The Many Ways People Experience Awakening

 

Words by Rabindranath Tagore

Many people claim to have achieved a degree of awakening, however that state is understood, or other people claim it on their behalf. One of the most striking things about the way such people describe their subjective experiences is its enormous variety.
 

These descriptions are interesting in themselves and they also have interesting implications. For example:

    • If the experiences vary so much, are they talking about the same thing? Might it be that there are several different phenomena that are given the name ‘awakening,’ ‘theosis,’ ‘divine union’ or some such, rather than one phenomenon being described in different ways?
    • If they are talking about the same thing and you are also experiencing some of these things, does that mean that you are awake or enlightened but simply hadn’t considered that possibility?
 

I thought it might be both useful and interesting to pull together some of these many experiences, including some by people widely recognised as having awakened or having achieved a significant degree of spiritual advancement, to get a better idea about their variety.
 

Eckhart Tolle (a contemporary spiritual teacher) described his enlightenment as a sudden dissolution of the ego, where the incessant chatter of his mind stopped, leaving him in a state of pure presence. He recounts waking up one morning after a night of suicidal thoughts, feeling as though ‘I’ and the world were no longer separate entities. He described it as an abiding peace and stillness, a sense of being rooted in the "Now" - a timeless, spacious awareness where the self is no longer defined by past or future. For Tolle, this union with "Being" (his term for the divine or universal consciousness) felt like an expansive, unchanging presence beneath all experiences, accompanied by a deep joy that doesn’t depend on external circumstances.

Meister Eckhart (a 13th–14th century Christian mystic and Dominican theologian) described his experience of union with God as a complete merging of the soul with the divine essence, where the individual self "disappears" into God’s infinite ground. He spoke of a state where "the soul is one with God, not merely united," likening it to a drop of water dissolving into the ocean. Subjectively, he portrayed this as a profound stillness and emptiness—an ‘abyss’ or ‘desert’ of the Godhead—where all distinctions between self and God vanished. For Eckhart, this was not an emotional high but a serene, ineffable knowing, a "birth of God in the soul" that felt like pure existence beyond thought or form.

Ramana Maharshi (a 20th century Indian guru) described his enlightenment as a permanent realisation of the ‘Self’ as pure consciousness, beyond the body and mind. At 16, while experiencing a fear of death, he lay down and simulated dying, only to realise that the "I" remained untouched—an eternal, unchanging awareness. He likened this state to a silent, boundless ocean of peace, where the ego dissolves and what remains is a natural, effortless unity with all that is. For Maharshi, union with God (or the Self) felt like an unshakable clarity and bliss, a state of simply being, freed from desire or fear, where the world was seen as a dream or illusion superimposed on this infinite reality.

Jalaluddin Rumi (a 13th-century Persian poet and Sufi mystic) described his experience of union with God as an ecstatic, all-consuming love that obliterated the separate self. In his poetry, he spoke of "melting" into the Beloved (God), a state where "I am no longer I, and You are no longer You." This felt like a drunken, joyful dissolution—both blissful and overwhelming—where the heart burned with divine presence, and every moment pulsed with unity. For Rumi, this experience was dynamic and passionate, a dance of lover and Beloved merging into one, accompanied by a sense of freedom and an outpouring of creative energy.

St. Teresa of Ávila (A Spanish Carmelite reformer in the 16th century) detailed her mystical experiences, including divine union, in works like The Interior Castle and The Life (her autobiography). She described divine union as a progressive journey of the soul toward God, often framed through the metaphor of "seven mansions" in The Interior Castle. Teresa likened divine union to an intimate, transformative encounter with God that transcends ordinary perception. She wrote of an overwhelming sense of peace, a loss of self-awareness, and a profound certainty of God’s presence within her soul. In The Interior Castle she wrote:

      "The soul is now like a little stream that flows into the sea, and it can no longer distinguish itself from it… There is no separation between the soul and God."

She also described an ecstatic vision of an angel piercing her heart with a spear in The Life, symbolising the intensity and transformative pain-joy of divine love:

"The pain was so great that it made me moan; and yet so surpassing was the sweetness of this excessive pain that I could not wish to be rid of it."

St. John of the Cross was a close collaborator of Teresa, living at about the same time as her. He explored divine union in works like The Dark Night of the Soul, The Ascent of Mount Carmel and The Spiritual Canticle. His approach was more austere, focusing on the purification process leading to union. John described divine union as the soul’s complete conformity to God’s will, achieved after the "dark night"—a period of spiritual desolation and detachment. He wrote of a state of profound stillness, love, and illumination where the soul "breathes" God.
 

John emphasised the ‘nothingness’ of self that precedes union, a luminous awareness of God’s presence and a love so intense it "wounds" the soul. Unlike Teresa’s vivid ecstasies, his descriptions often focused on a quiet, abiding oneness after the turmoil of purification.

In these descriptions we can see some common features, the loss of a sense of an individual self and feelings of bliss or transcendence for example, but already we can see some unique features. Expanding out from these descriptions by a few well known people, I have collected subjective experiences of awakening or divine union from a wide variety of sources, and grouped them to try and make them more accessible and clear. These bring out more of the uniqueness of some experiences. I was guided in my searches by Kilrea, Taylor, Bilodeau, Wittmann, Linares Gutiérrez, & Kübel, (2023) and the research-based factors that they included in their WAKE-19 scale for assessing levels of awakening, based on their studies of awakened people. So some of the more commonly reported experiences are:

Heightened Awareness and Presence
Some, but not all, report a heightened sense of awareness and presence. They describe living more fully in the present moment, rather than dwelling on past regrets or future anxieties. This state of heightened consciousness is often described as an experience of transcendence.
 

