Self-Realization and Other Awakenings

ignored by all of the Asian religions and spiritual
practices, except the part about devotion.
It is this level that Asian spiritual practices mostly
miss, and this explains the “failures” of many eastern
teachers in our society. A few deal with emotionality,
like Rajneesh, and utilize emotionality to make
spiritual progress, but others, such as Ramana,
Nisargadatta and my own teacher, Robert Adams,
ignored this part of the Self.
For example, many Ramana followers refer to
emotions as “guests,” as they are temporary,
transient, and in that sense, unreal, and we should not
identify with them. I think this is a big mistake to
reject portions of our experience as ‘not-I’, just
because they are temporary. Such a mindset can lead
to a sense of aloofness, an uncaring attitude towards
suffering, and also of being authentic in the moment.
We are taught from an early age what feelings are
acceptable and ok to express, and those that are
unacceptable and must be repressed, especially in the
area of sexuality. We learn morality, create a super
ego that tells us what to do in particular situations:
which feelings to repress, which feelings to deny,
which creates a tight container of repression around
an area of feelings which are always trying to escape
and be owned by the totality of our consciousness.
Psychology explores all the kinds of mechanisms that