The Challenge of Staying Awake Spiritually When Life Wants to Hit Snooze

Have you ever found yourself learning the same spiritual lesson over and over again, wondering why you keep forgetting what you thought you already knew? This fascinating exploration of our continuous learning journey reveals why repetition may be essential to spiritual growth.

At the heart of this episode lies a powerful metaphor: We are Mount Zion, not the weather that surrounds it. Drawing from Martin Laird's "Into the Silent Land," we examine how identifying with our thoughts and emotions (the weather) rather than our true, stable nature (the mountain) creates unnecessary suffering. This parallels Jesus's repeated instruction to his disciples to "stay awake" – a reminder of how easily we fall asleep to spiritual truth.

What makes this perspective particularly liberating is understanding that even our distractions and afflictive emotions are manifestations of divine presence. When we experience anger, fear, or jealousy, these aren't obstacles to overcome but expressions of the same "luminous vastness" that constitutes our essence. The challenge becomes integration – fully embodying these insights so they become part of who we are rather than concepts we occasionally remember.

How might you structure your life to support remembering your true nature? Whether through contemplative practice, physical reminders, or community support, finding practical ways to interrupt the forgetting pattern can transform your spiritual journey. Join us in exploring how we might participate in the evolutionary unfolding of consciousness itself by remembering who we truly are.

Don't miss our new ebook that guides you through season one with reflective questions – sign up at WelcomingGod.com to receive your copy and continue deepening your spiritual practice between episodes.

Music by Song Channel Music.  Listen at SongChannelMusic.com

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Find Martin Laird's book, Into The Silent Land, here.

Find Caroline Oaks book, Practice the Pause, here.

Find more about Keith Kristich's centering prayer community, Closer Than Breath, here.

Find The Cloud of Unknowing here.

Listen to Deepak Chopra on the podcast, Know Thyself here.

Find our more about Thomas Hubl's teachings and work here.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey everyone, sarah here, just to let you know.
Sometimes I do use swear wordsin these episodes and we may at
times discuss adult content, incase you happen to be listening
around, little ones or peoplethat won't appreciate that.
Thanks so much for listeningand let's get right into it.
Hi, and thanks for joining meon Welcoming God.

(00:28):
Hey everyone, sarah, here forepisode four of our second
season.

(00:48):
This episode is about learningand growing.
I know I said in the secondepisode how we're just learning.
It's like we're always going tobe learning, and I heard that
when I was re-listening to theepisode yesterday and wondered

(01:12):
hmm, is that true?
Is it true that we're going tojust keep learning forever?
Is there ever a point wherewe're not going to be learning
anymore, where as a human, we'renot going to be learning
anymore, or even as a spirit, asessence, as a part of this life

(01:33):
?
I'm not so sure about that,because it seems like life is on
this constant evolutionary path.
So will we always continue tobe learning in some way, shape
or form, as life itself?
And then I thought about youknow, what are we learning?

(01:54):
And a lot of the times whatwe're learning are lessons we
thought we learned already.
It's like a repeat cycle ofwait.
I thought I got this or, oh myGod, why am I doing this again?
Why have I done this behavioragain, showed up this way again,
said this thing again, believedthis again.

(02:16):
So it's like this pattern ofthis constant remembering,
repeating the lesson,remembering, repeat, remember to
get this lesson, to learnsomething.
And I thought that was reallyinteresting, that as humans, it

(02:38):
seems that we are on this pathof needing to repeat things a
lot, but we're also on this pathof needing to remember who we
are, remember what we are.
And it reminds me of.
I am reading this book by MartinLaird called Into the Silent

(03:00):
Land, and I started reading itlast year in a book club and I
just never finished it and Irecently have picked it up again
.
And come to the part in thebook where he's talking about
the three doorways to centeringprayer and he talks about he

(03:21):
says on page 91, when werecognize that we are Mount Zion
, god's holy dwelling place, andno longer suffer from the
illusion that we are the weather, then we are free to let life
be as it is at any given moment.

(03:42):
And isn't this just what wewere talking about in the last
episode about acceptance,accepting what is, having the
courage, the ability, thesurrender to just say okay, it
doesn't mean I agree with it, itdoesn't mean I like it, but
this is what's happening Now,what, what's possible, through

(04:05):
accepting the moment as it iswhat is possible and surrender.
So this really points to thatand it also points to this idea,
this idea of remembering howoften, as humans, do we just

(04:26):
fall asleep, we forget.
I'm also reading Caroline Oak'sbook Practice the Pause and I
have just read through thiswhole section about how she's
talking, about how Jesus istelling the disciples stay awake
, stay awake is telling thedisciples stay awake, stay awake
.
This constant theme of stayingawake, staying awake, and why?

(05:16):
Why does Jesus reiterate thatto the disciples?
Because it's so easy to fallasleep, literally and
metaphorically.
How often do we forget?
We just forget things.
We forget the truth of who, welife, connected to the all that
ever was, is and will be, whichI call many different names, god

(05:36):
being one of them, source beinganother, source being another.
So, this idea of being on thislearning path are we going to be
constantly learning for therest of our lives, for the rest

(05:58):
of existence's life, on thislearning path.
Is that what's happening here,that we are here to help life
evolve, heal, grow, learn,remember the truth of who we are
?
And I think the answer is yes.
So I'm curious what are some ofthe things that you need to

(06:24):
remember about your truth, thetruth of who you are?
Is it to remember that you areMount Zion, not the weather that
comes and goes, swirls aroundthe mountain, clears away.
You are Mount Zion, that stablepresence that will be there,

