Spiritual Awakening

Spiritual awakening is a transformational moment or process much desired by spiritual seekers. People may undergo rigorous training towards that goal or travel to ashrams in India in search for an enlightened teacher. But spiritual awakening can also happen in completely unpredictable ways, when we least expect it. Even seemingly trivial circumstances may give rise to a time of profound change, where all our cherished concepts of reality are shattered in one moment of clarity. A sense of truth emerges that wipes out all beliefs and concepts, giving way to a profound sense of connection and all-encompassing love. Time seems to stand still.

This state can last just a few moments, or weeks and months. Few are able to maintain what is also called a state of grace, or enlightenment, even ascension. The rhythms and ordinariness of life can take over again. But one is never the same after a spiritual awakening. Something inside has undergone a profound and irreversible change, and our attitude about ourselves and all of life has shifted into a different level of awareness.

It is not always easy to integrate these experiences. After a near-death experience that included a three-week coma and extreme physical challenges, I was deeply disturbed about my journey into the unknown. I had no frame of reference that allowed me to place what happened into the proverbial jar and put a label on it. With time, the confusion subsided and the gift revealed itself; I have never been the same since. Sharing with others who had also had a near-death experience (or NDE for short) helped a lot, as did reading and research.

But I want to share about another spiritual awakening that happened under much less dramatic circumstances: it was in a bathroom! In the weeks prior to that moment I had been on an intense quest to change unhealthy behavior patterns within. As a result of traumatic happenings much earlier in life, I had shut God out of my life. I had felt justified in doing so, because my fervent prayers had not been answered, so it seemed.

In that moment of washing my hands in the bathroom and looking at my reflection in the mirror, all that pent-up anger against a non-responsive God melted away in a flash. Years of deep pain were released and a deep sense of infinite love flooded me. As tears streamed down my face, the long-lost words of the Lord’s Prayer emerged from the depths of my memory and I recited them to that face in the mirror. A sense of peace and joy filled my being; I was welcomed “home” into the heart of the Universe.

From that moment on, my faith was restored. Everything fell into place, a pathway to recovery opened up, and all I had to do was to put one foot in front of the other.

I learned from these diverse experiences that a spiritual awakening can happen in unlikely places, at moments when we least expect it. It is up to us to accept the gift and stay on track as best we can.