Awakening | Working With Fear
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 พ.ย. 2024
- When we engage the awakening process, it is unavoidable that at some point we will experience existential fear. In this video we discuss the root cause of this fear. We discuss several strategies that are helpful when this occurs. Acknowledgement and acceptance are key and they are the segue into the other approaches.
Not exactly one of the flashy awakening topics, but it's important to address. Let me know how it lands and if you want any more specifics on this topic or any other. Thanks for stopping by!
It landed 😜. May not be flashy, but it hit the mark. I particularly liked the background in this video... it fit perfectly
@@chriswilson5758 awesome, thanks for feedback
@Rolando Vesco you’re welcome!
❤🙏❤🙏❤🙏
Thank you! These strategies are helpful. I have sat with my fear and felt it go into the body- it's actually an incredible feeling.
Many thanks for this.
I watched this video a year or so back. And no clue what was being said.
Its now the most important one I've ever watched.
Man, its exactly as describe here.
So grateful.
Very powerful Angelo, let the body feel what it wants to feel, let the mind think what it wants to think and observe it as phenomena. By that you give them less power and are not identifying. And it's all okay, even though it's really uncomfortable at times. This is new to me, I'm giving it a try, very scary.
Thank you so much. This has been coming up for me recently. I appreciate your advice. Feels like the fear of death or nothingness. Fear of crossing a boundary I can't come back from or even understand. The first "awakening experience" was the most intense and fearful event of my life. I was shaken up for several months afterwards. I considered never meditating again and partially regretted what had happened. It pushed me to address and work on more practical things that I had been putting off. Not really one to comment much on TH-cam but thought I'd share. Thanks again.
Yes, it’s an underdiscessed phenomenon , esp if the path is steep. The good news is it all ends up in good place ☺️. Thanks for your comment.
@@SimplyAlwaysAwake definitely. I think it might be a bit steep for me 😆🙏
@@Mickhouser169 sounds like you got the bonus plan on this deal! 😂
@@Mickhouser169 i can relate to your comment, mostly verbatim. i wouldnt say it gets better because it gets AMAZING.
@@myrealnameisawareness interesting synchronicity. I touched on this again during a meditation yesterday. It was a particularly deep meditation I felt like I was the universe looking at itself. This triggered some fear but nothing like before. I felt a bit disoriented after but had an amazing day. Struggle and suffering have drastically improved in my life since the initial shift. Hope all is well for you and much love to everyone ❤
Had an experience just as you describe while not-so-sober. It really felt like I was dying in the moment. But in reflecting on that experience I already see certain ways it taught me
As always, exactly what I needed at exactly the right time...
Existential fear vanished without any sign of my usual mental hacks - like a headache, where you only realize at some point that the headache went away, you don't know when exactly, and you can't recall what it felt like, as though it was never there at all. Everyday life appears quite the same as ever, and everyday fears, like social fear, are just as solid-feeling as ever - even if I now have a concept that they aren't "really" but I think that's just mind trying its best to be helpful.
i just noticed that the time you made this video i was in the crux of existential fear, as you put it. i had heard of the dark night of the soul and it gave me a little solace to think im going through that, but all light was completely gone, i couldnt place myself as a person, everything around 24/7 appeared dark. disassociating, feeling my consciousness outside my body, always feeling like i can never go back, theres no way to go back to what once was, and no light ahead, all i could do was be terrified. now that i look back at it, i realise that i just needed to hear more and more that its okay to fall and trust this, its not a bad thing. but someone had told me, right at this time of the video that i was possessed by some negative entity, and i believed them. but i realised that wasnt true in a matter of days.
i look back and i dont blame that vasvi, she could never have imagined or known what was actually happening, she still cant. but now she has no regrets, thankfully.
yeah there's some unfortunately bad info out there. I've heard of others being told things like this as well and it really isn't helpful and potentially harmful. The only thing humans are possessed by is mind identification, and that's painful enough. ❤
@@SimplyAlwaysAwake thankyou for being here with us. One of the best Alarm Clocks you are!! 👽👽🤣
Blessed with your sharing, thank you
Oh thank you so much for this.... I needed this reminder. I appreciate you so much ❤
it's the t-shirt collection.
That's what keeps me coming back :)
Caryn
😂
I can't explain it ..... it's resonance here ..... all of your videos ,seem to describe exactly how it can show up .... just perfect what you're doing👍❤
Thanks for your reflection! :)
Your book, which I am reading right now, is also a wonderful reflection ..... it's like a mirror in which I recognize myself, as everything that appears ...... simply beautiful !!!
@@birgit8996 🪞
When I saw the mirror as an answer, the thoughts immediately started to want to make a story out of it, what the purpose of the mirror is and it is really great stories out of it!
There is only a "mirror" to be seen, nothing more!
