SAMPLE EXCERPT FROM

HIGHER SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS VOLUME 1

   By

    David Winfree

Copyright © 2010 by David Winfree
  All rights reserved.
  Published in
The United States of America.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission of the publisher.

This copy was issued under a limited license agreement providing the user to hold one digital copy on electronic storage media and to print one paper copy.  The use may make another paper copy if the first is entirely destroyed. The digital copy may not be given, shared, or disseminated to others.

For information about the publisher contact:
David Winfree
5247 Vorhies Rd.
Ann Arbor, MI 48105

For information about other books and media products by David Winfree go to:  http://www.DavidWinfree.com

Genre: Spiritual Growth And Development, Christianity, Christian Mysticism, Spiritual Practice, Divinity, Meditation, Metaphysics, Religion,  Self Realization, Spiritual Psychology, Awakening, Enlightenment, Consciousness, Higher Consciousness, States of Consciousness, Releasing Ego, Releasing Attachments, Transcendence, Transformation,   

                               TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgements

AN INTRODUCTION TO HIGHER SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS                        1

ALL OF THE FULLNESS OF GOD                                                                           3

HOW HIGH CAN ONE GO? -- THE RANGE OF HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS       16

LOWER LEVELS OF EGO CONSCIOUSNESS                                                     26

HIGHER LEVELS OF EGO CONSCIOUSNESS                                                     28

HIGHER SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS BEYOND EGO IDENTITY                     35

HIGHER CONSCIOUSNESS AT THE MACROCOSMIC LEVEL                            46

OBSTACLES TO SPIRITUAL TRANSFORMATION                                                48

TRANSCENDING THE EGO                                                                                                                          53

FOREWORD

Primary Audience

This book is provided for those who desire spiritual growth and transformation.  It is written for those who want to know how high, how deep, and how far one can go in experiencing GOD.  It will be enjoyed by people of many different backgrounds, although it was especially written for those from the fundamentalist, conservative, moderate and liberal Christian religious traditions who are seeking to transcend to higher levels of spiritual consciousness and experience a greater direct awareness of the DIVINE PRESENCE. 

It will be of great benefit to those who have started to perceive that DIVINITY and the range of human experience of the DIVINE may be more expansive than what they have been taught and are starting to grow, explore, question and rethink what they believe.  It is designed to help them with through the internal struggles, fears, anxieties, and cognitive dissonance that are sometimes experienced in the process of seeing things from new perspectives and reshaping old understandings. It is designed to help them reconcile their old understandings with new insights and to recognize and affirm that which is most valuable in their existing beliefs, as their awareness of DIVINITY expands.

This book helps to fill a great gap in conservative and liberal Protestant theology and spiritual practice with regard to Christian mysticism, meditative practices, higher states of consciousness, and the direct experience of DIVINITY.  Likewise, it provides a valuable framework for understanding and entering into higher states of consciousness for Catholics, who have a robust tradition of the direct experience of God among a handful of saints, but have never succeeded in incorporating this into the life of a majority of the laity and have lacked the conceptual framework that would reconcile such experiences with other church teachings and traditions.  

Others Who May Benefit

Others who may benefit from this book are those with an interest in the nature of belief systems, higher spiritual states of consciousness, the nature of the ego and its dissolution, and how perception, understanding and beliefs transform as higher levels of consciousness are experienced. 

Lastly, this book will be of benefit to any desiring a greater understanding of the rich diversity of views that exist within the Christian religious traditions regarding:

•  the extent to which one can know and experience GOD’S PRESENCE in

   this life;

·•  understanding how God is experienced by Christian mystics and by

   conservative, moderate, and liberal Christians; and 

·•  the tremendous impact of Jesus’ life and teachings on human

   consciousness. 

Organization of Content

This book, Volume 1, is the first of multiple volumes.  It focuses on the extent to which human beings may experience the height and depth and breadth of DIVINITY, describing the major levels of consciousness from the lowest to the highest.  It discusses the major impediments to reaching states of higher consciousness and describes a series of simple practices by which almost anyone may begin to experience higher states of consciousness.

Volume 2 focuses on the great spiritual significance of the life and teachings of Jesus for all of humanity, as perceived and interpreted from higher states of consciousness, contrasting, relating, and reconciling how things are seen from this perspective, with how things are perceived from the more traditional understandings.

Other volumes addressing closely related topics are in the planning stages.

Author’s Background

The writer grew up in a very conservative form of Christianity.  He gradually began to explore how God is perceived in more moderate and liberal Christian groups, by Christian mystics, and by mystics of other religious traditions.  After a long spiritual journey he finally began to experience higher states of consciousness and awareness of DIVINITY similar to those reported by Christian mystics and the mystics of other traditions, across the ages.  What is written expresses much of his own struggle and exploration in emerging from a very rigid belief system into a much different experience and understanding of DIVINITY.  Reading it lets you see the journey and where it leads, helps you determine if you wish to take that journey for yourself, and gives guidance and understanding to those who choose to make such a journey.  Reading about his journey makes it much easier for someone who is on the journey to release their unneeded baggage and assimilate new knowledge. You can take whichever of his insights you think may be useful and ignore the rest.  The goal of the writer is not to condemn traditional understandings but to view them from a broader vantage point, which enables them to fit into a new framework of understanding.  Expect to travel a long way in  a very short time and to arrive at a much higher level of consciousness and at a much greater depth and breadth of spiritual understanding, by the time you have finished reading and experimenting with a few of the simple practices described herein.

Non-Verbal Resonance

The highest levels of spiritual experience go far beyond the capacity of words and linear concepts and thoughts.  This book is written at several levels.  One of the most important aspects of this book is nonverbal.  A high level vibration of resonant energy is present throughout.  The words provide much good information, but to get the most out of it, it is important for the reader to be open to and aware of the accompanying resonance.  To accomplish this, it is important to pause from time to time when the words seem to awaken an awareness of something higher, or if you suddenly sense the PRESENCE OF THE DIVINE or an ASPECT OF THE DIVINE, such as BEAUTY, JOY, SPACIOUSNESS, POWER, or LOVE, or the experience of energy flowing within you, inspiration, new insight or understanding, or a sense of release, connection, expansion or oneness.  Pause and focus your attention on these and notice how they feel, when they arise.

In the course of reading this book and also when you put it down to contemplate any high vibration that has entered your awareness, you will have an opportunity to experience higher states of consciousness (e.g., enhanced awareness of that which is just beyond the surface of everyday physical experience, SPACIOUSNESS, ADORATION, AWE, BLESSING, CONNECTION, ENERGY, POWER, RADIANCE, LIGHT, FLOW, FREEDOM, DELIGHT, BLISS, ECSTACY, HARMONY, UNITY, ONENESS, or PEACE).  These cannot be forced.  They are non-linear and beyond words.  They are best encountered in a state of quiet awareness and gentle exploration.  If you feel something beyond ordinary awareness, it is usually best not to immediately analyze it or describe it, but simply be quietly observant, open, and appreciative. You can take the time to analyze it and define it after you have fully experienced it.

What you are reading has been purposely written so that sometimes the logical/analytical left brain functionality will be stimulated and sometimes the feeling, holistic, right brain functionality will be stimulated, the goal being to bring the right and left aspects into harmony.  The text has been purposely written so that some portions resonate at a higher level than others.  There is much to be gained by beginning to be aware of subtle differences in energetic frequency and this book will help you do that.  From time to time, your attention will be directed to something that resonates at lower levels so that you will know what those levels feel like.  In the contrast of high and low, you will awaken to a much greater range of awareness and to a deeper understanding pertaining to many different things, some of which you may wish to draw to you and some which you may wish to release.  You will have the opportunity to let go of and rise above that which you wish to release and to be open and accepting of that which you wish to be part of you. 

Certain themes will be touched on more than once, but each time, from a different level, perspective, or context, moving in an upward spiral.  If what you are reading seems similar to something previously read, read it anyway.  Some of the words may be similar, but the accompanying resonance or shift to a higher level may be of great value.  There are a few places where it may appear to you that you already understand something, but everything is there for a purpose and much will be gained by reading all of it.  

A belief system is a maze of many convoluted and intertwined parts, with many different layers.   It is not unusual to remove one layer only to find another of which you were not aware.   Many aspects of belief systems reside at the subconscious level.  The goal here is to dig down deep enough and from enough different perspectives to bring a substantial amount of what has been hidden up to the surface so that it can be recognized, with the choice of:

• holding to it in the same way that you always have,

• choosing to view it differently, and/or

• releasing any parts that seem lacking or dysfunctional. 

That which is presented here summarizes a portion of what the author had to work through to understand belief systems instilled from childhood, from a higher perspective, and to release and transcend those elements that obscured a fuller AWARENESS OF DIVINITY.

Much of the content is inspirational and spiritually uplifting.  Much useful information is provided in the way of valuable practical spiritual guidance for everyday life.  Much is also offered, enabling those who are ready, to make great upward leaps to higher levels of consciousness and to more fully comprehend the expansive nature of their own consciousness and experience the PRESENCE OF DIVINITY. 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks and deep appreciation to Lorraine Coburn, who proofread the initial draft and to Melanie Fuscaldo who proofread the final draft.  They provided many insightful suggestions.  Their devoted work on this project was a deep expression of love.  Thanks to others who provided comments.

Thanks to my Father, Melvin Homer Winfree for a life of deep dedication and very high intention.

Thanks to my Mother, Evelyn Irene Winfree for being Love. 

Thanks to my Grandfather Clyde Mack Morgan, my Grandmother, Loye Morgan, and my Aunt, Velva Floyd for being down to earth, happy, laughing, loving Christians.

Thanks to Jane Soop for being the friendly, helpful, generous, hospitable kind of Christian, who starts people thinking, if that is what a Christian is, I’d like to be one too.

Special thanks to my wife Jean Winfree, for her patient, devoted help and support as I have journeyed the spiritual path.

Thanks to all of the others who have touched and shaped my life and offered help and support along the way.

PREFACE

Jesus turned to the woman and said "Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her."   (The words of Jesus found in The Good News According to Luke, Chapter 10:41-42 NRSV) 

Here is the context within which Jesus spoke the above words.  Jesus had entered the town and was invited into Martha’s home.  Martha’s sister Mary sat at Jesus’ feet, listening to him.  Martha was distracted by her many tasks.  She came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me."  Luke 10:40 RSV

In Martha’s mind there appeared to be much needing to be done.  She had an important guest in her home and perhaps many other people who had come to hear him and be with him were also in the house.  Social convention indicated that she as host should prepare for and care for Jesus and everyone present. There were feet to be washed; water and towels to be brought; food to be prepared; and preparations for where the guests would sleep at the end of the day. She was the proper hostess, doing what was correct and right and good, exactly as she should.   She was placing the needs of Jesus and the guests before her own.  Anyone could see that she was right.  Her sister should be helping her.  Any right minded person of her society would clearly agree.

But, Jesus saw things very differently.  He had entered Martha’s house with a gift, of which Martha appeared unaware.  When a person enters your home, bringing a wonderful gift to bestow upon you, it is not the most appropriate choice to leave the guest and the amazing gift that is about to be bestowed and start sweeping, cleaning and cooking.