Emotional Transformation
While most enlightened individuals still say they experience emotions, for some their relationship with these feelings undergo changes:
    • They observe emotions with greater detachment and non-identification.
    • There's a reduced tendency to react habitually or unconsciously to emotional states.
    • They experience a transformed relationship with suffering, not resisting or attaching to painful experiences.
 

Inner Peace and Bliss
Enlightenment may be characterised by a profound sense of inner peace:
    • They describe an experience of bliss and greater awareness.
    • Happiness is said to emanate from within, independent of external circumstances.
 

Expanded Consciousness
Some people report a sense of expanded consciousness and wider connection to life:
    • They describe feeling intuitively connected to all life.
    • Some experience a sense of oneness with all of existence.
    • This is often accompanied by deep understanding and compassion for all living things.
 

Detachment from the Concerns of the Ego
Some enlightened individuals mention a detachment from day-to-day concerns. This sometimes involves a changed experience of self or identity.
 

Enhanced Sensory Experience
Some enlightened individuals report enhanced enjoyment of life and sensory experiences. They describe a greater capacity to enjoy the pleasures of the senses, free from attachment to them.
 

Changed Interpersonal Relationships
Enlightenment can change how people interact with others:
    • Some describe an increased capacity for forgiveness and understanding in relationships.
    • People are treated with greater love and compassion, through recognising the deep connections between us all.
    • Some say that negative emotions like hatred, anger, and jealousy are reduced or even eliminated.
 

Greater Sense of Purpose
Some describe a greater sense of meaning and direction:
    • Life is no longer seen as purposeless or trivial.
    • There's a shift from chasing materialist achievements to living with contentment and fulfillment.
    • The ultimate goal for many becomes spiritual awakening rather than material success.

Changes in inner awareness

A key change that many describe is a shift towards inner awareness as part of the awakening process. Some use phrases such as awareness of awareness itself, as a change from constantly focussing on the contents of that awareness.

Some say that they now experience their inner life as a still, silent space.

To add emphasis to the point I’m making about the wide variety of subjective experiences, it’s also worth noting that some enlightened people report relatively rare or unique experiences.

One such, that also seems to require advanced meditation skills, is the phenomenon of cessation (see, for example, Laukkonen et al, 2023). This is when all subjective experience simply stops for periods up to a week or so. During that time, which is experienced by the meditator as ‘no time’, they don’t move, eat, drink, or perform any obvious body functions – they simply sit in a meditation posture. This remarkable phenomenon has only recently been described in the West, having apparently been restricted to East Asian countries.

A few more, which are by no means exhaustive, include:

Time Becomes Non-Linear
A rare shift is the perception that time no longer flows in a linear sequence. Past, present and future may feel simultaneous, or time might lose meaning, replaced by an eternal ‘now.’ This can manifest as experiencing life as a single, unchanging moment, which is difficult to articulate or integrate into everyday functioning.

Synaesthetic Perception of Reality
Some report a blending of senses - seeing sounds, hearing colours, or tasting emotions - as if the usual sensory filters change or even dissolve. This isn’t just a poetic metaphor but a significant change in perception, where the world is experienced as a unified, multi-dimensional tapestry.

The ‘Inner Dialogue’ Stops
While inner peace is described relatively often, a rarer experience is the total silencing of the mind’s chatter—not just calm thoughts, but of any internal narrator or commentator.

Unusual Body Sensations
Some describe unusual physical experiences, like waves of energy surging through the body, a sensation of light emanating from within, or the feeling of being hollow yet infinitely full. These can accompany a sense that the body itself is an illusion.

Perception of Infinite Layers
This is a rarer experience where reality appears as infinite overlapping dimensions or layers - each moment containing endless depths. This might include seeing behind the physical world into more subtle realms, like energy fields.

Loss of Fear of Death
While reduced anxiety or even complete equanimity seems to be quite common, a rarer experience is a total absence of death as a concept - not just acceptance, but a direct knowing that death is an illusion.

One of the things I find fascinating about these experiences is how these shifts challenge some basic assumptions about reality – about the nature of time, self, and perception, for example - and point at something deeper than more common understandings.

In summary, enlightenment transforms daily life by altering one's perception of reality, interactions with others, approach to work and decision-making, emotional responses, and overall sense of purpose. It offers a new lens through which to view and experience the world, often leading to greater peace, compassion, and fulfilment in everyday life.

We could head off in many directions from this point. For now I am content to reflect on what the above suggest might lie behind the apparent solidity of our day-to-day material world.

A Sample of Sources

Kilrea, K. A., Taylor, S., Bilodeau, C., Wittmann, M., Linares Gutiérrez, D., & Kübel, S. L. (2023). Measuring an Ongoing State of Wakefulness: The Development and Validation of the Inventory of Secular/Spiritual Wakefulness (WAKE). Journal of Humanistic Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1177/00221678231185891

Laukkonen, R., Sacchet, M., Barendregt, H., Devaney, K., Chowdhury, A. & Slagter, H. (2023). Cessations of consciousness in meditation: Advancing a scientific understanding of nirodha samāpatti. Progress in brain research, 280, 61-87. 10.1016/bs.pbr.2022.12.007

Leichtman, R. (2020). How to Navigate the Path to Spiritual Enlightenment (and What to Do After) https://insighttimer.com/blog/what-do-we-do-after-enlightenment/

Teresa of Ávila, S. (1577). The interior castle. [Translated by Kieran Kavanaugh and Oyilio Rodriguez]. Paulist Press.

Tolle, E. (2001). The power of now: A guide to spiritual enlightenment. Hodder Paperback.

Image
A plaque at the entrance to Dartington College in Devon. Words by Rabindranath Tagore.
 

Key words
awakening, cessation, divine union, enlightenment, theosis,
 

Link

https://herethewaking.blogspot.com/2025/03/the-many-ways-people-experience.html