Three Demons that Plague People During the Awakening Process

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About my videos: These videos are a resource for anyone wishing to wake up from the dream of separation. Awakening, enlightenment, and liberation are becoming far more mainstream possibilities than they once were. There are many good teachers out there, and if you resonate with the teachings of Eckhart Tolle, Rupert Spira, or Sadhguru, you might find resources here that address these deeper promptings to investigate your true nature.
Disclaimer: The information presented in these videos is not meant to diagnose or treat any psychiatric or medical illness. The inquiries presented herein are potent and can have powerful effects on the way you experience yourself and reality. If you feel you are at risk of harming yourself or others, these videos and practices may not be the best thing for you at the moment. Seek help wherever necessary which might include a hospital emergency department, a suicide helpline etc.

[@oneness1976]

Another "teacher" I follow said something that stroked me : "When you have a feeling that you want to cover up by "doing things" or try to "fix it" without feeling it fully is like going to a zen master for to question him for an answer and when he tries to come up with it, you cover your ears and go bla bla bla". The emotions are your teacher!

[@renko9067]

A fourth demon for me was the desire to talk to other people about this. Family, friends, former zen friends. It causes you to intellectualize it, and could even result in needless argument. I learned very quickly when I couldn’t even speak with old Zen friends about this process that I should zip my lips with family and other friends. 🤐

[@flaviusdumitrescu7756]

I didn't learned that quick.😢 I was way to enthusiastic in my 2 months honeymoon 😅😔

[@johnbruder4519]

I relate 100%, I talked about it way way too much during the honeymoon and suffered the social response. - but hey! I was excited and I wanted to share! And I was all alone. Wearing the Stink of Zen as a deodorant didn’t help either, as no one likes to be sprayed with little dollops of insight or judgement. . Now it’s approaching 5 years later and there is almost an opposite orientation, that is, it’s a bit of a dirty secret not to be discussed with friends and family. Drama aside - things are working out well for me and seem to be having a more positive effect on others. 😜

[@renko9067]

Recently, I reconnected with a friend who had just been ordained as a zen priest. When he had no idea what zero distance or no doer is, I realized just how out there I’d sound to someone who’s not into any of this at all. My friend is a super nice, sincere guy. But I’m not sure what they’re doing over there.

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

Good point

[@renko9067]

@@SimplyAlwaysAwake You have mentioned this before, about avoiding talking about it. Part of the motivation for talking about it is just to share, but also part of it might be your other demon…which is competition or wanting to show what you’ve “accomplished.“ 🩵 Although some things are starting to show. Like every time I walk through the open balcony door I have to put my hand there to make sure it’s an actual opening. 😂 My wife hasn’t said anything yet.

[@TheEvaluna1975]

This resonates a lot! I feel I've been through each one of these blocks if we can call them that way... things start feeling much more lighter when you are aware of what's going on in the background! Thanks for the great pointers! ❤

[@davidberry5777]

Boom…..right on the money….right between the eyes….I love this video…thank you for all your support and pointing

[@GodsBestFriend888]

Real awakening is realising you have been fooled into believing in demons. They don't exist. It is your shadow mind that creates the idea. We are that powerful!

[@martinspiering5817]

When it comes to waking up (from the delusion of separateness), competitiveness is like trying to race against oneself to see who runs faster. A fundamental misunderstanding of what one sets out to realise.

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

Exactly

[@mavrosyvannah]

I consider it an illusion rather than a delusion which implies a mental illness. Illusion is what every Ape experiences.

[@cps_Zen_Run]

A barrier to realization of no-self is the deceptive illusion of a separate independent Self having experiences happening to them. JUST THIS happening spontaneously to No One. Allow the Mind to accept JUST THIS without changing, resisting, or labeling.

[@hansenmarc]

I completely agree. It’s unfortunate that the initial question for so many people is “Who am I?” instead of “What is a thought?” I was recently struck by the irony. You’re so good at helping people appreciate the content of their conscious awareness, but your “day job” is helping people safely lose consciousness in a controlled way. You embody yin and yang in a single person.