The gift that Jesus brought was the DIVINE PRESENCE.  Mary recognized that just being in the PRESENCE OF Jesus lifted her more than anything else had ever done.  When Jesus entered the house Mary sat down at Jesus’ feet.  Her attention was focused completely on him.  Something lit up inside of her, when in his presence.  She felt more alive, more complete, more at peace, and full of LOVE, when she was with him.  She recognized in him both the GIVER and the GIFT.  All of her attention was focused on him.  Being with him was her highest priority.  She could not envision doing anything else.

From a certain perspective, it would be easy to conclude along with Martha, that Mary was selfish, insensitive, rude, and uncaring.  But, Jesus clearly thought that Mary had chosen wisely.  He indicated that Mary had her priorities right.  She was doing what was most appropriate.  He points out to Martha that she has been distracted by many things and has focused her attention on these distractions, while missing out on that which is most important.

We all have this same choice to make; between that which seems good and necessary, right, and appropriate, but ultimately distracts from our awareness of the DIVINE PRESENCE; and of dropping that which seems so needful, right, good, and compelling, so as to focus fully upon the DIVINE PRESENCE.

There comes a point in spiritual growth, when one begins to see the nature of the choice to be made and realizes that to go higher, one must choose the DIVINE PRESENCE and turn away from all that distracts.

This book is written for the Mary’s of this world, who seek the DIVINE PRESENCE more than anything else,  and for those Martha’s, who have become sufficiently awakened to that PRESENCE to begin to let go of all that distracts and choose the better part, which will not be taken away.

 AN INTRODUCTION TO HIGHER SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS

… but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake and after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.   I Kings 19: 11-12 KJV

When the DIVINE PRESENCE becomes one’s highest priority, everything starts to change.  One becomes very aware of the DIVINE LIGHT and of anything obscuring it.  One becomes willing to turn away from all distractions.  One becomes keenly aware of what is conducive to experiencing more LIGHT and very aware of what results in experiencing less LIGHT.

Does this bring in more LIGHT?  Does that bring in more LIGHT?  That which is presented here has been tested through my own experience, and I have found it to bring in more LIGHT, which is why I am sharing it with you. 

One of the most important and useful things that a Christian (or anyone) can do to experience more LIGHT is to become proficient in the use of some basic meditation techniques.  This can be of great benefit in helping to quiet the lower superficial mind enough to begin to have a greater awareness of GOD.

There is a point in spiritual growth when certain concepts, tools and techniques become very useful, just as when building a house, one type of equipment is useful and appropriate when digging the foundations and other types of equipment are used for installing the flooring, plumbing, electrical, walls and ceilings.

I use specific meditation techniques and teach them to others because they enrich, enhance, uplift and bless.  They provide tremendous help in clearing away certain things that obscure and distract from the LIGHT of the DIVINE PRESENCE, thereby enabling a much greater awareness of the DIVINE in one’s daily life.  As we grow in Christ, there are certain things that GOD does for us to help us grow and certain things that we do because GOD helps us see that they are good and necessary for our growth.  When you are ready to grow and move higher, the HOLY SPIRIT provides what is needed to reach the next level of your spiritual growth, which is why this information is being offered to you now.

There are three important areas where the application of specific meditative spiritual practices can be of great benefit to Christians. 

First, is to provide a deep and comprehensive understanding of how the lower and higher capacities of mind work and how to clear away the clutter of negative thoughts, misperceptions, and negative emotions, thereby enabling one to more easily transcend the lowest levels of mind, which are the most significant obstacles to attaining higher spiritual consciousness.  When certain limiting concepts are released and when certain empowering concepts are understood, the vision of what is possible greatly expands and one intuitively sees the path and how to move higher.  There comes a time in spiritual growth when it becomes clear that removing that which obscures LIGHT must be done to go higher and everything necessary is done to accomplish it.

The second area of importance is training the mind.  The untrained mind has little capacity for staying focused on that which is positive and spiritual.  Therefore the mind must be trained. Certain meditative techniques are excellent for training the mind to continually stay focused on that which is higher.  On reaching a certain stage of growth one begins to seek such techniques, is guided towards them, and begins to employ them.

The third area of importance is learning to quiet the mind so that there is sufficient stillness to begin to experience the PRESENCE OF DIVINITY more profoundly than most busy-minded people (even very religious people) imagine could be possible. To be able to hear the still, small voice of God or to be able to “be still and know that I am God” is enabled when one has moved into exquisite states of silence, with a deep openness to DIVINITY.  When one perceives that greater awareness of the DIVINE PRESENCE requires deep quietness of mind, one takes all necessary steps toward attaining this quietness. 

In the silence and with keenly focused attention, one becomes much more deeply aware and can experience more of that which is truly spiritual, going far beyond ordinary mind.   One can begin to explore the depth and breadth of conscious awareness and the higher and deeper aspects of what we might call “spirit” or “soul;” become keenly aware of an underlying harmony, interconnection, energy, essence and knowingness; and experience that which has been termed higher states of consciousness. 

IN THOSE HIGHER STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS ONE IS ENABLED TO FOCUS ON THE AWARENESS OF THE PRESENCE OF DIVINITY AND THE CONSCIOUS EXPERIENCE OF THOSE ASPECTS OF DIVINITY, WHICH WE KNOW AS LOVE, SPACIOUSNESS, ONENESS, PEACE, JOY, SPLENDOR AND BEAUTY TO A DEGREE THAT WAS PREVIOUSLY UNKNOWN.

Some of the most helpful understandings and techniques for clearing away negative thoughts and emotions, dismantling the ego, quieting the mind, and focusing awareness on DIVINITY are described in the last two sections.

ALL OF THE FULLNESS OF GOD

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be  strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.   Ephesians 3:14 - 19  NASB

Prior to exploring specific helpful concepts and practices, I think it best to provide some moorings, landmarks, footholds, and context to help conservative and fundamentalist Christian readers understand and gain the greatest possible benefit from that which is provided.

Upon turning toward God, dedicating one’s life to Christ and awakening to a new spiritual life, one finds that one is being invited to participate in a journey of ever-increasing spiritual growth and transformation.   The process of transformation is not always easy.   Initially, there are times when it may appear exceeding difficult.  It often seems that new challenges and obstacles are continuously presenting themselves.

In turning one’s life over to Christ, one often has a deep experience of the DIVINE PRESENCE.  Having experienced it, one desires that PRESENCE ever more full and complete in every moment, but, as time goes by and new challenges arise, the PRESENCE sometimes seems to diminish. For many Christians, the fullness of that presence often seems far away.  Distractions make it less and less of a priority.  Thoughts and emotions continuously arise that seem to be the very opposite of the high spiritual life that one is trying to achieve.  One is taught to love, forgive, serve, surrender and trust God, but one does not always find it easy to do.

As one proceeds on the spiritual path one wonders:

           •  How far can one grow spiritually?

           •  How much of GOD may be experienced in this life?

           •  How can one successfully live and be like CHRIST?

           •  When will I transcend my fears and my animal instincts?

           •  When will the DIVINE PRESENCE and LOVE be my predominate 
              experience?

           •  Is there any way to grow and transcend more completely, quickly and 
              easily?  

           •  Are there any commonsense things that I can do that would help me
              reach my goals?

These are the kinds of things that I wondered about for many years.  I was continually exploring and seeking to draw closer to God.  In my searching, I sought those practices that were most harmonious with my Christian perspective and which gave the greatest degree of spiritual uplift.  In writing this, it is my goal to share several specific practices from my own experience, which I found to be harmonious with my Christian perspective and which provided me with a high degree of spiritual uplift and positive spiritual transformation.  What is given here is based on personal experience. 

I grew up in a very strict, conservative, evangelical, fundamentalist Christian environment, committing my life to Christ at an early age, and proceeded to grow spiritually as a born-again Christian.  I looked at life from a very conservative perspective.

The branch of Methodist Christian tradition to which my family adhered took very seriously the need to not just be saved or born again, but to be sanctified; to turn one’s self completely over to the divine, to be a dwelling place for god’s love, and by divine grace to be emptied of all that is lower and to be filled with that which is highest.  In other words, one was expected to have a full and running over and completely transforming experience of the divine.  To be filled with divine love did not mean that: one was absolutely perfect in every way; could never make any mistakes; or never again commit any form of transgress; but that the general direction, flow, connectedness, and fullness of the divine predominated in one’s ongoing spiritual life and experience.  If a momentary lapse occurred, it was seen as an exception and not the norm.  Any perceived deficits were covered, expiated, and remedied by God’s grace and love.

As one who was very motivated and dedicated to this path, I was keenly aware of the apparent gap between the ideal and the actual, both in my self and in those around me.  It was evident that those who appeared to have had life transforming experiences still had their fair share of life’s challenges.  Regardless of the degree of commitment or the degree of emptying or filling that was claimed, there usually seemed to always be more room to grow, open, release and surrender.  One obstacle would be overcome and another one would rise to take its place. 

The situation appeared to be even more challenging for those who had not progressed much beyond the initial experience of being born again.  They generally seemed to make an initial life-changing leap forward, upon accepting Christ as their savior, which was usually attended with a sense of release and great joy.  After that, there would be cycles of fear, anxiety, and depression and a continuous struggle between the lower selfish nature and the higher spiritual nature.  Many would go on for years and years in a state of inner struggle, without completely yielding to the divine or having the experience of being filled with the divine. It often seemed as if they had enough spiritual awakening, awareness, and new life to make them miserable, but not enough to completely set them free. This situation is clearly articulated by Paul in the 6^th - 7^th chapter of the book of Romans, which speaks of an ongoing conflict between old man and the new man (the old nature and new nature) and of the flesh and of the Spirit.  On the other hand, some eventually became mature in their faith and make fairly consistent progress in spiritual growth.

Regarding the struggle for purification and a holy life, Christians through the ages have had the following dilemma and different branches of Christianity have attempted to address it in different ways.  Theoretically, to get into heaven, one has to become holy sooner or later (by God’s grace), as nothing sinful or unclean may enter heaven or abide in God’s holy presence.  This purification goes well beyond mere justification by faith.  It is held to be an absolute spotless purity.  Christians through the ages tended to agree that such purification was necessary, but did not always agree on when and how this purification would take place.  In Roman Catholic thought, only a few Saints were sufficiently pure to make it straight into heaven.  Everyone else had to go through some further penance or purification.  Protestants have been divided on just how holy one can actually become in this life.  They agree that achieving holiness is accomplished by faith, surrender to God, and by God’s Grace.  They differ on whether it can happen in this life; or if it must be conferred by some miraculous and instantaneous act of transfiguration or purification at the time of death; or whether it is conferred sometime shortly after leaving the body, just prior to actually entering the heavenly domain. 

In other words, righteousness which was imputed to you due to your faith has to become a living reality at some point, either by growth or by act of divine grace or by some combination of these two.  If such a state can be miraculously conferred, either at death, or shortly after death, or upon entrance to heaven, then why not before?  If it is not possible to realize such a state while on this Earth, is it the physical body that precludes it?  Keep in mind that Christ had a physical body and still embodied holiness and divinity while here on Earth.  Or, will we be allowed to enter into heavenly realms while still imperfect or impure, with higher levels of maturation or purification still to be attained?  If so, what would that be like?  Would one still have challenges of various sorts to overcome?  If so, of what would these challenges consist?  Would they be similar to what we experience here?

