Are you unknowingly chasing spiritual myths that limit your awakening journey?
You might be holding onto beliefs about enlightenment and spiritual awakening that are actually keeping you stuck in place. As a spiritual awakening mentor who has worked with hundreds of people navigating different stages of their awakening journey, I’ve discovered that certain myths appear again and again – subtle thoughts and limiting beliefs that can make the difference between giving yourself full permission to move forward or unknowingly sabotaging your progress.
Today, we’re going to explore seven of the most prominent spiritual awakening myths that might be holding you back from your true spiritual potential.
Myth #1: Spiritual Awakening Happens Instantly
One of the most pervasive misconceptions is that enlightenment occurs in a single moment where everything changes – your ego vanishes, and you completely transcend all human qualities of body and personality in one second.
While you can certainly have profound experiences of Satori – moments of oneness that last seconds, hours, days, or even weeks – it’s crucial to remember that experiences always have a beginning, middle, and end. Spiritual awakening isn’t about temporary experiences, no matter how profound. It’s about recognizing what is not bound by time, what doesn’t begin or end.
These spiritual experiences can actually become traps. I’ve seen many students, including myself, get caught up in amazing experiences of Samadhi. When I had these experiences, my ego took hold of them and declared, “I’m so spiritual, I’m better than everyone else, I know everything now.” This is incredibly common and explains why some people become so confident in ideas that are still rooted in ego.
Even after the highest experiences, the ego can return in a transformed way. There’s still integration work to be done – the light of Enlightenment needs to be brought into all areas of your life. It’s truly an endless process. Enlightenment is just the beginning.
Myth #2: Spiritual Awakening Is Only for Special People
Many believe that Enlightenment is reserved for rare individuals – sages and saints meditating in the Himalayas for decades, performing impossible tasks beyond normal human capability. This is simply untrue.
Spiritual awakening is fundamentally a simple realization of who you are. Yes, Enlightenment requires work, but it’s possible for anyone who sincerely seeks it because it is your true nature. It cannot be taken away from you – it’s your birthright.
Especially now, millions of beings are awakening. Despite the wars, chaos, suffering, and poverty in our world, these very challenges are leading people to question who they truly are, why they’re here, and what’s happening in this dream of existence. The consciousness of humanity is shifting because of this widespread awakening.
Your ego might convince you that awakening isn’t possible for you – perhaps because you lack knowledge, don’t know Sanskrit or scriptures, or weren’t born into the “right” religion, class, or race. None of this matters. As Buddhists say, everything is Buddha nature. You can be Enlightened in this lifetime, and even in this very moment.
If you believe the limitation that it’s not possible for you, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. I’ve worked with countless people who had self-doubt, fears, and confusion – yet time and again, I’ve witnessed them cross that threshold into awakening.
Myth #3: Spiritual Awakening Is Always Blissful
The idea that spiritual awakening is all rainbows and butterflies simply isn’t accurate. While awakening often includes beautiful experiences where you encounter the light of God and your own radiance, leading to joyous dimensions of light, there’s much more to the story.
I often tell my students that life gives you a sample – like those tasty samples at Costco that make you say, “Oh my God, this is so good!” But you can only have a sample or two. It’s actually an invitation to commit and purchase the full experience.
Earning your spiritual awakening through integration may take you through all sorts of ups and downs. Some of these can be tragic, sad, and heartbreaking. Yet even in difficulty, there’s grace. Even when it looks ugly, there’s deeper beauty in what’s happening – everything unfolds for your growth and discovery of your true self.
Spiritual awakening doesn’t stop with one or two blissful experiences. It’s an invitation to fully receive who you are, which may require facing your demons and fears, pushing beyond your perceived boundaries. In this way, awakening becomes a grand adventure where you never know what’s coming next.
Myth #4: Enlightenment Requires Abandoning Material Success
This belief is widespread but false. While there have been renunciate monks like the Buddha, who left his princely wealth and kingdom to practice severe austerities, there are also examples like King Janaka – famous for being an Enlightened king who brought balanced, wise leadership to his kingdom through his awakening.
The secret isn’t avoiding material wealth but seeing these resources as gifts from God to help you progress on your journey, rather than making material accumulation the end goal itself.
The ego typically operates through desire and aversion – wanting what it likes and pushing away what it doesn’t. To overcome this pattern, some initially find it helpful to renounce material things entirely. However, there are other paths where you bring the light of your awakening into the material world – into relationships, finances, and everything you do as a human being.
True spirituality isn’t running away but embracing life fully. You can live completely engaged while remaining unaffected by life’s ups and downs – being in the world but not of it. Let your material resources support your spiritual journey, and when difficulties arise, see them too as serving your path to awakening.
