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

Discussion of the movie: Early Warning

Early Warning is a Christian End Times movie that me and my wife watched the other day. The reason I wanted to write about it is because what is taking place in it, matches the plans that the World Economic Forum has more or less perfectly.

The movie came out 1981!

Just watch the first 10 minutes of the movie and then watch a short video about the WEF:s plans that came out this year. I’ll leave a link to both of them at the end of the post.

The movie is about two journalists struggling to expose the One World Foundation’s plotting to take over the world and usher in global tyranny. It’s clearly low budget, but some effort has been put into it. So if you have nothing better to do and don’t have anything against Christian end times movies, I suggest that you watch the rest of the movie as well.

I honestly don’t know what to make of this. I‘ve talked about it before. On the one hand, people, including myself, are most definitely going through spiritual awakenings. And even if I see myself as a Christian, most of those that go through awakenings don’t. And most of those people believe more or less that we all are here for a learning experience, and even though we are heading for some dark times, there is really nothing to be afraid of for anyone, since reality basically is an illusion anyway. And I believe that there is some merit to this. I’ve noticed, for example, that as I go through my awakening, the world seems both more alive and vivid on the one hand, and less real and solid on the other. This does sound a lot like it could be a part of being in the world but not of it though, when I think about it. 

On the other hand, it seems undeniable that biblical end times prophecies are coming true today. And I know that I can be a bit eccentric at times, but I don’t want to become some crazy doomsday prophet. I’m not someone that has the habit of screaming at people to “repent or go to hell!” or that walks around with a holier than thou attitude. On the contrary, I don’t believe that even the worst of us deserve to go to hell, because I know that there are always reasons for people being who they are and doing what they are doing. And even if there were absolutely no reasons whatsoever, I still don’t believe that anyone can do anything that would justify eternal suffering. And quite frankly, knowing the history of the church, I’m not inclined to trusting the theology that has been developed within its framework since the church became a political power. 

As for the end times, I do not want to live in them. It would be much easier if I just had my spiritual awakening to focus on. I would be glad if I could simply look at all of this as if I'm just here to learn. If there ultimately was nothing to worry about, because in the end it will turn out okay for everyone. Something along these lines is what I hope for. But I'm in no way sure about it.

Furthermore, when I look into alternative spirituality, something that many Christians distance themselves firmly from, I find much undeniable wisdom in it. Not in all of it of course. But in a lot. And a lot of it seems congruent with biblical teachings. So much so, that some Christian thinkers, such as for example Olle Carlsson, have ideas that are more or less inseparable from those of non-Christian thinkers. And yeah, I know that some may say that Olle Carlsson isn’t a real Christian and bla bla bla… What I wonder is when people will no longer get away with making such claims with zero substance in them. I seriously feel lost and confused when it comes to this. I take this whole thing seriously, because I know that something big is about to happen. So I spend loads of time and energy trying to figure out what is what. And the best thing I can come up with is that both perspectives must somehow be true. That one shows us the prophecies that are coming true, while the other shows our true nature - what it means to be made in the image of God. There seem to be people, such as David Wilcock and J.P Sears that seem to be moving in a similar direction as well. 

The makers of this movie however, would in all likelihood not agree with such a viewpoint. There is quite a bit of talk about being saved or unsaved and the threat of hell is always present. This is what I have difficulty with. On the one hand, others that see these prophecies coming true seem very certain that adherence to strict biblical doctrines is the only viable alternative. On the other hand, my experiences, that are undeniably real, that are filled with such blissful feelings of love and connection, experiences that have turned my whole life upside down, continue pointing towards alternative spirituality. And it sucks to belong to a small minority, when most of the world believes that you’re wrong. Especially when you yourself are filled with so much doubt and confusion that I am. And at the same time it’s wonderful. Because even though I don’t know exactly what is happening, I at least know this much for sure: It is real!

Links:

Early Warning

About the World Economic Forum and The Great Reset

A SPIRITUAL perspective on how EXTRAORDINARY the TIMES that we are living in actually are

We are in all likelihood living in the most important time in the history of the planet. If you’ve started to understand anything about the times we are living in, no matter what exactly you think that you have begun to understand, you must agree with me on this. When all of that which is taking place right now, no matter exactly what it is, is over, the world will be completely different from before. So different that nothing in our known history compares. And yes, I understand which events that compete with it and I stand by what I’m saying. If you understand what I’m talking about here, you agree. You agree because you can see this for yourself.

