2020 was challenging, and 2021 has also been a challenging year for a lot of people.
As I update this post in 2022, this has been a challenging year as inflation and costs of living are putting more pressure on people around the world. There’s an energy crisis going on in other parts of the world, and peoples’ deep survival attachments are getting ignited more.
Holy cow. We need a break!
I imagine some of you are reading this post for hopeful predictions for 2023 and the coming years.
I’m actually going to make some predictions for the first time ever since I originally wrote this post in 2012. They won’t be based on any Divine guidance. I no longer implicitly accept that this exists. Yes, this is a change in understanding for me. Read this blog post to understand more about why:
At the end of this post, I’m going to talk about social trends that I’ve been watching for years. It will add to the urgency of surrendering to what Is because we have major issues individually and collectively that have gotten significantly worse.
It only makes choosing this path more urgent, so as I write about spiritual awakening for 2023 and the coming years, it is important to understand that YOU MATTER.
YOU CHOICES MATTER.
THERE IS NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT MOMENT TO DO YOUR SPIRITUAL INNER WORK.
Spiritual Awakening Is Now
This post and this spiritual awakening blog are about surrendering to the Now. This is where the awakened/conscious awareness Is.
Originally, I first wrote this post in 2012. Back then there was a different kind of enthusiasm going.
It was defined by hope.
People were excited about the idea of peace, love, and harmony entering all of humanity in one fell swoop. People did what they usually do, however, which was to look for an external event to make life all better. Yes, in 2012, many spiritual quests, techniques, and journeys were the latest sugar pill. Take two, and you’ll feel better in the morning; the unconscious ego is always looking outside of itself for fulfillment.
And of course, nothing really changed.
Now with 2022 ending, people are hoping differently. They are hoping to return to some idea of normalcy and ultimately safety. But safety is an illusion, and there is a deeper path that is available to you if you have the courage to seize it.
Going Within for a Timeless Event
Here’s the big truth about the awakened space: it is timeless. The awakened presence within you is always here in the moment. You can’t get to it, and you can’t lose it.
Now this may sound counter to what I blog about, but what this blog is actually discussing is dissolving all attachments and illusions that hide and distract from the present moment. The spiritual person on this path to freedom isn’t trying to get to awareness. They’re learning to let go of their ego that is distracted by illusions and attachments and ignoring the present moment.
For this blog, I define a spiritual awakening as a sustained movement of dissolving the ego.
In another way, it is a sustained collapse of the constant energy (the ego) to not see what is REAL.
The ego is a lens that skews reality, and sometimes, a part of us quits creating illusions. It’s like we are so exhausted that something stops, and a view of life from pure awareness begins to be revealed.
Something changes in a person.
Maybe something changed in you!
And you no longer want to put the energy you once did into being an ego.
Since an ego is a constant state of action in remembering who you are,
it has to fall away if
you stop giving it energy.
Sometimes, people like you stop, and reality begins to be seen.
In general, a spiritual awakening as I describe it is rare, and so too is a serious drive to become conscious. The latter can and should be cultivated. More often than not, it is that drive to let go and become conscious that is more important than any experience or event called “spiritual awakening.”
How to Be More Spiritually Conscious
We’re Still Human
Even when someone does awaken, they are still human. Awakening doesn’t erase all problems, but it seems like a lot of people think that it will. That’s partly why the furor that we had going on around 2012 was especially silly. I think a lot of people were presuming that all of humanity’s difficulties would be washed out of this world by the end of that year. I certainly was open to that possibility.
But the prediction I made at the end of that year was this: we would all still be human.
And that has been the truth. We all still have attachments. We all still make mistakes.
We love.
We get angry.
We get scared.
We grieve because all of this is part of the great tapestry of human life. It is part of the whole, and the awakened space has no preference over any part.
It’s all sacred.
Becoming a Phoenix Rising After Your Spiritual Awakening
The Great Hope for a Better World
In past updates to this post I suggest that if there is one great hope for a more conscious global human society, it is you.
Yes, you.
You are the only one in charge of you no matter what year it is nor what vortex is opening. You are the only one who can embrace all of you. If you don’t do this, no one else will. If you don’t chose to live life from a conscious state, no one else will. There’s no time to wait for someone else or for some wave of global awakening energy to wash you along to a better or “perfect” life (whatever that means for you).
But this is 2022 when I’m updating, and I would guess that global transformation is a little less interesting. You’re probably hoping for a world that is a little less terrified and a world with less social friction and outcries.
Awakening won’t give you that.
Rather, you can go within and learn to dissolve your ego that is creating fear for you. For all the external ups and downs, most of the suffering people experience is self-caused. This, in and of itself, is a humbling realization. But if you accept that, then you can get to work in letting go of your ego.
