Spiritual awakening how long does it take

I was so focused and terrorized in that reality that it was hard to pull myself away from the ledge. This is what many identify as a spiritual awakening because deeper pain and more perceived darkness was involved. Yet out of both experiences, I felt a deeper understanding and connection with my inner being that felt euphoric, life-changing and filled me with so much inner peace. The only reason why one period feels darker than another is because you stay disconnected from your inner being longer.

No matter how you come into alignment with your inner being—either after a long battle of resistance or with faith and trust after some contrast—you will experience many beautiful realizations and new perceptions as a result. You had a spiritual awakening because you came into alignment with your inner being.

If it feels bad, you are still in the Step 1 moment that leads to spiritual awakening. Step 1 moments happen all the time, no matter how enlightened you become, because otherwise no strong desires would ever be born from you the whole point of focusing here into this life you're living.

So everyone has Step 1 moments and yes, some feel harder than other ones. Also, you may oscillate between feelings of peace and back again to fear. This only means you're still giving your attention to things that aren't true. The more you consistently face the light, the more at peace you will feel.

The feelings and experiences that come from a spiritual awakening are always available to you, and are easier achieved when you have a better understanding of how it works.

Below is a method of living that becomes a habit when you continue practicing it. It doesn't stop Step 1 moments from happening contrast but as mentioned earlier, Step 1 moments are necessary and make coming into alignment all the more joyful and euphoric sort of like like the cosmic version of an orgasm! What is your desire in this moment? If your back is up against the wall loss of income, symptoms of dis-ease, deterioration of a relationship, etcetera recognize what the opposite of that is that you want.

You may desire abundance , well-being or a loving relationship as the opposite of what you're experiencing right now. Maybe your desire is to surrender everything up to the universe and feel inner peace. Acknowledge this desire. Feel into it. Let yourself feel good just by the thought of it. Trust that this image combined with the feeling is underway for you.

Abraham says that when you desire something, your inner being expands and becomes it. This means that the larger part of you is that thing you are desiring. Your inner being already is abundant, healthy and in love with everything and everyone. Whenever my health anxiety creeps back in, I tell myself something like "My inner being is healthy and vibrant, which means the physical part of me will catch up soon so I no longer have to worry about this.

When my husband lost his income, I told him and myself every day "Something bigger and better is being lined up for us, this happened for our betterment. Recognizing the nature of reality means to acknowledge that everything is first energy before it is matter. You could think your old place of employment is the only way money can flow to you, but then you'd be wrong. Anything is possible. This is the nature of reality that spiritually awake souls come to realize.

Open your heart and trust. It is born in thought first, physical reality second. In order for the energy to turn to matter, your only job is to stay in the same frequency as your desire. By noticing all the beautiful things going right in your life.

By having high vibe conversations and reading high vibe books. Face the light. Differentiating religious, spiritual, and transpersonal experiences from psychopathology. Johnson, M. Classic psychedelics: an integrative review of epidemiology, therapeutics, mystical experience, and brain network function.

Kanemoto, K. A case with excessive Ko harenz Weizsacker as ictal experience and hypomania following complex partial seizures. Japan Epilep. Kaplan, S. The restorative benefits of nature: toward an integrative framework. Kaskutas, L. The role of religion, spirituality and alcoholics anonymous in sustained sobriety.

Kendler, K. Religion, psychopathology, and substance use and abuse: a multimeasure, genetic-epidemiologic study. Khalsa, S.

Evaluation of a residential Kundalini yoga lifestyle pilot program for addiction in India. Abuse 7, 67— Khanna, S. A narrative review of yoga and mindfulness as complementary therapies for addiction. Khouzam, H. Antidepressant treatment, posttraumatic stress disorder, survivor guilt, and spiritual awakening. Stress 10, — Kumar, V. Hypnotizability, absorption, and individual differences in phenomenological experience.

Lange, R. The revised transliminality scale: reliability and validity data from a rasch top-down purification procedure. Lifshitz, M. Absorption and spiritual experience: a review of evidence and potential mechanisms. Lindahl, J. The varieties of contemplative experience: a mixed-methods study of meditation-related challenges in Western Buddhists.

Lockley, M. Kundalini awakening, kundalini awareness. Ludwig, A. Altered states of consciousness. Psychiatry 15, — Luhrmann, T. Diversity within the psychotic continuum. The absorption hypothesis: learning to hear God in evangelical Christianity. Sensing the presence of gods and spirits across cultures and faiths. Luke, D. Mirza and E. Neilson London: Zabludowicz Collection — Lukoff, D. The diagnosis of mystical experiences with psychotic features. The myths in mental illness. Cultural considerations in the assessment and treatment of religious and spiritual problems.

Lyvers, M. Illicit use of LSD or psilocybin, but not MDMA or nonpsychedelic drugs, is associated with mystical experiences in a dose-dependent manner. Psychoactive Drugs 44, — MacLean, K.