In addition to my awareness of the above issues, opinions, and circumstances, I was keenly aware that there were many branches of Christian thought and tradition, other than the strict form of Methodism in which I grew up, (Catholics, Orthodox, Quakers, United Methodists, Congregationalists, Lutherans, Baptists, Presbyterians, Pentecostals, Episcopalians and so on, some being liberal, some moderate, and some conservative), and beyond these the broad spectrum of religions past and present around the world.

I was aware that each group thought that they were right or at least substantially more right than most of the others.  They all had various belief systems and mindsets, which pre-shaped their understanding and interpretation of what they read in their scriptures.  In other words, each group and each individual within each group perceived and interpreted what they saw through a specific lens or filter, based on the history, teachings, mindset, and overall context (interpretations, upon interpretations, upon interpretations) of their group, family, and culture, and their own individual life experiences.

I was aware than many Christians (especially the most conservative) thought that most human beings, including many so-called nominal Christians, would eventually be consigned to Hell for eternity and that to escape that destiny required holding a specified set of beliefs about God and Christ.  I was also aware that there was a vast range of opinion, even among conservative Christians as to just how much love, mercy, forgiveness and leniency God might express and to what extent it might be expressed, in various hypothetical circumstances.  For instance, Paul talks about God judging people depending on the knowledge (or light) that they have available to them.  If that were the case, it might be possible that people who had never heard of Christ might actually have the opportunity to be saved or at least not be sent to the lowest level of hell.  Some conservatives even thought that God might be surprisingly more merciful than most of their religious colleagues tended to assume.

Something else of which I became aware, as I experienced more of life, meeting people outside of the churches in which I grew up, was that such virtues as love, honesty, kindness, forgiveness, generosity, hospitality, peace, and joy did not seem to be limited to fundamentalist Christians, even though many of my fellow conservative fundamentalist Christians seemed to think otherwise.   I discovered that these virtues existed in varying degrees in people of other denominations and was initially surprised to even find them in people of entirely different religions.  It was initially disconcerting to see the Christian virtues displayed in abundance in people with such disparate backgrounds.

This was especially true of love.   The Bible says that GOD IS LOVE.  With God being love, then where love is, God must be there too, because they are one and the same.  Not only is this true of love, but it is also true for all of the divine aspects or attributes which shine from the divine in the different circumstances of life, just as light expresses in various colors when seen through a prism.  It was a shock to find that people of other faiths and backgrounds understood that God is love and appeared to have varying degrees of experience and connection with that love just as different Christians seem to have greater or lesser degrees of experience, connection, and awareness of that love.

John speaks of the “true light, which lighteth every man.” John 1:9 KJV   The Revised Standard Version translates it as “true light that enlightens every man.”   This divine light is not separate from that aspect of God which we know as LOVE.  The light and the love are always shining.  Its very nature is to shine.  It shines forth filling and flowing in all of creation, to the extent that there is openness to it.  Those who open to light and love become increasingly open, seeking and receiving even more light and love and allowing evermore light and love, the very PRESENCE OF DIVINITY, to express in them. 

So whatever disconnection, corrosion, sinfulness, dysfunctionality, perception of separation, disharmony, brokenness, alienation, or distortion one thinks exists between the soul of each human and the divine creator, it is not sufficiently broken, corroded, distorted, or separated to completely block the light and love and other divine attributes from shining forth in varying degrees in the lives and consciousness of fundamentalist Christians, non-fundamentalist Christians, people of other religions, and those who have never heard of Christ. 

GOD’S LOVE shines in all  CREATION, to various degrees.  DIVINITY shines where it wills.  Of its own accord and by its own infinite nature it shines forth in even the darkest and most unexpected places, uplifting, inviting, welcoming, dissolving, melting, warming, healing, filling, forgiving, embracing, uniting, loving, and surprising with joy that which thought it had no hope!   Christians do not have a monopoly on the infinite presence, which is so all-filling and all-encompassing that there is more than ample capacity (call it grace or a gift or whatever you will), to bridge and connect and penetrate and indwell and fill the human soul with DIVINE LIGHT AND LOVE, even if one knows little or nothing about Jesus’ life on Earth.  

Jesus is an expression of the LIGHT AND LOVE, which exists in and through and beyond all that has been made, including countless planets, stars, galaxies and infinite universes upon universes, dimensions, domains, consciousnesses, and endless realms of light, long before expressing in a specific body, at a specific point in time to help some struggling creatures on Planet Earth.  Those who are open to this LIGHT AND LOVE, wherever they are within creation, have and experience more of it.  Those who are closed to it have and experience less of it.  Its presence and is available to all, regardless of whether or not they have heard of how it came to be expressed in Jesus as a divine gift to humanity.

Jesus was an expression of the INFINITE LOVE AND LIGHT standing forth in the form of a human being so as to present, express and model what LOVE is to those in human form  --  showing us OUR TRUE SOURCE AND REMINDING US OF OUR TRUE NATURE AND INHERITANCE - THE INFINITE LIGHT AND LOVE FROM WHICH CREATION UNFOLDS, BY WHICH WE CONSIST AND WITHIN WHICH WE LIVE AND MOVE AND HAVE OUR BEING.

Jesus was a living expression or model of what LOVE is, for humanity to follow, but he was also much more than that.   He was an infusion of DIVINE LIFE, LIGHT, AND LOVE into the human sphere and into the human soul.  It is as if the LIGHT AND LOVE that are always there were brightly focused and magnified with sufficient brilliance for more of humanity to begin to more clearly see the LIGHT AND LOVE that was always there, and is now, and always will be.

Jesus did not come to preclude all other experience of the divine light, love and life, which is always shining.  He came as an especially bright expression or instantiation of that light, love, and life to address the specific needs of those who were not sufficiently open to see and accept divine love without the exceptional clarity and intensity of divinity shining before them in human form.  DIVINE PRESENCE, which is formless, came in human form for this purpose. 

Divinity, expressing infinite light, love and life, in the bodily form of Jesus, to those in this domain, spoke of being the way, the truth and the life.  Jesus -- in his teaching, blessings, healings, and miracles;  in showing love and forgiveness to those who rejected him and  brought pain and death to his physical body; and also in his resurrection -- was DIVINE LOVE expressing and pointing us to the divine light and love shining within him and upon us and within all and upon all that exists.

THE WHOLE POINT WAS TO PLACE BEFORE US THE RADICAL TRUTH THAT LOVE IS OUR SOURCE.   LOVE IS OUR SAVIOR.   LOVE IS THAT WHICH IS, WHICH CREATES, SUSTAINS, AND HOLDS TOGETHER.    LOVE IS THE STARTING POINT AND THE DESTINATION.   LOVE IS THAT WHICH LEADS TO LOVE AND BY WHICH LOVE IS KNOWN.    LOVE IS THE ACTIVE AGENT WHICH LIFTS AND EMPOWERS HUMANITY TO KNOW AND EXPERIENCE LOVE.   LOVE IS THE TRUTH, THE LIGHT, THE WAY, THE LIFE AND THE INFINITE SOURCE OF ALL.

Jesus did not require anyone to bow before him or worship him, although some people are said to have done that.   To believe in him was to accept and believe the truth of the good news that he taught, which was that GOD (which is LOVE) loves us and offers to uplift us and transform us and dwell within us.  He was pointing us to the infinitely loving source, which dwelt fully in him and was his source and is our source and the source of all that ever can or will exist.

Local, individualized, personal consciousness is either open, aware, and in concordance with the infinite source -- or closed, unaware, and/or in a state of denial or turning away from the infinite source.  THE INFINTE SOURCE IS LOVE.  THE PATH TO LOVE IS LOVE.  LOVE SHINES EVERYWHERE.  Jesus came to show us love in a tangible, external, visible form, to enable us to begin to know and experience love, both within and without.

In coming to dwell with us as Jesus, LOVE showed us sufficient LOVE to enable us to have sufficient faith to begin to open to LOVE and invite LOVE in  --  illuminating, empowering, and releasing us from the attachment to things and tendencies which are contrary to LOVE --   lifting us to the experience and awareness of our DIVINE SOURCE -- which is our DIVINE INHERITANCE -- which is THE DIVINE NATURE -- which is the ONENESS of which CHRIST spoke when he said “in that day you will know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you”  John 14:20 -- and which is also the same ONENESS  to which Paul referred when he spoke of GOD BEING ALL IN ALL. Eph. 1:23  

As spiritual growth continued, I found something that I especially treasured.  From time to time I would notice being aware of something that can best be described as DIVINE PRESENCE, an inner radiance or fullness of LOVE and LIGHT.  I began to seek the divine presence, ever more full and complete.  I became acquainted with the accounts of Christian mystics, such as St. Paul, Meister Eckhart, St. Francis, St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas and many others, who appear to have experienced states of deeply expanded awareness of the divine presence. 

Those who have experienced such states speak of profound deep inner peace, and deep stillness and quietness of mind surpassing all they had previously known. They speak of experiencing INFINITE LOVE, LIGHT, FULLNESS, COMPLETENESS, AND ONENESS, of being completely embraced, held and filled with the DIVINE.  They speak of seeing DIVINITY shining forth in all they behold.  Some of them describe vast fields of light and states of expanded consciousness, beyond the physical, which by their very nature completely transform and re-contextualize all previous understandings.  They speak of seeming to be dissolved, embraced, and filled by the PRESENCE, to the degree that some have reported no longer perceiving any sense of separation or awareness of being a separate “I” or self, but only of a sense of completion and INFINITE ONENESS. 

As I learned of such states of consciousness, I found that I was not especially attracted to the traditional concepts of life in a new or resurrected body on the Earth or in a Heaven, with pearly gates, streets of gold, and choirs of angels and throngs of saints singing, praying, and kneeling.  I was attracted to LIGHT, LOVE, KNOWINGESS, BEINGNESS, EXPANSIVENESS AND ESSENCE beyond all conventional form and content.  I was attracted to the oneness described by Jesus and by the words of Paul, describing God as ultimately being ALL IN ALL.   I wanted the completeness of the divine presence and to have it always in me, experiencing it complete and full in every moment.

As I sought the DIVINE PRESENCE, it is as if my spiritual senses became sharper and more refined, enabling me to become more aware and realize and experience that presence throughout life’s changing circumstances.   As this was taking place, many questions arose.  How is it that I am able to sense DIVINITY?  I understand sensing with eyes and ears and touch, but what is the spiritual capacity by which I sense the DIVINE PRESENCE?   What aspect of my being touches, is touched by, and receives the PRESENCE OF LOVE?

It is not intended as a criticism to say that the writers of the Bible did not describe or define in much detail the nature of that which we call the soul or spirit or exactly how these arise from or reside within the DIVINE.  It is as if no one ever thought to raise such questions as:  “What is a soul?” or “What is a spirit?” or “If God is a spirit, what attributes of God are inherited by the spirits that God creates and in what sense are they like God or unlike God?”  Theologians attempt to cobble together bits and pieces of scripture and construct suppositions about the nature of it all, but they are working with very thin cloth and the definitions that they fabricate tend to be based on their own interpretations and suppositions rather than arising from the certainty of direct personal experience or direct revelation of higher spiritual truth.