Waiting for a Big “Ah-ha!” Spiritual Moment
5 Misunderstandings About Humility
Thank God 2022 Is Over
When 2012 was over, people went on. 2013 came, and then it went. Other years have come and gone. The fundamentals of our humanity have been largely unchanged, and Western Culture seems Hell-bent on cultivating a kind of hyper-individualism, continual striving and action, comfort-seeking, and selfishness in people. These characteristics don’t bode well for what human civilization is becoming, and depending on when you are reading this, they will be here when 2023 is over. Specific challenges of society like disease may shift, but certain cultural trends are on the rise.
So while a lot of people will want to thank God, the Universe, or whoever for 2020 and 2021 and now 2022 being over, there are much more fundamental issues going on at the social level.
Yet, consciousness embraces them all. We are allowed to be where we are and do whatever we want. That’s the nature of freedom.
Despite being truly free, we limit ourselves, and we tend to limit ourselves to the same types of suffering over and over again. So, if 2022 has been a challenging time for you, perhaps it’s time to truly look at yourself and how your ego attachments have and are creating your suffering.
Learning to Address Ego Blocks Correctly
The Ego Desire for a Safe Future
Spiritual Awakening 2023 and 2024
If you start or renew or deepen your spiritual practice, you can turn 2023 into a year of rebirth. That is what a spiritual awakening often is–it’s a rebirth into something new by returning to the truth of who you truly ARE.
Spiritual Rebirth: The Arising of Natural Living
And let’s not stop with this new year. Let’s make 2024, 2025, 2026, and every year an excuse to make space for spiritual awakening and consciously dissolving ego attachments. Let’s do the work to clear away the old ego attachments structures and patterns in our lives and societies.
But with all that said, the awakened space is not waiting for us in those future years. It is still here now. It is always here now. In this present moment, this is where you can find your truest revelations, which are almost always about yourself.
Slowing Down and Removing Expectations
The awakened space can’t be at any other moment than now. Yes. I said this just a moment ago and a few moments before then. But it bears repeating.
It also bears repeating that discipline and regular practice are vital to becoming more conscious and dissolving the ego. The ego is a creature of habit. It won’t go without regular work. This reality is another reason why hoping for external world changes is naïve. Things that happen in the external world can impact us, but the real impact is if they inspire us to go within and regularly work on letting go of the ego.
And the ego will likely put up a fight. In whatever year you are doing this work be it 2023, 2025, 2026, 2030, 2035, 2040, 2050, the ego will hold on with all of its attachments. It’ll make you question this whole conscious path. This is where you find out how serious you are about becoming spiritually free.
Controlled Burn: After the Initial Awakening Settles
How to Handle the Pain of Ego Death (video)
Letting Go of 2022, Coming Into the Moment
I know that 2022 was a very triggering year after two other triggering years, and it wasn’t a bed of roses before that. The desire to hope for different world events in 2023 is strong.
Again, people seek the external to fix their internal emotions.
Do your best to go within instead. Go towards the emotional triggers inside you that want life to be different/better. Bring your attention back to awareness and begin to let go of your attachments. And remember:
You are not your thoughts;
You are not your emotions;
You are not even your body;
You are consciousness; You are.
Jim’s 3 Predictions for 2023
Thanks for reading everything. It all applies. Now, I’m going to do something different; I actually am going to offer predictions.
Along with that, I’m going to offer guidance on what we need to change.
Because I’ve been studying people seriously probably for my whole life, but definitely since I got serious about this path in 2006. And I’ve been a teacher since 2010. I’ve watched a lot of social trends grow, and I’m deeply disturbed by what I see.
Prediction 1: Individualism and Deeper Social Fragmentation
We used to be deeply connected to our hunter-gather groups. If we were migratory, we traveled together because together is a lot easier to survive than alone. Then we had the agricultural revolution, and we were all deeply tied to the land.
Now, we are scattering in every direction with every changing of the wind. That wind may be the whim of curiosity about a different place, a job, a romantic partnership, the insane cost of living in a place, or something else.
But each time someone leaves a space, they leave in-person community. Online community does not replace that. It is not even remotely a good substitute for in-person, in-real-time connections.
But van life, online jobs/remote working, and the general hope that things will feel better some place out is breaking apart our communities more and more.
The result I’m predicting:
More loneliness, mental health problems, pleasure-seeking/self-medication, and desperation.
The way out:
There are multiple issues at play. Some of them will have to be solved by communities.
But a couple ways to help yourself is to give up the idea that another place or another job or another relationship is better.
Stop moving and rest.