I want you to just take a moment and think about this. What this means. I honestly don’t know what is going on or where it is going to end. I used to think that I knew. But all I know for sure now is that God and spirituality has something to do with it. And that whatever this is, it’s happening. And maybe it’s the same for all of us that are going through this. We know that something extraordinary is happening. And depending on which sources we come into contact with and which ideas we take to heart, we form beliefs around it. But what if none of us know exactly what this is that is happening?

What I do know, is that even though I know that this is happening, I don’t think that I’ve even begun to take in the whole situation. It doesn’t feel really real to me, even though I know that it is.

Let’s put this in some perspective: We are facing something that is going to change not just our world, but our perspective on our very existence, spirituality, the world, God and ourselves forever. But to a large degree it’s still invisible to our five senses. Knowing this, it’s probably not strange that it’s hard to fathom. We’ve put the absolute majority of our attention on our five senses throughout most of our lives. We still do, but as we wake up to other aspects of reality, our attention is drawn away more and more from the five senses. And as it is, our perception of ourselves and the world becomes more clear. Our consciousness expands on multiple levels. As we dissolve blockages inside and connect more with the flow of life, instead of having our focus only on the five-sense reality, we start to connect more dots in the five sense reality as well. We start to see through the distortions. It’s a strange paradox. The more we put our focus in the five-sense reality, the more distorted our perception becomes. What we need to understand is that we are never going to think our way through this. Our thoughts can only guide us when they are free from distortions, which is something that can only happen as we come into contact with more of our insides and remove the energy blockages that cloud our vision. This is also probably why it seems futile to reason with someone that hasn’t begun to wake up. I’m not saying this to create division between those that are awake and those that still sleep. It’s just a fact that there is a very definite before and after when it comes to this, and before it happens, one is blocked from seeing certain things.

People both within the world religions and more modern spirituality are waking up to this. And perhaps we should consider that there is a reason for this. That maybe we need to talk to each other about this and try to figure out what it means, instead of just shutting each other out because we belong to different faiths. I realize that we need to be very cautious when it comes to ideas about a universal, global religion or spirituality, not in the least because of the warnings about this, for example in the Bible. But we don’t have to agree on everything. We don’t have to agree on anything. What is most important is already in place: There is a god and a spiritual reality, we live in very extraordinary, unprecedented times and we do seem to share a common enemy in the World Economic Forum. 

I was first reluctant towards using the word “enemy”. But as long as we remember Jesus’ words “Love your enemies”, I don’t think that this is the wrong choice of words. Because what do you call someone that wants to hurt you and force you into things that are not for your best interests? 

Before I continue, I want to remind your of just how extraordinary these times are. In all likelihood, nothing since the dawn of life, has been so significant in this planet’s history, as what is taking place right now. Nothing. And maybe all of us that see this, regardless of faith, need to start talking to each other. If we start having a conversation where everyone takes responsibility for approaching said conversation with as little ego as possible, maybe we can start discerning what is true from what is false together. This means listening respectfully to ALL perspectives, no matter how disagreeable we find them, and trying to understand where other people are coming from. It means to be open to change one’s mind, but not for any other reason than that one is thoroughly convinced that it’s called for. It also means to stick with what one truly believes in, but without attaching personal importance to it. 

I don’t know exactly how many we are. But I bet that we are many. What can we do if we put away all that separates us and connect with each other for real? What could be accomplished if we start working together and value each other? As long as we are divided, it’s much easier to control us.

Photo by Rutpratheep Nilpechr on Unsplash

My spiritual awakening part 4

I forgot to mention two of important things in the previous post. One of those was that I cannot really remember my thought processes at this time, except for what I’ve just mentioned. But one thing that I do remember, is the other one. You see, I took out one week’s vacation from the post terminal that I was working at when this happened. I just wanted to take a week to myself and think things through. 

The first day of my vacation I was in central Gothenburg and I wanted to find a book to read. I went into the bookstore and my eyes immediately fell on Tomorrow’s God by Neale Donals Walsh. I did have a feeling that I was guided to it, but then I knew next to nothing about what I know today, so I didn’t think much of it. After a while, I didn’t think much of it, even though the book gave me some real food for thought and seemed like just the book I needed to read. Today I don’t believe that everything that is said in it comes from God. Because now I have some experience of hearing the voice of God myself, and I know that it’s often hard to distinguish from one’s own thoughts. 

Now I have lots of experience of being guided to books, movies and documentaries. I believe that God speaks to us all the time. We are just too occupied with thoughts about the past or the future to notice it. So for most of us, myself included, it’s just when God hits us in the face with a message that we actually take notice. I think that the robbery that I told you about in the first post in this series was such a message.

