It is unlikely we will go through our lifetime without at least one opportunity for spiritual awakening. It is part of the human condition. For some, there may be several notable opportunities or even many over the course of our life. The magnitude and frequency is dependent on our own individual life path, as well as our evolutionary potential at a soul level. It may also depend on how readily we uptake the opportunities that we encounter. If we turn away from an opportunity, it may be that we don’t get another until we have moved through the first.

In this post I will outline a few pathways to spiritual awakening under three broad categories: preparation, processes and spontaneous awakenings. I rely most heavily on my own experience when writing blog posts, and I stick to writing of what I know.

Preparation

Preparation is an essential foundation of awakening. In the face of barriers to awakening (that I will write about in a separate post), it is through this preparation work that we can face and overcome these barriers. It is the part of the spiritual awakening we do before we are aware we are going to go through one.

This builds on what was included in my first post on spiritual awakening. This preparation is about learning who we really are, and connecting to our sense of true self, our soul. This does not necessarily mean we will be fully conscious of our soul self as distinct from our ego self, as that conscious level recognition may require reaching a certain level of conscious awareness.

Preparation work is something that can be done through any kind of self-focused development work, whether it be with working a therapist or spiritual practitioner, through meditation, immersion in nature, consuming self-help or spiritual media or literature, or through inner work involving deep self-reflection and analysis.

Through building the sense of who we are – what makes us unique, what is important to us, what aspects of ourselves we like and don’t like, what experiences contributed to us becoming the person we are, our tendencies, our boundaries, our proclivities – we strengthen, stabilise and ground our concept of self to be able to meet and move through the challenge of an awakening process.

Processes

Processes of spiritual awakening occur over a period of time. Depending on the experience, it may be that you look back one day and realise you can’t recognise your past self, or you may experience significant ‘aha’ moments where you actually feel something in your conscious mind shift, perhaps so strongly as to experience it as an almost physical sensation.

Processes can be grueling, during which we can experience ups and downs, highs and lows. We definitely know we are going through ‘something’. If it is a process that is important to our soul progression, we will experience suffering if we try to deny, resist or refuse it. Generally, by virtue of the fact that it is happening, it is important. Though I do believe we can numb ourselves to a call to awaken by indulging in addictions, which can be to substances, sex, exercise, work, or habitual mindless patterns of behaviour or relationship (karmic patterns). I also believe there are some that are so important they will not let you be at peace until you surrender to the call.

Ego death

Ego death is often also referred to as the dark night of the soul. It is a release of an outdated and unhealthy aspect of who we believe ourselves to be, so that we can embody our true Self, our soul, more fully in our material existence. It is ‘dark’, because it involves what lies in our subconscious in the darkness of unawareness, otherwise known as our shadows. It is often uncomfortable, painful and induces fear. As the saying goes, it is always darkest before the dawn, and the culmination is the rising light of your soul into greater conscious awareness.

Ego is formed during the early years of life in response to our learned understanding of the world, ourselves, others, and relationships. The primary foundation comes from our parents, as the people responsible for our genetic make up and our survival, particularly in the crucial first seven years of our childhood. Our relationships with our parents and any siblings, and the relationships we witness between our parents, or our parent and close relations, friends or romantic partners, lay the blueprint for our sense of self and the world, and of intimate relationships and how they work.

Due to a high degree of interpersonal trauma carried in our society, we can learn things that are unhealthy, destructive, or all out toxic. These are things then built into our ego formation, and we believe them to be normal, representative of how things are meant to be, and integral to who we are. It can often take a sudden, significant event exerting an external pressure on us, to shock us into facing the truth of our ego self. Through preparation work, we can also invite a questioning and enter into an ego death process.

When we undergo an ego death, we release an aspect of our false self concept. We become, as a result, someone new, who cannot think and behave in the same ways that we once did. Certain patterns of thought and behaviour cease to be reflective of who we are. When we change, the way we interact changes, and so ego death processes can be associated with major life changes such as a change in job or career, ending of a relationship or relationships, or moving to live in another location.

Twin Flame Awakening

A twin flame awakening is a challenging process in which we learn through a soul-based connection. Unlike romaticised soul-based relationships, where there is a strong sense of kinship and recognition leading to a strong love bond, a twin flame soul connection involves triggering of the ego and past trauma.

The purpose of the twin flame awakening is rapid and intense spiritual awakening for both counterparts in the connection, and the process will involve a series of awakenings. These will likely include multiple ego death processes, the extent of which will depend on the spiritual work done previously prior to meeting, and possibly also spontaneous awakenings.

