Seeing the self-evident presence of Being can occur without looking for it, but for the vast majority of people there has been interest in the subject of awakening and liberation before awakening happens.

In many cases there have been glimpses or phases of awakening, alternating with reappearances of the suffering ego. The best way to handle these phases of ‘ignorance’ is not to resist these. This approach is still associated with a ‘me’ that tries not to resist ‘what happens,’ but this genuine willingness of the imagined me to give way to life’s movements as they present themselves can weaken the tendency to contract in the face of ‘what is happening.’ Even contractions are seen as ‘what is happening,’ and in this way the contractions are not fueled by the resistance towards contractions.

As humans, we are conditioned to look for pleasure and to avoid suffering. Neither of these approaches make us see what is already here. To reject pleasures and to want suffering is a ‘religious’ perversion. It is based on the idea that it is virtuous to suffer. It is totally unnatural.

Non-resistance causes the reappearances of the ‘ego’ to weaken. Non-resistance is happening just by seeing whatever comes up, without diverting from it by imagining a preferred future or by comparing a current sensation with any other (preferred or avoided) sensations that may be stored in the memory bank.