Your Awakening Is Incomplete Without These Three Aspects

Awakening at the Level of the Mind, the Heart, and the Gut

It can be hard to grasp the meaning of the word awakening. This is because, as I’ve said in the past:

“Awakening is, by its very nature, phenomenological, meaning it doesn’t center in a concept; it’s centered in personal experience. This is why you can’t bring it on by understanding what it is.”

It could be described as an experience of awakening out of something (perhaps, illusion) or awakening to something (perhaps, greater awareness). But it’s more precise to say we remember what we are.

This process of coming back to self can be catalyzed by a near-death experience, an intense relationship, a dedicated spiritual practice, or rarely, nothing at all (spontaneous awakening).

But however it happens, the end result is the same. We come into experiential awareness of the fact that we are not the body or the mind. This is a powerful realization to have and it can be easy to feel, once we’ve seen through this great illusion, that there is no more to experience.

I’ve realized, however, that what can appear to many to be a complete awakening is often only a partial awakening.

That’s not to say it’s not important. It is.

But without a complete awakening, we’re prone to ego distortions and we limit further soul growth and evolution. To have complete freedom, we must awaken at the level of the mind, the heart, and the gut.

The Three Aspects of Awakening

Adyashanti, a well-known spiritual teacher with a background in Buddhist practice, discusses here the experience of awakening at the level of the mind, the heart, and the gut.

He doesn’t go into great detail, but he presents the idea that there are these three ways that awakening manifests and that each feels complete, in and of itself, but isn’t. I’ve expanded upon his foundation here, including my interpretations of these awakenings and how they could look and feel.

What does awakening at the level of the mind look like?

Adyashanti calls awakening at the level of mind this awareness of “being conscious space” or “being open awareness”. I’ve described my experience of this here.

While it’s characterized by this experience of “spaciousness”, it can also bring with it a kind of preternatural insight.

This is what Christians would call prophecy, what Hindus and Buddhists would call a third-eye opening. It’s also called spiritual downloads, channeling or psychic gifts.

Whatever you call it, it’s this phenomenon by which new ideas are seemingly dumped into the brain by some outside force of greater intelligence. It could be marked by periods of explosive creativity and unparalleled mental clarity.

You know things about how the world works, about the true nature of reality. Many people begin their spiritual path by awakening at this level.

What does awakening at the level of the gut look like?

Adyashanti says awakening at the level of the gut is a letting go of the “most existential sense of self”, an instinctive “grasp”. He also calls it the experience of “No self”.

I would describe awakening at the level of the gut as a visceral experience of ego death. It’s what some call a “Dark Night of the Soul”. And of course, many go through DNOTS time and time again, because our egos are strong and persistent.

Now, if there is a goal to spiritual practice, it shouldn’t be to dissolve the ego completely. We need it to interface in this world. The goal is simply to see through its illusion.

But often these awakenings at the level of the gut do involve a large amount of ego deconstruction. Everything you found your seat of identity in begins to dissolve. It feels like an earthquake, suddenly the ground that was so solid beneath you is a landslide.

You’re forced to let go of everything you thought you were, which can lead to feelings of loneliness and meaninglessness. This awakening is the most destructive and, in my opinion, the one we have the greatest resistance to.

What does awakening at the level of the heart look like?

Adyashanti says this is an experience of “Oneness or intimacy with all existence”. To him, it’s an “exquisite quality of love”. He also calls it “transrational”, meaning the mind can’t make sense of it.

I think awakening at the level of the heart implies a sense of deep empathy with all beings. There’s an upwelling of compassion and a feeling of unconditional love for everyone and everything.

Even in disagreement or conflict, there’s an overarching feeling that separation doesn’t exist. You can allow someone to be themselves — with whatever differences arise on the surface — because deep down you feel connected.

With an awakened heart, you see the Divine in every living being. It’s not just knowing that we are all one, it’s a felt experience that no matter how different someone appears to be, at the core they are you.

You’re made of the same stuff.

Three Paths to The Divine

I’m not Hindu and I don’t ascribe to any one religion, but I do draw from various disciplines and philosophies in my personal practice.

And I found that these three aspects of awakening perfectly align with the three paths of Yoga laid out in the Bhagavad Gītā. They are jñāna, bhakti, and karma. Jñāna is the path of knowledge, bhakti is the path of love and devotion, and karma yoga is the path of selfless action.

Awakening at the level of the mind would be the path of jñāna. Awakening at the level of the gut would be the path of karma yoga. And heart awakening would, of course, be the path of bhakti yoga.

Why is this important?

