Facing the Shadows Before Awakening
There exists a realm within the psyche so obscure, so deeply buried beneath layers of identity, that even those who have touched the pinnacle of awakening may remain oblivious to its existence. It is the final frontier before the self dissolves entirely—a territory littered with unexamined fears, concealed transgressions, and desires too shameful to acknowledge.
Before awakening completes its course, before the false self collapses into the boundless expanse of nonduality, there is a reckoning. A descent into the darkest corridors of the mind where the most primitive aspects of existence, both personal and collective, make their presence known. This is not a mere psychological reckoning; it is an existential confrontation, one that strips away the illusion of separation between the individual and the whole of suffering itself.
A being in the throes of this revelation does not merely observe suffering from a distance. Instead, suffering is embodied in its totality—experienced both as the tormentor and the tormented, as the blade and the wound, as the hands that enslave and those that are bound. Every atrocity carried out by humankind, every act of cruelty and despair, rises to the surface. The weight of this recognition is nearly unbearable, a force that shatters all prior conceptions of selfhood. Many break under this pressure; some contemplate escape. Yet for those who endure, something extraordinary occurs.
The searing agony of this confrontation serves a purpose. It dismantles illusions, forces the heart open, and stretches the limits of compassion to their furthest extent. Empathy ceases to be an abstract virtue—it becomes an all-consuming fire that purifies everything in its path. Walking through this inferno does not incinerate the awakened one but instead renders them indestructible, unshaken by the fluctuations of worldly suffering. The very act of seeing, of bearing witness to every grotesque distortion of human nature, births an indescribable clarity—an awareness so vast it can hold both horror and grace without resistance.
No one seeks this path. It is not chosen by desire, nor does it reward the seeker with comfort. It arrives unbidden, reserved for those who must cross the threshold through trial and surrender. To move through this passage is to endure a crucifixion of the self, an initiation that cannot be bypassed. Yet for those who survive its rending force, the view on the other side is unparalleled. A vision beyond words, an existence that moves with effortless grace, guided by a heart that no longer clings to the illusions of division.
This journey is not a metaphor. It is a lived reality, known only to those who have walked barefoot across the glass of their shattered being. And for them, the world is no longer the same.
Morgan O. Smith
Yinnergy Meditation/Neurofeedback, Spiritual Life Coaching & My Book, Bodhi in the Brain…Available Now!
Morgan O. Smith 