If you can’t sit still in meditation, that’s a sign that you are over-working your nervous system already.
Also, make time for people in your life. If you want friends or romance or better relationships in general, stop moving so fast and be where you are. Create space for connection.
Learn to compromise; we can’t all have everything all the time. That mentality is part of the problem as well.
People crave community, but it’s also hard work. And community can start as we learn to take care of ourselves and make space for having people consistently in our lives IN-PERSON.
A Path Back to Having Community
More Greed and Higher Costs of Living
Desperation will lead to more clinging and grasping. Since the dominant social beliefs say that money is happiness and safety, people will grab for more. That will drive up more costs, and the spiral will continue.
Unfortunately, some people and institutions have found ways to monopolize resources, and their power and wealth will likely increase at the expense of the less powerful in society.
This will create more desperation, and sadly, I am deeply concerned about violence.
Did you hear about the shooting that happened in my home of Bend, OR? That happened at a Safeway two blocks from my home.
This, of course, wasn’t the first time something of this nature has happened in the U.S.
Do you think this trend will stop?
Think again if you think it will because the more desperate and lonely people become, the more people will reach breaking points.
The Result I’m Predicting
Putting more pressure on people to pay higher amounts for everything will fuel violence and political extremism. We’ve already seen this in the last decade. It’s not what I want to believe; it’s a trend that is ongoing.
The Way Out
We need more community builders as well as political activists.
Community builders bring people together and back to the things that matter most–being seen and supported by other people. The more supported people feel, the less they focus on consuming stuff and wasting their money and resources. Nor do they care as much about the next business deal or getting more money somehow.
They also feel less desperate because they know they care for.
Politics is the nature of social discussion on what is important. Apathy took over for years, and it is still there. But people around the world need to be more active and improve at this magical thing called COMPROMISE to solve a variety of communal problems that are being ignored. Solving unresolved problems can also help to reduce the sense of desperation and feeling uncared for and unheard.
You can be a political activist or community-builder. Anyone can do these things at any level of society, and they are needed at ALL levels of society.
Greed and the Urgency of Caring for Each Other
Explosion of Self-medications and Distractions
I have been blown away at the explosion of distractions and self-medications since 2010. It’s been particularly crazy in the spiritual world. People are praying for spirituality to fix things that it will never fix, and they using every substance, technique, space, and relationship that they can to get that fix.
And the bigger the set of issues, the more we hope for some magical fix.
You can see it in our movies. These are the hopeful stories we tell us. We want to believe that putting a magic stone back into a special place will fix the environment (Moana) or that we can snap our fingers to bring back everything we lost (Avengers: Endgame).
We can’t.
But since human beings seek comfort and ease, the industries–including spirituality and self-help–that offer self-medications and distractions of all kinds will continue to grow. This will be to our detriment. Because like an untended 3-alarm house fire, not dealing with the real issues will grow to a 4-alarm house fire.
The Result I’m Predicting
A continued explosion of distractions and quick-fix solutions.
In the mix will be more complicated, expensive, and dramatic solutions that will likely still avoid the main problem or just treat symptoms.
Like liposuction.
Instead of doing the hard work of healing a person’s emotions and mind that have caused poor lifestyle choices and then changing that lifestyle, people will choose some kind of dramatic operation like liposuction to remove the fat.
But then the issue will return, and there invariably will be complications from doing whatever dramatic thing was done.
The Way Out
Wanting to see what is real.
And
Inner Work.
All these trends can be reversed collectively, but it will take us all individually choosing to change. Otherwise, things can and will get worse in 2023 and beyond.
What is that you will choose?
Thanks for reading. If you are enjoying my writing, I encourage you to check out my ebook:
Everyday Spirituality: Cultivating an Awakening
updated 11/6/2022
Amen!
Well said!
So true!
🙂 Thanks for the comment, Roberta.
So let go of the prophecies and predictions. Don't worry about what energies are moving in 2019. They're just ego games to put your hope for yourself, for life, and for this world into the future and into external phenomena. Bring your hope and your happiness to this moment. Bring your awareness to this moment. Be here now.
Yes. That's basically it. 🙂
I realize I am held hostage by fear and ego.
Now, observe the fear and the ego. At which point, you have stepped out of the hostage situation.
2012 was the most remarkable year of my life.I had internenet, so had no idea there were predictions and prohesies. I also had no Idea what was happening to me , untill my friend had Eckhart speaking on opra and bought me his book, a new earth. Reading that book made me realize I was not crazy or loosing my mind. spiritually I was reborn and started on a journey I have been on ever since .
Thank you for sharing!
Loving this post, thank you for sharing! 🙂