The Spiritual Path & Journey of Awakening
A Contemporary Understanding of the Journey Home to God
Spiritual Awakening
This is a term often used in New Age Circles. Generally speaking, the term ‘Spiritual Awakening’ is used to describe any form of breakthrough that has us delve deeper into the nature of who we truly are… as a spirit in a human body…
Sometimes these ‘awakenings’ can constitute as a specific event or moment in time that is shocking, life changing, and/or entirely transformative for the human.
Other times our awakening is subtle, steady… you don’t even realise the awakening is in progress until you look back in hindsight.
In this post I want to shed some light on the spiritual awakening journey as I understand it, offering a larger picture to give context as to the journey we are all on as spiritual seekers and modern mystics. I’ll also be sharing what I mean when I use certain words or descriptions.
Let us start by defining what Spirituality actually is, and create some clear distinctions to ascertain what it actually means to ‘walk the spiritual path’.
To me; a fundamental aspect of spirituality is the belief & relationship one has with a higher power. Call it God, Spirit, Divine, Source, Presence… The name (to me) is not the most important aspect. But the belief in something beyond the human ego & your earthly experience of life is fundamental.
With this in mind, Spirituality is the exploration of your relationship to that presence.
Some believe the presence is immanent (within), some believe it to be transcendent (around us, above us) and some, such as myself believe it to be both; immanent and transcendent.
I use the terms ‘God’ and ‘Divine’ more commonly and interchangeably to describe this presence.
When I use the word ‘soul’, what I am speaking about is the seed or ‘spark’ of God that resides within human beings, manifested as individual consciousness.
So while the soul contains the seed of God, and connecting with the soul opens up a direct channel to God; it does not represent the totality of God. In Hindu & Yogic beliefs this is differentiated by the understanding that there is an Individual Soul and the Supreme Soul or ‘Oversoul’. The individual soul is always seeking unification with its source - God, Divine, Oversoul.
So now let us review the definition of awakening.
‘Awakening’ is the process of becoming aware of the divinity within (immanent) and without (transcendent). It is the discovery of the nature of the soul; who you truly are, and the presence from which it came; the presence from which all life is created.
The individual soul in every human on the path of awakening has one primary mission; to unify with God, its creator.
Now it is said in many new age spaces that the purpose of life is to ‘experience itself’, and this is why the soul separated itself from its source in the first place. (This is a whole other subject on the fall of consciousness as told by the biblical story of Adam & Eve in the Garden of Eden).
So we can think of it like this; at some point, the soul is tired of experiencing its separateness, and desires to return to God. It’s at this point that the spiritual will is activated and the soul starts its journey home.
Of course most human beings are not consciously aware of the nature of the soul or the desire to return home to God. Or, they may have some sort of religious upbringing or connection where they feel a pull toward God, but it is mostly governed by fear, shame and guilt; which are emotions of the ego and are a human construct. (Thanks in part to a gross manipulation of religious & spiritual teachings by the church for false power and control).
One who is not yet ‘awakened’ lives a life governed by the personal will; the will of ego. They are deep in the ‘experiencer’, the part of the human that wants to continue experiencing itself in accordance with its accumulated programming, conditioning and karmic inheritance.
When we activate the spiritual will and walk the path of awakening, the personal will of the ego really has no say in the matter… its power and hold over you, the human, is dismantled, bit by bit.
This can only mean eventual death to the ego…
As the goal of the ego is ultimately, survival, it will attempt to thwart the soul’s journey of awakening at every turn.
This is nothing to be afraid of. It’s simply the journey every human being must walk.
Rather than the ego be thought of as some evil demon thwarting our success, it is best seen as a loveable (but annoying) pet, that ultimately doesn’t control us or own us. Just like a pet that can act up, poop and pee in your house, and attempts to protect you by growling, barking or hissing at any ‘potential threat’, it is, an animal at its core. It helps us think and exist in a 3D reality, and it actually serves us on our path of awakening.
Another thing to be aware of, is that as human beings we were created with the gift of free will.
This means that ultimately, it is our choice. We do not have to awaken. We do not have to activate the spiritual will, even if it’s what our soul wants. We can hang on to the ego, love it, cherish it, and cling onto it if we so choose.
It doesn’t mean we are bad. (In fact, thinking its bad can cause much unnecessary resistance and suffering).
What I can almost guarantee, is that if you’re here, reading this, your free will HAS chosen to awaken. Your spiritual will has been activated, and your ego has already lost much of its power and hold over you.
So to summarise, we can describe the journey of awakening (and the whole purpose of our existence from a spiritual sense) as this:
The soul which came from the creator (God, Divine, Primordial I AM Field), separated from God so it could experience itself.
Somewhere along the way (as described by the Adam & Eve Story & the Fall of Consciousness), the ego was created, as human beings forgot who they actually were and where they actually came from.
This forgetfulness meant identifying with the human body as ‘who we are’.
The awakening journey is a journey of remembering who we truly are.
We remember that we are not the human body. We are the soul; the individual consciousness that activates the human body.
And the soul itself comes from God.
God is the creator of all things, including the things that exist around us that we can experience through our physical senses, and the things we don’t experience through our physical senses (such as the universal field & energetic laws that govern the universe).
The journey of awakening; is quite simply, the journey home to God.
If this essay of sorts resonated with you, I invite you to Subscribe to The Modern Mystic below!
In my next piece of content, I will outline some of the various stages we move through on our awakening journey; to offer a map and guidepost to orient yourself along the path.
What Else You Can Expect from The Modern Mystic:
This post is part of my ‘Spiritual Foundations Series’ where we outline some of the key foundational concepts from which further discussions will be based! You can expect discussions on the ‘various paths home to God’, including the path of Christ, and the paths taught by the Buddha, Krishna, and other bonafide faiths and teachers. Expect discussions around the similarities & overlaps of paths, as well as the distinctions.
The mission of TMM is to raise the consciousness of the planet by making spiritual wisdom practical and accessible for the contemporary seeker. We value interfaith dialogue and pluralism; that is the harmonious co-existence of multiple belief systems & faiths in the same space.
As such we will also be discussing contemporary modalities of self-discovery, quantum energetics and healing, emotional intelligence, and topics that are common place and universal for the human experience, and talk about their place within a larger spiritual context.
Starting in August, I will be launching the paid subscription for TMM, and start hosting monthly guest discussions as well as a monthly live spiritual practice. Some will be available to Free subscribers, most of it will be reserved for paid subscribers.
Format of content will be a mixture of teaching, storytelling, and discussion based discourse via penned essays (like this one), as well as videos and podcasts. (Our first guest discussion recorded on zoom will be on the topic of Walking With Christ in a Postmodern World, I’m ridiculously excited for this!)
If you’d like to pledge a subscription you are welcome to do so, otherwise you can subscribe for Free for now, and decide at any point to upgrade once the paid subscription is launched in August!
This is the start of a very exciting journey! I know this in-depth exploration of spiritual wisdom is not for everyone, (I read about half this post out loud to my husband before his eyes glazed over and he had to ‘bow out’), but I also know some of you are like me and find the exploration and intersection of various spiritual disciplines and sects absolutely fascinating, insightful and helpful along your journey!
This space IS for you. I welcome your feedback, questions and comments on anything shared here, or anything you’d like me to speak or write on in future!
With Deep Reverence & Gratitude,
Hannah