What is a spiritual awakening will be asked by one who is more than likely experiencing it within themselves. All of us at some point in our lives will come to an awareness of things of a higher value than the pursuits we have worked towards previously. If we were lucky enough to have been raised by solid nurturing parents, then we will start realizing the values behind the things they have taught us, and why we as adults should hold the same values. In our youth, such reasons might not have become apparent, but as we age, the importance of those values will become more significant to us. The values we speak of are values of morality, and the importance of quality of life for all living things.
Contrary to popular belief, spiritual awakening does not need to happen within the parameters of Christianity, or even in any religion, as claimed by both. Organized religion is only a culture’s view of spirituality. Since all societies and cultures are different, their religious perspectives will also be as vastly varied as well. Spiritual awakening can easily happen within the religious experience, but not necessarily because of the presence of God within only religion, but because of the suitability of the religion into your life at that time. The truth is, and religion does not want you to understand this, but spiritual awakening readily happens to individuals within and without of religious participation in all settings everywhere and has always occurred. This has been going on since the dawn of man a quarter million years ago, from our origins in Africa.
My theory is a spiritual awakening is not that you find God in a religious experience, it is that you find ‘you’ in a spiritual experience. You may well perceive it that you found God, but that is because that was a part of you that is you. Others will readily find their spiritual awakening in anything. We find our highest calling in our passions. Liberace found his spiritual awakening in the piano. Athletes find their spiritual awakening in athletics, and teachers find their spiritual awakening in both learning and nurturing others to learn. Mechanics find their spiritual awakening in examining and fixing things. Carpenters find their spiritual awakening in love of wood and creating things in wood, a living thing. You get the idea.
At some point, the deepest part of you that needs to emerge for you to be fully you is a spiritual awakening. Rarely does a spiritual awakening occur because God threatened you because you were hurting someone, and you had to change or be punished. Spiritual awakenings happen positively. In any religious context, we are always wrong, a mistake by God, and we are to be ashamed. Spiritual awakenings have nothing to do with being wrong, a mistake by God, vomitous sin, being ashamed, and repenting of it. Neither is a spiritual awakening about seeing ourselves as manure, like what the church managements want us to believe we are in God’s eyes.
The lack of morality and sense of no personal value that religion claims of us, never has anything to do with our awakening of our sense of spirituality. In fact, it is just the opposite; Spiritual awakening is us realizing our value and uniqueness as a person, and that we are beautiful and therefore supremely good at something, somewhere. What you discover you like to do, study, be, and share with everyone in Humankind is the sum of a spiritual awakening. You do not experience a spiritual awakening by immersion into a religion, cause, or interest and then judge others for not being into the same thing as you. That means you do not recognize others’ uniqueness, and you cannot recognize or embrace your own uniqueness either, therefore no spiritual awakening has happened.
A spiritual awakening happens when we experience a sense of completeness within ourselves, and our completed presence in others’ lives is a blessing to them. That which completes us also completes those around us, which is true selfishness. Selfishness is not either-or, as religions claim, it is both-and as we claim. Spiritual life is perceived and taught by all Christian religions as being lost without God and finding God, and that makes us complete. We see it as we are born with undiscovered gifts and talents that as we grow, we feel a yearning for, discover, and immerse into from within ourselves. Both descriptions are of the same thing. Finding the good within us is finding God, period. Our differentness is God.
Let us say you found a trunk in an attic that was full of very old books, and that changed your life for good because you discovered you had a passion for antiquity, as I did. That passion was put there by God as part of who you always were before you were born. That is a spiritual awakening. All of us have parts of us in our life path, arranged by God, we are to experience as we travel down our predestined path to bring out who we are to become.
Does that sound too deep and too spiritual? Think of it this way, we are all children in a playground, and this playground is strewn with toys for us to find. Boys will find bicycles, tools, kites and musical instruments, girls will find beautiful dresses, dolls, playhouses, and makeup with mirrors. Each child will find something that matches a passion within them. Each time this happens it is a spiritual awakening to some degree. When this happens enough times in one person, they will become aware they are a gift to Humankind, their presence is both welcomed and needed. That is the highest form of a spiritual awakening, and it is probably close to happening within you.
Just for the record, this is an emotional and spiritual encouragement ministry. We are selling nothing here and are not at the present time even set up to take donations, and probably never will. Your healed life is our reward enough, and we are very pleased with that. If you want to, please share your strength with others in your future so our nurturing can live on.