When the World Wakes Us
A Meditation by Rev. Cameron Trimble
“Awake, my heart. Awake, O sleeper. The night has ended.” - Rumi, in Masnavi
Most people can name at least one moment when something inside them shifted, a moment that felt like a quickening. There was a “before” and an “after.” Nothing outward necessarily changed, yet everything was different.
It might have happened in the presence of wilderness. Or grief. Or beauty so arresting it stopped the mind mid-sentence. It might have arrived through love, or loss, or a night sky that refused to stay small. Afterward, people often say the same things: I felt more alive. I knew I belonged. I could no longer see the world the same way.
14th century mystic Julian of Norwich described such moments simply:
“Suddenly the Trinity filled my heart with joy.”1
She speaks of this not as an idea, but as an experience, an unmediated knowing that reality is held together by love.
Indigenous traditions have long understood these moments as initiatory, as crossings or threshold experiences that reorganize perception. Yesterday I was in conversation with one of the wonderful leaders of the Pachamama Alliance who spoke of these awakenings as moments when the soul remembers reciprocity: not the earth as resource, but the earth as relation. Not nature over there, but life in which we are already embedded.
What’s striking is how consistent the reports are. People who pass through these awakenings don’t come back with new opinions so much as new orientation. They describe an unarguable sense of interdependence. A widening of identity. A felt knowing that nothing exists in isolation—and that care is not optional, but intrinsic to reality itself.
French philosopher and theologian, Teilhard de Chardin, writing from within both mysticism and evolutionary science, named this with precision:
“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.”2
As our scientific understanding deepens, this sense of connection keeps expanding. We now know that the atoms in our bodies were forged in ancient stars. That Earth itself is not a closed system, but part of a vast, unfolding cosmos. Some people are experiencing awakenings not only to planetary belonging, but to cosmological kinship—a sense that consciousness, creativity, and relationality extend far beyond this one world.
Thomas Berry called this shift The Great Work: the transition from a human-centered to an Earth-centered mode of presence. He wrote,
“The universe is a communion of subjects, not a collection of objects.”3
These awakenings do not remove us from responsibility. They intensify it.
Once you have felt this belonging—once you’ve known yourself as participant rather than observer—it becomes harder to tolerate the violence we enact against one another and the Earth. It’s harder to accept a story that frames domination as progress or extraction as success. The nightmare we are living inside becomes visible precisely because another way of being has been revealed.
Black Elk described his awakening this way:
“The power of the world always works in circles, and everything tries to be round.”4
To awaken is to remember the circle—to feel again the pulse of reciprocity that holds life together.
These moments do not come on command. They cannot be forced or manufactured. But they can be welcomed. Prepared for. Honored. And when they arrive, they ask something of us.
Awakening is not an escape. It is an assignment.
To live from reciprocity.
To align our choices with what we know in our bones.
To help midwife futures shaped by belonging rather than fear.
The future that becomes possible after awakening is not just different for us. It is different for everyone we touch.
We are in this together,
Cameron
Reflection Questions
Can you recall a moment when your sense of self or belonging fundamentally shifted? What changed afterward?
Where do you already live from this awakened knowing—and where do you resist it?
What responsibility feels quietly but persistently asked of you now?
A Prayer for the Day
A Prayer For Awakening
Holy One, You who breathe freedom into dust and call it good, teach us again how to see. Where law has become a weapon, let conscience rise as a counterforce. Where power hides behind piety, let prophets speak with claSource of Life, Pulse of becoming, Ground of all relation, Wake us—not with violence, but with truth. Interrupt the stories that keep us small and separate. Remind us of the belonging we have never lost. Open our senses to the wider field of life— planetary, cosmic, intimate, shared. Let our awakenings not inflate us, but soften us. Give us courage to live from what we know is real. May our lives become thresholds through which new futures can enter the world. Amen.
Spiritual Practice
Threshold Listening
For the next few days, practice initiatory attention.
Spend time daily with something larger than yourself: the night sky, moving water, an old tree, silence.
Instead of analyzing, ask inwardly: What is trying to be remembered here?
Notice moments when your sense of separation softens, even briefly.
When it happens, pause. Breathe. Let it register in your body.
At day’s end, reflect: What did I remember today? What kind of life does that remembering invite?
Awakening does not always arrive like lightning.
Sometimes it comes like dawn: slow, undeniable, and changing everything.
Upcoming Events That Might Be of Interest…
January 6, 13, 20, 2026 - Protest and Action Chaplaincy Training with Rev. Anna Golladay. This live, online training offers a framework for providing compassionate, grounded spiritual care during protests, advocacy gatherings, and social movements. Learn more here.
January 15, 2026, 7-8pm EST - FREE Online Webinar: When the Internet Hurts: The Hidden Online Dangers Facing Our Teens and How Faith Communities Can Respond, Join me in conversation with Sharon Winkler, survivor parent and nationally respected youth online-safety advocate. Sharon’s son, Alex, died at age 17 after experiencing cyberbullying and algorithmically targeted pro-suicide content. Since then, Sharon has dedicated her life to helping parents, educators, and faith leaders recognize online dangers and build safer communities for young people. Register here.
February 11th and 25, 2026 - Join Our “Building a Culture of Leadership Within Congregations” Cohort facilitated by Rabbi Benjamin Ross and me! A two-session course for ministers and faith leaders ready to strengthen how their congregations and ministries identify, develop, and support leaders. Learn more here.
July 19-24, 2026 - Join me and amazing co-facilitator, Victoria, on retreat in the back-country of beautiful Wyoming. The Art of Wilding is a 5-Day Expedition for Women Leaders. We will spend the week reconnecting to nature, exploring our inner landscapes for change, and engage the wisdom of spiritual teachings. Click here to learn more.
I drafted a Strategic Framework for Congregations as we move into the coming years of increased authoritarianism around the world. If interested, you can download it here.
Fun Things My Friends Are Up To…
I get to work with such amazing, creative people. This new section is my way of celebrating them—no paid promotions, just joy in what they’re creating.
Dr. Luther E. Smith, Jr. is the Professor Emeritus of Church and Community at Emory University (and was my seminary professor a long time ago). He has a new book out that I’m excited about: Hope Is Here! Spiritual Practices for Pursuing Justice and Beloved Community.
James Finley is one of our great teachers of the mystics. His podcast, hosted by the Center for Action and Contemplation, is a deep-dive into the mystical teachings of saints like St. Teresa of Avila, Brother Lawrence, St. John of the Cross, and Julian of Norwich, just to name a few. Check it out here.
If you are a leader or member of a congregation looking for consulting support in visioning, planning, hiring or staffing, please consider Convergence.
Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love, trans. Elizabeth Spearing (Penguin Classics) where she describes an experiential encounter during her visions in 1373.
I say he named it, but this phrasing, which will be familiar to many, is attributed to him but not found in exactly this structure in any of his writing. That said, it certainly summarizes his teaching.
Thomas Berry, The Dream of the Earth (1988)
Black Elk Speaks, as told through John G. Neihardt (1932), Chapter 2
Quickenings wake us
to the truth of life as love.
Reality, linked.
...
Remember circle.
Reciprocity, true law.
Report for duty.
Thank you, Cameron. The prayer you shared today is very meaningful to me. Thank you.