Waking Up Is Not Enough Episode 6 - Ecstasy, Bliss or Equanimity: What’s Your Desire?  

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?

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Welcome to Waking Up Is Not Enough: Flourishing in the Human Space! When you peek into the cosmic unity of existence and feel the love and inspiration of awakening, what happens next? Whether it’s through meditation, spiritual practice, Near-Death Experience (NDE), ingesting a mind-altering substance, or being born again, you don’t get a map for improving your messy life. In this podcast, Polly Young-Eisendrath and Michael Berger draw on expertise in science, psychology, adult development, psychedelics, NDEs, dreams, and Buddhist practice in conversations about compassion, resilience, responsibility, kindness, and development after awakening. You will learn how to chart a new path for flourishing in the human space in which waking up is important, but not enough, and growing up is never finished.