Unfortunately, the day to day challenges of living here in this world of "3-D" make it pretty hard to remain in a state of oneness and non-duality at all times. So while we can certainly strive to be in a state of love and attempt to be non-polarized in the way we view things (not giving too much energy to either good OR evil but seeing it all as part of the One,) it's not always that practical to remain that way.
And most of us are interested in comparing notes on "survival" tips....or perhaps "transcendence tips" so that we can continue to raise our consciousness and to evolve while still doing what we have to down here in this reality while we are here.
When I was 16 I had an awakening experience in which I moved beyond duality and spent a year seeing only the ONEness of creation....all love, all God, all joy and balance ALL THE TIME.
It was lovely.
It also really screwed up my life.
From this place of pure oneness and unconditional, 100%, altruistic love, I felt such compassion and empathy for all those who WEREN'T yet in a non-dual place, that I began attracting hugely imbalanced people as "friends"...manic-depressives, psychopaths, people dangerous to themselves and others. Looking back on it, I'm appalled in many ways, because these were NOT people I should have been hanging out with, and never would choose to do so today, yet my immense love for the One blinded me to these realities.
And being locked into the framework of "all is one, all is good, all is perfect" made me unable to perceive danger where danger existed...both danger to my physical body, danger to my finances, danger to my emotional and energetic well-being.
So while I was unable to perceive the darkness that began descending around me, it still began to have an effect. My non-belief in the darkness didn't prevent it from having an independent existence outside of my current perspective. It proceeded very nicely on its own, without my giving energy to it, gathering mass and eventually creating severe problems while I was still dancing about in my "oneness" state.
After about a year, I "normalized" and integrated back into being a relatively "regular' artsy chick who nevertheless had a deeply spiritual view of things. But I had to deal with this reality again. And there were a lot of messes to clean up.
What I'm trying to say is that, historically, there has been a real purpose for the whole lifestyle of living in a temple, removed from others, while a spiritual seeker pursued enlightenment.
You NEED a certain amount of protection around you in a bodily sense because when you go into a "Oneness" state, you are unable to perceive things that might be dangerous to you, because, frankly, you're so blissed out on love and so "high" on love and connection to God that you lose touch with the need to protect and care for your body. Your consciousness really is someplace else. Ax murderer shows up for dinner? Hooray! Let's make him a nice bowl of soup. We just made a friend! Oh joy!
Running around in day to day life in such a state can be very dangerous. If you're in a temple, you have others to nurture you and help you and honor the very sacred process you're going through. They keep you grounded and safe while you explore these other states of consciousness.
But when you're having your awakening experience while living in a bad neighborhood with many bad people around you, and you suddenly lose the abilitiy (through your blissed out, nondual, state of mind) to perceive their darkness, that doesn't mean that their darkness goes away. And you can end up putting yourself in the path of stuff you wouldn't normally engage in.
I feel the enlightenment process for us modern folks has to proceed gently, gradually, in stops and starts, because if we're suddenly all in that perfect state of oneness and pure love, we'll so lose identification with the body and with physical concerns down here in "3-D" that we'd probably all quit our jobs, go live on the streets, and find ourselves sinking into trouble pretty quickly because the current societal structures in this world do NOT support the average person having this Oneness experience in any sustained, safe way.
I was lucky in that I had two loving yet bemused parents who were completely disinterested about the enlightenment experience I was having, and I simply didn't talk about it, I just became this creature who beamed out love and light 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and the vibration in our house lifted to one of incredibly light and joy, and it felt good for all of us. So I had relative safety and protection while I experienced this vibrational shift.
But if I'd had to hold down a job or navigate through complex adult relationships, I would have been in a lot of trouble. I was so out of my "ego" that I couldn't identify any separation between myself and others.....and sometimes, it's not a good idea to be "one' with just anybody. You lose your ability to discern between people who might be bad for you or have a low vibration because your own vibration is so high.
