When we wake up in the morning our consciousness expands out from the sleep state and we become aware we were asleep.
Consciousness enables us to become aware. Without consciousness we simply could not be aware of anything.
The first expansion from sleep is to our immediate surroundings, our body, thoughts and feelings, then we take in perception of the material world that we would call our reality.
But this is as far as our consciousness can reach until Spiritual Awakening begins.
This is because our consciousness is the 'light of our soul', and even when turned up full in our normal physically wakeful state, the dense fog of energies prevents the light reaching very far beyond 'normal' perception.
Spiritual Awakening begins when this fog of energies starts to thin out.
Before then we do have a vague sense there might be something more beyond where the light can reach. It is a nagging feeling that something is missing from our lives.
Then suddenly one day we start to see a little further into the fog. Things begin to make a bit more sense.
This is the first experience of Spiritual Awakening!
The real journey - the Inner Journey - now begins.
From that moment onward we feel compelled to explore.
Later on we realise that this search for meaning and understanding is actually our attempt to find out who we are, why we are here, and where we come from!