In spiritual, religious, theological and metaphysical terminology, those having a direct experience of heightened awareness of divinity are termed mystics.  It made sense to me to closely examine the experience of those claiming such direct personal experience of heightened awareness of divinity and to also attempt to explore and experience for myself, to determine if I could directly experience what others have perceived and experienced with regard to understanding the nature of our intrinsic spiritual being and consciousness.  Deeply spiritual Christians have experienced heightened or expanded awareness of divinity.  Deeply spiritual persons of other backgrounds also report such experiences.  There are significant similarities in what they describe.

We are all acquainted with the concept of a field of energy, a field of potential or capacitance, or of an electromagnetic field, based on what we see in the world around us.  Mystics describe divinity in a somewhat similar manner, based on what they saw and experienced, long before modern science stumbled upon the concept - as an INFINITE FIELD OF BEINGNESS, CONSCIOUSNESS, KNOWINGNESS, POWER, LIGHT AND LOVE.

They speak of an infinite, unified field of consciousness, awareness, and knowingness; of infinite potential beyond form; of infinite energy, infinite power, oneness, life, love, essence, being, and existence as the source, within and from which all temporal form, content, and substance arises. 

The mystics see (held within or arising from this infinite field) infinite universes, worlds, realms, domains, and dimensions, with myriad forms of life and consciousness and degrees of form or formlessness, including realms of endless light, all heavens and all hells, and every conceivable level of consciousness and existence in between.

Some mystics speak as if there are fields, arising within fields, within the INFINITE FIELD.   THE INFINITE FIELD IS THE EFFECTIVE FOUNDATION AND SUBSTRATE, GIVING EXISTENCE, BEING, AND CONSCIOUSNESS TO ALL THAT ARISES OR EMANATES FROM WITHIN IT.  IT IS THE INFINITE SOURCE OF CREATION.   Not all mystics report such expansive insights regarding the nature of creation, existence and consciousness.  Most reports of mystical experiences tend to focus on the simple AWARENESS OF DIVINITY EXPERIENCED AS LOVE, LIGHT, PEACE, KNOWINGNESS, ONENESS AND BLISS.  

As I explored further and learned more, it became evident that the experiences reported by the Christian mystics are essentially the same as what is experienced and reported by mystics across a wide range of cultures and religious traditions.  Not only do such experiences tend to occur to those who are diligently pursuing a spiritual path, but they seem to also frequently occur to those who have near death experiences, who appear to be dead for a brief period of time and then resume breathing and living in the body again.  It appears that God does not restrict such experiences of the DIVINE PRESENCE and the DIVINE ATTRIBUTES just to those who call themselves Christians or to those who claim the experience of being justified by faith, born again, or saved.  

I decided to dedicate myself to the attainment of the continuous awareness of DIVINE PRESENCE, AS LOVE, AND LIGHT.  I concluded that LOVE LEADS TO LOVE AND LIGHT LEADS TO MORE LIGHT, so I decided to focus on LIGHT AND LOVE and be guided by them.  One of the most important ways of doing this was to meditate on Jesus, as will be described further on.

I examined the spiritual practices of those who claimed to have attained these experiences to see what might be useful, in addition to the prayer and Bible study, spiritual song, forgiving others, and offering selfless service, which I had long practiced in my fundamentalist environment.  Let me point out that I think that the above stated traditional Christian practices are excellent.  Likewise, the decision to accept Christ (DIVINE LOVE) as savior and lord of one’s life.  Likewise, the act of repenting (turning away from self-centeredness to service of God); having faith in Christ; opening to Christ’s light and love; being reborn or awakened to spirit and divinity; and to allowing, accepting and inviting divine love to live and express in and through us.  These are wonderful, life-changing and transformative experiences.

None-the-less, even when immersed and engaged with other Christians in the practice of all of the above, attempting to surrender to God’s will and seeking ever greater faith, many Christians appear not to receive the full and running over spiritual radiance, peace and joy to which they aspire, or else achieve it only intermittently.   Not many appear to those around them as being filled with ALL OF THE FULLNESS OF CHRIST.  Why is it that so many of those who become spiritually awakened and turn toward God still seem to have such slow, difficult, or sporadic growth?

The major obstacle that prevents Christians from going higher (even after they are born again), and that also prevents Non-Christians from fully and perceiving and experiencing divinity appears to arise from what we know in modern terminology as the ego, or the “small self.”  Other terms for this are sinfulness, sinful nature, carnal nature, old man, old nature, natural mind, lower mind, error thought, insanity, illusion, false mind, sinful mind, and selfish mind. 

To a very large extent, it is this aspect of mind, with all of its limiting concepts, negative and limiting belief structures, erroneous assumptions, judgments, resentments, guilt, worry and fear, built-up and tangled together over the years, which clouds spiritual vision and understanding and prevents even those who have been born again, who have the promise of a divine inheritance, from fully putting on the mind of Christ and being filled with the spirit of god, so that divine love may fully illuminate and reign in every moment, action, and decision.

I once came across the following description of the “ego.”   I do not know who originally coined this expression.  The ego is anything that “Edges God Out” (EGO).   Whatever within us is self-seeking, placing one’s local personal sense of self before DIVINITY or expressing less than LOVE in each moment, is that which we refer to as the lower mind, ego, sinful nature, or small self.

By contrast, having the mind of Christ allows DIVINE LOVE to be the source, center, root, ground and essence of our being; filling, empowering, illuminating, guiding and motivating every moment, act and decision.  The experience of DIVINE LOVE as our source, center, and very life essence, shining in our hearts like the sun shines in the sky and illuminating the perceptions of the mind so that we perceive with LOVE and so our thoughts, actions and decisions are motivated and filled with LOVE, is what we call the CHRIST MIND, CHRIST CONSCIOUSNESS, DIVINE MIND, DIVINE CENTER OR THE SELF.  

Radiating from the ALL ENCOMPASSING PRESENCE which is at the very center of our being and which also permeates and surrounds each of us and all that is, is an AWARENESS OF BEING, which we call the SELF, of which any local sense of self is but a dimly derived reflection.  It is like the awareness of light shining upon light.  to focus attention upon it results in a quality or sensation of being embraced in the welcoming smiling warmth of an infinite presence. 

The all encompassing presence and love is our source and the source of all that exists.  As St. Paul described ”in him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28).  You are either aware of it or you are unaware of it.  When the heart is open and the mind is clear (that is, when one has put on the mind of Christ), one sees or senses the DIVINE PRESENCE at the core of one’s being, which is life, being, love, essence, creative power, potential, and consciousness, shining within. 

Divinity is the root, source, and foundation of all that exists.  Without the divine, from which all arises, nothing would exist.  If the divine  were to suddenly cease, then you and all of what you call creation would instantly cease.  You are not something that was set into play long ago, continuing on, based on that initial momentum.  You are created whole and continuous in all moments of your existence. 

YOU ARE HELD IN GOD AND GENERATED BY GOD IN THIS INSTANT AND IN EVERY INSTANT. THERE IS NO INSTANT IN WHICH YOU OR ANY OTHER ASPECT OF CREATION EXISTS ON ITS OWN, BY ITS OWN INNATE POWER, SEPARATE FROM THE DIVINE SOURCE.  WHEN YOU SENSE THE DIVINE PRESENCE AND SOURCE OF ALL LIFE AND BEING AT THE ROOT, CORE, AND CENTER OF YOUR OWN BEING, IT IS SO ALL ENCOMPASSING AND FILLING THAT IT IS PERCEIVED TO BE THE TRUE SELF, THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH AT THE CORE OF EVERYTHING THAT EXISTS, AND OF EVERYTHING THAT EVER DID EXIST OR EVER WILL EXIST; THAT BEINGNESS, EXISTENCE, LIFE AND CONSCIOUSNESS WHICH GIVES BEING AND AWARENESS TO ALL THAT IS.  EVERYTHING THAT YOU ARE OR EVER COULD BE IS SEEN TO EMANATE FROM DIVINITY.

Jesus spoke in chapters 14 - 17 of the Book of John, of being one with the Father; of him being the vine and us being the branches; of us being one in him; of us being one with each other; of him being in the Father, and us in him and he in us; and of us, his followers, being given the same glory that God had given to Jesus.  Paul spoke of "One God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in you all” (Eph 4:4 RSV) and of God being “ALL IN ALL” (Eph. 1:23 and 1 Cor. 15:28 RSV), When Jesus and Paul spoke these things they were not expressing empty, flowery rhetoric.  They were speaking spiritual truth. 

Jesus used the imagery of a grape vine to describe the essential oneness.  A grape vine has roots, vine, and branches.  You can clearly see the roots.  You can clearly see the vine and you can clearly see the branches.  However, this organism with these different parts is one living whole.  Keep in mind that his emphasis was on oneness, not on separateness.  One cannot point to a place on a vine or on a tree and say this is the precisely the spot where the root ends and the vine or trunk begins or where the vine or trunk ends and the branches begin.  One can point to a general area where a branching off takes place, but there is no sharp dividing line where one aspect of the plant sharply ends and the other begins.  There is no distinct separation between the roots, vine, or branch.  Instead, there is continuity, oneness, and wholeness.   THE ULTIMATE ONENESS, DESCRIBED BY JESUS AND BY PAUL, IS THE ONENESS OF A UNIFIED, COMPLETE, LIVING WHOLE!

In the awareness of the fullness of the DIVINE PRESENCE, the notion of being a separate, individual self is dissolved and swept away, perceived to be but an insignificant transitory web of thoughts, suppositions, or erroneous perceptions, arising for a time within the local fields of consciousness (like foam on a wave) which we mistakenly identified as our self, based on an inability to see the WHOLE.  This is not intended to convey that the perspective from which we have always perceived our selves has no validity, or that we do not exist, when viewed from that perspective.  Rather it is to convey that when consciousness expands or sees from a very high place, everything looks completely different.  The experience of being and knowing is qualitatively different.  From this perspective, the DIVINE PRESENCE is seen to be so great that it completely fills the field of observing conscious awareness, superseding all else.

It is possible for Christians to differ on the exact nature and extent of the oneness described by Jesus and Paul, as it is not described in as much detail as we might desire.  Without such detail, the key point to understand is that whatever the precise degree and nature of this ONENESS, the oneness of which they spoke is of great importance.  If not, Jesus and Paul would not have addressed it in the manner that they did.  The other point to be understood is that mystics have an experience of this ONENESS, which they describe based on their subjective perceptions of it.  At some levels of consciousness they may experience themselves as being within the oneness, such that what they are appears to be a facet of the whole, in complete unity and harmony with the whole.  At other levels, consciousness may be so focused on and filled with oneness, that ONENESS is all that is perceived.

