Popularized by psychiatrist, Carl Jung, a spiritual awakening is described as a transformative process that you experience at some point in your life. When awakened, you gain a deeper awareness that shifts your worldview, altering your mindset and perspective of everything around you. Mainly, you pursue a spiritual awakening with the ultimate goal of rediscoverng your authentic self and ultimate place within the universe.
Causes of Spiritual Awakening
A spiritual awakening can drastically reshape your life and is typically, or stereotypically believed to be, caused by traumatic experiences. For instance, if you survived or witnessed a tragedy or abuse, then you may feel an inner shift within that drives you to be spiritually awakened. What\’s more? Other life-changing events like divorce, dealing with serious illness, and even death can also force you to confront your own established beliefs, triggering a spiritual awakening as well.
Another cause of a spiritual awakening is going through an existential crisis where you constantly question your purpose in life, in what is commonly known as the Dark Night of the Soul. During this period, you learn to value introspection as you undergo a personal transformation for the better. Furthermore, you can become spiritually awakened by having near-death experiences that may allow you to glimpse the afterlife or encounter spiritual beings. Following these experiences, you may find your outlook on life and the universe forever altered.
It’s important to know that experiencing trauma isn’t the only way to have a spiritual awakening as it can happen naturally. Indeed, you can awaken by doing specific practices with the sole purpose of shifting your conscious awareness. These practices, which include mindfulness meditation, can produce spiritual growth by strengthening the connection between your body, mind, and soul. Not only that but simple acts like gardening and animal care gradually change your perception of self and foster a sense of interconnectedness with the world.
Stages of Spiritual Awakening
Although the process of spiritual awakening varies for each individual, it mostly follows specific stages. To start the process, you go through an initiation where you’ll feel disconnected from the world while developing a heightened awareness of your ego that is separated from your true self. During this inner struggle, you learn self-evaluation techniques by looking inward for answers to your existential questions. Usually, this initiation process happens after you experience a life-altering event, which further develops the eager mindset that made you seek an awakening in the first place.
After the initiation stage, you go through a query where you’ll begin to question your long-held beliefs, including religious teachings. In this stage, you look for clarity and healing while confronting and dismantling these limited beliefs. In fact, you may even abandon traditional religious systems in order to gain a deeper understanding of the world that is more personal to you. Further along your journey, you’ll start seeking divine wisdom by exploring various belief systems and spiritual practices. While exploring, you may adopt new religious traditions or even hybrid spiritual approaches that blend principles of multiple faiths into one.
At the end of this spiritual journey, you enter the integration phase where you address your emotional wounds by seeking either or both traditional therapies and spiritual guidance to develop a more positive mindset. At the end of the journey, you experience an “ego death” that transcends your self-identity to become one with the universe.
Challenges of Spiritual Awakening
You may experience various emotional, psychological, and physical symptoms during a spiritual awakening. While experiencing a spiritual awakening can elevate you to a higher state of being, you should be aware of its challenges. Following your awakening, you may feel increased disillusionment, causing you to feel like you’re going through life in a dream state as your sense of reality changes. Moreover, you may become lonely and struggle to connect with your family and friends who may lack understanding of your new perspective. Likewise, you may develop a superiority process that makes you more judgmental of others http://gty.im/2153536499 who may not share your level of spiritual awareness.
Final Thoughts
Despite the negatives, the process of spiritual awakening does have its benefits. For instance, you can develop a heightened awareness and sensitivity. These are common effects of elevating your consciousness and often result in increased intuition and empathy toward others. Moreover, you gain the ability to tap into divine energy, allowing you to feel overwhelming love, or what is believed to be pure love. Outside of your changing emotions, you may experience more frequent lucid dreams and moments of deja vu due to your heightened awareness, which may provide more peace once you complete the process.
