Not a Big Deal & Profound Consequences
Awakening to the Absolute can be a little disappointing, at least in my experience. It is just space & awareness, nothing spectacular. It is very simple, actually simpler than any description of it can be. In a way, it is quite uneventful. It is just a very simple, clear, spacious context for any and all experiences that comes and goes.
And it becomes very clear that this small self does not have any separate or fixed existence. This bag of skin does not end at the skin, but is part of the larger whole of the world of phenomena. There are no absolute separations. And it always changes, from conception through to its death. It is just temporary and changing patterns through which the matter and energy of the larger whole flows to give it some temporary life and substance. Although I want to take care of it and help it live well, I also see that there is no need to take it too seriously. It has its peculiarities and its habitual patterns of reactions, and all this too arises within myself as space & awareness. The reactions of the small self come and go, as everything else. No need to take it too seriously.
At the same time, I am free to engage with the small self in whatever ways seem appropriate in the situation. I can allow the situation to inform engagement. There is a remarkable simplicity in this, and an ease. There is no need - or wish - to add drama.
On the one hand, this awakening is no big deal. It is quite uneventful.
On the other hand, it has profound consequences for this small self - for how it functions and operates in the world.
From operating with space & awareness blindly identified with it, and all the self-created drama and struggle that comes with it, there is differentiation, space and a remarkable simplicity and ease.