What is awakening? It is the journey when you begin to realize that there is a lot more to life than what you have experienced with your five basic senses. It is when you begin to recognize that you are a spiritual being having a human experience. You begin to become aware that there is much more to you than your physical body, your thoughts, and the personality self or identities that you have created for yourself to navigate through life. You begin to recognize that we are all from Source Energy and we are the creator of everything that happens in our life. You realize that no one is more special than another in the eyes of God-but all extremely valuable to the Divine, the world, and the Universe. You begin to realize that your perceptions about things are changing. Things that you once thought were important, don't hold importance for you anymore.
Some steps on the spiritual awakening journey may occur as life-changing events (such as death of a family member, a diagnosis, a divorce, job loss, or a near-death experience); others may be smaller, simpler experiences in everyday existence.
When we came into this world, and plunged into collective human consciousness, we lost our sense of unity with all that lives. It was slowly filtered out of our consciousness. We were encouraged to build our own ego. Within the ego based consciousness, we have believed we are all essentially separate beings, struggling for our own existence, struggling for survival, nourishment and acknowledgement. We have felt confined to our own body and locked into our own psychological reality with no true and open connection to Source or "others." This is the illusion of separation and a sense of loneliness accompanies it.
I really like the following description of the stages that occur when we awaken from ego to heart-based consciousness and open up to Spirit. This comes from a book called The Jeshua Channelings, Christ Consciousness in a new era by Pamela Kribbe. This summary of awakening stages come from a series of inspiring channeled messages about the transformation of consciousness in the present era.
Jeshua is the Aramaic name for Jesus. In these channeled messages, Jeshua states that he prefers the name (Jeshua), as it better conveys his humanness and kinship with us. In these channelings, Jeshua presents himself as our brother and friend.
According to Jeshua, we have four stages or psychological characteristics in the transition from ego-based to heart-based consciousness. Jeshua points out that the process does not take place along a straight or linear pathway. At times you may fall back to a stage you had already left behind. But such a fallback may lead you to a big step forward. (Detours may turn out to be shortcuts). Every soul's path is unique and individual. So the 4 Stages are meant to convey some of the turning points in the process.
In ego based consciousness we are in the grip of fear and constantly need to reaffirm ourself. Our ego continually looks for outside validation because it is unwilling to face the underlying fear of rejection and loneliness. This deep fear and need for outside validation may long be hidden as the true motive for many of our actions. Your whole life may be built upon them without you really being consciously aware of it. When you're in the ego stage, you always experience lack, and a need for more. The unbalanced ego is always in pursuit of power and control and it will interpret all facts as positive or negative in this light. Beneath the need for control is always a fear of losing control. The alternative is releasing control and letting go of the need for predictability. The price you pay for keeping things "under control" is that your attitude to life is tense and restrained. As long as the ego governs your soul, you will need to feed yourself with the energy of others in order to feel good.
From heart-consciousness you dare to live from inner inspiration and only do what brings you joy. This will create a natural and true order in your life. You will feel happy without the need to try to control the flow of life. This is living without fear and living in full trust of what life will bring you.
4 Stages of Awakening: From the Ego to Heart-based Consciousness:
Stage 1. Being unsatisfied with what ego-based consciousness has to offer you, you have a longing for “something else.”
This stage starts with an experience of an inner void. Things that used to draw your full attention or situations that you got caught up in now leave you empty and uninspired. Somehow things seemed to have lost their meaning and purpose. In this stage, your relationship with God or All-That-Is is marked by feelings of separation. Deep within, you feel alone and abandoned. You feel like a broken, meaningless fragment with no purpose. The ego tries to alleviate the inner pain by feeding you with outside energies. It is particularly fond of acknowledgement, admiration, power, attention, etc. Your consciousness is essentially focused on the outer world. You rely on other people's judgments and you are very edgy about what people think of you. This is highly important to you since your self-esteem depends on it. In fact your sense of self-worth sinks lower and lower, since you are giving your power away to outside forces who judge you for your outside performances, not for your true being. Pent up emotions and feelings are the entrance gate to your greater Self. The transition to a heart-based consciousness has begun.