Myth #5: Awakening Guarantees Psychic Abilities
Many people expect that spiritual awakening automatically comes with psychic abilities – mind reading, astral travel, teleportation, or moving objects with your mind.
While it’s possible to develop these abilities (which are actually natural capabilities you were born with but forgot), they’re not guaranteed or necessary for awakening. I started seeing auras and chakras as a young child, and because both my parents were healers who worked with energy, I thought everyone could see these things. I didn’t realize until later that most people had no access to this hidden world.
As you awaken and remove the filters that numb your senses, you may experience these other realities. However, this isn’t why your awakening is happening, nor is it required for everyone.
Many people actually get stuck because of psychic abilities. I’ve had students who, upon awakening, began having psychic visions, hearing voices, or feeling different dimensions. Because they weren’t prepared or didn’t understand what was happening, they became diverted from their path, sometimes misguided by voices or thinking these abilities were the goal.
I went through a phase of channeling, thinking that was my purpose. While it was part of my journey, I learned not to rely on outside forces I didn’t truly know. I learned to honor my own light and use any abilities modestly and appropriately.
These abilities can be a wonderful adventure, but remember – it’s not about the fancy, shiny phenomena. It’s about your higher self, your true self.
Myth #6: Awakening Happens Only Through Understanding
Many approach awakening as purely an intellectual exercise, believing they can think their way to enlightenment. While intellectual understanding can be helpful – I come from the Jnana Yoga tradition of Advaita Vedanta, the path of knowledge and non-duality – I’ve seen many peers, students, and myself get stuck in intellectual concepts.
Even though understanding can provide epiphanies and realizations, it doesn’t take you all the way. Awakening isn’t just about figuring it out through mental headquarters or brain exercises. You must bring your heart into it and experientially realize who you are from a deeper place.
If it were just about reading, everyone who read books on Enlightenment would be instantly awakened. But there are nuances that words cannot describe, misconceptions hidden within concepts. All concepts contain some duality and limitation, making it nearly impossible to convey the fullness of Enlightenment through words alone.
This is why ancient lineages have passed the deepest teachings through energy transmissions for generations. Having an Enlightened teacher or mentor means receiving not just intellectual understanding, but energetic sharing of awareness. This is how I received my first samadhis and breakthrough experiences – not through thinking or reading, but through transmission.
Most of the world remains attached to one dualistic aspect of concepts, believing their side to be the complete truth. But what’s beyond the mind contains all dualities and multiplicities simultaneously, existing beyond time, space, and logic. Our ego can misuse even beautiful spiritual truths, interpreting them to serve its own continuation.
Myth #7: You Can Do It Alone
Perhaps the most limiting myth is believing you can navigate your awakening journey entirely on your own. While spontaneous awakening has occurred for very few people – often advanced souls who’ve done the work in previous lifetimes – for most of us, having an Enlightened mentor is incredibly helpful, if not essential.
This world is full of diversions and distractions, and our own ego fights against our Enlightenment. Even with access to the highest teachings – from Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad, Sufi mystics, Kemetic traditions, Kabbalah, and other profound scriptures – these can be extremely difficult to interpret without alive, Enlightened teaching relevant to your current situation.
I spent seven years searching before finding my first Enlightened teacher, with whom I had breakthrough experiences. After studying with him for three to four years, I found my second teacher who took me even higher. Remember, Enlightenment is just the beginning.
Having an Enlightened mentor who can see, sense, and understand where you are and help you move forward is precious beyond measure. It’s important to emphasize Enlightened mentor – if the blind lead the blind, there’s no hope of finding light.
The community built around this path also provides invaluable support. When you’re stuck in darkness alone, it can feel hopeless. But with an Enlightened mentor and supportive community, you receive constant reminders, inspiration, and feedback that changes everything.
Your Next Step on the Awakening Path
After years of guidance from my Enlightened mentors, I was told it was time to pay it forward. I created my mentorship and community specifically to help spiritually awakening beings who are going through disruptive awakenings, dark nights of the soul, or simply have questions and confusion while seeking guidance.
I know how it feels to try doing this alone – the hopelessness, not knowing which direction to go, going in circles on a slippery slope. But I also know how life can change forever when you find the right Enlightened guidance.
If you’re one of the millions awakening and looking for help, I invite you to take the first step. Understand what’s really happening in your journey, learn about common pitfalls and mistakes, discover the possibilities available for your awakening, and find the right kind of support.
If this resonates at all, I invite you to book a free spiritual consultation call. On this call, you can receive a lot of clarity for your path as well as the steps that I wish someone had told me during my seven years of searching.
Remember: Enlightenment is possible for you in this lifetime, and it’s much easier than you think. The time to move beyond being stuck is now.
Namaste.
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