The Real Path to Awakening Is Messy AF

We live in an era where many individuals are seeking a deeper connection with a higher power.  Within that search, many people will explore philosophies, literature, and spiritual teachers who all profess to have the silver bullet for spiritual enlightenment. They dangle the carrot of nirvana in the form of flashy, quick-fix answers to seekers who are legitimately searching for deeper meaning, purpose, and connection to the divine. These spiritual showmen advise seekers to purchase their packaged programs, which promise wealth and abundance, but often result in more egocentrism, increased control, and a bill of $ 5,000. 

I’m not writing this to tear anyone down. And I’m not claiming I’ve figured it all out. I haven’t. I’m just a guy trying to make sense of things, same as anyone else. I come from a blue-collar background: work hard, help your neighbor, keep your word, that kind of thing. And I still believe those simple values matter, especially when it comes to navigating the spiritual path.  

Here’s the thing: a lot of what’s out there right now isn't sacred; it’s sales. In the years I’ve spent talking with mystics, seekers, and spiritual teachers, I’ve explored everything from quantum mechanics to ancient traditions to the outer edges of extraterrestrial lore. However, I have recently begun to question whether we have created a cursory pathway to truly finding our awakening. Instead of diving deeper into who we are, we’ve taken the Ray Kroc approach to spirituality; we have created fast food chains of spirituality that quickly satisfy hunger but do not nourish.  In doing so, we have opened the door for the snake oil salesman to build a McMystics on every block from LA. to Austin. Same menu, different guru. Same promises, different language.

“The New Age is a commercial, organised industry of packaged answers and programs, designed to attract, and often explicit, the free-floating spiritual hunger in society.” -David Tacey

What’s missing is the slow roast and inconvenient work of self-honesty. Of stillness. Of actually sitting with your shit without trying to run from it. That’s where I’m trying to live these days, not in the spotlight, not in the algorithm, but in the mess of real questions, real people, and real growth. Real nourishment isn’t another trick or shortcut to get your energy right. It’s learning how to stand in your center. It’s not a playlist of healing frequencies. It’s been quiet long enough to hear something real. It’s finding meaning in the everyday, not trying to escape it. It’s being open to wonder, not chasing the illusion of having it all figured out. It’s about actually embracing your humanity, rather than trying to escape it. The sacred doesn’t need to impress you; it needs to undo you! 

What holds us back from fully actualizing our fullest potential that is latent within? Our inability to look eye to eye with that reflection in the mirror. The trauma, the grief, the fear, and the guilt that linger in the shadows of our being these are the blockages that constrict the flow to a fully awakened heart. They cloud our frequency and close us off from the deeper currents of love and truth, trying to move through us. Unresolved emotional energy keeps us stuck in a loop, attracting the same challenges over and over, like a song stuck on repeat, because we haven’t yet dared to face and shift the frequency we're operating from. Emotion is energy in motion. When we avoid what’s uncomfortable, that energy gets stuck, held in the body, distorting our field. To release it, we have to stop running. We have to notice it, feel it fully, and let it move through.

“The fear that had been holding me back… became the fuel that propelled me forwards. The forces that blocked my path were consumed in the act of volition.”

— Geoff Thompson

True nourishment isn’t always soft. Sometimes, it arrives as fire. There have been seasons in my life where the old emotions: fear, guilt, anger, rose like chemical storms in my body. My instinct was always to escape, to numb, to distract. But at some point, I realized that real healing isn’t about running. It’s about staying. 

Geoff Thompson calls this staying “getting into the burn.” And I’ve come to understand what he means. The burn is that raw, uncomfortable place where everything you’ve been avoiding surfaces. It’s the heat of old trauma, conditioned responses, and outdated beliefs. But it’s also the place of alchemy. Like fire transforming metal, this burn purifies. It strips away what’s not essential, softens what’s rigid, and strengthens what’s true. When you learn to stand in the burn without flinching, you begin to notice what remains. And what burns away? It was never you to begin with. This is where reshaping begins, not from force, but from release. Your sense of reality starts to shift. You find clarity in your identity, the courage to lay down the masks, and the grace to walk as yourself. That’s when freedom takes root, not as rebellion against the world, but as a deeper surrender to life itself. You start to see the old patterns for what they are: not wrong, just inherited. And with compassion, you bless them as you let them go. In that burn, you don’t just heal, you emerge.