Stage 2. Becoming aware of your ties to ego-based consciousness, recognizing and releasing the emotions and thoughts that go with it.
This is the stage where you begin exploring your inner wounds. When you stop identifying with the ego, it can be confusing as you ponder who you really are and begin to ask philosophical questions about the meaning of life, your purpose in life, etc. You begin to ponder what you really think and feel as opposed to what others have taught you to feel and think. These questions begin to have a direct bearing on your life choices. But It is difficult to make choices in this stage because nothing is self-evident anymore.
You are now taking a step inwards and become aware of deeper parts of yourself, parts that are less conditioned by your upbringing and society. Before you can start to understand the multidimensional aspect of yourself - your greater Self (beyond the physical human being), you need to heal the wounded parts within. The dictates of the ego have created psychological wounds within you. Letting go of ego-based consciousness initially creates confusion, doubt and disorientation. This stage is about observing, understanding and healing your inner wounds. The soul suffers under the reign of the ego. When you disentangle from the grip of the ego, the inner pain becomes more visible to you as you drop the defensive masks. More often than not, you go into a stage of judging your inner wounds, because they seem to lead to negative patterns of behavior: addiction, depression, uncontrollable mood swings, problems with communication, difficulties with intimate relationships.
This judgment of yourself inflicts more pain on the soul, which has just begun to turn toward the light. The soul is letting go of the need for power and control, it is growing more sensitive ...and then it gets caught up in self-judgment. It is the judgment of the hurt that causes the negativity. The most important step in Stage 2, is that you are willing to understand your inner pain: accept it, understand its origins and allow it to be. In this stage it is easy to get caught up in self-doubt and judgment. The turning point comes when you stop judging yourself. Instead you look at yourself with interest and openness. (Before this, you are comparing yourself to an artificial standard that most of the time you fall short of. You beat yourself up and then try to fit into the mold that you created for yourself in your head.)
Perfectionism is a harmful weapon. It is quite the opposite of Love. Love truly does not compare, and it never wants to force you into anything or change you in any way. Love has no eye for what should be. The very category of "should" does not exist in the consciousness of the heart.
In this stage of transformation from ego to heart, you heal episodes from the past by encircling them with your present consciousness. Through revisiting them in the present from a heart-centered focus, you will let go of the traumatic parts in your past. You simply take note of what happened and this very act creates room for understanding, room for a spiritual understanding of what actually took place. When this perspective is present, you are becoming master of your reality again. You realize that there is meaning and purpose to everything that happens. From the heart, you recognize the element of free choice present in everything that occurs. When you accept your own responsibility, you are free to move on. You are getting in touch with the consciousness underlying your different roles and identities.
Stage 3. Letting the old ego-based energies inside you die (letting go of the old you), throwing off the cocoon; becoming your new self.
In this stage, you are making room for a totally different way of being and experiencing.
Energetically, the heart chakra takes precedence over the will or third (solar plexus) chakra. (Chakras are spinning wheels of energy along your spine that are related to particular life-themes. They relate to specific places in the body but are not visible to the physical eye. Chakras are the bridge between spirit and matter.)
The Heart Chakra is the energy of love and oneness. The heart carries energies that unify and harmonize. The solar plexus is located in the stomach above the belly button. It is the seat of the will. It focuses your energy on physical reality. It is connected to issues of vitality, ambition, and personal power. The ego and the will are closely related to each other. Because of the fears that are present in many of your desires, the solar plexus is often driven by the energy of the ego.
When you use ego centered will power, you will feel a pull on the solar plexus accompanied by a strong desire to have things your way, you are trying to mold reality to your wishes. You are trying to force your beliefs upon reality.
