Since we’re headed for a time that may include spontaneous awakenings, I post Metta Zetty’s experience of “epiphany” to allow us to see some of the elements of such an event and to hear what “sense” she made of it. I think you’ll hear a lot of echoes of Saul here. Thanks to Len.
Epiphany: Gift of Light
A Spontaneous Experience of Awakening into Awareness
by Metta Zetty
https://www.awakening.net/Epiphany.html
Preamble
On the morning of February 5, 1997, Metta Zetty’s understanding of the nature of Reality was profoundly changed by an extraordinary experience of spontaneous awakening. In this astonishing and euphoric epiphany, Metta experienced a sudden and direct insight into the essential wholeness, completeness and perfection of Reality — exactly as it is.
Introduction
On the morning of February 5, 1997, my life was changed, at a deep and fundamental level, by a completely unexpected and inexplicable experience.
To this day, I still do not fully comprehend, with my rational mind or intellect, exactly what happened. And yet, the validity and power of this incredible moment remain with me today, profoundly vivid and clear years after the fact.
It was a moment of intuitive revelation which arrived suddenly and without warning, and which I can only describe as an “epiphany,” or an Awakening. In this timeless moment, my understanding and experience of the universe were completely and irrevocably transformed.
Now, several years later, I am still feeling the effects of this remarkable experience. The epiphany lasted only briefly, perhaps three hours or less, but as a result of the fundamental shift that occurred during this momentary revelation, my priorities, my identity, and the shape and form of my work have all begun to change.
Epiphany at the Rodeway Inn
Epiphany: a sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something; an intuitive grasp of reality through something usually simple and striking.
The epiphany arrived suddenly, and without warning. In fact, I was asleep when the experience began.
The night before, my partner and I had driven from San Antonio, Texas (where we lived at the time), to Austin where we rented an overnight room at a Rodeway Inn. As professional meeting facilitators and management consultants, we were scheduled to facilitate a planning meeting for one of our Austin clients, in preparation for one of their upcoming construction projects.
This was a routine work assignment, and we spent the evening as we usually did, reviewing our agenda for the next day, and confirming a new work opportunity with another of our clients. Little did I realize when I lay down to sleep that night, I would awaken in the morning seeing and experiencing the world through new eyes.
Awakening into Awareness
Sometime during the early morning hours of February 5th, 1997, I began to dream. During the dream, I found myself standing before a man, apparently a healer, who used acupressure points to release and encourage the flow of chi (essential energy) throughout the body.
As I stood before this man, energy was moving and surging within the upper part of my body; he was kneeling behind me. Then, he touched my body in two places: first, on the mid-point of the back of my left arm, and then on the back of my right leg, just below the knee.
Suddenly, an invisible, but significant, shift occurred internally: it felt as if any residual or latent energy blockages within my body had been instantly and completely released.
Before I knew or could understand what was happening, the top of my head opened up, and a flood of brilliant white light poured over me, flowing into and through my entire body.
Overwhelmed by the intensity of this flooding energy and light, my knees suddenly buckled beneath me, and I awakened abruptly. Now wide awake and in utter amazement, I felt the surging energy continuing to flow through my entire body! As it moved through me, flooding through the very essence of my being, the energy rapidly began changing — transforming into an wave of complete and absolute euphoria, an indescribable contentment that extended far beyond the bounds of human expression.
Realizing the Natural Great Perfection
Within this timeless, euphoric space, I suddenly realized and knew with unmistakable clarity that the universe, exactly as it is within the present moment, is absolutely complete and perfect. The present moment was whole and integrated. Any sense of fundamental separateness was gone. “I” was still there, but any anxiety I had ever felt was completely eliminated. All I knew/felt/experienced was the complete and absolute perfection of the present moment.
I became keenly aware of the river of energy flowing through each of us — an energy arising from within and intuitively guided by this exquisite and innate perfection. I realized that everything appearing before us is simply a manifestation and expression of this energy, and that this energy is always moving through each of us, guiding us throughout our lives.
