A Divine Awakening, Part 2

A Divine Awakening, Part 2

Our awareness is everything; our waking up is everything. We need to move from the superficial or “outer self” to the true self or “inner self.”[1]

The typical daily conscious awareness for most of us is an amalgam of memories and regrets from the past intertwined with plans, hopes, and fears for possible futures. Our minds, for whatever reason, seem naturally to wander into the past or future and pay little attention to what is present with us right here, right now. Since we can only attend to limited amounts of information at a time in our conscious awareness, the more we dwell in the past or the future, the less we are able to focus on the present. It is as if we sleepwalk through our days, daydreaming of past experiences and future possibilities, as we miss out on our only opportunities to live in, act upon, and grow into our lives and surroundings. Contemplative author, Richard Rohr, writes, “Most people think they are their thinking; they don’t have a clue who they are apart from their thoughts.”[2] We cannot discover more about who we actually are when our attention is focused on who we imagine having once been or who we imagine we might become. Realizing that everything from our past and all future possibilities already exist within our being in this present moment is a key turning point in our divine awakening. Ultimately, this moment reveals our core identity.

To the extent we are sleepwalking through our days, we must first wake up in order to grow closer to God and closer to who we are at our essence (which ends up being the same growth target). Until then, we habitually and predictably react to the events of our days and nothing in our inner life changes. We find ourselves stuck in a whirlpool of sameness as the days granted to us on earth steadily pass away. This happens in our church lives, too. We listen to the same (or similar) interpretations of the same (or similar) scriptures; we repeat the same (or similar) prayers; we recite the same creeds and statements of faith; we sing the same songs; we sit in the same seats at services near the same people. There is so much habitual sameness in our lives that we may pass hours, days, and years in our sleep! And some assume that is a good thing. Don’t get me wrong: there is nothing wrong with the scriptures, prayers, creeds, songs, or people at worship except that they are all out there. Meaningful transformation can only occur within. What is needed is a new, deeper, and more focused awareness in this moment of the scriptures, prayers, creeds, songs, and people. If we do not hear or experience them in new ways, if we assume there is only one unchanging meaning to and interpretation of the elements of our religious beliefs, if we do not allow the life-energy around us to change us, we will never awaken to our true self or live the life intended for us.

Waking up involves a change in our inner orientation to our daily experiences. Instead of walking past a stone that catches our eye or hurriedly reading beyond a passage that tugs at us or ignoring an intuition about a friend – instead of treating God’s subtle attempts to capture our attention by treating unusual events as inconsequential distractions or barriers to moving through our days as we have always done, we will eventually die in our sleep. Waking up requires breaking our habitual and unconscious movement toward sameness and intentionally exploring deeply whatever is present with us in the moment. God only speaks in the moment. And God’s is a still, small voicethat is easily drowned out by a noisy world. Of course, it is easier and more comfortable to ignore God’s communications because they always invite us to behave differently. They encourage us to awaken from the drunken stupor of our habitual ways. It is far easier to cling to our status quo and pretend not to hear God calling us to repent (change).

Everything in God’s creation is forever changing and evolving, discarding the old and stale, embracing the new and fresh. Change is the inherent nature of creation, and it is our nature, too, regardless of our age or status in the world. As I write this, spring is emerging with a vengeance, spectacular evidence of transformation in my own backyard! It is my conscious choice whether I perceive these as the same-old grasses, trees, bushes, and flowers leafing out again or whether I celebrate the present moment versions of grasses, trees, bushes, and flowers as they are reborn and remade anew as expressions of God on earth. My area of the earth is waking up and embracing the new day, and so must I.

This is the 24^th in a series titled Crucifying Christianity, Resurrecting the Way.Life Notes are my explorations into mysteries that interest me. They are invitations for readers to explore more deeply into life’s mysteries. Engage with me or explore contemplative spiritual direction at ghildenbrand@outlook.com.

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[1] Matthew Fox, Passion for Creation, Breakthrough, 1995, pp. 1-3.

[2] Richard Rohr, Daily Meditations, March 24, 2025.