Where are You in the Spiritual Awakening Experiences Spectrum?
What are the differences in spiritual awakening and transformative experiences (SATE’s) that make up the scale from different extremes to another? Knowing about the differences helps to determine where you are in your experiences and what is happening to us collectively at this time of transformation.
In Part 1 of the Spiritual Awakening and Transformative Experience Spectrum
- Discover the three main spiritual awakening and transformative experiences on the spectrum.
- Learn the different variations of these three main categories and their characteristics.
- And how each of the different categories on the spiritual awakening and transformative experience spectrum impact the different systems of our body.
In the SATE spectrum there are definitive extremes that can be complete game changers in consciousness and devastating from life before the experience, or a moderate, or even mild SATE that doesn’t seem to impact our daily life, decisions, and awareness of who we are and how we are changing. Below starts with the most extreme SATE and how they impact our lives.
Extreme Spiritual Awakening and Transformative Experiences
What are they, and what areas are affected in our physical body, mind, emotions, and spirit?
One of the most extreme spiritual awakening experiences we are most familiar with, now, thanks to the International Association for Near-death Studies (IANDS) is the Near-death Experience (NDE). Especially in the past, before IANDS, people were left to their own devices to recover, attempting to integrate an experience that was so profound it impacted
- Their knowing of what is possible
- Who they are
- Determining a significant change in all their relationships including those with family, friends, and their employment and career.
- A greater experience of the world, the Earth, dimensions of existence in the Multiverse
- And often an expansion of their compassion and love capacity
- Sometimes fear
- Understanding sometimes of the greater patterns of their life unfolding from the past and beyond
Often their experience was so profound they took a year or even decades to even understand what happened and more years to speak of their experiences. These experiences impacted their sense of self, their capabilities, either heightening their intuition and self-trust or revealing their intuition as a reliable navigation method connected to their Divine Purpose, connecting often with their unique form of guidance, and a deep understanding of our time on Earth, and even healing abilities. Often there are other knowings involved with quantum understandings and physics beyond what is accessible at this time.
The second significant SATE is the experience of a Contactee. The person has reported they have experienced a level of contact with beings other than humans. This experience may include memory or from a dream, seeing an unidentified flying object, or unidentified submersible object, or in-person contact. In experiences of this kind the person may suppress their experience, have a reluctance and knowing it is not wise to speak of all aspects of their experience(s) as well as significant changes in their perception of how the world works, or of the appearance of energy and how it functions.
Contactee experiences, like an NDE, most often
- Change the person profoundly
- Impacting all their relationships including to themselves, family, friends, employment/career, and goals.
- There is a heightening of innate intuitive abilities, inner knowing, often healing capabilities emerge, enhancing the individuals deep understanding of the unseen.
- A greater experience of the world, the Earth, dimensions of existence in the Multiverse
- And often an expansion of their compassion and love capacity
- Sometimes fear
- Understanding sometimes the greater patterns of their life unfolding from the past and beyond
Using John Mack’s, MD. (Harvard psychiatrist, Pulitzer prize winner and author of Alien Encounters) perspective not only aids our understanding of this topic but all the other SATE’s. Here is Mack’s comment “but something else is called for here, which exponentially increases our understanding of this subject, namely the deep seated resistance in mainstream Western culture to even considering that there could be phenomena that originate in the unseen or spirit world and cross over and manifest in the material world. For our so-called materialistic paradigm, like any world view, determines what it is possible for us to see.” We need to understand the force of this resistance, which derives from a deep and intense attachment to this worldview. (2009. Abduction Human Encounters with Aliens).
The third kind of extreme spiritual awakening and transformative experiences is through the activation of kundalini awakening similar to Shaktipat. In the experience of kundalini awakening the person has a distinct experience separate from ordinary reality. This is a deeper experience may include extremes of the most or all of the five senses: sight, sensing, kinesthetic, odors, feeling, auditory, and activating and awareness of sensory awareness of many systems beyond the everyday ordinary senses into the many different categories of intuition. In the kundalini experience the person either surrenders or does practices with the intention to achieve liberation or attain bliss. Like the two above extreme spiritual awakening and transformative experiences, NDE’s and Contactee Experiences, there is a significant shift that engages energy and perception which is a sudden leap forward of consciousness also described as activating a power or force. This sudden leap forward can be so discombobulating the person is somewhat or nearly completely derailed from their ability to function as they were before their kundalini experience.
