A spiritual journey comprises three phases: healing, awakening, and healing. Let’s break down what it entails.

Phase 1: Healing

Healing, ultimately, is an internal process of finding peace within yourself. The first stage of healing involves common practices found in psychotherapy and spirituality: connecting with your inner self, remedying trauma, accepting yourself, addressing undesirable behaviors, amending relationships, nurturing empathy, or reorienting the mindset, etc. 

However, at Harpoeny, we take it a few steps further, not only adopting a holistic approach that addresses the mind, body, and spirit collectively but also focusing on dismantling the “self-framework” to gain a comprehensive understanding of ourselves and examining it closely to see what it entails. Additionally, we delve into neuroscience to understand the various features of the brain and how it constructs our internal reality.

How much control do you have over your own emotions or thoughts? You may not want to be depressed or angry, intend to change bad habits, or let go of the past, yet you probably find it challenging due to the relentless nature of the brain, which the built-in mechanism overpowers your will. We are often hardwired to think or behave in a specific manner. Therefore, we employ various healing techniques to overcome these hurdles, including eye movement (derived from EMDR), guided meditation and relaxation, hypnosis, and qi and energy work. These are not buzzwords thrown out there to catch your attention, but combined with self-analysis, they have profound healing effects validated and directly experimenting on ourselves through years of practice.

We generally identify this human suit, a biological organism, as “me” or “self.” Some might also identify the “true self” as a spirit that temporarily resides in this body. Either way, we dwell in this human body, and the brain constructs our internal reality. The reality we live in is simulated by this bio-computer. Thus, the “self” is a delusive notion projected by the brain.

Humans are highly intellectual beings, yet, like all animals, we are inescapably marked by biological mechanisms and genetic predispositions. Our cognitive abilities, personalities, behaviors, and emotional responses are dictated by our brains. Consider this: you might say, “I like eating apples.” But is that you or your brain that likes eating apples? Do you actually have the volition to choose whether you like apples or not? Can you flip a switch and declare that apples are now officially off your favor list? Realizing this and taking this premise, you will see that many things are completely and utterly out of your control.

Therefore, to heal, we first understand how our brain and body operate and examine what constitutes the “self.” Recognize that a substantial portion of your personality traits are pre-determined by genes and inherited from your parents. Meanwhile, we also inherit cultural values, beliefs, moral codes, and social expectations passed down through generations. These inherited traits and values can cause great conflicts if they are incoherent with your will or reality. Navigating through these paradoxes and dilemmas is an essential part of the healing process.

Phase 2: Awakening

Perhaps curiosity or a burning desire propels you to the next stage: questioning reality and your existence. Healing grants us mental maturity and earns us a badge of adulthood, yet it can only take us so far on the spiritual path. Eventually, you will encounter roadblocks like moral dilemmas. What defines a “good” person? What is good and evil? What is the ultimate reality: God’s creation or existential nihilism? Does your personality or way of thinking represent your “true self”? What am I? An everlasting spirit, a biological machine, or both? 

Those are not some philosophical brain teasers, but questions strip off the facade and reveal the reality behind. To answer these inquiries, we will delve into the metaphysical realm and explore the core teachings of Chan (禪, Zen in Japanese) to understand the nature of reality and its dualistic attributes (division into two, good and bad, beauty and ugliness, up and down, etc.). Additionally, we will take hints from various science fields to better understand this so-called reality. 

The Universe is an assembly of matter and energy floating in boundless emptiness. From a metaphysical perspective, the Universe is a grand illusion, a mirage, a dream state. However, it follows its own playbook in the form of scientific principles and mathematical formulas and encompasses complex features like feelings and consciousness.

If you had a spiritual experience and experienced no self, unity, oneness, altered sensations, etc., you likely discovered that reality is not what you previously thought. As your suspension and inquiry deepen, the old reality starts to crumble. Inevitably, the things you took for granted—beliefs, experiences, common sense, assumptions, and frameworks of knowledge—require total reexamination.

While the brain is not a computer, it operates in a similar fashion. Awakening is akin to deprogramming the brain by dismantling the framework of self. Remove all the self-imposing constraints or self-confining beliefs. It is like the process of water purification. As you continue removing impurities in water, eventually, nothing is left but purity. If you continue deprogramming the framework of self, you will eventually break free from all falsities and return to the natural state—the state of awakening. As Chan puts it, “Dispel the cloud and see the sun.” The sun is always there, just obstructed by the clouds. 

Awakening is not a transient experience but a permanent physical and mental transformation, a major paradigm shift in your perception and way of operation. Many mistaken spiritual experiences or being in the present as awakening, yet they still operate in OS 1.0 as before.

Phase 3: Healing (Again)

Awakening is a true realization, a profound transformation. However, upon awakening, you still live in this world and continue to experience the full range of human life. Despite breaking free from self-projected beliefs, you still inhabit a physical body and cannot completely escape human characteristics. 

Thus, the final stage of healing involves adjusting to and adapting to this new living reality and embracing the journey. Contrary to popular belief, love, compassion, purpose of life, and happiness have nothing to do with awakening—they are dualistic attributes of this world. However, these attributes are part of the human experience and bring us joy and fulfillment. Therefore, once we have a good understanding of reality, we build upon those foundations. Develop empathy, connect with others, and cultivate traits like humor, generosity, and love to enrich our lives and the lives of those around us.