My spiritual awakening part 3

Just because I found meaning didn’t mean that my old patterns were gone of course. And among other things, I had developed the habit of lying to myself and others. Even though I wanted to be a force for good in the world, I was excellent at making myself believe my justifications for bad, destructive behaviour. But even then, I started to remove the worst stuff from my life.

I went back and forth for a bit, basically between living quite clean and partying quite hard. I tried some yoga and picked up a meditation practice. I don’t remember the exact times for everything. But somewhere around 26 I stopped smoking, started working out and went to the university. 

It’s interesting to look back at these things now. To see where I’ve made major decisions that have affected my life in a positive manner. And you can say what you want about the university (you learn a lot of nonsense there), but my time there taught me how to think in a different manner, to understand texts better and to sharpen my speech. I wouldn’t recommend anyone to get into the debt that I am in to get these skills. But I had fun and it changed me quite a lot in a positive way. It was an experience that both boosted my confidence and humbled me. It boosted my confidence to see that I did quite well in an academic setting and humbled me because I was constantly around loads of people that were smarter than me. And again it boosted my confidence, because I got to see how these same smart people could come to really stupid conclusions, when these conclusions were too shaped by their opinions. 

A little further down the road, I realized that my own opinions often skewed my perceptions of the world. It’s always easier to see these things in others than in oneself. 

An important lesson here, is that accurate thinking is very dependent on one’s ability to free oneself from one’s subjective opinions and views of the world. 

My spiritual awakening part 2

Before this event that set me off on my spiritual journey, I was a nihilist. I was into Laveyean satanism (basically ego-affirming atheism, at least on the surface) and I believed that life was completely pointless. You live and you die and when you die nothing matters anymore. I didn’t really care if I died tomorrow or in a hundred years and basically felt that I might as well grab hold of whatever little pleasure that came my way while I was still alive. Not that it was right or wrong. It just seemed like the thing that came most naturally when I just let myself go.

When I went through this back in 2006, I had very few to talk to about it and no one that knew exactly what was going on. And even though I never lost my faith in God, I slipped back into many of my old patterns after a while. But from this point, my life was less chaotic. I would say that meaningfulness was the big thing here. I cared whether I lived or died because I believed that there was a purpose with my life. Looking back on this now, I think that this is actually very significant. Because our attitudes towards life affect how we think, feel and act in pretty profound ways. I know that this could be considered speculation, but at the same time it’s undeniable. When you suddenly feel like there is meaning to your existence, you care if you live or die and then you start caring about your actions. It follows logically that this will have an effect on your actions.

My spiritual awakening part 1

I’ve written a lot about my awakening here on the Blog. But I wanted to collect the essentials under one heading.

For me it started way back in 2006. Basically I had started to question my former atheism a while back, when I got robbed as a direct consequence of the life that I was living. The same day I had had a hunch that something was going to happen, but since I didn’t believe in intuition and only a very vague openness to anything that went outside of the five sense reality, I ignored it and soon forgot it. In the evening it knocked on the door. I opened and four guys that I didn’t know stood outside. You can fill in the rest.

Afterwards I got a very strong feeling that this was God telling me something about the life. Had I known what I know now about religious psychology, I might have been more skeptical. The psychological literature says that traumatic events and rough periods can trigger sudden changes in religious beliefs. But I’m glad that I didn’t know this, because today I know that even though I trust the research on this, nothing happens by accident. Today I know that everything is in God’s hands and that God talks to us through every single little moment in our lives.

There is something strange happening in the world. Part 2

So, what can we do? I believe that the only thing that we can do, is trust that God wants what’s best for us, and do our best to be our best, towards ourselves, each other and the world. I cannot believe in some final judgment where the saved go to heaven and sinners go to hell. There is no way for me to reconcile this with the idea of a good God. Not if God also is omnipotent. I don’t understand how an omnipotent, good god could make/let even the worst person in the history of mankind suffer forever. But I’m open to the possibility that there is something I don’t understand here.

What I do feel is important right now however, is that we do our best to be our best. Not because of some reward or punishment down the road, but because this is what God calls us to do. Because it is what is going to give us the best possible outcomes, and because there might be some hard lessons in store for us otherwise. 

I wish to interject that being our best, does not mean to be flawless. On the contrary, being our best often means to accept and embrace ourselves as flawed creatures fully. To allow ourselves to make mistakes and accept that we sometimes act against our own interests. Because this is part of being human.

So maybe, just maybe, this is not a time where God will let fire rain down on earth in a literal sense, where the saved will get to live in paradise, while sinners will face eternal suffering. Maybe this is rather the time where we really start seeing that living for our own selfish interests and instant gratifications will do nothing good for anyone. Maybe this is a time where we finally see our madness and confusion for what they are and choose to let go of them. 