When you act from the heart, you go along with the flow of things as it presents itself. You are not pushing or forcing. There is a natural rhythm to all things and thus does not always occur at the pace that you think is desirable. The time it takes to fulfill your goals is the time it takes to change your consciousness in such a way that your desired reality may enter your actual reality. So if you want to speed things up, focus on you and not so much on reality. You need to fully accept your current reality before you can step forward into a new one.
You cannot create a new reality from self-hate. You cannot "will yourself" into a new reality by pushing unwanted parts aside. The energies of understanding and acceptance are the true building blocks of a new and more fulfilling reality.
When you interact from the heart, you let reality be. You do not try to change it, You simply observe. When your heart takes the lead, the will will go along with it. The ego will not be eliminated, it naturally serves the role of translating energy from the level of consciousness to the level of physical reality. When this manifestation is guided by the heart, the energy of the will creates and flows effortlessly. No pushing or forcing is involved. This is when synchronicity occurs which greatly enhances the realization of your goals. It seems miraculous when things work together in this way. Effortlessness is the hallmark of creating from the heart.
Being open and receptive to the new and unknown is vital to being a true creator. It requires the ability to put your consciousness in a purely receptive but alert mode. Only by not knowing, by keeping things open, can you create room for something new to enter your reality. It is essential to understand that the most powerful form of creating is not based on the will (being active) but on self-awareness (being receptive).
All changes in the material world, is a reflection of changes at the inner level. Inner transformation is the real prerequisite for change.
The soul speaks to you in times of silence. Often the soul speaks up when you give up and throw in the towel. What happens when you give up in despair, is you open yourself to the new. You release your expectations and you are truly receptive to what is. You can become still, receptive and open to what your soul tells you, without having been disappointed first.
What you are really doing by creating a new reality is going outside of your own psychological borders. And you cannot know now what lies beyond those borders.
To create the most desirable reality for yourself, self-acceptance is much more important than focusing your thoughts and will. You cannot create something that you are not. Self-acceptance is a form love. Love is the biggest magnet for positive changes in your life. If you love and accept yourself for who you are, you will attract circumstances and people that reflect your self-love. Self-love and a willingness to venture into the new is what you need to create your own perfect reality.
Creating from the heart is more powerful and requires less effort than creating from the ego. You do not bother about the details but instead open yourself to all that is there, inside and out. From this openness, you may sense a pull or drawn to certain things. This pull is the quiet whisper of your heart, it is your intuition. When. you act from intuition, you are being pulled instead of pushing. You do not act until you sense on the inner level that it is appropriate to act.
Since you are used to pushing and using your will to create things, the energetic shift from ego to heart is quite challenging. The shift requires a tremendous "slow down". You have to make a conscious decision to "not do" and to let everything be. This runs counterintuitive to everything we have been taught. You are very much used to basing your actions upon thought and willpower. This is quite opposite to Heart centered creating. When you live from the heart, you listen to your heart and then act. You do not think, you listen with an alert and open awareness to what your heart is telling you. The heart speaks through your feelings, not your mind. The voice of the heart can best be heard when you feel quiet, relaxed and grounded. It takes tremendous strength to be totally present with what is. You may feel empty, depressed or nervous, but you do not drive these things away. You surround them with your consciousness and compassion. Your consciousness is a healing force if you do not bind it with your thinking or your addiction to "doing".
Intuition is always tailored to the person at a particular moment. It is highly individualistic. Therefore it cannot be subject to rational analysis or general rules. To live and act according to your intuition asks for a high level of trust, for your choices are based on what you feel is right, instead of what other people's rules say is right. It asks you to release the habit of overusing your mind and will-power and challenges you to truly trust yourself.
It will take time to learn to listen to your heart, to trust its messages and act upon them. But the more you do, the more you will understand that it is only by surrendering your doubts and worries to the wisdom of your own heart, that you will find inner peace. In this third stage, you will find inner peace for the first time. You will realize that it was through the urge to control reality through thinking and willing that made you restless and anxious. When you release control, you allow the magic of life to unfold. When you are alert to what is happening within you, reality will provide you with all the information you need to act appropriately.
