Ah yes, the question no one can answer.
No, seriously! I’ll do my best, but even I’ll struggle answering this question in this article.
Why?
Because awakening is something only you can know, experience, or recognise for yourself.
I nor any mystic, sage, or spiritual guru can manufacture the absolute nature of reality within your awareness for you.
Nor can a spiritual awakening be understood using your mind.
In fact, using the mind to “have an awakening” is one of the many blocks keeping us from living an awakened life.
So does that mean we shouldn’t talk about it? Of course not. It’s not like it falls into the same category as Voldemort or Fight Club.
It more closely fits into the category of love, reality, consciousness, intimacy, abundance, nature, truth, and being, to name a few.
And we definitely need to talk more about these.
In this article, instead of telling you what awakening is (which can’t be done), I’ll describe what it’s like, and more importantly, what it’s not like.
So, if you’re confused, wondering if you’re going through an awakening, and looking for answers, keep reading.
The answers won’t be found in these words, but these words might just spark the answers inside yourself.
What is Awakening?
Awakening is the recognition of your true nature, beyond thought, mind, or a personal identity.
It’s where your awareness stops identifying with the perception of being a person, ego, or self that is separate and finite.
Instead, awareness stops filtering your perception through the mind (or perception at all), and what is left is a single, unified consciousness in which everything that arises is part of that same field of consciousness.
You realise that you and everything within awareness is one and the same thing.
My Initial Awakening
I was sat at my desk in my office reading articles on a marketing blog, when it happened.
It was February 2018, and I had spent the last 5-6 months listening to a couple of audiobooks on spirituality.
During this time, I began experiencing shifts in my awareness and identity. I became fascinated by all these concepts, such as consciousness, awareness, enlightenment, and the mind, but I didn’t really understand any of it, or what I was getting myself into.
On this evening in February 2018, I started reading up on the owner of the blog I was reading. He’s this expert marketer and writer, making millions through a simple website.
The astonishing part?
He’s completely paralysed from the neck down. This got me thinking, or I should say, contemplating…
“This guy is obviously smarter than me, maybe more resourceful, yet he can’t move his body!”
My mind was in a state of focused yet relaxed attention, almost like a daydream. Profound questions and insights flooded my mind.
I pondered:
- “How much of our body could be removed before we stopped being ourselves or conscious.”
- “What if we were all just floating brains?”
- “We wouldn’t be able to perceive anything with our five senses anymore, but would we still be conscious?”
- “Does that mean it’s possible to be conscious without perception or a self?!”
- “If consciousness isn’t coming from the brain but we are all connected to the same higher consciousness, that would mean that what we are is consciousness – our bodies and minds, and everything else appearing in physical reality, would be expressions of that consciousness.”
Then it happened. Or more accurately, everything stopped happening.
The mind, the self, thoughts, beliefs, perception, time, space, everything, all merged into a single experience of conscious awareness. Oneness.
There was only one perceivable witnessing emergence of being. It’s at this point that it gets impossible to talk about. But, at the very least, it was the most incredible thing I’d ever experienced.
This one event has completely upended the course of my life in the last eight years, in the most beautiful ways. Everything about myself and my life is unrecognisable. There have been absolutely astounding experiences, realisations, and many moments of complete despair and helplessness.
Awakening vs. Enlightenment
The next logical question to ask is: what’s the difference between awakening and enlightenment?
Understandably, many spiritual teachers use these terms synonymously. However, this can often lead to more confusion.
For example, I know I’ve had an awakening, yet I do not claim to be enlightened. That suggests they’re two separate things, yet they’re not 100% separate.
You can have enlightenment experiences but not be enlightened. Likewise, a fully awakened state of being is the same as enlightenment.
This is the kind of issue we stumble into when trying to talk about these topics.
Language requires the mind to interpret anything we say, so language becomes very limiting when talking about something that cannot be interpreted by the mind.