No part of CREATION is its own independent source of BEINGNESS, complete and separate, existing in and of itself and by its own power, being, and essence, independent of the SOURCE OF ALL.  It is important to note that what God creates is not created as a separate independent thing, as if by a magician, out of thin air, which now stands on the stage next to the magician, completely separate and independent of its source.  That which is created exists within the DIVINE and the DIVINE exists within it.  Paul makes this clear, saying “by him all things consist” Col 1:17 and “In him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28)  and speaking of GOD as being “all in all” (Eph. 1:23 and 1 Cor. 15:28 RSV), and “through all and in you all.”  (Eph 4:4 RSV)

No portion of CREATION can be separated from the RADIANT BEINGNESS, which is its SOURCE (the source which dwells within it and within which it dwells in every moment) and still exist.  In other words, by the very nature of CREATION anything that exists is rooted, grounded, indwelled, surrounded and continuously given existence by the DIVINE PRESENCE.  Every local aspect or field of being, self, or consciousness is generated by, indwelled by, and dwells within the INFINTE FIELD OF BEING, SELF AND CONSCIOUSNESS.   Even when one tightly closes one’s self to LOVE, thereby becoming unaware of the DIVINE PRESENCE and thereby experiencing the state known as hell, one does not exist outside of or apart from the DIVINE PRESENCE.  As the psalmist said, “If I ascend up into heaven, though art there; if I make my bed in hell, behold thou art there.”  Psalm 139:8

When you are off center, not fully open to LOVE, or when there is a cloud of ego thought and misperception, you cannot sense the DIVINE SOURCE, or you may only sense it in small degrees or intermittently. 

WHEN THE HEART IS OPENED AND CENTERED IN LOVE AND WHEN ONE PERCEIVES WITH THE MIND OF CHRIST, WE BECOME AWARE OF THE TRUTH OF THE DIVINE SOURCE AND OF THE ALL ENCOMPASSING PRESENCE OF THE DIVINE SELF AND BEINGNESS AT THE CORE OF OUR EXISTENCE AND OF ALL EXISTENCE.  

Most of us have experienced some of the downside of human experience and consciousness.  Most of us have experienced some degree of mental and emotional torment.  Many of us have also experienced moments of great happiness, joy, or spiritual uplift, such as being born-again, and perhaps even some degree of awareness of the PRESENCE OF GOD.   A few have had mystical experiences of PEACE, LOVE AND ONENESS that are almost beyond the capacity to describe in words.  Some individuals report experiences of higher consciousness happening just once, or occasionally and intermittently, while others appeared to experience such states frequently, or even as an ongoing continuous state.

Aware of the wide range of human experience and consciousness, both high and low, let’s now take a closer look at what stretches out before us on the upside of human experience and consciousness.

Based on what has been discussed so far, one may well ask -- In how much of the vastness of DIVINITY does the DIVINE intend for us to partake? Is it to be a little or a lot? 

Here is what Paul states about our destiny in Eph.4:13 KJV: “Till we all come in the unity of faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.”   

WHAT DOES IT MEAN THAT WE ARRIVE AT THE MEASURE OF THE STATURE OF THE FULLNESS OF CHRIST?   How full might that be?  What would it feel like to be of that STATURE and that FULLNESS?  It sounds like Paul is saying that when we are fully grown, we will be of the same STATURE AS CHRIST.  Isn’t that what it is all about?  Such is our destiny, full and complete.

Also in Ephesians, Paul prays that we  “being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and depth and length and height and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all of the fullness of God.” Eph. 3:17-19 KJV  

WHAT A VISION FOR HUMANITY AND FOR EACH AND EVERY ONE OF US -- TO KNOW THE VASTNESS OF THE LOVE OF CHRIST   AND  TO BE FILLED WITH ALL THE FULLNESS OF GOD.  

FILLED WITH WHAT?    FILLED WITH ALL OF THE  FULLNESS OF GOD!  

JUST HOW FULL IS ALL OF THE  FULLNESS OF GOD?     IT IS INFINITE FULLNESS!    IT IS YOUR DIVINE DESTINY AND YOUR INHERITANCE!

With such a rich inheritance and such a divine destiny, we may well wonder what major landmarks and guideposts there will be along the way to measure our progress.   What will this filling entail?   Knowing how full we are right now, what will our experience be like when we are even fuller?  Will we do things similar to what Jesus did?  After all, Jesus predicted that we would do even greater things than he did.  What would it be like to experience even 1/10 of the FULLNESS OF CHRIST?   What will we experience on the way to the INFINITE FULLNESS OF THE DIVINITY? 

HOW HIGH CAN ONE GO? -- THE RANGE OF HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS

We now come to a very important concept, which offers great potential benefit for anyone seeking spiritual growth and transformation.  If one is on a journey, it helps to know where one is in relation to one’s destination.  If one seeks to go to higher levels of consciousness, what are those levels?  How will one know when a new higher level is attained?  What is one’s current level of consciousness?  What is the level that is just one step higher than the level that one is currently experiencing?

By level of consciousness, we refer to three closely related things.  One is the degree of LOVE or LOVINGNESS that pervades your consciousness, shining upon and extending to all of which you are aware.  The second is the depth and breadth of UNDERSTANDING and/or KNOWINGNESS that one has regarding something, with all of the multidimensional aspects, and interrelationships pertaining to it, including that which arises from beyond individual knowledge and logical/linear thought processes.  The third is the degree of POWER that emanates from a corresponding energy field.  A powerful energy field has a capacity to influence or entrain that which is within it.  The degree of LOVE, UNDERSTANDING and POWER is so different at different levels, that one sees differently, acts differently and things tend to play out differently depending on one’s predominate level of consciousness.

Very high levels of consciousness enjoin both great LOVE and great depth and breadth of UNDERSTANDING / KNOWINGNESS.  In states of greatly expanded and heightened consciousness one experiences much greater LOVE, depth and breadth of UNDERSTANDING and transforming and transcending POWER than is typical of the everyday ordinary level of consciousness experienced by most people.  People and societies take on very different characteristics depending on their overall, predominate level of consciousness.

To help humanity to better understand the range of states of consciousness to which we may aspire and which are an aspect of our DIVINE DESTINY, medical doctor and psychiatrist, Dr. David Hawkins (who is a spiritual teacher and has reported experiencing higher levels of consciousness), developed a map of human consciousness so that people could more easily understand the different levels of consciousness, from the lowest to the highest. (See chart contained in appendices of Dr Hawkins’ books, Power vs. Force, I, The Eye of the I, and Transcending the Levels of Consciousness.)

This map is a simple one dimensional scale.  You can think of it as a ladder.  Everyone has their foot on a rung of the ladder.  The scale helps you understand the rung of consciousness that you are currently on, the rungs just beneath it, and the rungs just above it.  It helps you understand where you are, where you have been, and where you might potentially go next.  In addition, it helps you to understand which rungs those around you are on.  This is valuable, because each of us will see the world very differently, act very differently, and come to very different conclusions, depending on where we are on the ladder. 

When we understand the level that other people are on, we can better understand where they are coming from, what motivates them and how they perceive life, and we can communicate with them and relate to them more effectively.

Those at the bottom of the ladder tend to exhibit less LOVE, fullness of UNDERSTANDING, and transforming positive POWER than those higher on the ladder.  They tend to be more narrow and rigid in their views and closed to exploring that which is beyond their current mindsets.  Consequently, they lack a wide range of information that could inform them and give them a much broader context and range of perspectives for understanding and making decisions   As you go higher on the ladder you are more open to receiving new information, which helps you develop greater insight, leading to greater awareness of DIVINE LIGHT and LOVE and greater depth and breadth of SPIRITUAL VISION.  You can see much further that at the lower levels, with much greater context (you can see the big picture, the major influences, and the relationships between the parts), and you can see it with much greater clarity. 

Meaning exists within context.  Without context a fact means nothing.  As the context changes or enlarges, meaning also changes.  As one climbs the ladder, one may come to view the same fact or situation very differently than one did several rungs lower down, because one now perceives a vastly greater context regarding how it fits together and interacts with other things, which could not be seen from the lower level, but which at the higher levels have started to come into view. 

A simple example of context is if you were to walk past a yard that has a high fence.  You hear a gunshot and a scream and someone on the other side says “Don’t move or I will shoot him again.”  You brace yourself and find a foothold and lift yourself to look over the fence, dreading what you will see.  On the other side of the fence, you see a group of people making a movie.  The view of things when you looked over the fence provided a new context and completely shifted your understanding.  Before you climbed up and looked over the fence you had limited facts and made erroneous assumptions about them, which you took to be true.   When you climbed higher and could see much more.  Your understanding changed.

The higher you go up the ladder of consciousness, the greater the LOVE that you experience.  The more you open to LOVE the higher your consciousness goes, and the higher it goes, the more your context changes, so that you see things differently, with far greater clarity than you did at the lower levels.  Opening to LOVE results in one’s consciousness being lifted to the higher rungs on the ladder.  At the higher levels, there is greater transforming power and one can experience being transformed, filled, and motivated by LOVE, in ways that were not possible when one was at the lower levels. 

There is a degree of divine love and light at the lower levels of human consciousness, but attachment to lower things, ego-based misperceptions, and negative emotions tend to greatly cloud awareness of the DIVINE PRESENCE.  On one hand, the scale shows the degree of LOVE, the openness to LOVE, DIVINE POWER, CLARITY, LIGHT, FREEDOM, and the GREATER UNDERSTANDING derived from having a much broader context. 

On the other hand, it indicates the degree of being closed to the DIVINE, the existence of rigid ego structures, obscured perception, selfishness, narrow context, and reliance on force instead of DIVINE POWER.

To assist human understanding of the various levels of the ego consciousness and of the states of consciousness that are higher than the ego states, David Hawkins came up with a numeric scale.  The numbers are not intended for numeric analysis, just to provide a sense of proportion.  For instance, mountains are much taller than molehills and a Size 2 shoe will feel quite different, depending on the size of your foot, than a size 12 shoe.  The number 1000 represents a much higher level of consciousness than is represented by the number 1.

By using a number scale Hawkins provides a useful means for helping us comprehend the relative difference/distance between various levels of consciousness.  Many people will find this approach useful, but not everyone.  Fortunately, the numbers may easily be disregarded by anyone who is not interested in them and one may simply focus on understanding the characteristics of the different levels.

Hawkins denotes 1 - 199 on the scale as negativity.  In this range, one finds people who whose consciousness is filled with despair, guilt, shame, hopelessness, alienation, loss, hatred, revenge, sadness, grief and sorrow, terror, fear and anxiety, want, greed, lust, anger, selfishness and pride.  It is difficult to make a positive contribution in the world when immersed in these negative mindsets. 

At 200 one moves into more positive levels of consciousness, such as courage, integrity, honesty, humility, neutrality, willingness, acceptance and reason.  People, at levels 200 - 499, are basically positive.  People at these levels make a positive contribution to society.  They are what one would call good and decent citizens.  Being good does not mean they will never have problems, make mistakes, be tempted or have occasional failings or shortcomings.  In difficult situations, they may sometimes make some selfish decisions, instead of all loving decisions.  Most of them still have rough edges and negativity in specific areas of their lives.  But they are generally positive, peaceful, and of good intention.   They are much more open to LOVE and radiate much more LOVE than people under Level 200. 