You are the master creator of your reality. If you create from fear, your reality will respond accordingly. If you create from love, trust, and surrender, you will receive everything you desire and more.
Stage 4. The awakening of the heart-based consciousness within you (Opening Up to Spirit), motivated by love and freedom; helping others making the transition.
In this stage, you have found peace and quiet inside of you -also been called Spirit. The body is the physical dwelling for the soul for a limited amount of time. The soul is the non-physical, psychological anchor of experiences of many lifetimes. The Spirit does not change or grow in time. It is outside of time and space. The spirit in you is the eternal, timeless part of you that is One with God that created you. It is the divine consciousness that is the foundation of your expression in space and time.
The soul partakes in duality (contrasts) to learn and is affected by and transformed by its experiences in duality. The spirit is outside of duality. It is the background against which everything develops and evolves. It is what you might call Being or Source.
Silence is the best entrance to experience this ever present energy, which is You in your deepest core. The soul can be in a state of darkness or enlightenment. Not so with the spirit. Spirit is pure being, pure consciousness. Spirit is in the dark as well as in the light. Spirit is the oneness underlying all duality. When you have arrived in Stage 4 of the transformation from ego to heart, you connect with Spirit. You connect with your Divinity.
Connecting with God inside of you is like being taken out of duality while being present and fully grounded. In this state, your consciousness is filled with a mixture of peace and joy. You realize that you are not dependent on anything outside of you. You are free. You are in the world but not of it.
Connecting with the spirit inside of you doesn't happen all at once. It is a slow and gradual process, in which you connect, disconnect and reconnect. Gradually the focus of your consciousness moves from duality to Oneness. It is drawn to silence rather than thoughts and emotions. By silence, we mean being fully centered and present, in a state of non-judgmental awareness.
It is silence that brings you home, not your thoughts and emotions. You let go of old habits and open up to the new reality of heart-based consciousness. Ego consciousness withers and slowly dies. You surrender yourself to the change and transformation. Death is always a releasing of the old and an opening to the new. Death is a liberator. Do not fear death. There is no death, only change.
The more you identify yourself with Spirit, with the God inside you, the more you release things that you used to worry about or that you used to put energy into. On deeper and deeper levels, you realize that it is not about "doing", it is more about your beingness.
Spirit is silent, perennial, and yet creative. It is hard to grasp in the mind. It can only be felt. If you allow it into your life, and you recognize it as the whisperings of your heart, everything slowly starts to fall into place. When you are tuned into Spirit, the silent awareness that is behind all experiences, you stop pushing and forcing your will upon reality. You allow things to fall back into their natural state. You become your natural, true Self. This all occurs in a harmonious and meaningful way. You experience that things come together in a way that has a natural rhythm, a natural flow to it.
When you have made the transition to heart consciousness, you are more or less continually in touch with the divine flow of Source inside. In this state of being, you are able to help others. You draw it to you, not by will. Energetically you are now emitting certain vibrations which draws people to you. It is not something you do, it is something you are. There is a vibration available in your energy that can help them get in touch with their own divine self.
You can be a mirror to them in which they can see a difficult problem or condition actually being released and tranformed into the energy of the solution. The energy of the solution is always found upon contact with the Divine Self in your being. By expressing yourself as you find most joyful, your presence becomes truly helpful. Being there for others has a very neutral feeling to it. It represents a level of detachment where you release your personal desire to change or "cure" others. Most people need to go to the bottom of certain issues before they are truly ready to release them. When they do so, they truly "own" the solution to the issue.
In stage 4, it is about transcending the level of the soul and rising to the level of the Spirit. This is not to minimize the soul. The point is that you are more encompassing than your soul. The soul is the vehicle for experience. By identifying with the Spirit in you, your divine self, you rise above the experiences by not identifying yourself with any of them. This has a healing effect upon the soul.
This was therapeutic for me to summarize again from Jeshua Channelings by Pamela Kribbe. If this resonates with you, I encourage you to check out her book The Jeshua Channelings, Christ Consciousness in a new era
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