[@paulblack9600]

The first two deamons are there for me also since my awakening experience was so astounding and life changeing three years on I've swapped stories of childhood trauma for stories about awakening as a powerful vehicle to seek validation from everyone ive only fully copped on ive a new huge big ego related to awakening.

[@RickNuthman]

I keep feeling it isn't quite straightforward to say that a fully awakened person doesn't have anything that I don't have. I realize that in reality the opposite is the case, but it kind of just semantics. Imagine you are a prisoner dragging around chains being whipped while having constant terror and suffering and there is a guy over there sitting happily on the hill relaxed saying "I don't have anything you don't have". The prisoner has plenty of pain and suffering that the man on the hill doesn't have, but the relaxed man also has freedom which the prisoner cannot even fathom.

[@Morgan313]

Who’s dragging the chains? Who’s doing the whipping?

[@isalage1250]

I didn’t understand anything. Nothing makes sense 😱 Thank you for all your support.

[@johnsmith-pm1qe]

Why are laypeople becoming awakened left and right but monks are not, or rather are experiencing the same as laypeople, but denouncing these experiences as being rather mundane ? apparently everyone is awakened now yet buddhism cites lengthy frameworks which suggest that enlightenment is a matter of gradations that can take lifetimes to achieve? Additionally, is it the case that many rather common experiences contain components of enlightenment? marijuana, flow states, perhaps very deep states of thought? i gather that enlightenment is actually just another 'illusion' cobbled together from smaller constituent parts. It's an illusion that when placed against an illusion paradoxically breaks you out of your initial illusion, rendering enlightenment itself not an illusion and an illusion simultaneously. but then again, you're initial experience was never an illusion per say. I would call it a half truth rather than illusion, because both fullness and emptiness are abstractions away from eachother, rendering neither more real, because they are the same and different.

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

What are you referring to reference monks’ experiences? These are such general statements that it’s hard to even comment honestly.

[@danielfrancis1159]

This makes a lot of sense and is somehow very appealing. The moments I’ve experienced non dualism have lessened suffering and brought peace. My question, or point, is it not necessary or important to include, at least as part of the motivation for change, the awareness of issues that could end much life on this planet, including wars and mistreatment of the environment?

[@76livika]

I've dealing with envy, jealousy recently.Also control was in the mixed. 'I should be doing something but I don't know what to do'. Just sit through this one just like I did with the rest.

[@cps_Zen_Run]

&76… say, “Jealousy arising “ Can I accept this?” If yes, ok, the impermanence of everything. If you can’t accept this, ask, “can I accept that I can’t accept this?” Be at Peace. It’s your True Nature. Only our Minds create Problems.

[@pauldominique6955]

Regarding, relinquishing control and imposing your views on reality. What are you supposed to do when it’s your job and you’re tasked to make changes to a certain system to make it more efficient and more accessible. I’m sure as an anesthesiologist you see inefficiencies at work every day. What if you were assigned the bold task to create a new system that makes the old one redundant ? In the non dual state are you expected to just accept the status quo. This is rather confusing to me.

[@Pamela_Sinai]

As I understand it, the first step is accepting reality. Next steps can be deciding -- from a responsive rather than reactive state -- to make changes. The point is definitely not to be passive. It's to intervene only when necessary / beneficial, and without any illusions such as denial, judgment, etc. Supposedly it makes positive change more efficient and effective. And it gives you ample opportunity to "just say nothing" when you genuinely have nothing to add to the moment. (Parenting has taught me a lot about the value of "just saying nothing" when it's the best option I have. I don't have to insert myself into everything. Very often, simple presence is the best thing you can offer.)

[@pauldominique6955]

@@Pamela_SinaiThank you for your response and this makes total sense. However, it gets nuanced, take for instance you are doing a project and you are pitching to investors. To be successful you do have to sell them on YOUR version of reality. This can even be construed as manipulation. This is what I struggle with. Again, thank you for your input.

