One of the most common themes we encounter during the awakening process is spiritual bypassing. This refers to the tendency to overlook emotional issues and unresolved traumas, with the hope that insights into emptiness and luminosity will solve everything. However, this is the primary trap on the path to liberation and may prevent further deepening. This becomes evident through conversations with numerous individuals and from my personal experience. Unaddressed emotional baggage can lead to suffering even in the deepest stages of non-duality, emphasizing the importance of confronting unresolved issues to deepen liberation. Without doing so, we remain in a state of unconsciousness and denial, which originally laid the groundwork for various discomfort and suffering.
Only by directing attention to the emotional landscape and beginning to address various narratives and memories, along with their physical expressions within the body, do we truly engage in this transformative process. We learn how the avoidance of negative feelings leads to even more discomfort. We start to embrace more courage and understanding, recognizing that addressing emotional issues is the necessary step towards living a life unaffected by them. Rather than turning a blind eye or resorting to avoidance, we choose openness and compassion towards our experiences.