Awakening and Enlightenment

Enlightenment, a term more common in the eastern world rather than the western, describes an awakened spiritual state of consciousness where one is liberated from the illusions of the 3-dimensional world, freed from the limitations of physical, emotional, and mental pain and suffering based on attachment. One is released from the bondage of desire and attachment to people, things, beliefs, achievements, etc., experiencing an expanded state of oneness with the whole of creation. Other names to describe this expanded state of awareness where the meaning and purpose of life is understood is Christ Consciousness, Cosmic Consciousness, or God Realization.

Through my own awakening, or reawakening, as we already are what we are becoming aware of, I have grown to understand some of the process and want to help you in your awakening. My journey has brought me many enlightened teachers and experiences to move me further along. I have grown through many inner-world and outer-world experiences, such as lectures, experiential workshops, reading self-help and spiritual books extensively, journal writing, receiving readings, and studying the ancient teachings of esoteric arts and sciences. I was fortunate to have had a personal teacher whom, for several years, dialoged with me on a regular basis. Much time was spent pondering, mediating, and contemplating the many profound inner, mystical experiences I had. I began awakening in suburbia as a wife and mother of three daughters. Many opportunities to expand my consciousness grew out of the intensity and challenges of these close family relationships and the roles I played. The moment to moment experiences that I danced with in my daily life were stepping stones to expand my awareness on my inner journey.

Some experience enlightenment is a moment of realization, while others unfold in a gradual process with degrees of remembering who one really is and reconnecting to one's true Self. For me enlightenment has been a long, gradual process, at times with sudden jumps in awareness. There were many dry periods where not much seemed to happen, that I now see as assimilation times. My inner journey started with curiosity about myself and I gradually discovered that many experiences in the past were part of my path, yet they did not register at the time. For example, at a friend's lake house when I was about 21 years old, I had a chance meeting with a couple who had a child with four birth defects and he did not have long to live. I talked to them for hours about Edgar Casey (a devout Christian who became clairvoyant during meditation, who did many health readings for others during his lifetime) and the information received during the readings about the soul records of this little child. This was a whole new world to me, completely out of my frame of reference. It propelled me to begin my life-long study of metaphysics and spiritual teachings. I began this conscious awakening process by reading the Edgar Casey books.

To continue, I was full of questions. I was curious about everything - what happens after death, what were higher states of consciousness, what does the evolution of consciousness mean, and what were universal Truths, to name a few. There have been some profound moments where insights and understandings were felt in an instant, however, by and large my journey has been a continual process of realization after realization of Universal Truth. It continues today.

My conscious journey began with the need to know myself and included an intense exploration of my family of origin, my culture, and my beliefs, all of which have brought much inner healing. It has taken me into the depth of despair with much pain and suffering as I learned and continue to learn to detach from cultural, familial, relationship, and personal patterns of thinking and behaving that no longer serve me. I have grown out of much of my cultural conditioning where I viewed myself as a victim of circumstances or other people with little power to change things. I now know that I am responsible for what I perceive and experience in my life. The main character, script director, editor, and casting director of my life are all me. Every person and event that shows up in my life always has something to do with me and is not a random person or event. I have learned that I am in charge of growing in awareness and to being a conscious, proactive, person correcting misperceptions and false guiding beliefs, healing my inner-self, and getting to know and communicate with my soul, or true Self. I am responsible for discovering Universal Truths and putting them into practice, for taking risks to expand the boundaries of my consciousness, and to initiate myself into the greater mysteries of life. Much of the time, I feel my oneness with all creation and know the interconnectedness of All That Is. I understand that I co-create my reality in this dimension as well as all others with God. I choose to live in the present moment, detach from the drama of life, transform my shadow or unconscious, and play in the playground of Life. And when I forget all this, to pause, deep breath, spend some time alone to remember the Truth.