All the psychotic and damaged friends I attracted were seeking healing, and I was happy and honored to give them love and support. But when I had fully emerged from that oneness state a few years later, I realized that these relationships had created a huge mess in my life. Left behind huge amounts of personal debris. Caused me to make very bad choices from a "Jennifer" perspective, namely, these were things that in the long run were not ideal for me to be plugged into. Yet my love and oneness state of mind blinded me to those realities.
That said, I do believe things unfolded as they needed to in my life, and I have no regrets. And I feel very blessed to have had that year of enlightenment at a point on my own timeline where I could fully explore those energies and not have to hold down a job, an apartment, a boyfriend, yada yada as you do when you're an adult. I could NOT have done that effectively because that state of consciousness pretty much demands that you be somewhere safe and soft where your bodily needs are being taken care of, and there are no real temples people can take refuge in today.
Instead, we are given the challenge of having to carve out our own way of living in a sacred manner whlie also doing what we have to dealing with the "profane," i.e. the 3rd dimensional stuff of kids, work, mortgage, etc.
When you're in a oneness state for long periods, you just give your money away. I mean all of it. Every cent. That's what I did. And you give away all your energy because you just want to give and be a being of pure love and nothing else has any real importance to you.
So how does that translate to the reality of having to pay off your credit card debt, deal with school loans, or whatever else you have to do in a "normal" adult life?
Sometimes you NEED separation, if you want to continue life in this body. My money vs. yours. My space vs. yours. My energy is mine, and yours is yours.
You see, oneness is a lovely state to aspire to. And love is very important and transcendant.
But I can vouch for the fact that, at this point in time, as things currently are on our planet, the enlightenment process needs to happen gently and gradually so people can integrate that mindset into their daily life. If it happens all at once, most people go through a very intense and often difficult kundalini awakening where they can't deal with life down here very well because they are coming at things from such a different place. And the social and financial implications of this can be very severe.
Look at David Icke during his "purple" phase when he had gone through his awakening and suddenly understood what Jesus and God were about, and he openly talked about this on TV, and to this day because of it people have classified him as a total "nutter" in the UK.
Imagine if he'd had his awakening experience gradually, over time, so that he could integrate his new awareness with his work as a TV personality and gradually work that perspective into his job. He wouldn't have lost his career. He wouldn't have lost his ability to navigate through this world with public respect. But he wasn't in his ego, so he never thought about the need to protect himself from the lower consciousness of others.
I don't know if I've described any of this very well. Apologies if it's just a long ramble.
Suffice it to say, I think we need spiritual street smarts. We need to learn how to be protective of ourselves as we evolve and awaken, because there ARE bad entities and energies out there and they LOVE it when people go into that awakened state, because people in that state of mind lose the ability to understand the need for protection, and then the dark side throws all manner of things their way that can prove to be very distressful obstacles later on, once the intensity of that enlightenment period wears off and the person has to face the consequences of the decisions that they've made during that time in their life.
I think we should all continue to aspire towards Oneness, but in degrees. And I believe that's what we're all doing, and I respect the unique timetable and conditions that each person is navigating through on their path of spiritual growth.
Lipstick Mystic aka Jennifer
PS: If our "belief" in the Matrix makes it real, then why is it that when people have shifted their consciousness BEYOND any duality does all manner of evil tend to descend upon them? The Department of Defense shows up at your apartment within 12 hours of doing a merkaba meditation, the black helicopters arrive overhead, the death threats happen all the time, all that stuff. My disbelief in these things never prevented them from happening. These were all going on ten years before I ever heard about "conspiracy theorists" and all that jazz. And these events always got more intense the MORE my consciousness went OFF THE GRID, beyond the Matrix, as if people really are tracked via technological or metaphysical means when their spiritual light expands.
In my experience, not being aware of this stuff doesn't empower you. It makes you more vulnerable. You need psychic self-defense and personal street smarts, in my opinion. A jungle is a jungle, and if you're navigating through it, you'd better carry a machete and a shotgun. Disbelieving in the lion who is about to eat you is an interesting exercise, but in the end, I'd rather not become somebody's dinner if I can prevent it. I'm not fond of tooth marks. 