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The symptoms of spiritual awakening
In this blog post I’m going to explain how we relate to our mind when we’re spiritually
awake. The spiritual awakening symptoms are not symptoms to our body, but rather just
a change in how we relate to our thoughts. Broadly speaking, spiritual awakening consists
of 1 (or more) of 3 different major changes to how we interact with our mind.
spiritual awakening symptoms
Spiritual awakening symptoms #1: Loss of thoughts that create identity
The first way to spiritually awaken is to simply lose the thoughts that make up your
self image. Almost everyone has an identity/self-image that is comprised of thoughts. For example,
we might think some version of "I’m unattractive, successful, boring, caring, spiritual, and
a mediocre mother". If the thoughts that describe who you are stop popping up in your head,
then you have lost your identity. When you lose your identity, that is spiritual awakening.
I was living like everyone else, with a very strong self-image that made me almost always
feel like I was insufficient or there was something lacking in my life. Then, in one
moment, I lost almost all of my thoughts, including my identity and who I thought I
was. And these thoughts didn't come back. Since the thoughts which made up my self image
don't arise in my mind any more, I was left just being here now, without having any story
of who I am. There is no "I am this" or "I am that", there is just "I am", I’m just
here and that's the end of the story.
So first way spiritually awaken is to just lose the thoughts and not have the thoughts
that make up your old identity.
Spiritual awakening symptoms #2: Don't believe the thoughts that create identity
The second type of spiritual awakening is to just see that the thoughts that make up
your identity aren’t true. So, let’s give you an example of that. For example, maybe
you have a part of your self-image that is "I am a nice person". But, when you wake up,
you might see, well where does nice exist? Is that real? Is that factual? Where is it
located? Or you might say, I’m me in every moment; But am I nice in every moment? Well,
sometimes I’m mean and sometimes I’m just normal, so nice isn’t who I am because in
some moments I’m not nice but yet I am still here. If I am here and nice isn't, then nice
can't be me. Or, you might look at it in a different way, such as some people will think
I’m nice, some people won’t so how do I know whether I am nice or not?
Basically, there are many different thoughts that come together to form your self image,
but if you're able to see that these thoughts aren’t true, aren’t real, aren’t factual,
aren’t based in reality, then you’re not going to be affected by these thoughts that
create your self image. In addition, you won’t have a self image because when you don’t
believe a thought, they don’t come back, they don’t create our emotions, they don’t
create our experience of life. So that’s the second possible spiritual awakening symptom.
For me, what happened was I lost my identity in one moment, but then my mind tried to create
a new identity of "I am awake", or "I am happier than others", or "I know so much". But, each
time a new thought popped up in my head to create a new self image, I would just take
a look at it and see that the thoughts weren't true. Then, that new identity would just dissolve
and not come back.
spiritual awakening symptoms
Spiritual awakening symptoms #3: Recognize that the thoughts aren't yours
The third type of spiritual awakening is to recognize that the thoughts in your mind aren’t
yours, and have nothing to do with you. It is hard to understand this concept intellectually
or theoretically, so lets try a little exercise to make this concept more experiential. In
this moment, I'd like you to just be curious about what thoughts are going through your
mind right now, and then ask yourself "I wonder what the next thought to pop up in my mind
will be?". Just take a look for yourself. Be curious, and check out what the next thought
in your mind will be? Okay, did you see it? Did you see the next comment, question, thought,
that arose in your mind?
Well, where did that thought come from? Who put it there? How do you know it’s yours?
Do you pick the thoughts that enter your mind? Do you control the thoughts that enter your
mind? If you pick the thoughts that enter your mind, why would you pick negative thoughts?
If you control the thoughts you give attention to and believe, why would you ever give attention
to negative thoughts and believe negative thoughts that create your suffering?
After spiritual awakening (when we fit into this 3rd category), we just recognize that
the thoughts in mind aren't mine, they’re just background noise. Thoughts are like a
radio playing in the background when you don't have an on/off switch, you don’t control
what channel it’s on, and you can’t change the volume. The thoughts in your mind have
nothing to do with you. It’s not personal and when you see that the thoughts in your
mind aren’t personal, then just because it says "I am unworthy" or "I am great", it
doesn’t actually mean I am unworthy or great. It’s like a stranger has been saying "I
am unworthy" to you and you think it was your own voice. Since it seems to be your own voice,
you just automatically take the words as true and real.
But, when you recognize that the thoughts in your mind aren’t yours and you’re not
identified with the thoughts in your mind, then these thoughts won't affect you. You
meet these thoughts with the same skepticism that you would a stranger's words. There’s
no "who you are" because the only thing to tell you who you are is thoughts. And if you
see that the thoughts in your mind aren’t yours, then, it doesn’t matter what thoughts
thoughts in our mind aren't ours, and therefore don't mean anything about us.
Thoughts can't create any emotions (or our experience of life) when we see that thoughts
aren't true or real. And when we see that the thoughts aren't our voice, then it is
automatic for us to recognize that the thoughts aren't real or true. Then, we're free!!
Most of the time, I am not identified with the thoughts in my mind, yet sometimes I am.
But, since thoughts rarely arise in my mind, I seemingly lost all versions of identity,
and I can't believe the concepts that create suffering, it doesn't seem to matter whether
I'm identified with thoughts or not in a given moment.
spiritual awakening symptoms
Spiritual awakening symptoms
For each person, the spiritual awakening symptoms are different. But, the vast majority of spiritual
awakenings fall into one of the three categories mentioned above. Some people just lose a chunk
of their thoughts, some people stop believing a large portion of the thoughts that make
them unhappy, and some people just don’t identify with their thoughts. Each one of
those categories of awakening has different intricacies about the experience of being
awake or different intricacies about how they view the world, and different intricacies
about how they teach. So, there might be more types that I’m not aware of but those are
the types that I can relate to and that I see in my own experience.
spiritual awakening symptoms
I hope the video helped to clarify spiritual awakening symptoms for you. If you have any
questions, or would like some help with this, please don't hesitate to contact me. Thank
you for reading! Bye.
Noah Elkrief