Stillness is needed for awakening. Not just the deep stillness we notice in meditation, but a stillness even in activity. When alertness and clarity of stillness are at a peak, seeing happens.
As Yoga (1v2-3) puts it:
Yoga is the complete settling of the activity of the mind
Then the observer is established in the Self [in its own nature]
Yet after the shift, if someone doesn’t understand the larger picture, they can cherish the peaceful stillness and try to hold onto it. This impedes further progress. You see people who have been awake for years but have not progressed.
Sometimes this is because there has been lack of a practice that refines the physiology. Nothing more is recognized. But sometimes, there can be a fear of losing the wakefulness. This can be deep enough that even the silence itself fears the liveliness.
Yet this is still a dualistic perspective. The silence and liveliness are not really separate. The knower and the known, purusha and prakriti, are really the same. Two sides of a coin.
Liveliness is inherent in awareness itself. Without it, there is no consciousness, there is no knower.
In Unity, we recognize the union of these two aspects of being. Silence is never quite the same again. But to get there, we have to release the silence and let things flow. Allow consciousness to move. Allow the awakening to change and evolve.
Awakening is profoundly significant. But it is just the beginning of the journey. Once there has been enough clearing, it becomes established and nothing can shake it. There is nothing to fear. We can surrender progressively more deeply into what is here. We can even let go of the awakening itself so it can flower into much fuller being.
Davidya