What is Spiritual Awakening?

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Take a look at an Indian Guru or a Buddhist Monk and you’ll notice a state of bliss that emanates from their countenance in the dreamy look in their eyes. Since most people, especially those living in the city, are pervaded by stress in an environment where deadlines, expectations, and goals are at the forefront of their thoughts, the urge to disentangle oneself from worldly worries and insipid thoughts can take its hold every once in a while.

To remove themselves of these stressors, some resort to travel and some depend on the company of friends. But after the weeding out of negative thoughts, an individual will most likely find himself in the midst of stress again once he goes back in the strangle of the real world. So how is that one finds solace after initial attempts? Let’s explore these two words:  Spiritual Awakening.

WHAT IS SPIRITUAL AWAKENING? Spiritual awakening is a process that takes place in an individual’s being. It involves heightened consciousness, enlightenment, and transcendence. How do we exactly reach this state? Does it involve secluding ourselves in one solitary room and concentrating as hardly as we can? Maybe so, but the act of achieving spiritual awakening is a much more sophisticated process.

SPIRITUAL AWAKENING THROUGH MEDITATION

A full understanding of how our minds works is instrumental in this endeavor. Everything tangible and intangible thing around us are all products of the mind and its processes. What we sense in our surroundings in a mere product of the limited Human perception. For example, color.  Color is just a quality assigned by the brain in accordance to different degrees of wavelengths.

So color in itself is just an illusion and we can’t really tell that red or blue is absolute truth when describing specific objects. Let’s attempt an exercise for understanding. Thus knowing that our mind is limited by the interpretations of the human brain, we will need to do away with the mind while trying to attempt this exercise. Look at the mind like a casual observer and treat it as something that is separate from our selves. Try to relax and concentrate and ensure that you are in a location secluded from outside interference.

Imagine that you are in an invisible dome and that the mind is outside, where thoughts and fantasies are unable to penetrate. If you achieve this, profound silence will ensue, and you will feel that you are free of the mind. You’ll feel enormous and encompassing. While in the state of this heightened consciousness, you will have a glimpse of reality, as opposed to the false reality that our mind perceives. You will feel peaceful and a sense of connection with everything will be felt in a more profound manner.

PRACTICE IS FUNDAMENTAL

This takes a lot of practice and discipline. As it is inherent that you give yourself the opportunity to be alone and in a place where nothing can disturb you. Through constant practice, achieving spiritual awakening will be second nature to you and this heightened consciousness will last longer. Most important of all, this practice can help you improve the quality of your life.

Spiritual Growth for Meaning and Interconnections

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To grow spiritually in a world defined by power, money, and influence is a Herculean task.  Introspection goes beyond recalling the things that happened in a day, week, or month. You need to look closely and reflect on your thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and motivations. Periodically examining your experiences, the decisions you make, the relationships you have, and the things you engage in provide useful insights on your life goals, on the good traits you must sustain, and the bad traits you have to discard.

Religions that believe in the existence of God such as Christianism, Judaism, and Islam suppose that the purpose of the human life is to serve the Creator of all things. Several theories in psychology propose that we ultimately give meaning to our lives.

Whether we believe that life’s meaning is pre-determined or self-directed, to grow in spirit is to realize that we do not merely exist. We do not know the meaning of our lives at birth; but we gain knowledge and wisdom from our interactions with people and from our actions and reactions to the situations we are in.

As we discover this meaning, there are certain beliefs and values that we reject and affirm. Our lives have purpose. This purpose puts all our physical, emotional, and intellectual potentials into use; sustains us during trying times; and gives us something to look forward to—a goal to achieve, a destination to reach. A person without purpose or meaning is like a drifting ship at sea.

Certain religions stress the concept of our relatedness to creation. Thus calling other people “brothers and sisters” even if there are no direct blood relations. Moreover, deity-centered religions such as Christianity and Islam speak of the relationship between humans and a higher being.

On the other hand, science expounds on our link to other living things through the evolution theory. This relatedness is clearly seen in the concept of ecology, the interaction between living and non-living things.

In psychology, connectedness is a characteristic of self-transcendence, the highest human need according to Maslow. Recognizing your connection to all things makes you more humble and respectful of people, animals, plants, and things in nature.

It makes you appreciate everything around you. It moves you to go beyond your comfort zone and reach out to other people, and become stewards of all other things around you.

Growth is a process, thus to grow in spirit is a day-to-day encounter. We win some, we lose some, but the important thing is that we learn, and from this knowledge, further spiritual growth is made possible.