While a love bond is felt strongly at first, one that draws the pair together, the triggering of the ego or unhealed ego wounds repels the pair apart; like two magnets inexorably attracting each other, yet meeting an invisible wall or block as though the polarity of the magnet is suddenly reversed. The drawing together and repelling may be a pattern that is repeated multiple times.

These relationships are typified by lengths of time apart while each individual does their own healing work, and can be delayed (or derailed) by one (or both) resisting (or refusing) their healing and the release of unhealthy ego patterns. It is common for one counterpart, usually the feminine (the person with an energy balance dominant in the feminine), to be at a more awakened stage and to move into acceptance more quickly. This is not a matter of fault on the part of the masculine. The masculine energy is naturally more anchored in the material world and so more attached to the ego.

If a counterpart is behaving in a hurtful or selfish way, for example, this is a sign that ego is in play and separation is needed. Where ego rules, the magnet polarity shifts to repel. No connection, no matter how strong, means we should tolerate disrespect or a lack of care and consideration. In fact, the opposite is true. Both parties need to meet a high standard of self realisation and internal stability in order to be in ongoing contact, and this means establishing a strong self respect and healthy boundaries. Both must choose to surrender their ego to the process of awakening if they are to ultimately achieve a union state, though union state is not an inevitable outcome of the twin flame process. 

Staying connected to a counterpart that is in resistance will have a detrimental effect on the counterpart who has moved beyond it. Separation is necessary for the one in acceptance to be able to continue their own expansion, and often also to compel the other to take responsibility for their own progress.

To those outside the partnership, the patterns in the relationship may appear dysfunctional or toxic. To the two within the partnership, the bond is unmistakable. On saying that, the first major awakening is to the acceptance of that bond and its enduring nature. This is incredibly profound because it means achieving conscious awareness of one’s own soul existence, and learning faith in what we feel over what we see.

The twin flame awakening process is tumultuous and painful, and incredibly powerful. I have written a little about twin flame connection in a previous post and as my understanding is ever evolving, I may write more in the future.

Spontaneous awakenings

Spontaneous awakenings are named thus because they come on suddenly and without warning. They are episodes that cannot be ignored or forgotten or mistaken for anything else except a profound, expansive experience. They occur when we receive a powerful influx of energy into our being. There will be a purpose for such an awakening, whether general redirection or to precipitate another specific occurrence. Because this energy comes from outside our normal reality and conscious awareness, spontaneous awakenings can feel entirely otherworldly, and may take some time to consciously come to terms with and ground.

Light body activation

The light body is the energetic aspect of the physical human body. It may also be called the astral body or the subtle body. We know ourselves as physical beings, but all physical matter is made of energy and emanates energy (as understood through quantum physics). The energy form of our being is connected to our physical form, not in a separate sense, but rather in it being a different and innate aspect.

The light body activation is an infusion of energy into this aspect. It is like a beacon that has lain dark and dormant suddenly being ‘switched on’. This may be entirely felt, or it may involve an altered state of consciousness, or extraordinary perception (perceiving outside of our material reality).

Kundalini awakening

Kundalini is a Sanskrit word that translates to ‘coiled snake’. It is representative in Hindu tradition of a divine feminine energy that sits coiled at the base of the spine. This energy can be awakened, ‘uncoiled’, to rise through you and lead you to an expanded state of consciousness. This is known as the Kundalini awakening or rising. There are special types of meditation and yoga that focus on awakening this energy.

A Kundalini awakening is experienced as an influx of energy through the root chakra at the base of the spine, that rises through the other energy centres along the spine up to the crown chakra that sits at the top of the head. As the chakras are located along the spine and in the brain, it is strongly linked to the nervous system, and as the nervous system reaches all parts of the body through its system of nerves, it is also felt as a whole of body experience.

Summary

Spiritual awakening is the loss of an old version of the self and a birth of the new. Saying that it is accessible to all and a natural part of being human is not to say that it is easy, or that it will always be successfully navigated. Major awakening processes and experiences can be precipitated by external influences, and inner work can prepare us for them. Depending on the immensity of the awakening, it may require a period of adjustment and life changes to accommodate the new version of self. While it may be disruptive and painful, a successful awakening is followed by a feeling of peace and rightness, as well as greater understanding and awareness.

Image credit: instagram.com/whales_orcas

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