SPIRITUALITY

Spiritual Awakening Is Nature Power. The Magic Is Happening Right Now

Have a look at the 21st century with spiritual glasses and you might see this

We are spiritual beings with a soul. I’m just so convinced of this fact that I often forget to say it out loud. We, humans, have a purpose. We have a soul’s purpose. And if we shed the layers of so-called intellect and go to our wild core, we can feel it clearly.

So, what is spiritual awakening? And are some people more awake than others? Is there a hierarchy in awakening? And how do we go about awakening?

My friend Lanu Pitan wrote: “Spiritual Awakening in the 21st Century”. And she inspired me big time with her story! Inspired me enough to give my views. I would love to hear your personal insights. And together achieve some kind of further awakening.

Being awake is all there is. It’s a journey. And let me tell you a little secret upfront. We’re all students, learning from each other. No teachers here. No gurus. There are no enlightened beings on this Earth.

My life partner Mike always tells me very clearly (and he is often more awake than I am):

“Full enlightenment only takes place in your coffin”

Of course, you can learn from people who walk a little ahead of you. But you have to do your own work. It’s hard. It sometimes sucks. But o my, how rewarding it is when I have managed another mile on my journey.

And then I celebrate with the people who are in my spiritual tribe. You don’t have a tribe yet? Go, find one. It doesn’t take much. Just be you. Authentic you. Kind you. And you’ll attract your tribe.

Some people are in there for a short period of time. Don’t hold on to them. They are in your tribe just to teach you something. Or you are in their tribe to teach them. Others will be in there for life.

The organism expands and contracts like breathing. And you are in the middle. Be the breath. Breathe! And live life to the full…

Only YOU know what your life looks like and what you need in order to grow as a person on this planet. So, don't look any further and become your own best master at life.

The organism of your life expands and contracts like breathing

Religions and Nature

Spirituality has many faces. Some people find spirituality in their faith. Their religion. They find their tribe there. And if they find kind people there, they can be fully themselves.

For me, this hasn’t worked well. Being brought up a Catholic, I stopped going to church at the age of 15. It all felt so hypocritical. So one-size-fits-all. One male priest, who tells us what to think and how to live our lives. How can he know what I feel?

The concept of sins never appealed to me either. Is sexuality sinful? No. Lust is part of life. Like love is. They are just two sides of one medal and it’s our job to balance the paradox. Nature is full of paradoxes and that’s a tool for awakening in itself.

So, I lived my life without religion. For a long time, it has been a very intellectual life for me. Work. Marriage. Books. Philosophies. Thinking. And life became really complicated in my head. I couldn’t find a way out.

My intellectual life became really complicated in my head. I couldn’t find a way out

Until something shattered. I always call it: a crack appeared so the light could come in. It was no lightening-bolt for me. It was more like a gradual learning path. Zen meditation was my first flavor of spirituality. I tried to understand it but couldn’t grasp the real meaning at all.

I was what Clarissa calls: “a Dummling’, a dimwit. Thrashing about like a Wild Women not initiated, breaking all kinds of things and people and patterns in the process. Couldn’t help it. I was just not awake back then.

And then came Nature. Gaia. She showed herself fully dressed up in the woods and oceans. Teaching. Unfreezing me. Showing me how my body and my soul collaborate for one purpose: my earthly experience of learning how to be awake.

My earthy life had broken down by then and I was in a dark place. So I walked for long periods of time in Nature. Letting my tears stream. And after about one and a half hours the light came in.

A tiny ray of light through the clouds of confusion. And I felt a little lighter. One step at a time.

Nature is Spirituality

Lanu Pitan tells us in her story to live a life without attachments. And that’s true. Attachment to things makes us feel bad when we lose them. It’s just a teaching trigger. And I hope all people in their luxury yachts will get that realization someday. We cannot take our money, our boats, and our big houses with us. So, what’s the point? Trying to impress? Who?

Attachment to people is another big issue. I’m reading ‘Women who run with the Wolves’ by Clara Pinkola Estes often and learn new things every time. When she explains The Ugly Duckling story, she tells us that we will have more than one mother in life. It has nothing to do with our own mother being not good enough. It’s just that we need more than one archetypical mother to become who we need to be in this life.

So, we should go out and find people to teach us bits and pieces we don’t know yet. Getting attached to all people in our lives is of no use. It makes us stuck in life.

So, what about the people we really love and who are most important in our tribe? Our loved-ones? Our spouse? Our children?

Even with them, attachment is an issue. They should be free to live their lives in their own ways. I’m not saying don’t love them. I say: love them dearly! As much as you can! But love them unconditionally. They will make their mistakes. And maybe the things you see as mistakes will be their best journey steps ever.