Until one reaches Level 500, human consciousness is strongly influenced by linear, ego-based thoughts and the basic animal-level instincts, socio-psychological needs and emotions.  These tend to play out in extremely negative and destructive ways below Level 200. 

Hawkins denotes Level 500 as being the point where LOVE becomes a very powerful influence in one’s life and consciousness, so that the majority of one’s decisions and actions are prompted by LOVE, even if the ego still provides some resistance.   To say that LOVE begins to predominate at Level 500 does not mean that LOVE is not present at the lower levels, but that one’s awareness of it is greatly obscured, especially at levels below 200, where one’s perceptions are greatly clouded and distorted and there is much negativity. 

At 500 and above one becomes increasingly aware of powerful non-linear spiritual influences beyond the ordinary world of form and human intellect, especially LOVE, and these begin to strongly prevail in decision-making and actions. Anything that is not of LOVE is illuminated and revealed and one is given opportunities to release and turn away from whatever remains that is not LOVE.  In the high 500s the ego-function and old mindsets and ways of perceiving start to disintegrate, and are replaced by higher spiritual qualities and capacities.

At Level 600 one encounters the first stage of HIGHER CONSCIOUSNESS, spoken of herein as INITIAL OR FIRST STAGE ENLIGHTENMENT, where the ego identity collapses.  From this point, consciousness can continue to expand and go ever higher.   Some of the qualities at the levels above 600 are difficult to explain and may seem highly abstract to anyone whose consciousness has not been lifted, or fluctuated (at least momentarily), to one or more of those levels.  These higher levels are actually ASPECTS OF DIVINITY, INCLUDING SPACIOUSNESS, BRILLIANCE, SILENCE, LIGHT, LOVE, PEACE, ESSENCE, AWARENESS, POTENTIAL, MANIFESTATION, TRUTH, ALLNESS, AND ONENESS.

Hawkins chose Level 1000 to represent the HIGHEST LEVEL OF CONSCIOUSNESS (LOVE, UNDERSTANDING, AND POWER ) to have expressed in a human body on this planet.  Hawkins assumes that Christ was at Level 1000.  (Putting Christ at Level 1000 does not mean that Christ is not infinite in nature or higher than 1000.  It simply denotes the highest level consciousness to be present in a human body.)

The map of consciousness is like a ladder with rungs, but one does not have to move sequentially from one rung to the other to transcend to the higher levels or to descend to the lower levels.   The purpose in describing the levels of consciousness as if they were rungs on a ladder is just to show where each level stands in relation to the others with regard to degree of love, understanding, and power for transformation.

Although many people experience fluctuations of consciousness across a range of levels, a single major level of consciousness will generally tend to predominate in most people, most of the time.  For instance, some people tend to live their lives in a state of fear, as if seeing the world through fear-colored glasses, and therefore acting and reacting to everything out of fear and even imagining and fearing things that do not even exist or have little or no probability of occurring.  Others tend to live lives driven by addiction, lust, or desire or from of a sense of pride or anger. 

To someone who lives at the level of anger, every little thing is a reason to express irritation or to strike out verbally or physically.  Although anger is a low level emotion, to experience anger as the impetus to take action to try to achieve some desired change is a higher level of consciousness than being in a state of fear, hopelessness, apathy, or of despair.   However, anger is still a negative and destructive emotion and one would do much better to operate from a level of Intellectual Understanding, in the 400s, from the level of LOVE, in the 500s, or from even higher levels, at 600 and above.   

The level of consciousness at which one typically calibrates can be viewed as where one’s consciousness is most of the time. If one fluctuates a lot or is in as state of transitioning from one major level to another, one’s level of consciousness can be viewed as the overall average of the fluctuations of consciousness.  People can rise above whatever level of consciousness they are at.  Level 200 is the point where people rise above negativity.  Crossing over to this threshold is where many people have conversion or born-again experiences and turn their lives toward what they perceive as God, Spirit, or Unifying Intelligence or ONENESS.  For them, reaching a 200 Level of Consciousness is a major epiphany. 

To be at the Levels of Fear, Courage, or Love, or at the Level of Initial Enlightenment, does not mean that one will never again experience lower levels of consciousness or that one will not sometimes experience higher levels.  It merely means this is the rung of the ladder on which you currently stand.  There can be periodic fluctuations up or down.  Even a person who is in despair most of the time will have an occasional upswing and experience a moment of happiness.  Even after making a decision to move out of Negativity up to the positive Level of Courage and toward God, many people tend to live lower than their decision, for long periods.  Their consciousness was uplifted sufficiently at one point in time to make a decision for God, but it is as if it were a promise that will eventually reach fruition, to be held on to by faith, and moved toward, and not yet fully realized and manifested in daily life.  Others may move up in consciousness and quickly stabilize at a level far above 200.  Some open to love and move all the way into the 500s, becoming a great blessing to others.  A few move to even higher levels.

On Hawkins’ scale, the difference in level of consciousness between Level 500, where LOVE begins to predominate and Level 1000 at the top of the scale, is not 500 (half of a 1000), but much greater. The 1000 point scale is a logarithmic scale, where 1 is multiplied by 10 for 1000 times, so that the value of each number on the scale is 10X higher than the previous number.  Level 1000 is 10X higher than 999 and 999 is 10X higher then 998.  Therefore, the numbers at the top end of the scale are tremendously higher than numbers at the lower end.  The higher one’s consciousness is on the scale, the greater is the love, depth and breadth of understanding, and divine power available for transformation and transcendence.

You can generally see much further from the top of a mountain than you can from the bottom of a deep crevasse. It is the same with a high level of consciousness, versus a low level of consciousness.  As you read the descriptions of the lower levels of consciousness and then glance at a description of the higher levels, you will begin to understand the magnitude of the scale.  So now, let’s examine how consciousness is different at the different levels and see how an awareness of those differences can increase our spiritual growth and understanding. 

One way to understand the range of human consciousness is based on the degree of love for others.   The scale can be seen as a continuum of degrees of consciousness of love, from an awareness of love that is almost imperceptible at Level 1, all the way to DIVINITY (PURE, FULL, OVERFLOWING, EXPANSIVE, FREE AND UNCONDITIONAL LOVE) at Level 1000.  The important concept to understand about this scale is that major qualitative shifts take place at certain levels.  In other words, the varying degrees of openness and awareness of LOVE at different levels have a very different appearance.  This can be illustrated in the following manner.

Let’s take water, H2O, for example and let’s look at it very closely.  The only thing we will change is the temperature.  It remains the same substance, but it appears different and impacts us in radically different ways at different temperatures.   Water, at 32°F, turns to ice. It is cold and hard and brittle.  Above 32°F ice becomes a liquid.  At the 212°F boiling point, water starts turning from a liquid into a gas.  Water flows to the lowest level, while steam rises and expands. Superheated, steam can be used to power steam engines and if brought to very high temperature it may explode. It is all H20, but the difference in temperature, greatly changes how H2O is used, how it looks and feels, and how it is valued and utilized in different situations.  Depending on its temperature, H2O may be positive and beneficial for one purpose, while being destructive or useless for some other purpose. 

The degree of awareness of love and openness to love (level of consciousness) in human beings is similar to water at different temperatures.  People, groups, societies and situations that are below Level 200 are as different from those above Level 200 as ice is from liquid water, or as liquid water is from steam.  The same is true for Levels above 500, above 600, and so forth.   As the degree of awareness of love and openness to love increases or decreases, there are great qualitative differences in how people perceive, feel, think and behave at the various levels, such as despair, fear, desire, anger, pride, courage, neutrality/flexibility, willingness, intellect, love, and the various levels of higher consciousness. People will see and expect entirely different options and opportunities and make different choices, depending on their level of consciousness, and life will unfold very differently for each.

Someone who sees and responds to all around them at the Level of Fear tends to be entrenched, cringing, defensive, evasive, tentative, reactive, preventive and protective.  They perceive the potential for loss, harm, and suffering in each new situation.  They are very different from the person who lives at the Level of Desire, who is forward moving, seeking, stretching, and reaching out to acquire what is desired.  Those at the Level of Desire perceive the potential for gaining what they desire and will work hard to achieve it. A person, whose desires have been thwarted or who perceives a slight or an injustice, will frequently move to the Level of Anger. 

At the Level of Anger one is able to exert explosive energy to take very forceful action to push aside perceived barriers or correct a perceived wrong or injustice.  In the right set of circumstances and if properly controlled, anger can be freeing, uplifting, and empowering.  If uncontrolled and in the wrong circumstances, it can be very destructive.  Persons, who normally live at a very low Level of Fear, may begin to stand up for themselves, by suddenly rising to the Level of Anger.

The primary indicator of one’s level of consciousness is the degree or extent of love.  As our consciousness goes higher we gradually extend our circle of love from our self to our mate and children; outward to our extended family; then to our friends, tribe, clan, region, country; to one’s supposed enemies; and finally to all humanity, and eventually beyond that to GOD and to ALL CREATION.   The person who loves only their own friends or clan is at a much lower level of consciousness than someone who’s love extends much further, such as to all of humanity or to all creation.

Much of the consciousness of humanity in the most war-torn parts of the world is quite low, often calibrating below Level 200, with the circle of loving benevolence being tightly restricted to the family, friends, tribe, clan, or regional levels.  The Japanese and the Germans during World War II had benevolence for their families and friends and their own societies, but were deficient in love to those outside of that prescribed sphere.  Hitler and many of his followers calibrated at a level of negativity, well below 200.  The friendly, family dog may calibrate at a much higher level of benevolence than some people.  According to Hawkins, the 10 or 15 most civilized countries of the world calibrate in the low 400s, which is the level where reason and intellect predominate. This does not mean that everyone in those societies is at that level.  The higher levels of consciousness are very powerful, and exert a continuous upward influence on everyone.   It only takes a small percentage of people at the higher levels to pull a whole society to a higher level.  Christ radiated and continues to radiate sufficient love to counter balance and offset all of the negativity of the whole of humanity and keep humanity from completely drowning in negativity.

According to Hawkins, in Power vs Force, the 12 Step Groups, such as Alcoholics Anonymous, tend to calibrate at the Level of UNCONDITIONAL LOVE, which is supportive, encouraging, non-condemning, forgiving, transforming, uplifting and healing.  This does not mean that each individual in a 12 Step Group goes through life at Level 540.  It is the high intention, love, forgiveness, compassion and acceptance expressing within the group, when it comes together as a whole, which results in such a high group level of consciousness.  The members are uplifted and their mutual love, concern, and ongoing support and encouragement help to keep their resolve firm between meetings.  Ideally, their individual consciousness goes up in the process.  If their individual consciousness does not entrain to a higher level, they tend to relapse, upon leaving the group. Some close-knit prayer, sharing, study and support groups may resonate at a similar Level of Unconditional Love.  Some churches may reach the Level of Unconditional Love.

According to Hawkins, about 4% of the world population calibrates at or above 500, the level where LOVE begins to predominate in all aspects of life.  About 1 person out of 200 calibrates at or above Level 540, the Level of Unconditional Love.   That which is traditionally referred to as enlightenment is actually a wide range of levels beginning at 600 and going upward past 1000.  Historically, only a very small percentage of people have transcended to and continued to stay at any of these high levels.  A somewhat larger percentage of people may experience occasional glimmerings of higher consciousness or may go into a higher state of consciousness for short periods, coming away with life-changing realizations of what is possible.  In other words, some people have visited the territory of higher consciousness, some venture there every now and then, some go there frequently, and a few are currently living at one or another of those higher levels.

