Great Awakening

A great awakening is a period of religious revival throughout a society. In America the First Great Awakening started in the 1730s and helped usher in the ideas that lead to the American Revolution. The Second Great Awakening started in the early 1800s and was tied with the temperance movement (abstain from alcoholic drinks), abolition movement (abolish slavery), and women's rights movement. The great awakening made religion more personal to individuals and helped bring good change to the society.

To order the states, regulate the families 

To regulate the families, cultivate the persons

To cultivate the persons, rectify the hearts

To rectify the hearts, seek to be sincere in thoughts

To be sincere in thoughts, extend to the utmost knowledge

Extend knowledge by investigating things -Confucius

If we take the wisdom of Confucius we must first have an awakening in ourselves by extending knowledge, improve our thoughts an hearts so we can be cultivated before we can help our families and then our communities and states.

Here is the story of my great awakening.

As a 30 something year old I had reached my goals of going to college, getting a good job and getting married. I was simply stuck and wondering what is next. There has to be something to do beside going to work and waiting to grow old. I also felt stuck spiritually as I felt I was just hearing the same lessons over and over again at church and half of them were about being a good parent, which did not apply to me.

Enter the start of my personal great awakening. I attended a Re-Value American seminar put on by Dr. Brooks of Monticello College. I loved the seminar and I picked up a few books which were sold at the seminar. The two books with the biggest impact were A Thomas Jefferson Education and The Coming Aristocracy both by Oliver DeMille. I felt a fire in my soul as I realized I didn't have a real education and I had to get one to learn my real purpose on this earth and what I was to do with my life.

Dr. Brooks set up a series of classes titled Foundations of Liberty which I started attending where we read a great book and had a four hour discussion once a month. Through these classes I was mentored toward true learning and began my path to a true education. My next step was to sign up for a degree program through Monticello College where we read and discussed 1-3 books a week. These contained some of the greatest books ever written from Plato to Plutarch to Shakespeare to Locke. I was shocked how much I had not learned through all my school years and also was amazed about how many spiritual experiences I was having in a college environment while studying history, math, science, philosophy and other subjects.

After two years of intense study I realized I was in for a life time of studying and learning while sharing what I was learning and trying to inspire others to get a real education. I continued my studies with Monticello College learning how to be a mentor and teach others. As I have had opportunities to mentor other students my understanding and learning has become even deeper.

After about 6 years or so of academic study I began to feel stuck again. About this time a good friend called me and told me about mentoring she was doing on subconscious thought. I attended a seminar she did and then did some coaching sessions. What another great experience as I learned lies I was telling my self which were poisoning my relationships and holding me back from the things I was needing to do in life. After only a few weeks of being mentored on how to start controlling my thoughts I noticed another great awakening as I was happy with life and had motivation again.

Shortly after I began to get excited about church again after studying various philosophy and religious texts. I found my new faith and had my great awakening through a deep serious study of the classics (of all subjects) and great mentors.

It appears I followed the pattern set out by Confucius with out knowing it. I first extended my knowledge by investigating things by getting a classical liberal arts education. I was then able to become sincere in my thoughts by getting a great mentor to help me through the process. Once my thoughts were sincere I was able to start rectifying my heart and the hearts of my loved ones through love, discussion and seeking out the love of Christ. I feel this is the step I am but I am seeing improvement in cultivating myself and regulating my family. I also hope I am helping order the state by sharing what I have learned and by my example of how I try to live my life.

I look forward to see what the next steps in life bring me. I encourage everyone to take what steps you need to take to improve yourself and by doing so improve the world.