I had an impressive insight last week that I want to share. My thoughts have been on the stages of learning. I first learned these from Deepak Chopra’s book “Super Brain”. I recall that he explained that in any learning we go through three levels: hope, belief, and then knowing. I always bring the following example to mind to help me to really grasp the levels. Deepak used the example of growing into adulthood. As a child we hope we can become an adult. In our late teens to early twenties, we believe we are an adult. Later in age, after caring for ourselves and others, we know we are an adult.

I am currently in the revision phase for my novel trilogy. I’ve had working titles so my mind has been reviewing how to improve the stories and reflect the theme into the book titles. I am determined that ‘hope, believe, know’ will feature in the titles as the story is one of growth into knowing that ‘all is well’ when your perspective is raised.

So, the insight I had was about these levels of learning as they relate to spiritual awakening.

Waking Up!

I woke up on MLK Day, January, 2012. I remember because it I had the day off so had time to spend reading the book by Brian Weiss “Many Lives, Many Masters”. Somewhere in the midst of my reading I came to know, “I am an eternal spirit!” It changed my life. I saw everything with new eyes from a new perspective. The fear of death went away. I WOKE UP!

For a while I wondered if this was enlightenment — am I there? It only took a bit of looking around at the great ones: Jesus, of course, but also other living mystics like the Dalai Lama, Fr. Rohr, and Sadhguru for me to realize that enlightenment was so much more.

So what did I just experience?

What does it mean to be ‘woke up’?

Last week I got a clear understanding of the process. What I experienced was arriving at KNOWING that I am an eternal spirit!

As I look back on my life now I can see how I went through the stages:

• As a child when I first learned of death and then experienced it by loosing loved ones, I came to HOPE that I was an eternal spirit. I needed the comfort of thinking that if something happened to kill me that I wasn’t extinguished.
• Religion and Christian faith gave me something to believe in. Belief in Heaven as a place to go to after death was comforting. I chose to believe this was true – the Bible said so. But, I was one to value intelligence and science so I was exposed to many opinions that wanted the proof. I had to keep choosing to believe and grasp onto any science ‘facts’ that might support my choice in case I had to explain my belief one day.

And then I came to KNOW I AM Eternal. I don’t recall the exact passages or points from the book that did it but it turned me into a Seeker of Truth.

I release the fear of being ridiculed for believing something different than western society wants us to believe. I sought out, and found vast numbers of people whose experiences support that we are all spiritual beings.

We are all spiritual beings having a human experience.

I know this.

(Post restored 4-10-22)