Spiritual realizations and revelations are powerful insights. They are my words for medium- and high-level spiritual discoveries. I also talk about the low-level spiritual epiphanies that arise for us. They can be particularly important as stepping stones to help someone be prepared to engage with more profound insights. It’s kind of like building up a spiritual “tolerance” for truth. In a society that is so inundated with lies and illusions, people have a low tolerance to the truth, and many people outright reject the truth when it is shown to them.

That’s why dedication to the spiritual path and preparation is really important for those who actively want a spiritual awakening. After those floodgates open, it’s a whole new world of understanding as spiritual realizations and major revelations flow into someone’s awareness, and you want to be as free of resistance and open to spiritual truth as is humanly possible for that spiritual deluge.

Spiritual Awakening and a Flood of Realizations

If someone is lucky, the spiritual floodgates open. Spiritual revelations and realizations suddenly tumble through you at a dizzying pace. Any initial desire you had for these kinds of understandings may soon wane and be replaced by exhaustion. It’s an intense thing to try and process a lot of realizations and revelations. It’s even more exhausting if a person is actively resisting them.

Consider if someone realizes that they are both one with God and no one at all. The ego-self that may not like these paradoxes may try to fight it. Or it may want to hold onto only the part that makes the ego feel special–the oneness with the Divine part. Meanwhile it tries to resist that equally true part that we are all nobody. That resistance causes greater stress and distress as the flood of spiritual understanding tries to continue. But wherever there is resistance, the healing and spiritual growth ignited by an awakening can begin to slow or stop.

Be Nobody

What Are Spiritual Realizations and Revelations?

As I said, realizations are my medium important spiritual understandings, and revelations are my term for the really major things.

Spiritual realizations can be a lot of things. They might include:

  • Realizing you’re an emotional abuser
  • Discovering you’re in a bad marriage that you thought was good
  • Learning that you have an ego and that your ideas and personality are completely made-up

These realizations can really shake up a person. But spiritual revelations are even more powerful and a lot harder to deny, although people can do it. Some spiritual revelations might be:

  • We are all one
  • There is nowhere to go to be here now
  • The world is all an illusion

The thing about revelations is that they are deeply understood beyond just the mind. The second one I just wrote is underwhelming at just an intellectual level, but if it hits you in the gut, well, my friend, that’s a revelation.

And your world has just changed.

Be Here Now

Exhausted by Revelations

It can be exhausting to process so much, and that can be surprising for someone who only thought a spiritual revelation or realization was just intellectually understanding ideas. However, these kinds of spiritual understandings are going into every aspect and pore of your being, not just the mind. Additionally, there can be resistance in any area–heart, body, mind, or subtle energy. The mental part should be the easiest part. But there are oh-so many ways that people don’t even want to intellectually accept what they discover. So right there, the mind is resisting and getting in the way of any deeper integration with the heart, body, and subtle energy. Furthermore all those areas learn in completely different ways, and they won’t do so or not very well with the mind actively resisting.

In general, there are tremendous forms of gunk, density, and general resistance inside human beings. Getting the mind to simply accept a revelation is key to getting into any level of deeper understanding. Without the mind’s surrender, it’s easy for people to stagnate and to end up in increasingly disturbed, dark places.

Realizations Both Good and Bad

Along with people thinking of spiritual realizations in only mental terms, they often only think of them in terms of enjoyable realizations. Most people don’t want to think that they’ll discover truths that feel bad. In truth, the “bad feelings” come from the ego that determines how you should feel. So “good” and “bad” realizations are really just ego interpretations, and that ego lens sticks around for a long-time. A spiritual awakening starts–STARTS–the dissolving of the ego. It is not the immediate end of ego. It’s more like a lawnmower that mowed down a lot of ego, but there are still plenty of roots in tact. Now that you have some space to move, it’s time to get out the shovel.

And by and large, spiritual realizations and revelations are inspirations to get out your spiritual shovels and dig out deeper issues and attachments. The more attachments you release when an awakening is actively pushing you along, the easier it is to flow through life when this surge of energy abates.

It will abate, by the way. This must be appreciated. The surge of awakened energy is–like any other experience–a temporary experience. It will come and go, and it is through dedication that you can come into a natural, intuitive flow or even spiritual freedom when this particular experience ends.

The Rhythm of Resting in Awakened Awareness

The upshot from all of this is that we learn to be with the “good” and “bad” realizations. We accept the things we don’t like about ourselves, and we engage with the reality of who we are as well as engaging with the stuff we discover that we like.

Realizing More and More About Ourselves

One of the most important aspects about spiritual realizations and revelations is that they help us to truly see ourselves. The more we truly see of ourselves, the easier it is to truly see life and everyone else.

When people have lower level epiphanies and are at lower levels of conscious awareness, they tend to focus on the external world. In particular, they tend to focus on what everyone else is doing wrong. This is not that difficult. Pointing out the flaws in others tends to be a very common ability for most people. The exception tends to be some of those people with deep self-worth issues who tend to see everyone else as better or smarter than themselves. They tend to not see flaws in others. So in that case, they might find themselves discovering more of their own beauty while discovering more of the “ugliness” of the world.