In this moment of Recognition, I suddenly realized the fundamental simplicity of our existence and our purpose: There is nothing we need to do or achieve, beyond the fullness of the present moment. And, I understood that this realization will dawn upon each of us,
naturally and inevitably, as we begin to release our resistance to the flow of this energy moving within our lives.
With this realization, I began to understand, more clearly than ever before, the value of paying attention to:
- the relationship between body, mind, and spirit,
- the relationship between intellect and intuition, and
- the energetic rhythms and intuitive impulses moving within each of us.
This was a moment of overwhelming revelation, of pure and absolute joy. The perfection and wholeness of the universe seemed so obvious, so simple, so complete, so absolute. Like a bliss-filled fool, I alternately laughed and cried, spontaneously and irresistibly, at the exquisite perfection of All That Is.
Even as I eventually awakened my partner, and began to shower and prepare for our client’s meeting, this astonishing energy continued to move through me, in wave after wave of sweet and unspeakable joy.
Intuitive Integration
There was no question in my mind, during this timeless, indescribable moment that:
- Within the present moment, each of us is where we need to be, doing what we need to do.
- In our lives, and through our being, the Infinite Universe is continuously manifesting its completeness and perfection;
- An exquisite bliss arises when we recognize and acknowledge this perfection and wholeness within our own, immediate experience.
I realized that it is at the intuitive level that we have our deepest moments of “knowing” and “being” and insight, and that for each of us, this process of revelation begins simply with an intuitive faith and trust in our own energetic movement toward wholeness and integration.
I realized that, within this very moment, this energetic impulse is guiding each of us toward deeper levels of intuitive recognition of this innate integration and inherent completeness. And, I realized that we can begin to recognize this energetic impulse through body work and energy work; through yoga, movement and dance; through dream work and intuitive process work; through our relationships, and through our work in the world. I realized that this movement of energy, through our daily life experiences, is our greatest and most potent teacher.
I realized that this process is simply an intuitive exploration of the movement the essential life force within the universe, and within our own body/mind/spirit in the present moment. I realized that this experience of intuitive integration is simply a process of gradually realizing the energetic balance that already exists within each of our lives — balance that manifests in intuition and intellect, work and play, action and reflection.
I realized that throughout our lives, we are all intuitively drawn toward deeper and more profound levels of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual integration by deep impulses and timeless rhythms of wholeness. And, I realized that this process allows each of us to explore the depths of our own innate potential to achieve an ever deepening Awareness and Recognition of our own fundamental and essential nature.
I realized that within each of our lives, there is a pattern of intuitive recognition that has developed over time, an “intuitive river” that can provide clues to understanding the development of this integration process. I realized that the pattern and rhythm of this process are uniquely and individually appropriate to each of us, within the present moment. And, I understood that regardless of the path we choose, this process of intuitive integration will gradually guide each of us toward a profound recognition of the essential wholeness, completeness and perfection of Reality.
I realized that in all our efforts to discern a sense of meaning and purpose in our lives, and in our struggle to understand the nature of the universe, our simple goal — and our greatest freedom — ultimately lie in recognizing this fundamental and essential state of natural Awareness. I realized that all of our efforts and struggle ultimately dissolve into our ability to trust the process of the completeness and perfection of the universe manifesting within the present moment.
With this recognition came a deepening understanding that:
- Mistakes,” as we know them, are not possible.
- “Whatever happens is the only thing that could have.”
- Our most fundamental freedom is our freedom to choose within the present moment.
- The present moment and the human soul are a converging nexus point of the Infinite.
- The past and future are pale shadows and faint echoes of the luminescent present.
- Bliss is recognizing the absolute, complete perfection of the universe, exactly as it is, within the infinite present.
- The perfection of the universe lies within its complete integrity and wholeness. Within this larger context, there is room for all the smaller, diverse “imperfections” of our daily, human experience.
- All suffering in the universe ultimately is not absurd because it is contained within an Infinite Benevolence that extends far beyond the limits of all imaginable suffering.
(Continued in Part 2.)