At the higher levels, great inner transformation may take place.  Often, the higher inner states will also be reflected in great outward transformation.  This is true at any of the levels.  To move from the level of acting out of fear, up to the level of acting out of desire is a great advance.  To move from the Levels of Anger or Pride up the Level of Courage and Integrity or from 499, the highest level of linear rational thought, to Level 500 where non-linear LOVE begins to predominate is a great leap upward.  With regard to transformation, Hawkins notes in his book Power vs. Force that just about anything will heal at or above Level 600.

As one’s consciousness rises to higher levels one gains much more than a new perspective from which to look at life differently than before.  Each level of consciousness has a corresponding energy field which powerfully influences that which comes into it.  In choosing to go higher, one consciously or unconsciously connects and aligns one’s consciousness and one’s life with the energy field of the higher level of consciousness to which one aspires, which has great power to transform whatever connects and aligns with it.

At various points along the way, an upward advance of just one or two points will result in major qualitative shifts, equivalent to the point where ice begins to melt or water starts to turn to boil and turn to steam.  Some people only advance upward in consciousness a few points in their whole life, but if it brings them across a new threshold, it can be a major transformation. 

Others may transcend several levels of consciousness in the course of their life.  Some may hold steady at one level and some may regress to lower levels.  The level of consciousness at which you are when you discard your physical body, will have an influence on the type of realm, domain, or dimension in which your consciousness will reside after leaving this Earth life experience.  St. Paul spoke on one occasion of having his awareness raised to the Seventh Heaven.  This seems to imply the existence of Heavens One through Six, in addition to Heaven Number Seven.  It also appears from some of Paul’s and Jesus’ statements that there are domains or states of being that are at far lower levels than the ones called Heavens.

David Hawkins’ descriptions of the levels of consciousness are well worth reading.  His thoughts expressed in books and videos have greatly influenced my understanding and have been influential in my own experiences of transcending to higher levels of consciousness.  Readers can find David R. Hawkins’ Map of Consciousness in his book Power vs. Force: The Hidden Determinants of Human Behavior, as well as in Transcending the Levels of Consciousness: The Stairway to Enlightenment and in many of his other works.

The following portrayal of Levels of Consciousness, is inspired by Hawkins’ work and is intended to serve as a useful summary of that work, but varies from it in several important ways.  It characterizes some things differently, based on my own explorations of the levels of consciousness.  It also expands and elaborates on the topic from the perspective of communicating with the specific audiences for whom this is written.  Please keep in mind that what is presented here is for the purpose of helping provide a better understanding and sense of proportion regarding the vast range of consciousness that is experienced as we are transformed to the FULL STATURE OF CHRIST.   Some people may think it better to place some items slightly lower or higher than indicated on this scale or to describe or number them differently.  Such thinking is encouraged.  This discussion of the levels of consciousness is not provided as something one has to believe.  It is just a way of looking at human consciousness that may help one’s understanding of it.  Merely to contemplate such things will greatly broaden one’s overall depth and breadth of understanding, resulting in one’s consciousness being raised. 

If it helps your understanding, the term “State of Mind” can be used almost synonymous with the term “Level of Consciousness.”  To see to what extent one can be transformed to the FULL STATURE OF CHRIST, let’s take a closer look at each of the major levels, beginning with the lowest, where human consciousness is most constricted and clouded by ego identity, perceiving self and others with the smallest degree of light, love, depth and breadth or understanding and power for transformation and transcendence.  We will then explore the mid-range states of consciousness, after which we will explore the higher states of consciousness.

Please note that levels of consciousness are but one way of looking things.  They are presented here because seeing things from this perspective has very great value for spiritual growth and understanding.  No one is locked into a specific level and most individuals have a degree of experience across a range of levels.  Life is complex and does not always proceed in a hierarchical form.  So, what is presented is intended to be helpful, and not rigid.

LOWER LEVELS OF EGO CONSCIOUSNESS

At the lower levels of ego consciousness the main focal point of consciousness is on one’s physical body, security, relationships with those in close proximity, one’s immediate physical environment and surviving and thriving in the world.  A very high degree of ego identity (self concept), with negative thoughts and emotions, exists and tends to run rampant.  The most powerful of the lower level states is that of Pride and Self Importance.  It has a strong capacity, at least in the short-term to shape its environment the way that it wants and to get what it wants. The weakest state is Despair/Alienation/Hopelessness. 

As you look at each of these different states of mind beginning with the lowest and going higher, consider how it would feel to live and perceive life from within each state.  How would the physical body feel? Would it be pouring out fight hormones or flight hormones?  Would it feel energetic or depleted?  What thoughts and emotions would fill the mind?   How would the state of the body and the body chemistry impact the emotions and how would these impact the thoughts and visa versa, how would the thoughts impact the emotions and how would these impact the body and the body chemistry?

What would it feel like to perceive, think, feel emotions, make interpretations and come to understandings, decide, act, react, and interact with all around you while in this state of mind?

What does it feel like to let the vibration of this state of consciousness resonate within you?

The Lower Level States of Ego Consciousness (Negativity)

Despair, Abandonment, Hopelessness

Separation, Alienation, Destruction, Annihilation

Depression, Apathy, Listlessness

Guilt, Shame, Self-Hatred, Self-Loathing

Sorrow, Loss, Grief

Fear, Anxiety, Terror, (Protecting, Defending, Fleeing, Hiding, Frozen In Place, Hiding)

Hatred, Blame, Grievance, Grudges, Harsh Judgments, Vengeance, Hostility, Enmity

Desire, Wanting, Needing, Craving, Greed, Physical Drives & Instincts, Lust, Addiction

Anger, Polarization (Use of force to correct perceived injustices & inequalities)

Pride, Self Importance, Being Right, Self Righteousness, Bigotry, Atheism

(At its most extreme the individual becomes a law unto himself or herself and places his or her perceived good before all else.)

Anyone who is living life and seeing things from the perspective of one of the above levels of consciousness (or states of mind) has a very different experience of the world, one’s self, and others than someone who is perceiving life from any of the other levels.

Depending on the level that one is at, one will come to completely different interpretations of events, perceptions of potential opportunities, and decisions regarding how to proceed and take action.  Those with whom one lives and interacts will respond very differently, depending on one’s level of consciousness, which is displayed in one’s attitude, self confidence, demeanor and actions.  A person at the Level of Pride or Desire will see and exploit promising opportunities in situations where a person at the Levels of Depression or Hopelessness will not perceive any opportunities to exist.  Life’s events and circumstances flow and unfold very differently at different levels of consciousness.

A substantial portion of the total world population resonates in the negative range discussed above, but those who resonate at much higher levels counterbalance them and raise the consciousness of all of humanity and human society higher than it would otherwise be.

It is important to keep in mind that although one may experience most of life from the perspective of one of these levels, there are usually some natural, frequent fluctuations in level of consciousness so that most people have an acquaintance with levels that are both higher and lower than the predominate one.  There is potential to experience very high states of consciousness for short periods of time and some people do.  Even at the lower levels, just discussed, there will be opportunities to experience a degree of love, peace and joy and opportunities to make unselfish contributions to one’s family, friends, community, and even to strangers.

HIGHER LEVELS OF EGO CONSCIOUSNESS

At the lower levels of ego consciousness, just discussed, the focus was on surviving and thriving as a physical self in a physical world.  At the higher levels of ego consciousness, this is still true, at least for the first five of the next eight levels.  The main difference between the lower ego levels and higher ego levels is the increasing awareness and attention to that which is beyond merely surviving and thriving as a physical being in a physical world.  At each of the higher levels, there is an increasing awareness and exploration of a vast continuum of life, energy, being, and consciousness; extending far beyond the physical body and concerns about its survival. This continuum is almost invisible at the lower ego consciousness levels; but becomes one’s primary concern by the time one’s consciousness reaches the three highest levels of the eight levels of higher ego consciousness.

At the lower ego levels, religion tends to focus on manipulating and influencing the forces of nature, gods and goddess to protect one and give one what one seeks.  One seeks to be served.  This gradually changes as one goes to higher levels.  At the higher levels the focus is on being of service, changing one’s self, obtaining understanding, maintaining a sense of harmony and connection with the whole, exploring the depth and breadth of consciousness beyond everyday mind and beyond the body, being a LIVING CONDUIT OF SPIRIT AND LOVE. 

At higher levels of ego consciousness there is a much greater opening to love and less ego dominance than in the negative range previously discussed.  However, there is enough remaining ego that difficult circumstances can cause people who are generally positive to occasionally, or even frequently, experience the lower negative states.

Just as with the lower ego levels just discussed, keep in mind that there are no absolute boundaries between levels.  A person’s level of consciousness may fluctuate up or down, in different types of situations. Interactions with family may take place at one level of consciousness and interactions with one’s closest friends, 12 Step Group, meditation group, or in the workplace may take place at a different level. Certain unique situations may have a strong upward or downward pull.  People are complex and life is complex.  One may feel love for one’s family, be a respected member of one’s church and community, and be a model employee in the workplace, while still living in fear of losing one’s job or struggling with some form of addiction.

Keep the following in mind as you read the descriptions for each of the following 8 levels.

What would the body chemistry, thoughts, emotions, and perceptions be like at each of the following levels?

What would it feel like to perceive, think, feel emotions, make interpretations and come to understandings, decide, act, react, and interact with all around you while in this state of mind?

Feel the energetic resonance as you read the description of each of the following levels of consciousness.

The level of consciousness that is just above Pride and Self Importance is

Courage / Truth / Integrity / Duty

Courage, Truth, Integrity, Duty -  At this level, there is a realization that there is something higher than the personal ego.  One realizes that one is not the center of the universe and that one is not more important than others.  Of course one may still be tempted to see one’s self as being more important than others and to place one’s self first, but there is an innate awareness that this is a false premise and that to live in such a manner is out of balance with reality.  At this level, one lives, chooses, and acts for what is perceived as the greater good, from a sense of dedication to some higher purpose, which is loved or believed in, such as family, country, or God.  There is increased awareness of the need to balance one’s goals and desires with the good of all.  One begins to find increased meaning and satisfaction in being of service to others. 

It requires courage to make the shift that will enable one to live in such a manner. Many people move up to this level through major life-changing experiences, equivalent to conversion, being born-again, or letting go of addictive behaviors.  There is greater openness to that which is beyond the physical, which may be termed love or God, although this awareness is still greatly obscured by the ego.  People who arrive at this level will often seek out clearly defined rules and guidelines to help them stabilize and avoid going back to lower levels. They tend to see life in terms of “good and bad,” “either/or” and “right and wrong.” They live in a dynamic tension with those at the lower levels of consciousness, seeking to change them, save them, or blame them for being the way they are.  They constantly feel the pull of the lower levels and tend to be in a constant struggle between the desire to go higher and the pull toward that which is lower. There is much within themselves that they deny, repress, or despise as they fail to live up to their high ideas and rigid standards.   They often project what they repress onto those around them. Most of their attention is still focused on feeling secure and surviving and thriving in the physical world. 

