The Awakening Classroom

One thing the ego does realize is that it's out of its environment. This is because it has never truly felt at home in its experience of a ‘world.’ Why else would we have so many egoic-based religious-spiritual ideologies, all mapping an exit or escape from the world? Few map out a transformative engagement with our mutual experience of the 'world.'

The problem is that ego-self must remain homeless, since it’s very nature denies attachment to anything but itself. The world is an outer reflection of inward condition.


Nevertheless, as much as the ego-self tries to extract some sense of joy from its experience of homelessness, it is forever thwarted in that endeavor by circumstances that seem completely beyond its control. Not only is the ego-self homeless, but it distracts from that fact by alienating from this condition through compulsively trying to extract some sense of satisfaction from its homelessness.

Eventually it may surrender this attempt at control (which is the “no-control” method of control) or decide that it must work harder, struggle and sacrifice more, to attain the fruits of its control in the little time allotted it to do so.

However, occasionally rather than surrender or assert more control, the ego will seek to closely examine both of these premises. It asks, why surrender control to the world or why attempt to control it, since neither of these approaches provide any consistent joy and reduced suffering is limited and sporadic at best.

To question the two most basic premises of its existence is to stare into the abyss of nothingness. But who wants to do that?

However, the ego does have a belief that a consistent state of joy or bliss is possible to it, if only it could find the means. It believes that there can be an end to all suffering if it could only learn the correct path to ‘realize’ such liberation.

Therefore, it believes it has little choice but to examine its premises through ancient spiritual ideologies, which it further believes are the tools that can lead to transcend the very experiences of homelessness it constructs.

Yet, it tends to deny that it has also constructed the paths of escape.

Unfortunately, the ego cannot teach itself what it does not know, even when that learning comes from other egos that it evaluates as smarter, wiser or more "awakened" than itself. It cannot learn anything beyond itself and its parameters of collectively agreed on "knowledge." Problem is, reliance on its “knowledge” is what causes all its problems, so in that sense, it really knows nothing at all (or at least nothing that can save it from itself and its experience of being homeless).

Thus, in its experience of a collective, it explores entire libraries of specialized “salvation” concepts and ideologies that tell it only what it wants to know and so, it learns nothing new. In fact, the ego really doesn’t know what it is trying to learn from all the teachers that teach it. This often makes it seem as if it's merely spinning its wheels and going in circles. Teacher after teacher, concept after concept, each new 'path' it adopts merely reflects an old idea wrapped in a new package.

Finally a few egos accept that the world has nothing to teach that it doesn’t already know and so it seeks to learn from a teacher not of the world.

Is there a teacher outside the ego and not found in the world? But who listens to this teacher if not the ego? Who interprets the teaching that is taught by that which is not ego?

Or is ego teaching itself, what it already knows but refuses to recognize as truth?

The ego does NOT KNOW WHAT IT IS TRYING TO TEACH. It is trying to teach you what you are WITHOUT KNOWING IT. The ego is expert ONLY in confusion. It does not understand ANYTHING ELSE. As a teacher, then, it is totally confused and TOTALLY CONFUSING. Is there ANY possible reason for choosing a teacher such as this? Does the TOTAL disregard of ANYTHING it teaches make anything BUT sense? The ego has never given you a sensible answer to anything. Simply on the grounds of your own experience with the ego’s teaching, should not this alone disqualify it as your future teacher? (ACIM URTEXT).

The idea that ego teaches itself, demanding ‘teachers’ materialize based on egoic learning objectives, begs the question, does the ego already know what it demands must be learned? If this is so, then learning is certain, because what must be learned is already known. Therefore, no teacher is necessary because the curriculum has been learned.

However, if the curriculum is already known, then the only thing necessary is the classroom because the ego demands learning as the only true means of 'knowing.' The ego-self will not access what it knows outside the classroom, because the classroom is the conduit to experiencing what it already knows. The classroom is the means to access truth.

The truth that we all recognize, is that we are indelibly joined in some way. Although this joint aspect of our mutual existence is minimized and made subordinate to our experience of individualized separation. Yet, we sense that this is not true, otherwise why have so many religious/spiritual paths for centuries advocated the path to this nebulous experience of “unified oneness”?

Deep down ego ‘knows’ it’s salvation is in joining and not continued separation, but it refuses to enter the classroom. However, upon entering the classroom all the knowledge available to it will be made apparent, but only through joining with other students.

Obviously that classroom is in “relationship” and entering that classroom is your only reason for being. Enter the classroom by engaging deeply with one other 'person' in an intimate awakening that will change your experience of the world. The reason you have failed to awaken is simply because you refuse to join with others by entering the classroom of awakening.

This is because you cannot “awaken” alone.