Because the Gita — one of the oldest sacred texts in existence — lays out these three paths, these three aspects of awakening, yet, it’s all too common for us to awaken at one level and remain asleep in the others. This brings imbalance.

I’ll explain.

Awakened Gut, Without Mind and Heart

The karmic yogi strives to act selflessly.

This is not only in the meaning of the word, as a sense of acting altruistically, but truly to act without self, as in that “No self” we described earlier. This means they release their ego grasping, all those identity attachments.

Gut and mind awakenings can go hand in hand. Ego death often heralds intuitive expansion and greater awareness of our true nature.

It is possible to only awaken at this level, though, and I’d imagine this would bring a lot of confusion, perhaps an overactive mind.

You might experience great anxiety or obsessive thinking, and fall into depressive spirals. You might overanalyze every step of your unraveling, which can be maddening considering how little the mind can make sense of it.

Awakening at the gut level without an awakened heart is similarly problematic. In my experience, this leads to a kind of extreme detachment. Without the connectivity that the heart brings, there’s just a pervasive sense of nothingness that can easily lead to nihilism.

Awakened Mind, Without Heart and Gut

Jñāna yoga is a mental-spiritual discipline through which the practitioner frees themselves by gaining divine wisdom and awareness of Brahman — the ultimate reality of the universe.

This awareness is that “spaciousness”, the mind’s awakening.

When one has an awakening experience at the level of the mind without the gut-level awakening to support it (this is remarkably common, by the way), the mind is left susceptible to illusion in the form of spiritual ego.

Why?

Because the mind is the ego’s seat of control and if it has yet to surrender its grasping, yet to deconstruct itself, it maintains control. So even though you have a new understanding the ego just hijacks it; it uses your awakening to make itself feel superior.

I would say it’s likely karma yoga has had historic precedence among yogis for this reason. It’s very smart to begin dismantling the ego at the start, so if awakening happens at the mind level, the yogi is less likely to fall into the trap of spiritual ego.

Yet and still, the gut and the mind are not enough on their own.

Imagine what an unawakened heart does here. Our awakening is unfeeling and clinical. We know spaciousness, but nothing moves within that space. It lacks the essential flow, the feeling sense of connectivity that brings joy to life.

Without a heart awakening, ideas might come, but there is no passion, no fire, and no true spark of inspiration to bring the creative vision into being. And a sustainable experience of peace (if that is your aim) will continuously evade you.

Awakened Heart, Without Mind and Gut

Finally, we come to the awakened heart. Bhakti yoga is the path of love and devotion to the Divine in all things.

Bhakti is widely seen as the more accessible path and is somehow judged as less important. I think this is because society has leaned into rationality, giving the mental sphere predominance and greater authority over that which is intuitive.

But the heart is the center of the energetic system. The physical heart pumps lifeblood through our veins, and similarly, the heart chakra is the gate through which all energy must flow — from the lower chakras into the higher chakras.

Of course, an awakened heart without an awakened mind and gut is imbalanced as well. You might find you’re lacking clear discernment. Without clarity of mind, you’re easily swayed by your emotions and unable to see through others’ (and your own!) egoic illusions.

Without an awakened gut, you’re likely to hold onto people that you love too tightly. You feel deeply connected and have compassion for, and intimacy with, the ones you love, but it isn’t balanced with healthy detachment. You might be overly invested in your family’s lives, for example, because their success defines your own.

Or you might find it difficult to walk away from a relationship that is causing you harm, grounding your identity in your partner’s happiness or your ability to show unconditional love.

All Together Now

It’s possible to have an incomplete awakening in any permutation. Though it’s rare to have an awakening at all levels at once, it’s not that you must awaken at one level at a time. And once you have awakened at that level, you can still go “back to sleep”.

You could, in one moment, be awakened at the level of gut and mind, but not the heart. Then, you meet someone you share a deep connection with and they trigger you deeply, bringing up all your childhood wounds. Your ego roars in to protect you. But you also go through a heart chakra expansion. Now you’re more awakened at the level of mind and heart, without the gut.

In my experience, it’s common to see people awaken at the level of mind first and completely miss the other two. Or if they do experience a heart-level awakening it’s not as sustained as their awakened mind. We are, of course, most familiar and comfortable with the mind, after all.

The Gita doesn’t claim one path to be more important than another. The Gita implies all paths can be used simultaneously, and I’d argue that in fact, all paths must be used simultaneously.

It’s not an option, it’s a requirement. Your awakening must happen at all levels or it’s incomplete, and Union is, as a result, impossible to attain.

❤

If you’d like to talk more about awakening, feel free to drop a comment! I love chatting down there.

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