The idea of a spiritual awakening takes many different forms in the different possibilities that we find in life. Though we experience similar experiences, each of us experiences the awakening filtered through us in our own way. The shape that our awakening takes in our lives will vary; depending on who we are. For some of us, the awakening that happens will result in renewed interest in religion or mysticism. Others will awaken to an understanding of the lives of those around them, experiencing empathy perhaps for the first time. Still others will realize that they have awakened to their own moral or ethical principles of spirituality. Most of us experience our spiritual awakening as a combination of these things, each combination as unique as the individual who’s been awakened.

If there are so many different varieties of awakenings, how do we know if we’ve truly had one? There are two signs: We’ve found principles capable of guiding us in our lives, the kind of principles we want to practice in our lives. And we begin to care enough about another human-being to freely share with them the experience we’ve had. No matter what the details of our awakening are like, we all are given the guidance and love we need to live fulfilling, spiritually oriented lives.