherent part of the shifting sands of the human experience. The historical Buddha called it Dukkha. In spite of having good health, great relationships, and adequate wealth, many feel that something (not a thing) seems missing. No matter how great our efforts, the results that we achieve give rise to only temporary happiness. This is when many individuals embark upon a spiritual journey of discovery.

When we begin our spiritual investigation we may initially feel fulfilled by visiting distant ashrams, temples, or cathedrals. We may enjoy studying scriptures or listening to gurus, rabbis, ministers, or priests share their knowledge. The practice of meditation or daily prayers may also seem new and exciting. For a while, the disruptive narrative of the ego may decrease or briefly stop; but seekers often discover that even this new spiritual activity also loses its thrill. Still, something seems to be lacking.

The solution may arise in an unexpected way. In deep sleep, we have intimate experience of the peace that’s inherent with Being our essential Self; for in that placeless place, we know nothing of a world, space-time, or the challenges that are associated with the perspective of the false self. When we merge again with the waking state (erroneously assumed to be daily reality), we may find ourselves in the same happiness quandary. Perhaps the following content from Who Am I?, by Sri Ramana Maharshi (who awakened suddenly to his true self at the age of sixteen) will be helpful:

5. [Seeker] Will there not be realization of the Self even while the world is there (taken to be real)? 

[SRM] There will not be.

6. [Seeker] Why?

[SRM] The seer and the object seen are like the rope and the snake. Just as the knowledge of the rope which is the substratum will not arise unless the false knowledge of the illusory serpent goes, so the realization of the Self which is the substratum will not be gained unless the belief that the world is real is removed. Note: The reference to the rope and snake is related to a story in which a monk was once greatly frightened because he erroneously believed a rope to be a snake. It’s an allegory for the human condition. When we erroneously believe ourselves to be the “person,” we suffer.

Enlightenment means to be freed “from” the tyranny of the conceptual “person” who’s dissatisfied with the human experience, not “as” the person. An illusory character can’t possibly become enlightened because it doesn’t actually “exist.” If we’re still carrying the burdensome perspective of our personal John or Jane Doe, we haven’t yet knowingly experienced The Whole Enchilada. (If you doubt that this can be true, I believe that you’ll find the information within my YouTube video entitled “Pointers to Self & Power” interesting.)

With heartfelt regards,

Art

Copyright © – 2026 – R. Arthur Russell

P.S. Please share this article if you enjoyed it. If you’d like to view my latest book (This Taste of Flesh and Bones), press here. My YouTube videos can be found at Think2wice@I-Am-Aware. May the content of either or both help you along your spiritual journey. “Thank You” & “Note to Publishers” 🙏🏻🧡

The Big “Oh”

In the movie entitled When Harry Met Sally, starring Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal, there’s a famous scene in which Harry and Sally are having a discussion about relationships while sitting at a table in a busy diner. Sally is telling Harry that at one time or another most women have faked an orgasm. Harry doubts that such has ever happened to him—he would know. Sally then goes to great length to demonstrate a fake orgasm that includes tossing hair, hand pounding the table, and cries of “Oh, God, ohhh, God–yes, yess, yesss!” After Sally finishes making her point, Rob Reiner’s mother, Estelle, who plays a character sitting at nearby table, nonchalantly tells her waiter, “I’ll have what she’s having.”

***

Most adults are probably familiar with the type of big “O” referred to by Harry and Sally; but for the purposes of this article I’m going to relate some information about a very different type. It’s the big “Oh” related to our spiritual nature; which by and large goes unrecognized by the masses for a human lifetime.

Since infancy, all of us have programmed to believe that “our” consciousness is personal and arises due to neuronal processes of the brain. This belief is so deeply ingrained within us that the majority never question its validity. We assume that our identity is a combination of sensations, images, feelings, thoughts, and memories related to name, age, gender, race, and nationality, etc. Due to this, we conclude that “we” begin at conception or birth and will, thus, end at death of our body-mind. Upon this common shaky assumption we base our entire life.

What if, however, that such isn’t true? The big “Oh” related to spiritual awakening turns this paradigm of reality on its head. Through enlightenment, we realize that our essential nature is Consciousness, Itself; in which the world and our body-mind arise. For those who claim that such is impossible, it’s worth contemplating the fact that space-time and all of the apparent “material” objects and scenarios within nighttime dreams are rendered by Consciousness. During a dream, situations seem as real as real can be. A brick building within a dream seems to be made of “real” bricks and mortar; but when we, Awareness, merge once again with waking-state “reality,” we realize that the brick building and everything else within the dream were created by mind, which is Consciousness in motion. At that point, we assume that “Earth” is made of matter, not Consciousness. But, is it?

To support the information I’m sharing, I offer Saying 2 (of 114 Sayings attributed to Jesus) from The Gospel of Thomas:

Jesus says: “Let him who seeks cease not to seek until he finds: when he finds he will be astonished; and when he is astonished he will wonder, and will reign over the universe!”

I humbly suggest that the “astonishment” to which Jesus referred isn’t that we’re a person in a material world; but that we, in fact, are the Universal Consciousness, or Spirit, in which our “person” and the world arise. The false self, our person, is nothing but a repetitive “I-thought” that we assume to independently “exist.” Please contemplate the following quote from Man’s Eternal Quest, by Paramahansa Yogananda:

“Live in the consciousness of Spirit, in that oneness with God wherein you know that life is a dream.”

This is supported in this quote, from “Why Lazarus Laughed,” by Wei Wu Wei:

“Reality alone exists–and that we are. All the rest is only a dream, a dream of the One mind, which is our mind without the “our.”

Our understanding can also deepen through the following quote from The Book of Secrets, by Deepak Chopra:

“This embarrassing problem–that there is no way to prove the existence of an outside world–undermines the entire basis of materialism. Thus we arrive at the second spiritual secret: You are not in the world; the world is in you.”

If you would like to experience the big “Oh,” I highly recommend the practice of meditation. Make “time” to sideslip the world of the senses and enter the transcendent Now. In the stillness of Being, it’s possible to realize that you are Spirit, here and now, dreaming a human life. Recognition of true Self is the biggest “Oh” you’ll ever experience. If you’re eager to recognize your essential nature, I offer more information through my following YouTube video entitled “Unchained Love, Our True Nature.” When you knowingly “meet” your true Self, you’ll experience a sense of glory beyond compare.

Dare to dream (and care for one another).

With heartfelt regards,

Art

Copyright © – 2026 – R. Arthur Russell

P.S. Please share this article if you enjoyed it. If you’d like to view my latest book (This Taste of Flesh and Bones), press here. My YouTube videos can be found at Think2wice@I-Am-Aware. May the content of either or both help you along your spiritual journey. “Thank You” & “Note to Publishers” 🙏🏻🧡