Unlike the Contactee Experience or NDE, the person who has had a kundalini experience most often is engaging in methods or practices known to attain or access this significant leap forward of consciousness, however there are exceptions. Sometimes, there is a (seemingly unplanned) meeting with a person who is a master (or hidden master) who activates the receiver with kundalini (also known as Shaktipat) where there is no previous relationship, at least in this lifetime. In this scenario the response may be an extreme or moderate spiritual awakening and transformative experience.
And the last extreme SATE is through the use of psychedelics whether self-administered or in a therapeutic setting.
In these instances, the person can have a profound shift in their understanding of reality that is equally as significant as the NDE, Contactee Experience, or kundalini awakening. The psychedelic assisted experience can be a one-time peak experience that leads to significant changes in their perception of reality and may also not be an extreme experience but a moderate or mild experience.
The extreme psychedelic assisted experiencer may even experience an NDE, Contactee Experience, or kundalini awakening during their psychedelic assisted foray. Consistent changes to the person may include
- Profound change
- Impact all their relationships including to themselves, family, friends, employment/career, and goals.
- There is a heightening of innate intuitive abilities, inner knowing, often healing capabilities emerge, enhancing the individuals deep understanding of the unseen.
- A greater experience of the world, the Earth, dimensions of existence in the Multiverse
- Often an expansion of compassion and love capacity
- Sometimes fear
- Understanding sometimes the greater patterns of their life unfolding from the past and beyond
In all of the extreme SATE’s the ability to integrate and glean content gives value, otherwise the profound nature of the experience slips away, and the person is left to their own devices returning to their previous world. In the psychedelic assisted experience, the return is to the world that led them to seek an intervention, and, without tools or methods to continue their journey in new ways to sustain their experience.
The Systems of the Body, Mind, Emotions and Spirit and How they are Affected by Extreme Spiritual Awakening and Transformative Experience’s
In the four extreme SATE’s the person is impacted in their electro-magnetic system, neurological system, emotional system, energy system (including their chakras and auric field) and often excel in understanding areas that may have been previously of little interest, like math, music, quantum physics, healing, science, or the arts.
Changes in the Electromagnetic and Neurological System
Changes in the electro-magnetic and neurological system can impact the person’s relationship with technology and electricity making being around these devices more challenging especially if they are not grounded. This means they can encounter effecting electric and technology devices by causing them to malfunction, fail, or blow up. Re-equilibration overtime allows the person’s electromagnetic field to adjust and the issues with electric and technological devices abates. The re-equilibration of grounding benefits all of the systems as well and assists with processing and integration of all aspects of the extreme SATE.
Another quality related to the list of changes is an overall expansion which is connected to the electromagnetic system and the neurological system. These systems dramatically change with an extreme SATE and make adjustments over time afterwards. The rapid surge of energy from an extreme SATE can cause over stimulation as a result of the spike in the previously continuous even flow of sending and receiving and holding energy patterns. An analogy is why we plug in electric devices to a power strip to avoid a surge overload.
The Emotional System
In the emotional system the person is more empathic, more aware of others’ emotional states, which makes them empathic. The person may also “see” or perceive what others cannot which include but is not limited to remote viewing, accentuated vivid dreams and dream memory, understanding of dream walking (which is not lucid dreaming), and healing abilities. Other abilities may be what we mostly call channeling where the person has the ability or becomes a conduit or transmitter. The person’s energy system is opened with heightened compassion, their capacity for holding more compassion is greater, and often emotional and psychological blocks are lessened. This may be a complete release or temporary.
A caveat with the above description of extreme SATE’s. Although the person has experienced a profound change from an extreme SATE, and they have new awarenesses and even abilities it does not mean they are above human foibles or have ethics, have resolved grief and loss, or all areas of their life. In addition, gaining abilities, insights, understanding of the multiverse from a severe or several severe or moderate SATE’s does not imply there is resolution of trauma, has resolved issues of grief or other issues before their SATE. And as a result of unhealed, and unresolved trauma and issues newly gained abilities can be soiled and contaminated by lack of ethics or boundaries thus impairing their abilities.