Mystical experiences occasioned by the hallucinogen psilocybin lead to increases in the personality domain of openness. Factor analysis of the mystical experience questionnaire: a study of experiences occasioned by the hallucinogen psilocybin.

Mallinson, J. Jacobsen Leiden: Brill Publishers , — Manmiller, J. Hypnotizability, creative capacity, creativity styles, absorption, and phenomenological experience during hypnosis. Marshall, P. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Marty-Dugas, J. Deep, effortless concentration: re-examining the flow concept and exploring relations with inattention, absorption, and personality. McClintock, C. Phenotypic dimensions of spirituality: implications for mental health in China, India, and the United States.

McCrae, R. Joint factors in self-reports and ratings: neuroticism, extraversion and openness to experience. McGee, M. Awakening and Recovery. Menezes, A. Religion, spirituality, and psychosis. Psychiatry Rep. Miller, W. Mills, P. Change in sense of nondual awareness and spiritual awakening in response to a multidimensional well-being program. Murphy, M. In the Zone: Transcendent Experience in Sports.

Naito, H. Temporal lobe epilepsy with ictal ecstatic state and interictal behavior of hypergraphia. Neumann, E. Noorani, T. Psychedelic therapy for smoking cessation: qualitative analysis of participant accounts. Ogata, A. Religious experiences in epileptic patients with a focus on ictus-related episodes. Psychiatry Clin. Oxman, T. The language of altered states. Ictal kissing and religious speech in a patient with right temporal lobe epilepsy.

PubMed Abstract. Pahnke, W. Implications of LSD and experimental mysticism. Health 5, — Parker, K. Parnas, J. Mysticism and schizophrenia: a phenomenological exploration of the structure of consciousness in the schizophrenia spectrum disorders.

Parra, A. Parry, J. Sport and Spirituality: An Introduction. New York: Routledge. Patel, C. Trial of relaxation in reducing coronary risk: four year follow up.

Pekala, R. Individual differences in phenomenological experience: states of consciousness as a function of absorption. The relationship of depersonalization and absorption to hallucinations in psychotic and non-clinical participants. Psychiatry Res. Relationship of absorption, depersonalisation, and self-focused attention in subjects with and without hallucination proneness. Neuropsychiatry 18, — Perry, J. The Far Side of Madness.

Dallas, TX: Spring Publications. Rader, C. An investigation of synesthesia. Rhodes, L. Absorption and enjoyment of music. Skills 66, — Ring, K. Near Death Stud. Rivas, T.

Roberts, J. Religion and epilepsy. Ottawa 14, — Roberts, R. Varney and R. Roche, S. Absorption: nature, assessment, and correlates. Rock, A. Trait absorption, altered meaning, and mood disturbance during shamanic-like journeying: moderator and indirect effects analyses.

Ross, S. Rapid and sustained symptom reduction following psilocybin treatment for anxiety and depression in patients with life-threatening cancer: a randomized controlled trial.

Sanches, L. Kundalini and transpersonal development: development of a Kundalini Awakening Scale and a comparison between groups. Schmid, Y. Acute effects of lysergic acid diethylamide in healthy subjects.

Psychiatry 78, — Schmidt, T. The Ganzfeld experience—a stably inducible altered state of consciousness: Effects of different auditory homogenizations. PsyCh J. Sovatsky, S. Kundalini and the complete maturation of the ensouled body. Advanced Spiritual Intimacy.

Rochester, VT: Destiny Books. Spanos, N. Close encounters: an examination of UFO experiences. St Arnaud, K. Psychosis or spiritual emergency: the potential of developmental psychopathology for differential diagnosis. Stace, W.

Mysticism and Philosophy. New York, NY: St. Martin's Press. Storm, L. Spiritual emergency and psi: testing the psychic opening hypothesis. The psychology and parapsychology of spiritual emergency. Strobbe, S. Spiritual awakening predicts improved drinking outcomes in a Polish treatment sample. Studerus, E. Prediction of psilocybin response in healthy volunteers.

Psychometric evaluation of the altered states of consciousness rating scale OAV. Taylor, S. Spontaneous awakening experiences: beyond religion and spiritual practice. The peak at the nadir: psychological turmoil as the trigger for awakening experiences. Energy and awakening: a psycho-sexual interpretation of Kundalini awakening. Exploring awakening experiences: a study of awakening experiences in terms of their triggers, characteristics, duration and after effects.

Tellegen, A. Terhaar, T. Evolutionary advantages of intense spiritual experience in nature. Study Relig Nat. Terhune, D. A placebo-controlled investigation of synaesthesia-like experiences under LSD. Neuropsychologia 88, 28— Thalbourne, M.

Paranormal and mystical experience: the role of panic attacks and Kundalini. Timmermann, C. Eventually, I came to the point of realizing that I hated my broken body, I hated the world, I hated myself, and I really hated god. Yes, I was very angry at him. He abandoned me. I felt the entire world abandoned me. I threw out everything spiritual in my house. I was facing my darkness with brutal honesty.

