Has the world changed? Or have I?

 I had a thought just before falling asleep yesterday and I'm writing it down now in order to not forget.

I was thinking about how the world changes when we have important breakthroughs in our lives, including mystical or spiritual experiences or realizations. 

 Do you remember the moment when you, as a child, first realized that the worry-free time of being a child had come to an end and you first realized that you're in a new world now? A world ruled and dictated by adults, often filled with blatant contradictions, drama, dishonesty and above all, bogged down by an oppressing seriousness that was in stark contrast to the carefree existence you led until now. What changed? Not the world. The world was the same before and after. What changed was your perspective and the awareness of the dynamics and situations of adulthood.

Or do you remember the first time you discovered the other sex? Just a week before you had no thought about it whatsoever, then you see a beautiful girl and everything changes and a new world opens up before you. Now that's all you can think about: how should I talk? What should I do? What works with girls, what doesn't?

What changed? Not the outside world. You changed; your own perspective changed.

This is normal, right? This is how we grow (up). Our awareness pushes on boundaries and there is usually a catalyst that propels us on the other side, giving us a new way of perceiving things, a new way of thinking and new beliefs. We see this new field and immediately start working out strategies to best navigate this new territory. Some will play the victim to arouse sympathy from others, some prefer to assert themselves forcefully to get what they want, some will try to be accommodating, some play the clowns to make people laugh....we all have our strategy to get attention, recognition, love.

 With each new change we expand our playground of experience, like new onion layers make the onion grow bigger. We don't throw the old layers away; we just build a new layer around them. We transcend the old layers, but we still include them in our personality. 

So then...a spiritual awakening works the same way. 

It is a change in perspective that allows a new understanding of what we had before our eyes all along. The world itself doesn't change. What changes is our perception and interpretation of it. 

We shouldn't label such a change as good or bad, like we don't say it's good or bad when a seedling grows its first pair of leaves, or when a plant flowers for the first time. It just happens when the conditions and the timing are right. 

Also, an important point....there is no going back. As a child, once you stepped into the world of adults, you can't revert back to the innocence of childhood. Once you discovered the world of sexuality, there is no going back to asexuality. Once you open to the wonders within and know who or what you are, there is no way back to not-knowing. 

For those who don't believe in such a possibility I'd like to ask: Just because that new layer hasn't emerged in your life yet, what makes you think that it can't be a reality for others? What makes you believe that your current awareness has reached its full development/expansion?