We interpret SPIRITUAL AWAKENING differently depending on prior beliefs

Let’s begin with a bit of psychology: We all interpret situations differently depending on our identity and prior beliefs. Our memory also becomes distorted over time, in a way that is colored by our beliefs and our identity.

Now, let’s take the spiritual awakening that is happening on the planet. Many, regardless of faith, are going through it. Even some atheists are going through it, but unless they realize that they are wrong in their atheism, they will not even begin to understand what is happening to them.

My point is that something very strange is happening on our planet. Something spiritual in nature. Something that is often referred to as a global spiritual awakening, where individuals wake up to who they really are and the truth about reality. Those that are going through this know that it’s true. It’s not “maybe it’s happening, maybe it’s not, we’ll see”. This is most definitely happening, even if no one seems to have the whole picture. 

Since the awakening, what ever it is, is spiritual in nature, it makes sense that we interpret it through our prior spiritual beliefs. There is nothing wrong with this. On the contrary, it would be strange if what is happening now has nothing whatsoever to do with our current beliefs about religion and spirituality. Or that what is happening now is going to erase all of religious history up until now.

I myself make no secret of my belief that Christianity, and especially the person of Jesus, has a special role to fill in what is happening now. But I’m also trying to stay open to what other beliefs can tell me about this. And considering what role the church has played throughout history, I’m not going to just go ahead and put 100% faith into biblical interpretation based on church doctrine. But when it comes to Jesus, I believe something like this: No matter what it means that Jesus is the son of God, or that Jesus is both fully God and fully human, Jesus shows the nature of God embodied in one single person. Jesus was what God would have been like if God was human. And humans were made in the image of God.

Our realities are shaped by our subjective experiences and our beliefs about them. Our beliefs are shaped by our identities. Depending on who we believe ourselves to be, what we believe about the world, what we value and so on, we will accept some information and perspectives while rejecting others. Then comes the passage of time. We forget certain things because we don’t think about them, while we reinforce (and distort) others by ruminating over them and discussing them with other, often likeminded, people. 

I believe that an important conclusion to be drawn from this, is that it’s time that we start talking to each other. We have this distorted view and perception. This is self-evident once we see the conditions that we live under clearly enough. And we might not be able to understand what is going on as long as we stick to talking about it with likeminded people. And we all know that something happens, when people come together and discuss things without the ego-based need to be right. Something that becomes fertile soil for important insights.

Photo by Renè Müller on Unsplash

Is reality an illusion?

When I started to understand the concept of reality being an illusion, there was something that clicked in me. It is in line with what some of the great spiritual masters have been saying. For example, the Indian mystic Ramana Maharshi had a spontaneous awakening, where he basically saw that everything was generated by his own mind. 

Before continuing, I wish to interject something that I’ve said before: Once you realize beyond any doubt that reality is more than we can perceive with the five senses, anything becomes possible. Keep this in mind as you read. And why not ponder the implications of this.

A while back, I had a similar experience, where I still was me, in my body, but there was no absolute separation between me and the rest of the world. My wife was with me, and I could on a deep, undeniable level feel that in a sense she was me. 

In connection with this, one person after the other that I read or listen to, has talked about how everything is energy and frequencies and that we just decode those energies and frequencies in a way that let us perceive them as, well… as the reality that we perceive. I think that this is also why, if we enter into an altered state of consciousness, we cannot just alter our visual perception of reality, without also altering our perspective on- and thoughts about it. But I’m not exactly sure of how this works. If it can even be put into words.

What all of this seems to mean, is quite paradoxical. But life is full of paradoxes once you’ve started to look beneath the surface. The paradox here is that in one sense, we are completely alone in the world. And in another sense, we are connected with everyone and everything. 

What this means exactly I haven’t really figured out. I will probably write more about it as I think about it more. There is the classical double slit experiment, that demonstrate how at least elements of reality change by being observed. This at least proves that there is some sort of interaction that goes beyond mere perception, when we observe something. You can easily look it up on the internet if you want to find out more. 

Einstein and the beggar

Einstein was no more valuable than any simple beggar. We are all eternal souls, equal in the eyes of God. It’s just our egos and their erroneous judgments that say differently. In the end, we hurt ourselves the most by believing these falsities, since they ALL contribute to making us blind to the truth of what actually is. That we are all one, all beloved children of God and that we are all equally loved by God. Separation hurts all. But the one it hurts the most, is the one that keeps it up by judging.