My best definition to help clear things up is this:
- Awakening is the initial recognition that sparks a process of stabilising enlightenment.
- Enlightenment is a stable and continuous connection to our true nature.
That’s because awakening is more akin to a process.
After my first enlightenment experience in 2018, I spent several months in a state of absolute awe and deep peace.
Then gradually, my ego mind came back online. However, I never lost the underlying knowledge that the real ‘me’ (or ‘I’) is consciousness.
Technically, enlightenment and awakening are always present and available for anyone to recognise in this very moment.
When it happens, the ‘you’ who you think you are doesn’t become awakened or enlightened. Instead, your mind, your thoughts, and your personal identity stop filtering your perception that hides the truth of your true nature as consciousness.
Is Awakening a Process?
Sort of, but not really.
Wait… How can awakening be a process and not be a process?
Because the process that’s actually taking place is more of a psychological and neurological rewiring of the mind and body, rather than a specific stage-by-stage awakening “protocol”.
Unfortunately, there is no fixed ‘process’ that will guarantee an awakening.
However, there’s a recurring theme we might recognise when on this spiritual path:
- Often develop a sense of confusion, dissatisfaction, loss, loneliness, or disconnection in your life
- A persistent drive to ask deeper questions (such as “what is the point of anything?”, “why and I here?”) and make sense of yourself, others, and reality
- Becoming more aware of your inner world; abandoned dreams, and rejected emotions may begin to surface
- Start questioning who you truly are (or what you truly are), and may experience some shifts in awareness, perception, or identity.
- An awakening glimpse or full enlightenment experience happens.
- A period of sustained openness and grounded presence
- Old stories and conditioned ego patterns start to reappear and cloud awareness.
- Potential fluctuations between ego patterns and spiritual awareness, which may lead to frustration or a sense of failure
- Risk of spiritual bypassing or developing beliefs that being spiritual is superior, or projecting spiritual perfection onto others
- A deeper commitment and focus is placed on addressing emotional triggers, fears, desires, and old survival patterns.
- Stop seeing the ego as an enemy, and start holding space for anxious or fearful parts of yourself.
- Start to develop spiritual discernment, noticing the space between triggers and reactions, and the preferred conscious choices that become available.
- Spiritual integration becomes spiritual embodiment, where the gap between your old self and awakened living starts to dissolve.
- Eventually, your outward expression and physical reality become reflections of your inner being.
It’s important to note that this isn’t a linear process that must be followed, but just some of the common themes you may experience on your own unique journey.
What To Do If You Are Awakening
If you think you might be awakening, no matter what you’re experiencing, try to find a balance between seeking answers and validating your own experience.
It’s completely normal to want to confirm what you might be going through, like reading this article, reading books, or watching YouTube videos.
Learning and exploring can be a wonderful part of the journey.
But they can also become a never-ending search. You may get lost in overconsumption or feeling pressured to act.
What matters most is taking it slow and doing your best to ground yourself in the here and now. That means paying attention to your body, your breath, and your physical environment.
This is where a practice like journaling, meditation, slow breathing techniques, and self-inquiry can help.
Here are some other practices that have not only helped me, but become a part of my everyday life:
- Contemplation
- Self-hypnosis
- NLP
- Shadow work
- QiGong
- Yoga
This isn’t an exhaustive list, and what might work for me may not work for you.
For example, I don’t know many spiritual teachers suggesting things like self-hypnosis or NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) for awakening purposes.
But they can certainly be incredible tools for general spiritual growth and personal transformation.
Especially for those who get stuck and struggle to find direction.
Practices like meditation may spark spiritual realisations, but if the ego mind is built upon decades worth of fear, internal misalignment, unmet unconscious needs, or protective communication habits, any shifts will often snap back to unwanted patterns.
Tools that help us create change on a deeper unconscious level help calm the mind and body, stabilise the identity, and integrate wisdom and awakening with more consistency.