What is spiritual awakening? Some of us have experienced it as a result of embracing the recovery program or another path of healing, and many of us who have traveled down these paths have undergone some form of personal transformation. Awakening involves the inner experience of knowing that "God is." It is not faith, nor opinion, nor belief. It is the actual experience of God's reality.

The nature of spiritual awakening varies greatly from person to person. It may be a gradual process of gently becoming more aware, or it may be a very sudden and powerful spiritual event that propels us into another reality. The primary indicator of a spiritual awakening is the outcome of the experience, the desire to pursue our path with a whole heart and to make the goal of embodying our Divine nature a life calling.

Spiritual experiences can be important steps in preparing to awaken, yet neither the timing of spiritual awakening nor the events through which it takes place are in our control. These relate to the evolution of each soul and the specific needs and readiness of that soul for greater awareness.

However, dedication to the process of purifying is a choice that we can consciously and freely make, and this choice speeds up both our evolutionary process and the degree to which we can be open to spiritual experience when it occurs. Here, we recall the biblical advice and seek to make it personally relevant: "Ask and ye shall receive; seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened."¹⁷ Through our commitment to purify, we ask and seek, and we prepare ourselves to recognize when a door has been opened to us.

However, and whenever, we may have awakened, it is through purification that our immersion in God's reality expands and deepens. When we consciously realize our purpose on earth to be in sacred Covenant¹⁸ with God, this awareness produces an intensified longing to complete the journey of purification and to let go of all that remains of a personal life. As we enter a greater life in God, we embrace this longing for completion with love and commitment, and it becomes part of our growing capacity for surrender.

As we arrive at this level of intentionality, we move past the initial experience of awakening toward the more complete commitment to live a sacred life. At this stage, we are able to assist the process of transformation by using the power of our thought to energize the vision of ourselves in a purified state, and by seeking and asking that God's plan for us be revealed. We can also assist the process by firmly directing our will so that it constantly strives to make choices in accordance with God's wishes for us.

It is this, our conscious choice to direct the power of our free will toward Divine will, that is the final passage to God. In the deliberate use of our free will to join fully with the Divine, we are ultimately "born" into God and into the consciousness of unity and oneness. This occurs through a combination of Divine grace and our own longstanding efforts.

During this final stage of healing, we experience whatever residual doubt we still carry as a result of our prior separation. As we do this, it is important to stay mindful of the sacred function of doubt. As we encounter doubt in our daily lives and as we struggle to transcend it, it carries us toward a deeper and more perfect state of trust and of spiritual knowing.

As we face this level of healing, we are challenged to remain aware of whatever lack of trust remains within us, while not becoming submerged in it. This happens through knowing that both the insecurities we feel, and our lack of trust, are not the truth of who we are. While we allow these emotions to pass through us, we can direct our thoughts, our hope, and our free will, into our intention to fulfill our most longed-for goals.

This, then, is the nature of commitment: that in the presence of fear, doubt, or the desire to run away, we go forward anyway. Commitment is established within us when the responsibility we feel to God and to our own Divinity becomes greater than our fear or doubt, so that we go forward despite the presence of these limiting conditions.

Spiritual awakening, when followed by the dedication of our whole self to our path, leads to further transformation as we grow in the image and likeness of God. As this happens, our relationship with ourselves, with other beings, and with God, is guided by our intention to live with greater trust and love and with a sense of higher purpose. The shift within us places us at the interface between two realities - the human reality and the Divine. At this interface, we become one with ourselves as our personal life is joined to the greater unified life of which we are a part.

This transition takes place in a unique way for each of us, and yet there is a shared experience of allowing people, situations, thought patterns, and behaviors that do not support our higher calling to fall away through the letting go process. Often imperceptibly, we find ourselves moving into our new identities without knowing how it happened. This movement is a result of our willingness to live fluidly and without definition, based on the trust that we are being led. It is also a result of God's grace infusing our lives.

As we go forward, self-love expands within us so that we walk in truth, rooted in a commitment to honor our Divinity by living in accordance with the inner voice of our soul. The desire to give and to receive love reverberates through our being as the primary purpose for which we are born. The complexity of our old lives, driven by the demands of our ego, is made simple through the higher priority we now feel to manifest love and truth at all times and in all places.

The clearer we become as we heal from the state of separation, the more we integrate into the consciousness of the Living God, manifested as the Divine Presence within. By identifying with this Presence, we feel our deepening oneness with God, with all other beings, and with all that is. Through this identification, we access the memory that we carry in our souls of one God, one Life, one sacred plan for the earth.

When a soul feels the truth of Oneness in his or her heart, a personal life is no longer personal but planetary, and the desire to love and serve others is the natural outcome of this state. At this juncture our radiance as beings of light intensifies and serves as a beacon of light for others. It calls forth the sick and the suffering so that they, too, may be inspired to draw from the Source and be healed and nourished.

The time is upon us when the planet will undergo a parallel process of purification to that which we ourselves have felt as individuals. This process is already in its initial stages. The earth will experience doubt, despair, and other currents of darkness, as an increased infusion of spiritual light illumines the planet and makes these energies dramatically apparent.

During this transition, the increased light will point out areas of darkness and unconsciousness that humanity has created within its structures and societies. As people in larger numbers witness this process and take more responsibility for their behaviors and consciousness, many more will understand how addictive process applies to groups of people. They will also understand how its healing can be used to heal the planet itself.

