I’ve found that the awakening process is very similar to the grieving process, in that we move through several stages on the way to acceptance and enlightenment. For the vast majority of us, it may seem as though there has been a “quickening” of time – as we may have experienced an insatiable appetite for learning and understanding – moving towards this moment now.
There are times where you may still feel frustrated and confused, like you are being lead down different paths of information that are essentially spiritual “junk food.” In order to make sense of the nonsense and fully activate your illumined mind, understanding is the door to enter, and patience is the key to unlock it. To understand and to gauge the level of where you may currently be on your journey, the 5 stages below may help. They can help you gain a better understanding on the steps up the “mountain” of which you are spiritually ascending.
5 Stages of the Awakening Process:
1. The Awakening
You may find yourself experiencing a synchronistic moment that unlocks something that was hidden within you: a remembering happens that gives you a broader understanding of your path, purpose and potential in this life. This moment may be experienced through a psychedelic experience, your yoga practice, a meditation, a connection to a new teacher, a book, a documentary… there is no one specific type of moment that the awakening process occurs through, but when it happens, you know and your appetite to know more becomes insatiable.
2. The Alarm Clock
After you have found yourself awake, you begin to view life before your awakening as though it was just a dream. When you step outside of the “Matrix” and see with this new vision, you may feel an urgency to be the “alarm clock” by trying to wake up those who are still asleep. It becomes impossible to understand how you ever lived with a different point of view, and relating to others still stuck in that mindset becomes very frustrating. You may find that those who are sleeping are not ready to be woken up, and would prefer to hit the “snooze button.”
3. The Purge
As you are devouring a whole new set of programming, knowledge, and understanding – you may find yourself wanting to “purge” all of the information you are learning. It is important to be aware that although it is perfectly fine to “binge” on new books, movies, documentaries, etc… be aware that you should avoid the “purge.” Be mindful and retain the information you absorb and allow it to be your spiritual nourishment. The key during this step is to understand that you cannot create anyone else’s reality aside from your own. To truly be the alarm clock, there is no need to “sound off” and purge to ears that are not open to receive. The best way to facilitate an awakening for others is to lead by example. There is nothing you need to do, you must only be -because the being is the doing, and soon enough others will become by proxy.
4. Acceptance
The quote by Manly P. Hall stating, “experiences are the chemicals with which the philosopher experiments,” is the key to acceptance. No matter how much you learn, devour, remember, and appreciate – the only way to integrate all of what you are experiencing in your evolution of consciousness is to experience it in your three-dimensional reality. With this new way of thought, you will find that your reality becomes fresh and new; you will start attracting new friends and experiences which will ultimately lead to your acceptance of your role in the karmic wheel of life that will always spin, with or without you sounding the alarm to the sleeping masses.
5. Understanding/ Enlightenment
When the awakening first happened you may have found that you felt an extremely strong need to put a name to the new spiritual you – whether the name that resonated was Buddhist, Hindu, Zen, Kabbalist, Pantheistic, Wiccan, New Age, Cosmically Conscious, Galactic – the list goes on and on. When your understanding of spirit is fully integrated, you come to realize that to be truly enlightened, you do not need a label or to be named. The universe, just like your consciousness and understanding, is ever expanding, and once you box your beliefs with a label or name – then you become limited to the name, and the ability to expand becomes constricted. In spirituality, as well as science, nothing ever is completely true or false – only plausible until proven otherwise. Living in a dualistic reality of everything needing to either be right or wrong, good or bad, black or white, is living from a place of misunderstanding. Understanding is knowing that there is no good or bad, no black or white, no right or wrong, no permanence besides impermanence, and the only thing that really exists is the “is.” The “is,” is all that ever was, all that ever will be, and all that ever can be… and the is, is impossible to name. To be the “is” is to know that within every school of thought there is a teacher, and that your purpose on this planet is to forever remain a student, because your potential, as the universe, is infinite. This is not to fear or be frustrated about, this is the exciting part of life, that it is forever a journey, and the destination is never final. To be enlightened is to be able to be at peace with the is, and to find the beauty in every moment, person, experience, and lesson, because no matter how dark life may get, if your light is always shining you will always find your way. Just be appreciative of the adversity, and grateful for the beauty, and you will be just fine.