How simple ...... and yet what he is pointing at ,can be seen😊
@@birgit8996 😊
Wow! Angelo, I just came across this older video of yours. Fear has arisen here a number of times lately and a couple of times I'd call it actual terror. I always sense there's something behind the cause of the fear and I just can't allow myself to surrender to it. It feels like death but also like something all encompassing and ungraspable that can't be explained. I've tried to articulate it a few times without success. I get a sense of almost an invitation to stay, to allow it to consume me but holy shit! It's scary! Thank you Angelo for your pointers. So helpful. 🙏
:)))
Thanks so much for this helpful video Angelo!
I my painting phase, about 12 yrs ago One painting I called "We are what we're afraid of". It is a silver ghost like creature with no limbs, but a tail that weaves it's way up to become a hand in front of it's face. I don't know where that came from, but now I understand it.
🙏
I now just watch which what ever of your videos pops up. I'm not sure what this apparent need to comment is, but often I don't remember doing it anyway .😂💜
Thanks Angelo. This video really helped tonight. Feeling the idea of me in my mind slowly fading away. It suddenly no longer makes sense to turn to the thought of me. I now see this thought I have had of myself and how I’ve been taking trips away from reality. Unsurprisingly, the fear you described at the beginning of your book is coming and going. There’s suddenly no way around fear but to go through it. Ugh. I guess I signed up for this lol. Much love for what you and Violet do for us all. Mark.
Love the background 💖. I wish I had your calmness.
Thanks! Fun to make the backgrounds
Oh so helpful. This is exactly what I was looking for and needed to hear today. Thank you thank you!
Talking about existential angst with that dark music and dark blue green smoke behind you reminds me of trips into decaying entropy .. good advice to just bear with it, even though I feel the decay is the ‘real’ reality, and the ‘everyday’ reality we think we live in, is just looking through color filters. We’re duped.
Decay yes. And also no, decay process requires existence process, neither can be found.
“That is not dead which can eternal lie, And with strange aeons even death may die.”
Here be dragons
Not sure how you do this so often, but you do. I was just steeped in awareness on my drive home noticing thoughts as they came and switching between sense fields. I finally noticed a theme of fear in quite a bit of the thought patterns that would arise, the ones that take me a second to realize I'm following a thought, especially the ones that carried a bodily or emotional sensation. Not fear of annihilation or existential, but like an example would be fear of doing something to alienate myself from someone and lose that friendship.. kind of along those lines. It would sneak back in with a similar thought of the same nature. I've just been trying to rest my attention on the sensation when it happens trying to welcome it, like with other emotions and typically the bodily sensation just passes fairly quickly. There are some sensations with certain thoughts that are hard to identify that kind of stick in the chest though. But yeah right before you posted the video I finally realized that quite a bit of the sticky thoughts arising were rooted in fear. Then I see a notification and the video says "working with fear" lol!!
Love the synchronicity ! Thanks for sharing!
@Ann I agree wholeheartedly
Thanks so much for this, a real gem for me and many I'm sure. It is short but nothing feels missing, I am very grateful for you and your work and teaching having only recently discovered you I have ordered your book and can't wait to dive in. After so many years of practise and searching I feel I have found someone who speaks to where I am.
Welcome, nice to hear from you.
This has been so valuable to me on my own place on the path. Your invitation to experiment with acceptance and allowance really resonates. 💕
Wonderful!
Thankyou youtube for offering such wisdom ❤ beautiful
Welcome!
This actually worked really well with Kundalini pain. It wasn't the K that was painful it was the resistance to feeling the pain of the block. Thanks OG " I allow this completely"
yesssss
I've come to a place where I can sit for a few moments without thought. At first, this was making me feel dizzy, and I watched one of your videos where you explained this was some disorientation. I got past the dizziness, and now when I sit for a few moments without thought, a disturbing thought will enter, bringing a fear response. Like a thought of something bad happening to a family member. The disturbing thought is hard to get through.
This is the fear barrier I often refer to, just remain as you are practicing and it will pass, regard it as one more thought and just feel the physical experience :)
I felt like this video was made for me! Thank you Angelo.
You’re welcome Sam!
love your work, thank you for sharing. It appears to me, that your volume levels are nearly always off. I have to turn my volume to the maximum level on nearly every video - just to hear you and I have no hearing issues. Keep up the great work, I salute you
Hey Angelo. This video is a super helpful pointer. Lately out of nowhere I will just start feeling this existential terror, and I have had no clue what the cause is..after a few weeks of this, ive been tempted to just see what happens if I allow it to consume me, but I always pull back because it is terrifying..What does allowing the terror to consume me actually do?
Love this
Helpful and useful thank you. Coming up for me is an ‘are you sure it Is it safe to feel this safe/present/relaxed?” one as I let go.
Yes that’s a common one as well.., we don’t trust, well, trust. A lot of conditioning is being reactive in various ways and we learn that we are averse to settling. But when life really gives us permission to settle it’s quite wonderful
if you break it down to the roots, fear is always the fear of the dead. For example the fear of not beeing liked by the others is because you can not survive alone. This was even more present in the past. Today it is not so neccessary. All social fears have their roots there. And if you are afraid and just ask yourself, will i survive this? And the answer is yes of course i will survive, the fear will go away.