Our individual purification provides a platform for healing and transformation to occur on a much larger scale than we might imagine. Through personal transformation, we can stay anchored in God's love and be helpful to others through our unshakable faith in the meaning of suffering and its transformative potential.

Hope for the world rests in the assurance of redemption, not only for us as individuals, but for the human family as a whole. The power of love, and the innocence that we each must access as blameless children of God, are the forces that enable us to transform the world as we've known it, into a planet of consciousness.

We begin with ourselves, by recognizing the presence of both love and grace in our personal lives. The expansion of our hearts allows us to love more and to feel the divine Breath moving through all of life. It opens us up to the many signs of grace that are present. Receiving grace helps us to trust in the possibility of receiving more grace, as we continue to grow in our knowing of God's love.

Group process is a powerful arena in which the language of the heart can be expressed. Love is the basis for this universal language, and it is love which heals darkness.

When an individual walks for the first time into a group of people in sacred consciousness,¹⁹ each aligning with God's light, the collective love generated by the people present engulfs the newcomer. Compassion, acceptance, and understanding are effortlessly offered to new people by those who have developed a capacity to anchor light. What is freely given to those new to the experience is love and hope - love in the sense of unconditional and unqualified acceptance, and hope that their own Divine nature which is acknowledged by all, will one day be realized by them. For some, just entering a sacred group with a consciousness held in light and love, can be the beginning of a new way of life.

The historic negativity that produces only qualified acceptance of others and results from categorizing them with assumptions and judgments, is a painful legacy of our pasts and of our continuing need to return to the truth of oneness. In this way, we override all justifications of disharmony and division and return to the unity of love.

As people come to discover their Divine nature, they will begin to experience the Divinity in all others and to celebrate diversity as part of the greater Oneness. Unity is our destiny and Divine birthright as children of God, and diversity expresses our freedom as individuals with our own unique soul-calling. Both can meld together in a unity of wholeness encompassing all with whom we share our physical reality.

With each other's support, we can use all the means available to us to come together in sacred groups and to foster sacred consciousness in each other. In this way we can achieve the multiple benefits of healing from addiction: the improvement of the quality of our lives, and the strengthening of our connection with ourselves, with each other, and with God. Together, we can discover that the presence of love can help us experience joy and endure pain, so that a Divine perspective can be nourished and maintained as we continue to grow in life.

Sacred groups are forums for healing, increasingly accessible on a world-wide basis. Principles of Sacred Consciousness groups have a particular function. They are places where people can come and be enveloped in light, that ground the teachings of purification and accelerate the unfolding awareness of spiritual reality. Such groups provide teachings and support for developing a relationship with God and with one's own Divine Presence. They also awaken the intuitive link within consciousness that makes available the insights of the soul and the realization of sacred purpose.

As we grow in spiritual maturity and become more centered in our Divinity, the desire to share the gifts we have received deepens and expands. At this juncture, we need to be especially mindful of the history of many centuries in which actions or words that may have had at their inception the motive of love, ended up being governed by less noble motives that were self-seeking.

As individuals progress toward greater purity, there develops an increased capacity for being clear and steady in extending love and for taking more responsibility in this area. Increasingly, one is able to speak the language of the heart in all settings and with all people. Responsibility grows out of holding the ideal of love in thought, word, and deed, and working toward manifesting that ideal by eliminating other motives from our consciousness. This occurs through continued honesty with ourselves and an ongoing commitment to remain clear.

Staying nourished within our hearts and souls is key in this regard. Centering in the heart helps us to remain in the presence of God's love and to feel upheld. The more we can avail ourselves of Divine love, the more we experience the truth of that love as a limitless, unending supply, capable of sustaining us on all levels. Feeling supported by our heart's reality helps us to serve others with integrity, without feeling depleted, and without acting out of neediness or fear.

Indications that we are not helping from a fully nourished place in ourselves include the common patterns of unconscious relating to others: feeling drained from helping; judgmental reactions; an inability to protect ourselves from outer darkness; difficulty separating the individual from the energy of darkness; becoming hopeless; seeking control due to not trusting another's process; and projecting limitations or expectations onto another that narrow the possibilities for the other's growth.

In contrast to the above are the ways of participating in spiritually and emotionally nourishing relationships where we are both helpers and helped by the sharing of our light. As our radiance of light increases, this becomes increasingly possible as people who are attracted to the light get placed in our path. Our part is to know that all beings are longing for the light, whether it is consciously experienced or not. By remaining in love and truth as a way of life, we can embody God's love and carry the message of that love to others.

The specific ways in which we might do this are limitless by nature, since all are seeking to return home. A particular path of service may be clarified over time on the basis of perceived preference, a recognition of soul purpose, Divine revelation, or any combination of these.

As we mature spiritually, responsibility to others expands within us until all suffering around the globe matters to us deeply. We no longer distance ourselves through indifference, but long to hold the suffering of all other beings in our heart. We each have the capacity to share suffering with empathy and commitment, and, at the same time to trust God and life. This is made possible by the nature of the Divine heart that lives within each of us that is the essence of love. When this heart is uncovered, we become truly free to serve God in a way that is unique to the creative impulses of our soul. When this heart radiates forth, it serves as the healing center from which lines of light go out to bless the world.

There is no greater joy than the conscious experience of being an instrument of Divine love and Divine will. Living in the Heart of God is the path of the heart, and all those who follow this path are the protectors and saviors of the earth. Our sacred tasks are before us, and the time is now.