I sat with that for a while. Imagine the despair of seeing what lies hidden behind your persona, behind the lies you tell yourself daily. And then a very powerful voice spoke to me. From where this voice came from, I do not know. So I thought about it. I realized that I was not accepting what was happening to me. I was fighting it. I was trying to push away the suffering, but it was obviously not working.

So I followed the message, and surrendered to the suffering, that which is. This continued for two weeks, right through Christmas. I felt so rejected, so abandoned, so alone. The pain of being stripped naked in the frigid cold, with no hope in sight. But I accepted what was happening. I was no longer trying to push it away.

The suffering felt endless, yet I endured it. And then on the morning of January 1, , I woke up. Not to a new year, but a new life. The suffering was gone, all was forgiven, and I was at peace. A peace that I had never known before. That which I thought I was no longer existed. My false perception of Self vanished. I remember the singing of the birds, the sun entering through the window, and everything around me was seen in a new light — a light of awe and amazement. My mind had ceased its chatter, I was experiencing a very deep peace.

And then it started — wave after wave of revelations, of deep knowings. I began to awaken to who I Am. I became acutely aware that I Am eternal and sovereign. Each wave awakened me more to my deepest Self. Each wave also shattered the illusions and deceptions of the world.

As I awakened, my eyes saw a very different world. All the pieces fell into place. Someday I will describe the many revelations that flooded over me. I have already written much about it. The largest wave came a couple of weeks into this. I was meditating, and I went so deep, following the river of life to the depths of my Being.

I was empty, but then from this emptiness, a powerful divine love sprang forth, inundating my entire mind and body. This love is unconditional. It spread out from me everywhere. All of the bugs, the lizards, the birds, the plants, the trees, everything was inundated with this love. I could not tell where I ended and the other Beings began. We were all intrinsically connected with this love; and yet my individual Self remained.

I was not the bugs, the birds or the plants, but the connection was so deep, that I felt they were as if a part of me. There was simultaneously separation and no separation. It is not easy to describe, but this divine love is nothing like the love of this world. But when you do awaken, and you do see the world with new eyes, you soon realize that no one else is seeing the same thing. I tried to tell a few people what had happened to me, but no one believed me.

They thought that perhaps I cracked under the pressure of suffering and had gone crazy. No one wanted to hear anything I said, as it exposed their false beliefs. So I remained quiet for eight years.

How can I possibly explain something so deep, beyond the mind, where people have no concepts or understanding? What I woke up to I call Knowings, as opposed to knowledge. It is not new information, but rather an awakening to your true Self. Someone who has not awakened to his true Self has a difficult time understanding. They believe it is just knowledge, a different set of beliefs.

It is quite pointless to explain this to people because all they know is beliefs. So I remain alone, with but a few friends that have experienced their own dark night of the soul, and awakened to their true Self, if sometimes only a glimmer.

That is all it takes for one to see that there is a deep consciousness separate from the vast majority of people. When one decides to take the Siddhartha road to the Self, he soon realizes he is alone on that road. The herd is going in the opposite direction. One must be prepared for that, to find comfort in being alone, not understood by others. I cannot take any credit for my awakening. I was dragged, kicking and screaming, grasping straws.

No, I take no credit. It was by Grace alone. Grace is within you. Grace is your Self. Grace is not something to be acquired from others. If it is external, it is useless. All that is necessary is to know its existence is in you. You are never out of its operation. You can consciously take that road. But it demands courage, discernment, and brutal honesty of yourself.

The mind is a very tricky opponent and will deceive you at every step, as your awakening is the end of its control over you. But it can be done. Nisargadatta Maharaj did it. You must simply allow Grace to act within you. As far as inner transformation is concerned, there is nothing you can do about it.

You cannot transform yourself, and you certainly cannot transform your partner or anybody else. All you can do is create a space for transformation to happen, for grace and love to enter.

So the choice rests with each of you. No one can do this for you. All I, or anyone else, can offer you are signposts, pointing in the direction. But you, and you alone, must take that road.

It does little good to read my writings and not act upon them, to not take that road yourself. Otherwise, you are only hanging out at the signposts, believing that you have already arrived at the destination. This road is not for the timid or the faint of heart. But there is no other road. No one will simply wave a magic wand over you. How much can you endure? Every piece of you will shatter. Can you endure that? How much do you want it?

How much will you pay for it? That may be the end of this post. Very beautiful accounting of the dark night of the soul…. But, no, there are no short cuts. Sometimes the path can be steep, lonely and discouraging. At the very foundation while in the human body is where our basic survival needs lie: food, water and shelter. If those are threatened, they can and will suck up all our energy….

Getting Enlightened can be fun too. However, I recognise that some struggle as they shed old ways and habits.