The Characteristics of the Extreme Spiritual Awakening and Transformative Experiences
The characteristics of the extreme SATE’s are
- they are rapidly occurring
- some are a one-time event
- impact all the human systems
- and take a long recovery time.
Recovery may be from the actual incident as a moment in time as well as true recovery as an integration of the experience into ‘ordinary’ life and the limitations and restrictions of the cultural views of what is acceptable. Awareness of the details of the experience are most often revealed in pieces or layers over time. Integration may or may not be successful depending on the resources available to the person and the people who are around them. In some situations, when there is little support and/or too great a leap from their ordinary life compared to the exposure of awareness from their experience, isolation arises, and sometimes substance abuse or an addiction as a coping mechanism. In other situations, the person may misuse their abilities or mis-represent them.
Moderate Spiritual Awakening and Transformative Experiences
Moderate SATE’s can be ongoing throughout life and beyond. There is not a one-time SATE for anyone (even an extreme SATE); these experiences continue throughout our life; it is a process of layers. The moderate SATE occurs without a great shift in perspective (seemingly) or impact to the electro-magnetic system, neurological system, emotional system, energy system (including their chakras and auric field).
Moderate SATE’s whether spontaneous or intentional, may include
- Out of Body Experiences
- Some dreams *(See below for a description of dreams and their meanings).
- Shaktipat*(See below for a definition of Shaktipat).
- Some Contactee Experiences
- Mystical Experiences* (See below for a definition of Mystical Experiences).
- Remote Viewing* (See below for the definition of Remove Viewing).
- Psychic or Intuitive Experiences
- Some Kundalini Awakening Experiences
- Seeing Ghosts, or Beings
How do the above Moderate SATE’s occur?
Moderate SATE’s may begin in early childhood. The Moderate SATE are continuous revelations, experiences, or heightened awarenesses that can occur as a result of any one of the categories in the above list, or the result of experiences in multiple categories listed above, or a person may have experiences with all of the different categories of moderate SATE’s over their lifetime.
When there are moderate SATE’s there is an incremental shift in consciousness depending on the willingness of the person, their surroundings, and the limitations and restrictions of their cultural influences. These experiences can be considered a series of exposures to allow consciousness to integrate while ‘normal ‘life continues. In the moderate SATE, there are smaller incremental changes in the electro-magnetic system, neurological system, emotional system, energy system (including their chakras and auric field). These shifts in the systems occur more slowly overtime collectively but may have sudden spikes in changes in the different systems but are usually not sudden or dramatic. Spiking energy changes often ebb and flow. However, the changes sometimes can be more noticeable and sometimes imperceptible based on the intensity, and the adjustments that continue.
Unlike an Extreme SATE it is easier for a person to deny or block a moderate SATE. Blocking or denying a SATE happens when a person is a child or adult, to fit into a family, or due to overwhelm and lack of understanding and a desire to be ‘normal’ or fit in or even to be able to continue a job. They may also elect to block their experiences and deny their presence with substances or in other ways.
For some people the moderate SATE is perceived as a marker of significant change, when really it is just the beginning of a series of experiences that seem to have no timeline. For some people these experiences occur from very early childhood and continue, and they are often not aware these are unique. Some people report their SATE’s began in adolescence, others noticing when they are older in their late twenties, or after a traumatic experience, or associate a special date like the year 2000, or 2012 or 2020.
The moderate SATE is less interruptive to continuing with responsibilities as compared to an extreme SATE but, like the extreme SATE, requires tools and methods to glean the most from the experience(s). Like the extreme SATE attending to all the areas of our personal development including unresolved trauma, grief and loss, lessening the influence of human foibles is part of the spiritual development journey. This attention assists with deepening understanding, boundaries and ethics, integration and optimum progress.
Mild Spiritual Awakening and Transformative Experiences
Mild SATE’s can be ongoing throughout life and beyond like the Moderate SATE. The mild SATE occurs with a shift in perception and may have a slight noticeable shift in the electro-magnetic system, neurological system, emotional system, energy system (including their chakras and auric field).