Love them! With a focus on your own life. Also here, you can see a breathing movement. Go broader to let your love organism encompass all beings in your life. And breathe out again. Focus on your own life.

Breathing is a movement of life. A life force

21st Century

Here is my view on our connection to nature. LIFE is all there is. And our planet supports LIFE unconditionally. So, what do I see for the 21st century?

I see a planet that has a hard time breathing. So much is burning. So much is being destroyed. I see a lot of oppression in the world. People who think they are smarter than others. That they have the right to own more than others. That they have the right to colonize and go to war over possessions. They feel superior. And others feel inferior.

It’s like this wheel of power and privilege, made by Sylvia Duckworth. Our job is to heal our own wounds in areas in which we have no privilege. Go beyond victimhood and see how the world looks from a healed place. A place of knowing that we have the power to change reality. All of us. And if we support others doing the same, we will change the power system together.

Spiritual awakening will really help us getting this solved. And I don’t mean man-made rules in religions. I mean the spiritual mother in you. She is fed by Gaia. She is inspired by the laws of nature and how nature designs systems. And she knows what to do next in her own life. Your life. It doesn’t matter if you are a man or a woman. We all have a mother.

We have a birth mother. We have Gaia as a mother. And we go out and find other mothers to groom us further. To teach us. To train us. To help us find out how truth feels for us. There is only one truth, you know. We are humans with a soul’s purpose on a vastly intelligent planet that feeds us goodies for our bodies and for our souls.

Desperate or Active Hope?

Am I desperate to feel the Earth has trouble breathing? No! Am I desperate to feel the oppression of people who shout the loudest that they are right and all other people are wrong? No!

I just do what I do. I play my modest role on the chessboard of life. I love. I live. I learn. I influence others with what I know now. That we can design different human systems that are in line with natural systems. I emit active hope in everything I do. From the smallest conversations in my daily life to the grandest talk on stage in my business life.

I’m not saying that this century will be easy. Many people will pass away. Many natural disasters might wash over us. And we will use all this darkness to find human wisdom for future generations. They are the ones who come after us. Our children, our grandchildren. They have to live their lives too on this planet.

I am in a strong undercurrent of people who see what I see. That the Anthropocene is making way for the Symbiocene. The era of full human control is past its peak. So many people are creating new human systems now. In collaboration. Without hierarchy, just learning and experimenting together. Creating LIFE.

The Anthropocene is making way for the Symbiocene

Nature isn’t fast. Nature evolves in cycles and never really fast. Although we are speeding up now. But then, the first three seeds for this change were already planted in the 1970s.

In the undercurrent, we are not fighting over details. We support each other because we know we are in the same wave. We know that we do not see all there is to see. We know we will not see all during this lifetime. We know others see other things. And that those things are okay. We will not fall into the trap of guru culture. Or cancel culture.

We just observe and pour love and light over the whole muddled reality of today. We stand up tall and speak our truth when we feel we should. We are guided to be a catalyst or a harmony maker. Whatever the situation requires. We have the daring to be catalysts and go against what is called ‘normal’. And we have our tribe to support us if others do not understand our role and cancel us.

The Awakening Journey

So, how do you become an awakened being? It’s important to realize that there are three time-spheres. The past, the present, and the future.

We can only live our lives in the present moment. There is no past, there is no future. Because the moment you think about the past or the future, you are again in the present thinking about the past or the future. Eckhardt Tolle wrote fascinatingly about that in his masterpiece The Power of Now.

We can only live our lives in the present moment

How does it feel to be in the present moment? Well, you’ll find out when you manage it. Often we are trapped in our ‘pain body’ because we still have so many past experiences from our life to heal. And from our ancestors’ lives and perhaps also from past lives. Healing the past is an important first step.

Heal them with the tools you get on your path. Meditation, breathwork, embodying, lots of nature connection, gardening, and long walks outside. Be outside as much as you can because the trees, rivers, and mountains will help us remember who we really are.

They will show us we can unleash a better future together.

Please remember, there’s no such thing as one perfect path. Yes, Eckhardt taught me things. Is he my guru? No, I have no gurus on Earth.

I’m the only person who knows what works for me. So I have added many other things than what Eckhardt knows to my own personal journey. That’s me. Authentic me. And it’s my life. No one else’s.

For me, Gaia and other spiritual beings guide me. For you, it might be God. Or Allah. Or Buddha. Or Brahma. And Gaia. She’s there for us all. She’s Mother Nature and she can be added to all other religions. She resides in our soul. She is our mother.

Listen to your inner mother. And you’ll find your path.

Happy journeying!

Want to connect? You can find me somewhere on our beautiful planet, with my hands in the soil and my eyes gazing at moonshots and quantum leaps. Or find me via Linktree.

Thank you, Mike, for adding your wise energy to my words.

© Désirée Driesenaar