A Celebration of Our Spiritual Birth

Regardless of the circumstances in which we were born, it is a blessing that we are here. And although we
cannot alter our past, we have been given the gift of awareness, which allows us to change the course of
our future. So we should always celebrate that special day in which our true divine nature decided to
incarnate itself into this world. But there is another very special day that many of us fail to celebrate, and
that is the day in which we woke up to our divine nature.
It is true that what we refer to as awakening experiences occur on a gradual level. But that moment in
which you initially peaked behind the veil of your ego, and saw your undifferentiated, pure soul, should
be equally celebrated as much as your physical birth date. For the sake of this article, we can call that date
our spiritual birth day because it was the day in which we became aware of our eternal soul and our
relationship to the cosmos. I remember my initial awakening quite well, and I celebrate my souls
birthday every year.
In the month of December of my twelfth year, I had a dream that I followed a crowd of people to the edge
of a cliff. And as egoic as it may seem, I was very lucid within my dream, and also very aware that the
crowd that I followed was in a state of deep-sleep as they were slowly walking towards the cliff. I tried
everything that I could to awaken them to the fact that if they did not change their course, they would go
over the edge. In spite of of my attempts to grab their attention, the crowd continued forward towards
their ultimate destination. After awaking from the dream, I quickly realized that my dream was more
about myself than anyone else in my life. My dream was a vision about the very nature of my own soul.
The crowd of people walking in a sleep-like state towards the cliff represented my own unconscious
perception and thought patterns. The edge of the cliff represented the limits of my own awareness at the
time, and the abyss on the other side of the cliff was a gateway to a deeper entrenchment in materiality
and immorality. In short, I was a teenager, having teenaged-like tendencies that apparently were bumping
up against the true nature of my soul and my souls calling. My ability to remain conscious within the

dream was a personal sign to me that I was waking up to something more. Eventually I discovered that I
was beginning to answer a call to help other individuals wake up and become conscious regarding the
world around them and the life they are creating for themselves. Before my 13 th birthday, I accepted my
call, began ministerial training, and was ordained within my tradition.
Almost 16 years ago, I said yes to something that was much bigger than my teenaged reality. Ive seen
individuals healed of ailments through the power of their faith and spiritual practice, relationships
mended, and individuals changed for the better. But nothing can compare to literally watching the spark
of life light up in the eyes of an individual soul, once they realize who they are, and why they chose to
incarnate in the earth.
My spiritual birthday occurred in the month of December and I personally celebrate that month with as
much excitement, passion, and mindfulness as I would celebrate my physical birth month of July. There
are two very important times in our lives that we should devote a great deal of attention to-the day in
which we were born, and the day in which we wake up to why we were truly born. Beyond time and
space, we chose to come here to bring light to this world and not to take from it or destroy it. That light is
always shining within our hearts; we simply have to remove the filters so that it can glimmer even
brighter. I believe that this is also the metaphorical meaning of the Christ nativity story; that there is a
moment in your life where something deep within, wakes up or is born into a new awareness. And when
that happens and you accept it, as suggested by the Christ nativity story, you will truly be able to bring joy
to your world.
Jesse Herriott is a writer and spiritual teacher whose work explores the nature of what it means to be human.
He is an ordained priest in the Universal Anglican Church and lives in the world as a lay monk, embracing the
world as well as the home created with his wife and child, as his personal monastery. His radio show Living
on Purpose is archived on Unity Online Radio atwww.unityonlineradio.org/livingonpurpose. Learn more
at jessherriott.com.