Spirituality as Awakening
By Wafa Faith Hallam
May 23, 2010
It is often through the fire of suffering that we're led to the light of consciousness!
By Wafa Faith Hallam
May 23, 2010
It is often through the fire of suffering that we're led to the light of consciousness!
Suffering, as the Buddhists see it—in the West, we call it dissatisfaction, depression, angst, emptiness, stress—is now the plight of humanity, at least of the privileged Western populations who have been through an orgiastic materialism and are now waddling around with an empty heart and a mammoth hangover.
At the heart of all the world’s religions, is immaculate faith and pure spirituality. However, that spiritual core is often tarnished by the interpretation of extreme fringes with their rigid creeds, insidious duplicity, and loud exclusiveness. As such they have become a turn off to most people as each preaches exclusive rights to God.
For those left out of the inherent spirituality of their religious upbringing, what remains is a craving for something else, even if it is not new at all. For that reason, I believe “New Age” spirituality is an unpalatable designation for a movement that’s in pursuit of enlightenment and consciousness and is based on age old principles.
Spirituality—with no other identifier or label—means Awakening. It is mostly stripped of religious doctrine and dogma and it is the only true, permanent answer to suffering. By shedding the light of consciousness on who we really are and what our true purpose is, it rids us of fear and opens up our hearts to love, unity, and peace. Because it is non-denominational, it includes all of humanity and the rest of God’s creation, animals and plants, mother Earth and the universe.
The inherent beauty of Awakening and its widespread appeal is that it is the kernel of truth, the divinity, that’s to be found within us all. Buddha, Jesus, Krishna, Mohamed, Yahweh, have all seen God and known its bliss. The challenge was to bring that bliss to the masses. What men, often centuries later, did with their message is what we've known throughout history as religious divisiveness.
Because of humanity’s infinite diversity, it’s evident that one doctrine, one ritual, cannot answer everyone’s needs. Spirituality is about tolerance and flexibility. Awakening is about using any path one chooses to attain the Truth. All the rivers on Earth strive toward the ocean and dissolve into one.
Hence it is to become One with the universe, reclaim the Truth, and find inner peace by surrendering to what is and thus accepting suffering as we do joy, that an ever increasing number of people throughout the world are weaving spirituality into the fabric of their lives. It is happening everywhere, even in the most unlikely of places.
This blog is about my journey, my personal drive to awaken and know God, after I experienced much suffering. My story is meant to awaken and inspire others to seek the path of enlightenment in their own unique ways.
