“Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” (Ephesians 5:14)
Spiritual literature often revolves around the idea of “waking up.” As we begin our spiritual journey, we encounter terms like “awakening,” “enlightenment,” “being born again,” “dying to the old self,” “attaining bliss,” “reaching nirvana,” or “experiencing nothingness.” All these terms refer to the same concept: waking up from our human awareness into a deeper, spiritual consciousness. But what does it mean to be in a human state of awareness, and what does a spiritual state of awareness look like? How can we attain this state?
To start exploring this, let’s simply ask, “What does it mean to ‘wake up’?” The answer is clear because we do it every morning. We wake up from sleep, a time when we are unconscious, and then become aware. “Spiritual awakening” refers to this same process, but on a spiritual level. It suggests that our human existence is one of spiritual unconsciousness, and it calls us to “wake up” to a state of spiritual awareness.
It’s important to remember that anything we discuss spiritually is only a pointer to the truth. We can never fully grasp the spiritual with our human minds, so we can only point to what is spiritually real. This is why spiritual literature is full of stories, parables, koans, poems, and metaphors. As Lao Tzu says in the Tao Te Ching, “The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao. The name that can be named is not the eternal name.” To understand the spiritual, we rely on these pointers. Let’s explore one such pointer through the story of the Fall of Man in the Bible.
In the book of Genesis, we read about Adam and Eve, the first humans, living in the Garden of Eden—a paradise. They are allowed to do anything they want, but are forbidden to eat the fruit from one tree: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Everything else in the garden is theirs for the taking. Eventually, Eve eats the forbidden fruit, and Adam follows suit. When confronted by God, Adam confesses he was hiding because he was ashamed of his nakedness, prompting God to ask, “Who told you that you were naked?” Adam admits they ate from the tree and gained knowledge of their naked, imperfect state. God becomes angry and worried that Adam and Eve might eat from the tree of life and live forever, so He expels them from the garden. An angel with a flaming sword is placed at the entrance, ensuring they cannot return.
The Genesis story is filled with symbolism, allegory, and vivid imagery. The God depicted in the story seems limited, unaware of Adam and Eve’s actions, and reacts angrily when they exercise the free will He gave them. This makes the story difficult to interpret literally, but it still offers valuable spiritual insights about “The Fall” or the “falling asleep.”
In Genesis, humanity’s fall begins when Adam and Eve, living in paradise, lose their constant presence with God. This paradise is likely the state of “Being Awake” we are seeking. Awakening involves returning to an awareness of being in God’s presence, realizing we are never truly separate from God. But what caused the rift between humanity and this state of paradise? Was it their disobedience, or was it the knowledge of good and evil that led to the fall? After all, there could be no concept of “disobedience” until they ate from the tree. It seems that it was this knowledge—specifically, the belief in duality—that marked the beginning of humanity’s fall.
The knowledge of good and evil symbolizes the emergence of duality: good vs. evil, God vs. the Devil, health vs. sickness, me vs. you. Eating the forbidden fruit represents the moment humans began to believe in a power or state separate from God. Before this, humanity lived in unity with God. But after consuming the fruit, Adam and Eve saw themselves as separate from God. They believed God was no longer omniscient or omnipresent, and their actions led to their expulsion from paradise.
Now, let’s consider what this story means for us today. Paradise, as depicted in Genesis, represents a state before the mind creates concepts of good and evil. It’s in the mind where we form judgments like “this is good, and that is bad.” We decide that sickness is bad, babies are good, tornadoes are bad, and so on. Each time we make these judgments, we place ourselves in the position of God, asserting that something created by God is “not good.” This is the mind-based life, full of limitations and judgments. To live unconsciously means to live in this mind-made world, disconnected from spiritual awareness.
Interestingly, in the Genesis story, Adam never considers the possibility of returning to paradise by “unknowing” good and evil. The idea of giving up his judgments didn’t appear until Jesus came. Jesus boldly claimed to transcend dualities, saying, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” He embodied unity, showing that in the spiritual realm, duality doesn’t exist. Similarly, the apostle Paul later declared, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Paul was speaking of the spiritual realm, where no distinctions exist, only oneness. In this oneness, there is no duality. The realization of this unity is the essence of awakening.
At birth, we are all pure being, free from judgments or labels. Like Adam and Eve in paradise, we exist in a seamless experience of spiritual presence, unaware of any separation. The spiritual journey is about returning to this pure state, much like the Prodigal Son returning home to his inheritance. Our spiritual being has always been with us, but we’ve spent a lifetime obscuring it with mind-based judgments. This pure state of being still exists within us. To reconnect with it, we need to make the choice Adam didn’t: to “unknow.” To release our judgments and recognize that we have never been separate from our spiritual source. This is the gospel Jesus proclaimed. This is awakening.
Awakening is available to all of us—regardless of religion, social status, gender, or nationality. It’s not a reward or something we have to earn; it’s our birthright. Awakening doesn’t require learning new techniques or information—it’s about unlearning the old beliefs and judgments that cloud our awareness of who we really are. To live unconsciously is to live a life based on someone else’s beliefs about what is real. Why live according to these judgments when you are already pure being? As God asks in Genesis, “Who told you these things? Who told you what you now believe?” What is real is this: you are pure being, pure spirit, pure life. How can you be anything else? Recognize this truth, awaken to who you are, and never sleep again.
