Understanding These 10 Stages Of Spiritual Awakening Can Offer You Clarity, Direction And Sense Of Purpose
You might already be in the midst of your spiritual journey.
Max Keg-fire, Cawisstudio, Berkay08 / CanvaPro Finding purpose in your life and coming into your own being are two goals that many people spend lifetimes trying to achieve. However, with an awareness of your own spiritual journey, you can take your life by the reins.
A spiritual awakening is known as a “call to higher consciousness.” It allows for deeper mental and emotional awareness, a shift in your perspective, and a greater connection with your reality and beyond.
Understanding what this journey looks like, and what stage you might currently be in, can radically change your life.
A guru shared the 10 stages of spiritual awakening that can offer you clarity, direction, and a sense of purpose in your life:
Spiritual Guru August Gonçalves took to TikTok to outline the 10 stages of spiritual awakening and what they can help you achieve, learn, and understand in your life. While many people navigate through different stages subconsciously, his words of wisdom can help shed light on what each stage means and provide support and comfort for people stagnant in their progress.
1. Repetition — living in ‘a bubble’ and being only aware of events happening in our lives.
The first stage is the level of consciousness that many people operate within, sometimes for the entirety of their lives. This low level of being can keep you stagnant, prevent you from making higher connections, and keep you hyper-focused on your physical reality.
“This is when we’re just going through life on autopilot." You’re likely stuck in an unbreakable cycle, not aware of the many patterns and dramas making you unhappy.
2. Trauma — a painful life event ‘pops our bubble,’ making us aware of more than the physical realm.
To break free from this cycle, some kind of painful experience or trauma will likely need to “burst” our bubble of reality.
“Something so painful and traumatic happens, that we’re forced to take inventory of our lives,” Gonçalves explained. “We begin to see that there’s more to our reality than what’s happening around us.”
At this stage, people realize there is more to their lives than the physical environment.
3. Closeness — being forced to grapple with our pain and understand our role in it.
“Whatever happened in stage two, that pain doesn’t automatically go away,” Gonçalves said. “We sit with it, unable to escape it, until we have some kind of insight into what happened.”
While spiritual journeys can be life-changing, that doesn’t mean our pain slowly dissolves without work. In this stage, people are forced to sit with their pain and understand how it’s affected their lives.
Trauma is not easily overcome. Studies have shown that people who build new friendships and connections, start purposeful work or channel strength find it easier to work through their struggles.
4. Perspective shift — finding meaning in our pain.
Stage 4 is what many people associate with a “spiritual awakening,” but this is far from the end of the journey.
After you’ve broken free from your “bubble of reality,” faced adversity, and overcome it, you've likely experienced a shift in perspective.
“It’s like you’ve opened yourself up to an entirely new world,” Gonçalves said. “You’ve really started to accept and understand the pain you’ve experienced.”
These new insights, experiences, and perspectives open you up to a new reality that can foster community, connection, and deep exploration.
5. Exploration — researching the new ideas, perspectives, and feelings we’re experiencing.
Now that you’ve opened the door to this new reality, you’re likely curious. These new insights persuade you to dig deeper.
In order to combat the overwhelming nature of spiritual content and avenues for exploration, Gonçalves advised focusing on only a few new ideas or experiences.
6. Community — gravitating towards people with similar experiences.
“You’ll find comfort in community and gravitate towards people who had similar experiences to you.”
This blossoming new world — full of community, new insights, and connection — is what people often fantasize about when they start their journeys.
Photo: yellowsarah / Canva Pro
It gives hope to people dealing with trauma and motivation for people who’ve become stagnant, but it's still not the end.
7. Regression — sparking a cyclical return to our old behaviors, beliefs, and habits.
Stage 7 is when people break away from their new reality and start to recall their old habits, fears, and behaviors oftentimes introducing them back into their lives.
“We’ve been busy exploring, researching, and enjoying our new community. Our perspectives have completely shifted and we’ve opened up this wonderful and amazing new reality,” Gonçalves said. “However, the emotional baggage that we accumulated prior is still with us.”
Emotional baggage radically affects our day-to-day lives. Addressing, unpacking, and healing from this baggage is pivotal to progress and allows us to make more informed decisions in our lives.
8. Healing — moving past superficial spiritual work into much deeper healing.
Gonçalves explained, “The first time you liberate yourself from even a piece of your trauma … you’re going to experience life-changing results.”
Stage 8 is the most painful stage, but also the most rewarding. Oftentimes, individuals work with professionals to digest and overcome their unresolved traumas.
Whether it be childhood trauma or more recent struggles, overcoming gives you a clean slate and allows you to then help others.
9. Sharing wisdom — helping other people on their spiritual journeys.
You’ll likely come across people on similar journeys to you. Giving them support and sharing wisdom is as much a part of your journey as it is theirs.
This doesn’t mean giving them all the answers or holding their hand, but instead being a listening ear that provides support for them to pave their path forward.
10. Personal intimacy — continuing to work on yourself and navigate through issues as they arise.
The final stage of your spiritual awakening is maintaining a calmness, comfort, and intimate relationship with yourself. You’ve worked with others to heal from trauma, you’ve shared wisdom with friends, and built an important community of support around you, now it’s time to refocus.
After completing the steps you should feel balanced and energized.
According to Gonçalves, "You become very self-aware … any issues that come up, you can work through them much faster."
Now that you've crafted a healthy equilibrium, you can begin to thrive in the happiness, stability, and comfort of your life.
Zayda Slabbekoorn is a news and entertainment writer at YourTango focusing on pop culture analysis and human interest stories.