Mild SATE’s Characteristics Include
- Out of Body Experiences
- Some Dreams
- Some Contactee Experiences
- Mystical Experiences
- Remote Viewing
- Psychic or Intuitive Experiences
- Some Kundalini Awakening Experiences
- Seeing Ghosts, or Beings
In the above list of Mild SATE’s, the person may not have awareness of any significant changes to any systems of their body, mind, emotions or spirit affected by the SATE but may or may not recognize their experience. Mild SATE’s may occur throughout a person’s life and seem to be barely noticeable. Sometimes people who experience severe and moderate SATE’s continuously have mild SATE’s and consider them normal or happen so frequently they are not even considered unusual. The following is an example of a dog who got up while two people were looking at herbal tarot cards and put her nose on several cards and then sat down. This is a highly unusual occurrence but then overlooked. Another example is of a common experience that can be fit into a mild or moderate SATE depending on the content’s influence on their memory, different systems of the body, and how frequently the person experiences SATE’s. While one person may have a dream visit from a deceased relative that is ordinary because it happens to them all the time and other moderate and mild SATE’s, another person may have one experience or a few in their life time that is more powerful and life changing so it could even go into a middle category of moderate/extreme.
Subtle changes in the electro-magnetic system, neurological system, emotional system, and energy system (including their chakras and auric field) occur with mild STE’s over time. The result of subtle changes over time may be
- Sensitivity that changes responses to the environment, other people, places, creatures and situations
- Occurring through accessing dreams and dream content
- Connection to creatures and animals with deeper understanding
- Changes in values, career, family and friend relationships
- Understanding of the multiverse
- Experiences of the various 55 different intuitive abilities, problem-solving, insight, and creativity
- Remembering latent interests later in life which may seem unexpected in art, healing, science quantum physics, math.
Mild Spiritual Awakening and Transformative Experiences Across A Lifetime
Most people experience one or more of the above in the mild SATE list but may not remember other experiences, or they don’t want to delve more deeply into the experience they’ve had. Post Traumatic Stress, cultural biases and limitations, religious restrictions, lack of support, or being swamped with responsibilities can all be deterrents to remembering, recording, sharing, and processing a SATE.
Children may experience mild SATE’s that continue as an adult. A person may reflect on all of their mild SATE’s and realize their influential nature. Mild SATE memory may also reveal moderate SATE’s. Mild SATE’s can be experienced continuously after an extreme SATE and intermittently with Moderate SATE’s.
The Categories of Mild, Moderate, and Extreme Spiritual Awakening and Transformative Experiences
Children often have mild or even moderate SATE’s but may not have the language to share until they are much older. Due to acculturation children often are trained out of their natural and innate connection to their ability to see and perceive beyond the veil. This occurs through other children and adults who ignore, shame, or deny any sharing about these experiences. Additionally, often children sense the adults do not have the tools to deal with or understand any part of a SATE and so shut these awarenesses down and can be ‘forgotten’. When the person is older memory seems sketchy, unimportant, incidences are completely forgotten, or the fragments become too small like forgetting most of a nighttime dream.
Alternatively, there are those people who chose to die with the secrets of severe, moderate, and mild SATE’s because they deem them to be so disparate from ordinary reality, they want to hide them. And sometimes there are deathbed revelations that contribute to the greater changes occurring in the current paradigm transformation leading to our collective evolution.
The Spiritual Transformative Experiences Spectrum three primary levels, mild, moderate, and extreme are specific categories, however, there are variations within this spectrum. While each of the levels has a distinct description and components, some people will experience variations in all the levels throughout their lives and this is their norm. This means many SATE’s to someone else would seem extraordinary while their experiences to them seem just a day-in-the-life like the example of the dog. Also, while some people will have a jolting extreme experience that is life changing, others will never have this type of experience, but they will live their entire life from the same after-experience perspective of the extreme SATE.
There is no best way to have one or more spiritual transformative experience. Each person is unique in their path, and although we all are on the journey, no spiritual transformative experience is the last one.
In In the Spectrum Scale of Spiritual Awakening and Transformative Experiences, Part 2 you’ll learn
(1) What hinders spiritual transformative experiences integration-and gleaning content that enables the person to progress.
(2) How to integrate spiritual transformative experiences and methods to gather valuable content.
(3) How to progress and even accelerate the effects of spiritual transformative experiences.
(4) And, why a person might choose consciously or unconsciously to slow their spiritual transformative experience integration and process.
