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Many if not most spiritual teachers describe the spiritual path as one that places awakening as its ultimate aim. In fact, the word Buddha literally means “awakened one.”
But ‘awakening’ isn’t the only game in town on the spiritual path description front. I prefer the metaphor of ‘fog.’
Before diving in on why, let’s address a question some of you may be asking: Why should I care about how we describe the spiritual path? How does that help me?
Answer: It’s of fundamental importance. Why? Because it gives us the overall directions for how to liberate ourselves from ourselves.
What is awakening?
Let’s tackle awakening first. There are two central questions: What are we awakening from? And what does that final, awakened state look like?