(06:52):
that will always be there,regardless of what weather
shifts or doesn't shift aroundit.
Weather shifts or doesn't shiftaround it.
And Martin Laird also talksabout a quote from the Cloud of
Unknowing here, which my friendand mentor, keith Christich,

(07:14):
mentioned today.
All about you know, if you havethese afflictive thoughts that
are coming up, thesedistractions during your
centering prayer practice, lookfor God.
Quoting the Cloud of Unknowingsaying the author says try to

(07:36):
look over their shoulders, theshoulders of the thoughts, the
distractions, the afflictions.
Try to look over theirshoulders, as it were, searching
for something else, and thatsomething is God, enclosed in

(07:57):
the cloud of unknowing.
So like we can't really knowGod, like I was just listening
to Deepak Chopra on a podcastcalled Know Thyself and he's
like it's unknowable.
It's unfathomable, like we areunfathomable, like we can't

(08:18):
really totally understand whatwe are, what this is.
It's a mystery.
And Keith mentioned how it'slike when we look for God.
It's like when there's weather,we see all the clouds around us
, but then when we actually lookfor God, it's like seeing the

(08:42):
sky, and oftentimes we just seethe clouds, we just focus on the
clouds and the weather, but weforget all about the sky, that
the sky is always there and thatis God.
God is this omnipresent,omnipotent existence, essence,

(09:02):
beingness, whatever it is.
So how will we come back tothis truth that we are Mount
Zion?
We're not the changing weather.
We're not the changing weather.

(09:27):
That is also a part of God.
I love that how Martin Lairdsays that right, right in this
area of the book.
He says let me go to it here.
What is the nature, he's asking.
What is their nature?
The nature of these thoughtsand afflictions, distractions,

(09:49):
the thoughts and feelings thathave brought us such delight and
sorrow are also manifestationsof this luminous vastness.
Waves of the ocean, branches ofthe vine and who is aware of
these distracting thoughts Shiftyour attention from the

(10:10):
distraction to the awarenessitself, to the awaring.
There is nothing but this sameluminous vastness, this
depthless depth.
What gazes into luminousvastness is itself luminous

(10:30):
vastness.
There is not a separate selfwho is afraid or angry or
jealous.
Clearly, fear, anger, jealousymay be present, but we won't
find anyone who is afraid, angry, jealous, etc.
Just luminous, depthless depth,gazing into luminous, depthless

(10:55):
depth.
Wow, thank you, martin Laird,for naming that so clearly and
succinctly.
So I know this is a big chunk,this is a big bite to chew off
here, and I think this is aperfect time to sit with this

(11:18):
concept, this idea, for a while.
How will you start tounderstand your own process of
learning, of growth, of thisever-evolving learning path that
we're on, of remembering thethings that we forget, the
repeating of these lessons wethought we had, I thought I knew

(11:41):
that, I thought I was groundedin that.
And then, coming back to ThomasHubel and integration, how do
we truly integrate these lessons, learn them fully, process
things, digest things, likeThomas Hubel says, so that we

(12:01):
don't have to go back thereagain?
We can actually just keepmoving forward and moving onward
on the path and co-creatingsomething new, evolving, it's
evolutionary.
So I'm going to leave you withthat for now.
And I wonder how will you spendthe time to contemplate this?

(12:26):
What will you do to fullyintegrate?
And If you'd like to just takea few moments right now, if
you're in a safe, appropriateplace to do so, to just pause
and be aware of what you'reexperiencing, how your body is

(12:51):
feeling, what your mind isthinking, just notice from that
curious, objective observer.

(13:13):
You're just the curiousobserver here, watching,
noticing, aware Nothing's badand wrong, even if there are
parts that feel that they.
This is bad and wrong, that'sright.
This is good.
This is bad, that's okay too.
That's all a part of it, that'sall a part of this life.

(13:34):
So, just noticing that and justgiving yourself the space to
contemplate this for the nextmonth or so.
And again, how will youremember to come back to this?
Is it a reminder in your phone,a note, a sticky note on your

(13:55):
bathroom mirror?
How will you remember to spendsome time just contemplating
this and contemplating your rolein the learning and the
remembering, in the coming backto true source as who you are.
This is a part of who you are,your beingness.

(14:17):
Thank you so much for joining meon the second season of
welcoming god.
I invite you to go towelcominggodcom and sign up for
our email newsletter if youhaven't yet.
There is a new ebook thatbrings you through the first
season of the welcomingcomingGod podcast with some reflective

(14:38):
questions, and I think you'llreally enjoy that.
So stay tuned for the nextseason and information about
that coming up and enjoy thenext month or so contemplating
what we've talked about here,and have a wonderful experience.
God bless, aloha, nui loa, fornow and always, forever.

(15:02):
Amen.
Hey everyone, sarah Haeckel herefrom Welcoming God, a podcast
for spiritual seekers.
This is a legal disclaimer tosay that this podcast is not a
substitute for therapy orprofessional help.
I am not a trained therapist.

(15:23):
I also have not studiedtheology in a formal setting.
This podcast is purely foreducational, inspirational
purposes, to share the goodnessof welcoming God back into my
life and all of the things thatI'm learning on this journey.
Back into my life and all ofthe things that I'm learning on
this journey.

(15:43):
So thank you for joining mehere and I look forward to
seeing you on the next episode.
Thanks for joining me onanother episode of Welcoming God
.
Please subscribe to thispodcast wherever you listen, and

(16:05):
consider leaving us a review,as it helps more people find and
benefit from this show, musicby Song Channel Music.
You can listen and hear more atsongchannelmusiccom.
Until we meet again, aloha nuiloa, take care, and God bless,

(16:29):
thank you.