What is the normal mind? Why do ordinary adults have so many differences and conflicts about what is real or true? Perhaps you have pondered this and looked at astrology, personality typologies, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), Human Design or some other set of categories to try to figure out how you are different from other people. Or you have just given up trying to figure that out. In this episode, Polly and Mike will introduce a map for adult development that is grounded in extensive scientific research and can serve as a new way of understanding types of people: this is why/how awakening can mean very different things to different people.

In waking up, people experience and report ecstatic states. Often these states are associated with euphoria in which feelings of pleasure, ease, and excitement are greatly expanded. Others report bliss or a feeling of total happiness. And still others report equanimity or stability of the mind in experiences of awakening. In this episode, Polly and Mike talk about the kinds and qualities of emotional states that are sought by practitioners who want to wake up. What are the take-aways from these different states? What are you looking for emotionally in your awakenings?

1. Why do people seek ecstatic states through dance, drugs, religion?

2. What happens in euphoria?

3. What exactly is equanimity and why is it important in awakening?

4. Why is bliss sometimes understood as an obstacle in waking up?

How much control do we have about what comes into our lives through awakening? What are the constraints on what we can learn? Is awakening good for our relationships? Does it matter how awakening is initiated – by the circumstances or the motivations? Why are there so many differences in what people learn, bring back, and translate into relating to self and other? What are the similarities? How can we best bring awakening into every day relationships and our ability to serve others?

In this episode, Mike and Polly consider the take-away from awakening. Does it matter how awakening is initiated – our motivations, the method, what is driving us? Why are there so many differences in what individuals bring back and translate into relating to self and other? If we experience an “ontological shock” from awakening, whether we induce it or the awakening happens to us (as in NDEs), what allows us to “make the most of it”? What about differences in the ways we see the world? What makes waking up a positive, negative or even harmful experience? How much as to do with our personalities and how much with the ways we wake up?

1. What are the differences in your own awakenings? 

2. What do you know about harmful experiences connected to awakening?

3. How are we affected by how we see the world and what we believe is true?

What are we seeking through awakenings? If we are not seeking, they happen to us through childbirth or Near Death Experience, are there differences? Why is awakening valuable and/or is it always valuable? What part does the desire for awakening play in our experience? In this episode, Polly and Mike talk about their own seeking and motivations for awakening. They also talk about Nature waking us up – as in death and Near Death Experience. What about prayer, unseen deities, and other non-visible forces? Are they pushing us to awaken or are they problematic? Why do some religions warn against awakening and against invisible forces whereas others promote them?

While this question is a kind of Zen puzzle or koan, it is also the case that individual people have awakenings – and they have personalities and perceptions through which they peek into the infinite nature of reality and love. In this episode, Polly and Mike talk about their own awakenings and their belief/ideas/theories about how personality interacts with waking up.

On this episode of Waking Up: Flourishing in the Human Space, the hosts Polly Young-Eisendrath and Mike Berger explore the different ways humans can awaken to a deeper understanding of themselves and the world around them. They discuss their personal experience with awakening and the sense of interconnectedness that comes with breaking through one's habitual way of experiencing themselves. In addition to discussing psychedelics and near-death experiences, they also explore the concept of waking up through experiences that can lead to acceptance and a newfound appreciation of life. Tune in to this thought-provoking episode to explore the mysteries of awakening and growing up.