Daniel 12:2 · World English Bible
Daniel 12:2 Meaning Many of Those Who Sleep
Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
What does Daniel 12:2 mean?
Most people live as though asleep, so completely identified with thought and form that they take the dust of the earth to be who they are. To awake is not something reserved for after death.
From the Ego v. Being reading below.
Daniel 12:2 through 1 lens
The same verse, read by one tradition.
Ego v. Being
EGO & BEING
Ego v. Being
Most people live as though asleep, so completely identified with thought and form that they take the dust of the earth to be who they are. To awake is not something reserved for after death. It is to become conscious now, to feel the aliveness of presence beneath the story of your life.
Those who awaken step into a dimension that time cannot touch, the everlasting life that is simply Being fully here. Those who stay asleep remain caught in the mind's endless commentary, its shame and its craving. Which life you enter is not decided elsewhere. It is decided by whether you wake to this moment or keep sleeping through it.
Ego v. Being lensGo deeper in the app
Ego v. Being lens
Live Daniel 12:2 today
- On your commute tomorrow, leave the earbuds out for five minutes and let the world be loud. See how much of the trip you normally sleep through.
- At dinner, put the phone face down in another room and look at whoever is talking. Most of us are physically present for years of meals we never actually attend.
- When you catch yourself scrolling with no idea how long it has been, that catching is the waking up. Don't scold yourself, just feel your hands and the chair.
How much of today have you actually been here for?
The same truth in other traditions
Buddhism
The word Buddha simply means the one who woke up. He was asked what he was and said only that he was awake.
Hinduism · Upanishads
The prayer is to be led from the unreal to the real, from darkness to light, from death into what does not die. The dust you take yourself to be is not what you are.
Zen
Before enlightenment, carry water and chop wood. After, carry water and chop wood. Nothing changes except that someone is finally home while it happens.
Free · No account needed
Read all of Daniel 12 through 17 lenses
Lensightful opens every verse of the Bible through the traditions you choose. Save readings, ask a follow-up question, and get one verse a day.
Get Lensightful on the App Store