[@mikeyfinn2]

This is a point that doesn't get enough clarity: the point about control is about the knife edge of the one & only now. It's about equanimity in what is happening now, in every moment (which is only ever **this** moment, yada yada). Equanimity, because to say acceptance might imply the possibility of rejection or the validity of evaluation (ref: Hsin Hsin Ming, no preferences). Anything about improving things in the future is a different paradigm, a different universe: the relative world of past, future, preferences, doing etc. The point about control isn't about the relative, it's about the plain, simple truth that anything happening right now is beyond the possibility of being different. It's a like a cone of probability: where reality is happening, there's no variance: everything happening is happening with probability 1.0; all other possibilities are excluded. No-control isn't about acting in the relative, it's about not trying to push and pull against something without even the possibility of external leverage. It's recognizing that no amount of emotional flailing is going to undo just having stepped in dog shit. Quickly and calmly finding a puddle of water to rinse it off is wu wei.

[@Pamela_Sinai]

@@pauldominique6955 If you have no attachment to outcomes, you can simply be clear and truthful in the moment. (No need for manipulation.) And let the rest take care of itself. There are times and places where clarity and truthfulness might not be rewarded in the relative world. For example, I wrote a book, and some publishers wanted more "red meat" -- they said anger would sell better. But that's not who I am or what my book is about. I could have gotten a bigger publishing deal, but it would have been completely pointless to me because it wouldn't have been my book I was publishing. Just another polemic. I had an attachment to outcomes at the time -- I wanted to sell lots of books and maybe even solve the Israel/Palestine conflict. But I had to come to realize I had no control over that. Only over my own integrity. It was a big lesson.

[@CasenJames]

Love y'all ❤

[@bencassidy5270]

I definitely have this competitiveness and never thought it would relate to spirituality. Part of my spiritual motivation comes with a made up goal for getting 1 up on other people and life in general. Now I am having some doubt on if I am being genuine or not. Can you give me some direction on this? I’m tired of walking in circles for years with this stuff. Thank you 😊

[@t.c.l1625]

This experience has felt like a fever dream and a purgatory.😢 I feel such an emptiness for the experience of being human. Sometimes its joy, sometimes its bliss, sometimes its sorrow and utter isolation. My experience has been one of rejection, and im beginning to accept myself for who and what i am in totality, but this world treats people like they dont matter at all. Its so childish and painful to experience the rejection and just move through life experiencing this constantly. It hurts regardless. Why?

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

Widespread delusion and unconsciousness (specifically being unconscious to one’s own suffering).

[@t.c.l1625]

@@SimplyAlwaysAwake how to let go of a painful desire for companionship?

[@CuttinInIdaho]

@@t.c.l1625 All the answers to every suffering is the same. go through the awakening process.

[@Chrystal_Starkey]

To the creator of this video(thank you, your channel is my best) and all who read my words: How do I know if I have awoken? How do I know where I am in all of this? Thank you all💖

[@FranciscoMunoz-mz5qg]

Time is a tricky thing - I increasingly find myself feeling “stuck” on some past experience - a promise I made that I feel obliged to fulfill, some interaction that didn’t feel quite right, or some task I made a note to do. #2 is a good reminder that I can just let go of those and fully feel into the current moment, and let it take me…

[@mavrosyvannah]

If this is about awakening, why am I falling asleep? I know the answer but do you?

[@birgit8996]

who or what ,needs an answer?…..😆

[@robertmcgrath7970]

A tricky and more subtle one... the one keeping tabs on the "progress" one is making, little bit more subtle perhaps but it happens

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

Definitely

[@user-fg3fv9hl3b]

I find it largely helpful. Just depends on how you progress with or without that mentality, you know? See what works for each unique individual at each unique time in their life. For me it's largely very helpful.

[@jdubluffy1959]

Your calling me out with the competitive one 😂

[@danielu1763]

So a friend has recently awakened, as observed in Satsang today. This was timely, thank you.

[@just_me_melanie]

hello Angelo, I tried posting a comment here yesterday and each time, it's not appearing. perhaps it was held for moderation approval?

[@just_me_melanie]

it was a long comment

[@JohnSmith-vl9oq]

Great video!

[@InfiniteNothing]

This video hurts right in the stomach So thank you! :)

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

You're so welcome!