Thanks for the video. I've had existential fears here and there but more frequently, when my mind is really quiet, I suddenly fall into REM sleep and start dreaming right away... takes me a few minutes and some interesting dreams before I realize (in the dream) that I was meditating and wake up. This doesn't happen to me outside of meditation and I don't have narcolepsy as far as I know. The dream is always about me being finally awakened hahaha.
Yes it’s not uncommon at all for the mind / nervous system to interpret profound presence as sleep. Sometimes it’s just contentless awake presence but a thought sneaks saying “I must be asleep” . Other times you do just pass into deep sleep , other times even REM sleep as you describe. Generally speaking I don’t consider it a problem. Often we go through phases of this then it resolves on its own
@@SimplyAlwaysAwake oh really? wow. okay thats interesting, in the past month i look around when i feel absorbed and it feels like im sleeping. ive also felt like im having memories of when i was 2-3 year old, but its just this sleep experience.
that only happened a handful of times, now theres more focus on my human patterns again. relax and contract.
It's super scary when the world I'm front of your eyes starts to disintegrate and turn into air.... while driving.
Thank you Angelo🙏🏻 My fear comes from my attachment to this personality and this body that I think I am therefore I also fear to lose the people I love. Fear that something can happen to this body of mine or their bodies. I don’t know how to detach from this belief.😊
Around Fear - I Cannot feel anything in my body. How do I start to feel in my body? Do you have a video on this?
Thank you.
Paul
Thank you!!!
So grateful for all your videos. Is there any way the volume could come through louder? I have it on full blast and when adverts come on they're like twice as loud.
Hi Angelo. Is letting go (surrendering) active or passive,. or is it Grace. Love your work.I often experience I'm on the cusp and retreat into the mind body again.
thanks
John
Thank you 🙏
Very appreciated. Thank you.
Very welcome
Thank you 🙌 this makes so much sence
You’re welcome!
What if the fears turn to the sensation of anger? Long ago I accepted fear and now that I have gotten older I feel anger about what gave me the fears in the first place. I really haven’t tried to sit with the anger as you suggested. Another practice! 😀 Is anger a part of the process? Also, are these sensations individualized?
That’s usually the order of ego defense barriers, fear then anger. Yes definitely can sit with it as well. Also with anger you can always look into boundaries on practical areas of your life. May or may not be relevant but often anger is a boundary guardian . They can be practical and personal in nature and/or the boundary of personal identity that is being tested.
@@SimplyAlwaysAwake I never thought of it a defense mechanism a way to keep from feeling the sensation of fear again. Yep, I’m going to sit with this when it arises. Thank you. I have your book, going to start reading/studying it tonight. 💜
@@patricialamson7944 enjoy!
Hi doctor. Can you make a video about the concept of no agent?
Indeed! I’ll put it on the list
@@SimplyAlwaysAwake Did this one on no agent get made?
You've mentioned your book in several videos but I haven't found a link to it..
Oh sorry it’s called awake: it’s your turn. It’s on Amazon
@@SimplyAlwaysAwake Awesome! That'll give me something to read this weekend..
@@jreesemobile enjoy
I ask myself who is afraid? Who is feeling this fear? Then I answer myself…nobody. It helps every time.
How do i know that i expérience this or an anxiety disorder ?
All this happens after i tried vipassana 4 years ago
It’s not uncommon that after we experience sone sort of opening, it is followed by an awareness of our own suffering even it had seemed to be hidden previously . Recognizing that we actually suffer is critical to undertake this process for most people
Also may I humbly add as an advice not to try to use acceptance as a subtle (unconscious) strategy to get rid of the unwanted experience. That’s just another clever trick of the “default mode network”to stay in its comfort zone 😉.
Good point, and it’s usually not so subtle 😂
I sometimes fear the idea of being all alone in the universe, as the non-dual consciousness, if we're all the same, am I the only one who exists? This may just be stemming from identification with the fear of the mind or person, but im not sure!
I find that both solipsism and nihilism are indeed conceptualities, and with direct insight they dissolve. You could say they are forms of doubt.
@@SimplyAlwaysAwake would you reccomend any resources to understand this fear/doubt of being alone?
@@chadotg sure try Michael: www.sherpawith.in
@@SimplyAlwaysAwake Thank you!
“No stream” at the moment Angelo
Ahh, seems to be working now
I‘m afraid that truth is not good. Suffering absence of self, suffering pointlessness, meaninglessness, soulless, loosing everything precious…
I wonder if this is the same fear/paranoia that can happen when you get too high. The same thing is happening. You’re losing your ground and fear comes. Fear of what? Who knows. Lol
fix your sound
Can you elaborate ?