Journey To The Center Of Our Ego, Part 8

Shawn Tedrow

I was thus steeped in the marvelous ecstasy which all high summits develop in the mind; and now without giddiness, for I was beginning to be accustomed to these sublime aspects of nature.

My dazzled eyes were bathed in the bright flood of the solar rays. I was forgetting where and who I was, to live the life of elves and sylphs, the fanciful creation of Scandinavian superstitions. I felt intoxicated with the sublime pleasure of lofty elevations without thinking of the profound abysses into which I was shortly to be plunged”……………Axel

~ from A Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne ~

Wow! It looks like our boy Axel finally achieved that summit experience, called enlightenment.

Reading into this, he experienced marvelous ecstasy, revelations of sublime aspects of nature, a glance at no-self, as he forgot who he was. He had realizations of the transient play act of our egoic dream characters, and he even forgot about his fear of death. He was definitely on a roll, as he was getting accustomed to this state of mind, without giddiness. Yep, that sure sounds like enlightenment.

I suppose Axel should now start working on spelling a new name for himself. He could begin his own website and call it, “The Axle of Life”, conduct satsang meetings, and maybe even write a few books on enlightenment.

You would think that this Satori-like experience that Axel had encountered was the result from going to the center of the earth and returning back, but he hadn’t made one step into the decent of the volcano of his subconscious. Very few dare to take that step. Alchemy had not taken place yet in Alex’s life. When this euphoric experience occurred, he was standing on the summit of Sneafellsjokull, prior to him down climbing to the center of the earth.

Oh how our ego likes to co-op with spiritual experiences! This is when ego’s historical identification is still in full control of our life, and we get a glance at enlightenment. I call this claim to fame, “the enlightened ego”.

This is a common condition today in the New Age spiritual marketplace. It is when the overwhelming experience of bliss gets latched onto by our ego, and it then precipitately claims the finality of its spiritual journey. I call this state of mind, “premature cosmic ejaculation”. It is when our ego gets a little overexcited while experiencing a glimpse of ecstasy.

Many Zen teachers had a method of dealing with students who would start claiming ultimate enlightenment after experiencing partial enlightenment experiences. They would take a stick and beat the crap out of you. After a few beatings, you would finally get over yourself.

Luckily for Axel, soberness was realized through just the presence of spiritual companionship.
After Axel experienced this heavenly bliss, he then says;

But I was brought back to the realities of things by the arrival of Hans and the Professor, who joined me on the summit.

Again, I can’t emphasize enough that on this quest of mystery, it is so important to become deeply connected with other spiritually-minded people. Even the stubborn-headed professor knew that he needed the help of a guide when he hired Hans for this trek. Without intimate interaction with others, the subtle inclinations of ego are unconsciously in the driver seat.

You can check out Shawn's other musings here.