[@Soulsmusic1931]

This is not a question per se but I want your views about how much of my understanding is correct cuz it's been three months I have locked myself in my house not wanting to meet anyone, I have been doing self enquiry, tried to abide as awareness only to go back to square one every time.. So, thoughts appear in mind due to awareness, somewhere along the line the mind gets identified with the thought, memories and that led to "I".. So the mind didn't intentionally create the "I", "I" was the outcome of the mind trying to put all the memories and the thoughts in one place.. So as long as the mind does not identify with thought there is no "I" cuz our true self which is inherently consciousness cannot identify but only knows the experience of mind identifying with thoughts.. When someone says to be in present, it is just the mind trying to be in the present as past and future are only due to thoughts.. During all these months, there has been a realisation that there was one constant behind everything that has happened these past months and that is the present moment, so is consciousness the present moment which is being shared by every matter in this universe and this present moment has the knowing of how this mind and body is experiencing the world ?? Now as the true self has been revealed, it doesn't really matter anymore if the mind identifies or does not identify the thought and memories.. So, the one who is writing this comment is just mind and body working in conjuction with each other while being aware of the present moment and we have been calling this conjuction as "I"..

[@That_Freedom_Guy]

This is supreme freedom! 🕊⛓️‍💥

[@QBARRY]

Could you talk a little bit more about control when it comes to the body and health? I am currently struggling as I’m 10 lbs heavier than I want to be. I really feel stuck in time and planning when I think about losing weight. I can sometimes feel like ultimately I don’t have control over it just like I don’t have any control over becoming taller. But I also know there must be ways to work through losing weight without gripping the wanting to achieve this too strongly. Any suggestions would be helpful.

[@heartsablazeyo]

Yep this video strikes a cord. Wanting a particular outcome (thoughts) has come up for me recently. Then a storm of thoughts about how to get the outcome. Then a combination of thoughts of guilt (about being attached to an outcome) and contracted/difficult feels in the body (chest and stomach). At times it feels like really hard work staying aware of the thoughts and sensations in the body. But probably its actually the resistance thats draining...

[@cps_Zen_Run]

@heart… The Unfulfilled Self seeking to be Fulfilled. The Moment, Here, is already Perfect. A Seeking Path, doesn’t bring One closer to Here. At the end of seeking, regardless of the months or years, is the returning to this Moment and Here.

[@korneliaheidegger3116]

You are completely right in everything! 😃

[@MrBrady95]

I have escaped the May Tricks, as I recognize June ... The One.

[@skullnbones5129]

❤

[@Mychannel28901]

Im in the worlds dumbest competition with myself. If i beat myself… i lose, so really i cant win. I‘ve convinced myself i dont want to play anymore cause i can only lose - which is true but im also secretly convinced if i pull this off i win.

[@gooberpeas7926]

Connect with the divinity within. There is no adversary to distract you there.

[@alfreddifeo9642]

❤🙏☮🕉

[@Steveness100]

This is a great video, so powerful in such a short time. Thank you so much 🙏

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

You're so welcome!

[@Xantor12345]

Excellent vid!

[@amyweisenburger]

“Want to awaken” … absolutely not I never wanted to awaken And 7-8 years in dark night, purge, void … all I want is to get out of my spiritual awakening from f$&@n hell … it has stolen nearly a decade of my life thus far & has been nothing but literal torture

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

The pain, darkness, dysphoria, angst arent caused by awakening it is what I am referring to when I say suffering .You’re merely aware of it. You’re also probably very sensitive and do feel a lot of the suffering of those around you. This may sound like semantics but it isn’t, to see this clearly is important. In Buddhism it would be called “right view”

[@steviebecoming850]

☺ Thank You Beloved Angelo. As always - Thank You ☺ And. I So So So Loved All of these Wonderful comments. Really edifying!!! ☺ Just sending Love to All who are here and who happen to read this, and to All who don't read this. ❤ Love You All ☺❤☺ And - Be Awake Now! ☺❤☺

[@A2Zdogmd]

In my experience, trying to force things only increases suffering.

[@SimplyAlwaysAwake]

Indeed

[@Jhawk_2k]

A lot of this kind of stuff is coming up for me at the moment. It feels like waves of guilt, shame, and grief. It still feels fairly sticky, I sense a tendency to dissociate from it, lots of unsatisfactoryness

[@trevorfurness5695]

Yes.

