When a person starts to awaken Spiritually, it can be overwhelming (and often is). Having to re-assess their life path up until that point, dismantle programming and belief systems, and change trajectories for their newly revealed path are not easy things to handle. Their entire paradigm shifts and with that comes new interests, new perceptions, new experiences, new friends, new places, new habits, etc. Eventually, this person accepts and adapts to their new trajectory. Once this occurs, it's normal for them feel a sense of accomplishment, as they should - They drastically adjusted their lifestyle, maintained their alignment, and made huge strides in their personal evolution proving that they definitely were NOT still sleeping. Good for them!
Knowledge and experience eventually transmutes to wisdom with time and this person might start to think they've reached the pinnacle of their Spiritual Development (uh-oh!). Some of these new "Spiritually Awakened" individuals even think they're now qualified to become "spiritual teachers/gurus" (an even bigger "uh-oh!") and start offering advice and spiritual guidance to others that have started to stir from their slumber (the blind leading the blind).
But these individuals haven't truly woken up. They just think they're awake and at the "peak" of their Spiritual Development "mountain".
How do I know? Because I've been at the false peak of this mountain and I intimately know what accompanies this particular experience. Ironically, when a person is at this false peak, their vantage point (and accompanying ego-boost) blinds them to what exists beyond, consequently making them feel complacent with their newly attained position and sometimes stagnating any further progress on their Spiritual Path. I've touched upon this in an older article about Delusional Spiritual People.
If we use the analogy of waking up each morning, we all understand that it isn't an instant process usually (unless something like a loud noise startles the shit out of you, and even then, all of your faculties haven't fully come "online" yet). Even if we choose to use any variety of stimulants to assist us in a faster transition to an alert state, it still takes a bit of time to kick in.
A Spiritual Awakening is similar because it isn't instantaneous either. It takes time to become fully lucid and coherent, but in this case, instead of ~30 minutes to an hour+, it could take many, many years (even decades).
(On a side note, two of the most popular "stimulants" used to assist with the process of waking-up Spiritually are meditation and entheogens/psychedelics, but please make note that doing those don't necessarily guarantee that a person will understand what they've experienced or "wake-up". An experienced psychonaut can still be just as spiritually stunted after a psychedlic/meditative experience as they were before they embarked on that particular journey. Think of it this way: If you're a freshman in high school, sitting through a graduate level Biochemistry III class doesn't neccessarily mean you'll "get it".
What does being Spiritually Awake actually mean anyway?
It means possessing:
An in-depth knowledge and understanding of Spiritual and Metaphysical concepts and matters
The wisdom of how and when to apply this knowledge
The maturity to accept things (harsh truths) as they REALLY are (no matter how difficult they may be to accept and no matter how they may contradict your "map of the world")
An ability to accurately discern the TRUTH no matter how cleverly it has been concealed
The fortitude to stay in Alignment with Yourself without giving in to external influences
An awareness of the "Big Picture" and your place in it
An understanding of the complex dynamics of this Earth-Life System and how to disentangle yourself from it
What's the difference between a False/Pseudo Spiritual Awakening and a Genuine one?
They're damn near identical. Those that are in the midst of experiencing a False Awakening can read those bullet points above and genuinely feel that all of those apply to them and where they are currently. They're not exactly wrong, but their perception/understanding is just "off" (sometimes drastically).
How can one reach a Genuine Spiritual Awakening?
A person must be mature enough, wise enough, and humble enough to recognize that they aren't at the pinnacle of their Spiritual Development and there is more to learn. Only then would they be capable of surpassing where they're currently at.
Once this person dismantles/shatters their existing paradigm that kept them locked inside the False Awakening "box" and explores further down their path, they'll eventually gain access to new information and attain more clarity on what they had previously beLIEved to be "true". Only then will the differences between the two types of Spiritual Awakenings become obvious.
It's no different than having never worn glasses your entire life and then having an eye doctor tell you that your vision is really poor and you're going to need glasses. It's not until you try on a pair that you realize just how skewed your perception of things really were/are. This can simultaneously be a very jarring, but beautiful experience.
What is it like when a person leaves the False Spiritual Awakening and moves to a Genuine Spiritual Awakening?
Not everyone that is currently experiencing a False Awakening will be able to progress to a Genuine Awakening during their incarnation (this is by design), but whatever progress they make will radiate into all of their other incarnations (to assist those incarnations on their individual paths) and add to the overall Spiritual Advancement of the Soul animating all of those incarnations.
If it's in your particular incarnational path to make the transition to a Genuine Spiritual Awakening, you'll simultaneously be thrilled and depressed - Thrilled because you'll have broken through a barrier that you didn't even know existed and you'll be excited to learn and continue your evolution; Depressed because you'll realize that you are no longer at the "top" and things don't necessarily get any easier now due to the painful dismantling and re-structuring of your old framework to accommodate new information, epiphanies, and concepts.
How can a person discern who is Falsely Awakened vs. Genuinely Awakened?
You can take a look at the current group of "New Agers" to start. I've bitched about these "lightsiders" before in other articles. Now before someone gets all butt-hurt as they read this, please keep in mind that possessing some of these traits doesn't make you a bad person (I went through the lightsider phase many years ago and I understand how this might upset some people), but you're going to have to be open-minded and mature enough to recognize that if you have a predominance of these traits, you might just be in your False Awakening and will have to re-assess each of these points eventually. This list is by no means comprehensive.
You know those people that are into:
calling themselves "light-workers"
oozing a sickening amount of "love and light" for everyone and everything
only preaching about the beauty and love found here and on the "other side" (and ignoring the horrible shit)
telling everyone to go "into the light" upon death
refusing to acknowledge anything "negative" down here
doing as much "good" as possible to pay back their "bad" karma
"praying" for people (especially without asking for their permission)
obsessively trying to manifest material objects for their dream life
obsessively trying to manifest their "soul mate" and being obsessed with "twin flames" or thinking they're one
parroting the importance of balancing/opening/working on chakras without fully understanding what chakras really are
talking about reiki like it's the only healing modality that exists
taking "bastardized" yoga classes (or becoming an instructor) and acting spiritually "holier than thou" with their mudras and mantra-chanting
getting metaphysical "certifications" so they can show others that they're "qualified" and "spiritual"
singing praises about our E.T. "space brothers", beLIEving that E.T.s have our best interests in mind, and thinking E.T.s are experts on Spirituality
meditating to help raise the vibration of the planet to usher in a new world
trying to "change" humanity and Earth for "the better"
blah, blah, blah
I hope you can sense the energy I've infused in the list above. Ironically, these people try so hard to be "spiritual", they completely miss it because they don't truly understand it.
There is also an accompanying energy of arrogance encompassing this group of people (it affected me this during this phase as well), no doubt by design, to keep them from progressing any further Spiritually and discovering actual TRUTHS. Only the ones on the fringe of this lightsider group will be receptive to listening to and considering that some of what they know at that level might be partial truths or downright lies.
I recall listening to a series of interviews (Audible) with psychics and mediums many years ago in a series called "I'm Spiritual, Dammit!". I just looked it up and apparently the interviewer/author wrote a book with the same title. I've never read it, however, the cover of the book represents exactly what I've been talking about.
Just remember that no matter how far you've think you've come on your Spiritual Journey, there will always be more to learn right around the corner (as long as you keep an open mind) and some of it can/will violently shake up the "snow globe" of your reality. This shit never ends.