The Awakened Life: Enoch, Archetype of the Sacred Art of Knowing God

“And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.”
– Genesis 5:5

“An infinite God…does not distribute himself that each may have a part, but to each one he gives all of himself as fully as if there were no others.”
– A. W. Tozer

A God-awakened life is a transformational shift in human consciousness that brings the sacred Presence into immediate awareness. In this awakened state, there is a ubiquitous awareness that Intelligence suffuses all living things. This awareness is not hypothetical or speculative, but real. Awareness of Intelligence or Presence makes you conscious of the fact that, what seems real-the material world around you-is really a passing illusion and what seems unreal-the spiritual world-is actually what’s real and eternal. That is, it’s not what’s seen, but what’s unseen that is most real. Saint Paul expressed it beautifully: “The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever.”

If you are waking up, a shift is taking place in your consciousness even now. You are becoming more and more aware of yourself-that is, your own feelings, hopes and dreams, as well as disappointents and failures, and there is an acceptance of all of it. You feel no need to argue with what is. Rather, you are at peace with yourself and your reason for being in this world.

You’ve ended the madness of looking for yourself outside yourself-in things, relationships, a career or calling, roles, functions, a belief system, and so on. You know that any of these has the capacity of adding richness to your life, but none of these could ever be your life. Furthermore, instead of just one or a few other persons, you sense a deep connectedness to all sentient beings. The prejudices, stereotypes, opinions, and beliefs about others, part of your conditioned upbringing, are coming into the light of your consciousness. You are more aware of your conditioned responses to people and circumstances and, therefore, capable of changing what needs changing. What should disappear fades away. What should expand does so, too. None of it happens overnight but, on the awakened, spiritual path, you are yourself amazed at how much more at peace you are with life itself. You are living what Jesus described as “the abundant life.”

The abundant, God-aware life is perfectly illustrated in the life of Enoch, an enlightened spiritual master who perhaps lived thousands of years ago. Early Jewish and Christian saints, including many of the early Church Fathers, regarded Enoch as an enlightened soul whose writings were sacred. In spite of this widespread acknowledgment, however, by the fourth century, his works had been excluded from the Canon of Scripture, or what we know today as the Bible. This is most regrettable as Enoch’s example of the enlightened life holds the secret to life and death. Enoch lived as God desires all to live. He died as God desires all to die. But, because his writings have not been widely accessible, his example has been virtually hidden from countless generations.

Enoch has much to share with us. Our Jewish ancestors knew this, which is why, long before Jesus, and for many years after him, Jewish and Christian saints venerated Enoch. This is accentuated by the fact that there are only two persons in the Bible credited with having “walked with God,” a phrase which is the Biblical way of referring to an awakened, enlightened, or God-aware life. They are Noah and Enoch. That alone is puzzling enough to warrant an investigation. To walk with God. What does that mean? Is this simply an anthropomorphic way of describing a spiritual life? In part, but it is patently more than this, too. The inference is, between Enoch and God, a depth of intimacy existed unknown to almost everyone else, either before or after him.

There was a time when intimacy prevailed between God and humans and between humans and all other sentient beings. But, in Jewish mythology, something was lost in creation. When the Serpent, whom legend has called Satan but we now know as the dysfunctional ego, lifted its noxious head, its toxic venum contaminated human consciousness of the Divine. What was once a magnificent, effortless attachment to God was severed by the ego. God was successfully edged out of human consciousness.

The story of Enoch is, therefore, a story of recovery. What was forfeited by Adam and Eve in the creation narratives was reclaimed in Enoch. This is the point the writer of Genesis is making by the words, “Enoch walked with God.” The previous reference to “walking” in the Book of Genesis tells us God walked alone. While God once walked in harmony with Adam and Eve, separation became the order of the day.

Enoch broke that cycle, however. What his predecessors and contemporaries could not do, and most of his successors have not done since, Enoch did. He lived in spiritual union with Eternal Presence. And, the good news is this: If he did, others may too. Enoch is a universal archetype of the sacred art of knowing God. If anyone was ever awake, it was Enoch. The remarkable way he lived, and the equally remarkable way in which he died, holds the secret to living and dying today. Though relegated to place of obscurity for centuries, his legacy is instructive to the spiritually discerning. Your interest in him is the next step you’re destined to take in your journey of your own awakening.

• Enoch lived as God would have you live—in unity consciousness with Being itself.
• Enoch died as God would have you die—with satisfaction, contentment, and no fear.

Enoch was born, lived, and died the way God had originally planned for everyone—that is, until the ego contaminated the human condition, making birth painful, life problematic, and death what the New Testament calls “the last enemy.”[1]

So, how might you wake up?

Go within.  That’s the real tabernacle, temple, or worship center.  Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is within you.”[2] You will not find this kingdom anywhere else.  Channel the desire you feel to know God into a journey into the inner shrine of stillness, meditation, and peace.  “You are the temple of God,” said Saint Paul, “and God himself is present in you.”[3] Words do not get much clearer than this.  It is this unseen temple of the heart where you touch Source and tame your ego-self.  All outer temples, shrines, churches, and altars are mere reminders that the pathway to Life is the pathway within.  It is there you enter the real sanctuary, experience real Sabbath, and enjoy Source itself.

Just as you cannot know God in a collection of beliefs or doctrines, no matter how “right” your religious tradition insists they are, so you cannot know God in a church, temple, or mosque, no matter how emotionally-uplifting it may be.  It is true that God may visit, surprise, or awaken within you in any of a million different ways—in a worship service, through the reading of sacred scripture, during a confession, or while pondering a religious doctrine or belief.  But, it is also true that God may awaken in you while on a golf course, in the midst of a crisis, or while doing nothing at all, except reclining on a couch watching television.

[2] Luke 17:21

[3] 1 Corinthians 3:16

[2] Genesis 3:8

[3] 1 Corinthians 15:26, KJV

[4] See Genesis 5:18-24; Jude 14-15; and Hebrews 11:5

[5] The books attributed to Enoch are known as 1 Enoch (or, Book of Enoch), 2 Enoch (or, Secrets of Enoch) and 3 Enoch (or, Mystical Enoch). Early Christians of the second century were familiar with these writings and many consider them sacred, including Church Fathers like Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Origen, Clement of Alexandria, and Tertullian. By the fourth century, however, the Book of Enoch was excluded from all Christian lists of those books which would comprise what is commonly known as the Bible today. In no way, however, does this discount the significance of Enoch’s life or his death. In fact, regarding his death, his experience of it was so rare and different, virtually everyone since then has mistakenly concluded he did not experience death at all. He did die, however, just as everyone dies. But, the way he lived and the way he died were preserved for a reason. It is in the story of Enoch that you find the secrets that can transform the quality of your life and solve the quandary of your death.