When Awakening Becomes an Addiction: A Post-Spiritual Reflection

(vi? tân – Author of Read Rection Burn)

Awakening is supposed to set you free.
But for many, what if it simply becomes a form of subtle bondage?

In the early stages of “spiritual awakening,” there is often a sense of overwhelming wonder. A sense of life being opened up and the hidden dimensions of truth have been revealed.
It’s pure, authentic, and refreshing.

But when the first glow disappears, something else creeps quietly: a desperate need Wake up.
I’ll start chasing the state.
You search for signs that you are “deep enough”, “are fully aware”, “not atthed enough”.
You read, meditate, surrender, observe, breath.

You no longer worship outside gods.
Now you worship the state of “awareness” itself.

And in that way, awakening becomes a new addiction.

Exchange one illusion for another

The most dangerous traps don’t look like cages.
They seem like freedom.

You no longer bow at the altar of religion.
Bow at the altar of mindfulness, existence, non-duplexity, or transcendence.
You do not pray to God.
You quietly pray to the feeling that you are beyond it all.

The need for human identity – for certainty – never left. I simply changed the outfit.

Now it whispers: “I am a man I know.” “I am a man I saw.” “I am not sleeping like the rest of the time.”

Ironically, this spiritual identity is even more difficult to recognize as it is humble as a mask.

Awaken as a performance

At some point, awakening stops being a living reality and becomes a performance.

You speak slowly.
You smile more gently.
You pause before answering, as if wisdom was dripping from the silence.
You believe that you embody existence, but subtly, you play the role of “awakened.”

I’m not aware of that.
There is no malicious intent.
It’s simply something that the mind does. Even the ruins of the old ones build their identity.

And the more you try to “keep up” with sincerity, the more you become in a new role.

Internal poisoning

True addiction is not about substances or behaviour.
That’s emotion.

And awakening offers one of the most intoxicating emotions of all:
A sense of freedom from the chaos of ordinary human beings.
That you are far apart. On top of that.

You’re obsessed with certain things, not life method The feeling of living:
Clear. Quietness. It’s separated. the current.

It feels like interference, anger, sadness, fear, failure.
You scramble to “come back” to your center.
You subtly reject the human experience, pretending to accept it all.

This is not freedom.
It is spiritual oppression and a beautiful name.

There is no place to stay

The truth is brutal and beautiful:
You can’t Stay It’s awake.

There is no “you” who can continue to wake up.
There is no “state” to maintain.

Reality does not crystallize into permanent clarity.
It flows. It breaks. It forgets itself. I remember. It collapses again.

Attempts to grasp fixed internal states are already moving, even with “pure perception.”

Actual awakening crushes all states.
Even emptiness doesn’t cling to it.

Awakening is the end of the awakening person

The final paradox:
The moment you know you are awake, you are not.

Because the person you know is still someone.
And as long as someone is still there, the game continues.

A real awakening is not a celebratory experience.
It is not a condition to maintain it.
It is completely evaporation of experienced people.

There is no self-watching.
There is no self-arrival.
You will not stay with yourself.

It’s just life and unsupervised life.

The final words

If you’re tired of chasing your awakening, you may be tired of pretending you’ve arrived and tired of playing the existence.

Perhaps it’s time to forget about even the idea of ​​awakening itself.

Because true freedom is not awakened.

I realize no one is asleep.

————–

I look forward to hearing your thoughts!

thank you,
vi? tân