[@ProfoundlyForlorn]

The less I understand, the more it makes sense. I guess I also shouldn't be surprised that YOU are in MY experience at this point. Insanity everywhere.

[@injoyinmyself2018]

trauma. finances. personal relationships.

[@injoyinmyself2018]

@chenath9582 yes and you have a living organism in an environment where the dangers are real.

[@macaroon147]

Now i understand why some of these non-dual "teachers" go off on these tangents trying to project their beliefs etc.

[@pchabanowich]

It is the care we bring that is ultimately efficacious - the heart is the field of this. Love this cautionary talk.

[@Pamela_Sinai]

My recurrent thought -- which goes underground for a while and then pops up again to try to derail things -- is that maybe the universe can't be trusted after all. Maybe it's just manipulating me to behave in a certain way by forcing me to suffer otherwise. Maybe it really is (somewhat) like The Matrix, and "surrender" is relinquishing any chance we may have to know what's really going on and do anything about it. My brain has a cramp every time it's told, "Don't worry about how this works," or any time anyone generally asks it turn off its critical faculties and "Trust me, bro." I know it's just a thought/belief, and I'm pretty sure I can't think up, much less create, a better universe than this one. But it's a deep trigger. I've been fooled by religion (and Santa Claus) before. When things sound too good to be true, my brain gets super protective. Neverending satisfaction and intimacy in the best of all possible worlds sounds like a bill of goods to this part of me. Just a report from the shadow trenches...

[@Kkknnnko]

neverending satisfaction isn't what's being promised here, what is being promised is only this, life as it is, without any opposition from your part. your recurrent thought is just another tought, let it go, it is not true. just as any tought. trust and look only into what is not tought, trust and look only in your current experience, as it is, without believing your tought, without analysing, judging, commenting, telling yourself a story about how things should be, how things are, just notice the story being told in your mind, let it be here, but don't believe it, don't question it, just put it aside for a moment, and return to the current experience, what is here that is not tought (body, sensation, 5 senses, even the feeling of having a mind, but don't listen to it's content, just notice it's there, let it do it's thing, and rest in your own body, your own immediate experience)

[@Pamela_Sinai]

@@Kkknnnko I get all that. But when my brain hears, "Turn yourself off and vibe with the universe," it still gets super defensive. Which is its job. But it insists its job is important. Which it is. I wouldn't be here otherwise. So "ignore thought" sounds like joining a cult to this part of my mind. Jettisoning a crucial survival mechanism. I don't get any red flags from Angelo and similar, but my mind still wants to paint everything with a tone of doubt and suspicion. I don't think it'll last forever. Just noting a current phenomenon. (I also know that thought is not a problem in and of itself. Identifying with thought is the issue. And that is falling away. But it finds new ways to sneak in. So it goes.)

[@steviebecoming850]

Oh You are just so lovely, you really really are. I Love how you express yourself ❤ You have So got this. It's just mind doing it's thing. When we realize we are not the mind, it somehow calms itself down ☺ And one day, we sit back and think, what was All the fuss about 😊

[@birgit8996]

Find out ,where something is sneaking in! ...And what identifies with thoughts?

[@Andre-qo5ek]

1- everything is thought d: " part of us wants to continue to -believe- [think] that at some level we can -control- [think] life. we can make -life- [thought] do what we think we -need- [think] it to do to make us -feel- [think] better " &) -competition- [thought] is rather dualistic and it has a lot of benefit . survival of -species- [thought] have to do sometimes ,or a lot of times ,with a certain kind of -competitiveness- [thought] ___ "when you see somebody else have an -Awakening- [thought] you're really -misperceiving- [thinking] it. it's not they don't have -something- [thought] you don't have " * does that cover it?

[@zhenyatatkova7569]

Angelo, what a great content, thank you. Can you please make some content about last two? Control and motivation ( because someone else has it)? 🙏

[@jameshunter9632]

This teaching seems too passive

[@woodrocknetwork7507]

Awakening psychosis