Spiritual awakening does not have a one-size-fits-all formula or age limit.
There is no age that one “should” awaken.
Some start this journey between the age of 35 to 45 and some at their teenage while many others after a number of years later.
Average Age Of Spiritual Awakening:
Early Life
“Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them…” – Matthew 19:14
Children are some of the most receptive and pure vessels for this spiritual awareness.
Their innocence allows them a communion with the divine, too often lost on us as adults.
There are a few people who say that they had dreams, visions, or even strong intuition about the spiritual experience as early as the age of five or six.
In youth, spiritual questionings may appear as strong feelings of compassion or a kinship to nature.
Awakening in the teens or early twenties can be a time of emotional and existential confusion but also a key point at which great questions about the nature of life are called to consciousness for those who awaken earlier.
The benefit of being young is curiosity and fearlessness, but with that comes inexperience.
I discovered that the mind and heart are like well-tilled fields — fertile but fragile grounds on which to sow those revelations seeds, particularly as a teen.
The Quarter-Life Crisis
“It is not length of life, but depth of life.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
For some, it is what I like to call the “quarter-life crisis,” where they reach a sort of awakening to their spiritual nature.
Somewhere from 25 to 30 people start questioning their choices, careers, relationships and even the role they play in society.
Thus, having devoted their early years to proving they are worthy of a successful existence, some find that achieving anything else on the outside does not make them feel alright within.
This sort of disillusionment can lead to a deep quest for true purpose.
It may lead one to ponder life and its conventions, reforge belief systems or stir up a strange longing within them.
Often, the confusion or depression that we see on the surface is just a way that your spirit makes itself aware that it is about to start shattering through (sort of prying my chest open and breaking shards off my bones at this point).
The first ripples of awakening reach people in this stage through self-inquiry, meditation, or spiritual work.
The quarter-life crisis is a moment of connection to the soul.
It subtly suggests you take your focus off the material and move into the spiritual realm of consciousness.
Midlife Awakening:
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him…” – Romans 8:28
Most spiritual thinkers reframe the good ole “midlife crisis” as an awakening. But by the time most of us are into our 40s and 50s, the average person is starting to see through the veil now that they have enough experience under their belt.
They may have accomplished careers, raised children or crossed-off bucket-list items but feel there is a missing link.
This stage usually goes hand in hand with the moment we realize that life is going to end, opening the doors for deep spiritual inquiry.
Midlife brings wisdom.
It provides insight into the impermanence of life and also shows you that only so much can be gained through material desires.
This was when a lot of people began to get awake and they started asking the question: What is my mission here on earth? or “Why am I here?”
As people begin to realize their need for the divine, practices like meditation, yoga and lost religious traditions are practiced once more.
Having been through enough of the trials and tribulations that life dishes up, by now, the ego has surely learned how little control it ultimately possesses.
There is a lot less bought into identity and status.
For many, mid-life is the first window of opportunity to get out of our doing-mode and move into a being-mode (this shifting from do-ing to be-ing is the essence of spiritual awakening).
Late-Life Awakening
“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” – Mahatma Gandhi
A spiritual awakening can be even more delayed and happen in later years, as these people may have more time to reflect well into retirement.
After 60 or so, things start to slow down.
Work pressures for ourselves, parenting and societal demands ease, which naturally creates space to foster spirituality.
In this room, countless are getting back in touch with their inner world in a way not before available.
The enlightenment in the late life time is frequently noted for that peace.
At this point, people realize the worth of small things in life.
Most individuals gravitate to spirituality as a way of inscribing their legacy of love and kindness.
It is like fears of death die out and become replaced by curiosity about the great beyond.
Awakening through Pain
“Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls.” – Kahlil Gibran
Spiritual awakening is something that can occur gradually, but it is often the result of some type of crisis.
Such spiritual awakenings are triggered by experiences such as the death of someone close, marriage breakdown, severe illness and existential crisis.
There is something about pain that can peel back the superficial skin and reveal us in our most primal form.
In response to a life of such intense misery, there often comes the point at which the person cracks, and they begin to look elsewhere for an understanding that can never be answered by material existence.
What seemed like a hellish experience before will become the soil for spiritual development.
The main thing is that you are brought back into yourself and need to connect with something bigger than yourself.
The most powerful spiritual awakenings are crisis-induced because they do not allow the ego to intervene.
One has to give up totally and let the divine power be in lead.
These awakenings are not usually soft, but they enter to give way for great transformations in our lives.
Collective Awakening
“Be the change you wish to see in the world.” – Mahatma Gandhi
The collective awakening does not belong to a specific community or age group.
People from all quarters of life are learning the hard way that previous ways of living based on separation were getting us nowhere.
The collective awakening has a ripple effect.
The more individuals who remember their spiritual connection — and radiate this Light frequency through being — the more others are encouraged to awaken.
The Slow Awakening
“Life is a journey, not a destination.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Spiritual awakenings do not always happen in moments of sudden epiphany.
For some, it develops gradually over one or two decades.
It is certainly less dramatic than the form of awakening as a sacrifice or religious conversion but no less important in significance.
It probably starts with small shifts in perspective or little flashes of insight that get more profound as they travel further down the path.
These subtle awakenings tend to occur parallel with the organic ascension of life.
It is this soft and consistent opening in consciousness that builds over time.
The experience is a sort of gentle awakening and in that, you often also find presence and acceptance.
There is a lesser sense of “attaining” enlightenment — and more emphasis on living true to oneself matched up with values.
Awakening Across Generations
“Each generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it…” – George Orwell
Your cultural background also plays a role in the age of spiritual awakening and the type of society you are born into.
Listed here are the particular trials and advantages new generations bring on their spiritual journey.
The Baby Boomer generation, for instance, came of age during a period of intense political and social unrest. During the countercultural movements of the 1960s and 70s, a good many had their road to Damascus in spiritual awakenings, meaty with Eastern philosophies, meditation, and lifestyles off the grid.
Generation X was cultivated in an age of consumerism and materialization. As a result, their spiritual awakenings usually occur later in life.
Millennials and Generation Z are now on their spiritual paths during a digital age where resources are available with just one click.
The spiritual path we follow in each generation may be different, but the desire for a more meaningful and connected world runs strongly through them all.
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I’m Bulgarea Candin Stefan and I have started Spiritual Whirlwinds to pass my learnings from my spiritual journey. Spiritualwhirlwinds.com provides a space of spiritual awakening with guided meditations, e-books, mantras, and pendulum readings.