With that said, the inner discoveries are key. As someone learns more about him or herself, there tends to be a natural arising to heal or grow. This isn’t thought out or planned as the ego may be used to doing (particularly if you have a planner/organizer type ego). Rather, this spontaneously arises. From that arising, then perhaps you do have to plan or take concrete action, depending on what has arisen. There’s no specific way that I can cut this cake. That’s why we have to stay present and focused in the moment to address whatever wants to be addressed as is most appropriate. We cannot rely on doing what our ego preferences want us to do.

Being Present But Not Lost in the Moment

Healing and Spiritual Growth Cycles

From our present moment focus, healing and spiritual growth occurs. Wherever you are in your spiritual journey, you will have to address what needs addressing now. If you have a broken leg, you are not running. The person with two healthy legs may be pushed to run, however. Both have awakened in this scenario, but they have awakened to very different egos and life situations, i.e. the broken or healthy leg metaphors. Awakening honors your present reality, and so should you.

From honoring your reality, you then get pushed to address what you need to address. If you deal with the present issue or growth opportunity, then that resolves. The next healing or growth opportunity can then appear. It can’t appear if you don’t address what is needed now, and in this way, we honor that we cannot skip steps. Just imagine trying to run with a broken leg. How much more miserable would this make the spiritual path. You might even decide that “running” is bad and never want to do it again. But if you run with healthy legs, it can become a joy once you get used to it.

This metaphor has so many applications to the spiritual path, and despite how intense the realizations and revelations that come may be, you’re usually getting the amount you can handle and process. Additionally, you aren’t usually getting the full revelation because most people just don’t have the truth “tolerance” for it and might try to “run” when they can’t even stand.

For more thoughts on healing cycles, check out this post:

The Process of Releasing Pain From Your Energy Body

Spiritual Wisdom Grows

By accepting spiritual realizations and revelations, true wisdom grows. What is wisdom? It is knowing how a spiritual realization or revelation applies to everyday life. It is a natural way of acting in accordance to the Divine. It is a beautiful way of effortlessly living with ourselves and our limitations. Wisdom is many things, and it makes us very powerful.

Resting in Your Spiritual Wisdom

Part of spiritual wisdom is honoring that we are all here to be what we are. Everyone is different, and as I’ve mentioned, everyone awakens to different realities. A redwood seed and a peach seed have very different potentials for growth. If you are a redwood tree, you could grow very tall and offer shade to many, many beings around you. The peach tree could mature to offer tons of yummy peaces to the animals living around it. Neither is greater or lesser than the other.

Yet, the ego is tricky. It can look for ways to rebuild itself and to make itself feel special or better than others. That’s why people often have particularly challenging spiritual processes. Our true selves understand that it is important to clear the ego attachments in us that would use these tools and understandings for anything less than the highest good. The grinding down of the ego makes sure we can offer from that highest good.

Spiritual Humility and Life Under God’s Grindstone

And of course, some people go through intense spiritual awakening processes because they are in so much unconscious resistance. Some people will have more to let go of than others. All I can really say is that if you’re feeling really overwhelmed and in a difficult transition, surrender. Let go. This surrender will help you to come to an appropriate level of conscious awareness and be whatever peach, redwood, pine, or [insert your favorite] tree you truly are.

Levels of Conscious Awareness

Relaxing Into Presence

With so much going through a person after awakening (much less the unconscious reactions and resistance), the recommendation to relax into this process may seem impossible. Yet, this is precisely what is required. Relax into this space. Be with what is arising. This will help to neutralize your voluntary resistance. In so doing, you start to work on the deeper attachments, which are a kind of involuntary resistance. As that sloughs away, deeper forms of resistance are revealed, and in that next revealing, new realizations and revelations are seen and are more deeply understood.

In general, I love these two words because they are pointing to the discovery of what is “real.” These discoveries are “revealed.” Nothing new is being illuminated. It just may be new to you, and sometimes, these realizations and revelations aren’t new at all. Perhaps you always knew about them, but you tried to deny them. Now you can’t. Or perhaps, you’re realizing a profound spiritual truth at a different level. Knowing that we are all one in your mind is one thing. Feeling that drop into your heart much less your body is a whole other level of “knowing.”

Once again, come back to the present moment. Breathe. Relax. Witness these discoveries to allow them to be naturally processed. When needed, find the supports you need to process the realizations and spiritual revelations coming to you, but by and large, surrender will allow you to witness and be transformed by the amazing power of awakened energy.

Surrender, Surrender, and Keep Surrendering

How to Guide Your Awakened Energy

(Updated July 9, 2018)

Author

I'm a spiritual teacher who helps people find freedom from suffering.

6 Comments

  1. Where do these realizations come from? Do I have any way of making them happen or at least aiding the process or the frequency at which they come? My mind is stressing so much trying to find out where it all comes from and how I affect the process either negatively or positively… mostly because I want to make it happen when I'm desperate to get out of a situation that's painful for me (most of my realizations have been very liberating).. I also know this is a lot of useless ego noise and resistance but I still feel that I badly need an answer of any sort. Thank you for your wonderful, helpful blog.

  2. Practice going within and meditating in silence instead of seeking mental answers. The silence speaks more wisdom than the ego mind. Thanks for the question, Husna.

  3. Interesting… I feel that I know what you mean. may Allah bless you. I will surely do that.

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