Spiritual Awareness Belongs To Everyone

The other day, while eating breakfast with my family, my son teased me by calling me a ‘boomer.’ Annoyed, I looked up from my phone and asked him why he said that? Apparently, I was holding my phone ‘incorrectly’ and I had the nerve to gingerly scroll the menu with my pinky finger in the air!

“Mom, you are holding the phone like an old lady, squinting your eyes to see the screen, because you’re a boomer.”

“Well excuse me, Mr. Gen Z,” I replied, trying not to laugh. “You have it all wrong, as I happen to be a proud member of Generation X. I was not born during the time of the ‘baby boomers.’

This brought up a family discussion about younger generations acting as if they are so ‘woke,’ and automatically assuming their parents and grandparents are ignorant or behind the times. Meanwhile it seems most younger people are not necessarily as aware and informed as they’d like to believe they are.

I remember when I was young adult, thinking that my parents and grandparents were ‘square’ and did not possess all the wisdom they seemed to claim they had. So, to be fair, I displayed the same youthful arrogance or pomposity back then that my son did at the breakfast table.

While I was doing the breakfast dishes, the conversation got me thinking about humanity and how we have evolved as a species. When does change in behavior really occur and what is it that makes a person spiritually aware and truly wise? What is spiritual awakening and what does the term mean to most people?

Many spiritual seekers use the term ‘awakening’ loosely to refer to an inner epiphany or a change in personal consciousness that makes one ‘more special’ or ‘superior to others,’ but I don’t think true awakening is anything like that.

Spiritual opening is not a withdrawal to some imagined realm or safe cave. It is not a pulling away, but a touching of all the experience of life with wisdom and with a heart of kindness, without any separation ~ Jack Kornfield

To me, spiritual awakening is when we see ourselves as the other, or we no longer feel a sense of separateness from people we used to dislike, criticize, or feel threatened by. It is my understanding that Spirit has no exclusions, preferences, or selectiveness, or choosing a particular person based on a deservingness, when it comes to spiritual awakening.

When we lived in Nevada City, California, in the 1990s, we invited a spiritual teacher who was a disciple of a well-known guru to our house to hold a satsang. Satsang is a Sanskrit term from ancient India meaning ‘to speak about the ultimate truth in the presence of community.’

We invited several of our friends to come and listen to the spiritual teacher. They were shocked when they discovered he was a former inmate who spent ten years in prison for bank robbery!  As the teacher spoke about his experiences and realizations that he had while behind bars, as well as after he was released from prison, it became glaringly obvious that Spirit does not discriminate, and that true spirituality is not the exclusive privilege of those who are perfect ‘do-gooders.’

When you are spiritually connected, you are not looking for occasions to be offended, and you are not judging and labeling others. You are in a state of grace in which you know you are connected to God and thus free from the effects of anyone or anything external to yourself ~ Wayne Dyer

The truth of our spiritual being shines through both the sinners and the saints, the older and younger generations, and all sentient beings who roam the earth. I like to think of spiritual awareness as a daily, open-eyed meditation, of being present in the moment and allowing life to unfold as it chooses around us.

When we spiritually awaken, our ego defenses come tumbling down, because we realize we are connected to everything, and that we are not separate from one another. We are now ‘resting in awareness,’ or effortlessly being, showing up for each moment with an open heart and mind.

Later that day, I thanked my son for calling me a ‘boomer,’ because it brought our family the gift of love and laughter, and another moment of increased spiritual awareness into the world.