And I don’t know. Maybe in the end it is as simple as letting go of fear and embracing love. But maybe things are a little more complicated than people make them as well. Maybe we don’t have to be afraid of anything. But maybe, when it comes to certain things that we need to let go of, we will find a few things that are rather difficult to do so with. Maybe things that we have made parts of our identity and that we are very defensive about. I know that this has been the case for me. And it took som pretty deep soul searching to see these things and how they affected my life and ultimately who I was as a person.

There is something strange happening in the world. Part 1

In New Age circles there is talk about “The Ascension Process”. In more biblical contexts, people are talking about “the apocalypse”, “armageddon” or “the end-times”. 

Personally, I find labels like this one problematic, since labels bring with them certain ideas and expectations, exclude others, brings some to the forefront and others to the back. 

A very common human trait seems to be that we want to know. And we don’t just want to know. We want to belong to the group that knows something that the others do not. This is of course one of the many ways that the ego tricks us and I don’t think that we can say “I don’t know” enough these days.

But I find it interesting to look at the ideas of the Ascension Process and The Apocalypse together. Because both of them have some merit. 

On the one hand, we have a huge amount of people reporting strange things happening with them, that seem to point to some magnificent revelation of us being much more than we seem, when we perceive the world through our physical bodies with our physical senses. I’m one of those people.

On the other hand, we have enough biblical end-times prophecies coming true that I believe it warrants at least enough concern, that we cannot just brush it off lightly. We of course have the verse from Matthew that says “You will hear of wars and rumors of wars.” We also have several places in the Bible, where it is talked about how people are going to be in the end-times. One usch place is Timothy 3:2-4: “People will be selfish, greedy, boastful, and conceited; they will be insulting, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, and irreligious; ³ they will be unkind, merciless, slanderers, violent, and fierce; they will hate the good; ⁴ they will be treacherous, reckless, and swollen with pride; they will love pleasure rather than God.”

I’m not saying this to condemn anyone. I don’t think people are this way because they are bad. And these are all traits that I myself wrestle with. And… I’m actually going to write something completely different here than I thought. I honestly don’t think that these traits are more prevalent today than in Jesus’ times. It’s just that we recognize them as something bad today and we actually have a bigger chance of catching a glimpse of who we really are today than in ancient times. So this could actually be a prophecy that is unequivocally positive throughout. People are as they’ve always been, but now they have a chance to see it and recognize it as something that doesn’t make either themselves or anyone else happy. 

I guess that I believe that we can’t just condemn everything that belong to the category of New Age as bad or evil, because I’ve seen how this stuff works and how it is helping me to become a better person. Besides, what has been crammed into this labe is everything from letting go of negative emotional energy, to tarot cards and astrology, to channeling and contact with spirit guides.  

My slow insights

There is something strange going on in the world. I see it out there and in my life. And for some, everything seems to fall into place fast. For me, it has been a very slow ride. Partially, it’s because I’m very cautious about believing things that I don’t have sufficient reasons to believe. I don’t know if this is always a good thing. Because I believe that it often gets in my way of letting go and just trust. 

Another, definitely more negative reason, is that I’ve been dragging my heels when it comes to my self development. I’ve been slipping back into old habits, procrastinated and made excuses for it. 

But maybe this is how it should be. You see, I’m going through some sort of spiritual process. Within Spiritual / New Age circles, there is talk about the Ascension Process, which is supposed to be a global shift in consciousness. I’ve been studying this a lot, because there is something big happening. But it could also be the apocalypse. The one in the Book of Revelations. It could be both (this is what I’m leaning towards), because it is by no means certain that the darker aspects of the Book of Revelations are to be taken literally. Apocalypse means something akin to unveiling or disclosure (the literal translation is “from cover”, which makes little sense unless you know the intended meaning).

The most common scholarly approach, is that it was written in a cryptic way to pass under the radar of oppressive Roman authorities. This I believe to be at least partially wrong, but I won’t get into detail about it. I just believe that it’s worth bearing in mind when our speculations start to move towards some violent end of everything.

So, why did I suddenly fly off into this area? Well, because I want to document, as truthfully as possible, the process that I’m going through. Because something is definitely happening with me. And with other people. And the world. And maybe things in my process are just the way they should be. Maybe they are slow, so that I really have time to see what is going on and analyse it. So that I can truly see all the pitfalls that I fall into, why I fall into them, what they mean and how they affect me. 

And maybe I won’t be able to speak to people that find the more esoteric stuff hard to swallow, unless I’m truly one of those people. Just a thought.