I have exploring Biblical stories of spiritual awakening for a couple of months now. I am going to finish this series today by talking about spiritual experiences that fall short of full awakening but have some of the same qualities as awakening. I am not sure what to call these glimpses of Nondual Reality. You could call them partial awakenings, mini-awakenings, temporary awakenings, preludes to awakening or glimpses of spiritual awakening. You probably know what I am talking about. You may have experienced what I am talking about.

I continue my series exploring biblical stories of spiritual awakening. There are so many wonderful ones! Today I examine another of my favorites, the story of the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah is considered one of the greatest prophets of the Hebrew scriptures. In the sixth chapter of his book he describes his opening to spiritual reality firsthand in detail. Often this passage is called the call of the prophet, but it is also the spiritual awakening of the prophet.

Today I am exploring another famous story in the Bible that describes spiritual awakening. It is commonly known as the story of the prophet Elijah being taken off to heaven in a fiery chariot. But it is as much about Elisha as it is Elijah. It is also story of the enlightenment of the prophet Elisha.

I am continuing to tell these biblical stories of Awakening. I do this because I think it is helpful to show how, when, where and to whom spiritual awakening happens. This is important because there are so many misconceptions about spiritual awakening. There is no better story that illustrates the circumstances surrounding awakening than the story of the prophet Elijah.

I am continuing the Biblical Stories of Spiritual Awakening. Today I am going to talk about one of my favorite characters and books in the Bible: Job. I resonate with Job because his path was like mine in some ways. He struggled with the same philosophical problems that I struggled with and that many Christians struggle with: the problems of evil and suffering. And in my life it led to a spiritual awakening, just like with Job.

I am continuing to look at stories of spiritual awakening in the Bible. This episode explores one of the most famous accounts - the story of Moses and the Burning Bush.

Today I continue to explore biblical stories of spiritual awakening. We have looked at Adam, Enoch, Abraham and Jacob. One would expect to find more stories of awakening in the rest of Genesis. But we look in vain for any hint that Joseph or any of his brothers or sister experienced spiritual awakening. That tells us something about spiritual awakening. There can be long periods of time without spiritual awakening. This episode explores how that was true in biblical times, throughout history and in modern times.

In the last episode I looked at the figure of Jacob in the Book of Genesis. I said that I would be taking two episodes to explore Jacob’s spiritual awakening because there are two stories of awakening associated with him.

Jacob’s first experience was a vision/dream known as Jacob’s ladder, which we looked at last time. That happened when he was running from his brother Esau, who wanted to kill him for tricking him out of his birthright and blessing. Today I am looking at when Jacob is returning to Canaan and he wrestles with an angel. At that time his name was changed to Israel.