Flexibility  --  At this level people are less attached to specific outcomes and do not insist that they have to have things a certain way, in order to be happy, in the manner that results in so much distress, unhappiness and conflict at the lower levels.  They state preferences, as opposed to “must haves” and work toward achieving preferred options and solutions.  They are resilient and keep moving ahead with their lives, even when things don’t go the way they want. They are able to shift directions, compromise and delay gratification for the greater good. They are willing to consider other’s points of view and preferences.  To the extent possible, they avoid taking sides and polarizing issues.  They do not see life’s circumstances as being completely “black and white” or “right and wrong,” but perceive things in full color and complexity, or at least in shades of gray.  They are more inclined to question rules and guidelines than those at the level of Courage / Truth / Integrity / Duty.  They tend to be very aware of institutional imperfections and are quick to observe when the conventional rules and guidelines do not seem to fit a situation.  They are good solid citizens, but often are often deeply skeptical, hold back a bit, and try not to get their hopes too high, so they won’t be disappointed.  They live in a dynamic tension with the rule-following people at the level just below them, who they tend to think of as hypocrites, when practice fails to keep up with principles. 

Willingness and Strong Positive Intention -- At this level people participate with great gusto and willingness in the experience of living life.  They exude great confidence in their ability to achieve their goals.  They join, cooperate and commit with great optimism and enthusiasm.  They tend to be excellent team players and leaders.  They believe that they can work with others to change things for the better.  They exert strong intention and work with great diligence and commitment to accomplish their goals.  Their attitude is that if they believe intensely enough and work hard enough they can accomplish their goals and often they do just that.  They exude the attitude of “Let’s go! We can do it!”  They have their fair share of challenges and human failings. They sometimes bite off more than they can chew and sometimes act imprudently or run roughshod over others in their race to reach their goals. They tend to perceive the levels below them, as not be sufficiently focused, inspired and committed. 

Acceptance, Non-Resistance, and Harmony  --  At this level, people begin to realize that their experience of life is greatly influenced by their state of mind and that happiness is an inside job.  They begin to take responsibility for their state of mind, attitudes, thoughts, feelings, perceptions, choices, and actions, thereby altering their experience of life in a positive manner.  They move through life with a greater sense of proportion, balance and appropriateness.  They tend to focus less on placing blame and more on resolving problems and seeking workable solutions.  They tend to be positive in situations where others find it easy to be negative.  They seek harmonious solutions. They gracefully accept what is and look for all the good they can find in it, instead of living in a state of constant resistance to the ever changing flow of life.  They are more inclined to forgive and be lenient with themselves and others.  They change what can be changed for the better, accept what cannot be changed, and have the wisdom to know the difference. 

Knowledge, Reason, Understanding  -- At this level people are more  objective and less emotional in their observations, decisions and actions.  They tend to be very well educated.  They seek ever greater understanding; carefully reasoning, measuring, and analyzing the world around them.  They delight in learning, exploring and discovering new concepts, theories, techniques and inventions and applying what they have learned to make life better for them and for others.  They exhibit abstract reason, capacity for synthesis, artistic expression and creativity. They are exemplified by people such as Plato, Isaac Newton, Thomas Jefferson, Einstein, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Edison, Sigmund Freud, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Bach, and Mozart. Their insights, discoveries and inventions modify the environment; add insight and beauty; shape human experience and the environment; and greatly improve the quality of human life. 

Historically, there have only been a small percentage of people at this level, but they have done much to move humanity from being hunter gatherers to living in the modern society that we now experience.  One does not have to be a genius to live at this level.   Those who continually bring new concepts, understanding, techniques, and inventions into their own lives and into the lives of those around them live life at this level.  This includes those who explore and seek to understand and apply knowledge in the realms of art, music, religion, theology, metaphysics, consciousness and spirituality.  People at this level have very sophisticated ego identities.  Even though they are educated and have a far better quality of life than most; and are better able to utilize reason and rein in their emotions than those at lower levels of consciousness; they still have ego identity and experience a full range of human failings, challenges and suffering.  They seek the most sophisticated and comfortable ways of dealing with their problems, utilizing all of the latest treatments and therapies.

LOVE  -  There is a point at which LOVE begins to take precedence in one’s life, choices and actions.  David Hawkins places this at 500 on his scale of human consciousness.  LOVE is the deep awareness of SELF, ONENESS, and ALLNESS -- of ONE SOURCE - of the sacredness of all that is sourced by DIVINTY in each moment.  LOVE recognizes the inherent unity and harmony that is unfolding in all that is.  It recognizes the PRESENCE OF THE CREATOR in and through THE CREATION.  It exists beyond intellect, form, linear thought and reason.  It points toward all that is DIVINE, both manifest and beyond.  The person who is living at this level may not be able to fully articulate why they feel guided or impelled to make certain choices or go in certain directions.  They proceed according to an inner guidance, instead of routinely following the dictates of selfish preferences, conventional guidelines, and cultural norms.

LOVE exists even at the lower levels of consciousness, but is greatly obscured by ego, misperceptions, negative emotions and excessive and habitual thought.  As the awareness of love in one’s life increases, that which is unloving is revealed, enabling it to be released.  As this takes place, considerable ego resistance may be experienced.  Gradually, more and more of the old is let go and more of that which is higher is perceived and shines through.  There is much greater willingness to forgive, although forgiveness may still seem difficult.  This is a great level, but it does not tend to be an easy level.  At this level one experiences many challenges, short-term failures and long term victories, transformations and transcendence.

UNCONDITIONAL LOVE  -  As LOVE takes precedence, it becomes clear that LOVE is to be extended in every circumstance of life, without conditions.  LOVE REIGNS SUPREME IN THE HEART guiding mind, thought, choices and actions.  Anything that is not in harmony with LOVE is revealed to be released.  One begins to let go of all kinds of assumptions, misperceptions, preferences and beliefs about oneself and others and about how life should unfold.  It becomes ever clearer that there can be inner peace, regardless of outward circumstances. At this stage of growth one is naturally drawn to practice and experience ever greater equanimity of mind, so that LOVE may shine constant.  At this stage it becomes much easier to accept the unfolding of life without resistance and without labeling it moment by moment as being right or wrong or good or bad.  The attitude becomes one of withholding judgment and of allowing, waiting and seeing what transpires.  Because things continually change, what seemed very bad in one moment may seem much better in the next.  One is willing to let it play out and see the whole over the course of time, instead of judging everything based on the limited perspective of that moment.  One has compassion for oneself and for others as things unfold.  This is a challenging, but very fulfilling level.

BEAUTY, JOY, ECSTACY - As more and more attachments, ego misperceptions, and the negative emotions that are associated with them are given up, there is less and less there to bring distress to the mind.  DIVINITY shines through.  One sees beauty all around.  That which did not previously appear beautiful suddenly seems to be beautiful. Beauty is so apparent and so appreciated that one may simply gaze at a pebble or a leaf or a flower for several minutes.  The people around one and the unfolding of life often seem stunningly beautiful.  One may spend hours watching a sunset unfold and merge into velvet darkness.  Sometimes it seems like one is full of LIGHT within and that all that is about is also filled with LIGHT.  One may experience great JOY as one goes through everyday life.  Greeting another person is like meeting DIVINITY and feeling DIVINITY within one’s self.  One may easily move into states of BLISS and ECSTACY.  One perceives and feels DIVINITY all about.  One is filled with JOY, BLISS and ECSTASY.  At this stage, there are constant openings to DIVINITY and there may be upward fluctuations of consciousness to far higher levels.

Inevitably, something will shift and the sense of joy will diminish.  For many on the spiritual path, this brings consternation.  “What is wrong with me?  How did I lose the JOY?  Such thoughts bring in negative emotions, resulting in even more negative thoughts, which result in even more negative emotions.  One experiences a great sense of loss and despair, which is known as the “Dark Night of the Soul.”  Rising to the peak of JOY and then spiraling or plunging down to the depth of despair may happen multiple times before equanimity is achieved.  Eventually, one begins to view these cycles with the same equanimity as one views all other transitory phenomena, so that not being in a state of great bliss is no longer cause for despair.  One more and more identifies with being the observer of it all -- the mind in which it plays out and not as that which is playing out.  One does not have to give up joy, bliss and ecstasy.   One simply learns not to be attached to them and realizes there is no need to go into a state of despair if one does not experience a maximum of joy, bliss and ecstacy every day of the week.

At this point on the journey, the extraordinary may begin to occur in very noticeable ways.  Problems resolve.  Healing may take place.  Transformation and change can be very rapid.  One may suddenly have a knowingness of something of which one was not previously aware.  It is best not seek or cherish extraordinary occurrences, but to view them with equanimity.  Otherwise, their comings and goings could result in a downward spiral, until equanimity is fully established.

By the time one reaches the Level of Love, one has a relatively sophisticated, spiritualized ego (self concept), which claims to have the aspiration of being fully transformed into a good, kind, loving person; or even into LOVE.  By the time one begins living at the Level of Unconditional Love or at the Level of Joy, Bliss and Ecstasy, the ego is greatly diminished and begins to unravel very quickly. 

One’s consciousness is continually being lifted higher due to being held within and attuned to these powerful levels of consciousness.  Not only that, but, one’s consciousness is continually lifted higher by even higher fields of consciousness, in which the levels of consciousness known as Unconditional Love and Joy, Bliss and Ecstasy exist as sub-fields.  The great love, understanding and power emanating from all of these very high fields of consciousness is sufficient to enable great spiritual transformation and transcendence.  Once consciousness reaches the Level of Unconditional Love the ego identity cannot easily be sustained and like ice on a warm summer day begins to rapidly melt away.

At the highest of the ego levels, the thoughts that arise in mind are about releasing ego thought and identity and about the eventual dissolution of the ego.  The bundle of concepts about what one is begins to include the concept that one is not the bundle of thoughts and that one is seeking to realize and know that which is beyond the bundle of concepts.  One finds oneself pursuing spiritual practices designed for ascending to higher levels of consciousness and continuing to diminish and dismantle misperceptions that make up the ego identity.  The spiritualized ego (the set of concepts that are your ego identity) foresees the trajectory of consciousness to higher levels and is aware, acquiescing, and conceptually willing that its dissolution will soon take place.  One is not sure what will be experienced when the dissolution takes place, but there is hope that what will be experienced will have less pain and suffering than has been experienced up to this point and that there will be a greater awareness of peace, clarity, understanding, harmony and joy. One perceives that transformation must take place and that going back is really not a satisfying or acceptable option. 

One enjoys being in a state of awareness beyond thought (beyond the mental chatter and the identity concepts of the ego) for longer and longer periods of time and finds and practices techniques to extend the experience that state for longer periods.  One begins to rely more and more on KNOWINGNESS, which is an aspect of consciousness far beyond the physical body and the lower thinking mind. 

As one’s consciousness moves higher one’s perception of life changes.  This may have a great impact on the nervous system and body/brain chemistry.  Much research has been done in recent years regarding how practices such as meditation sooth and calm the body, change thoughts, emotions, and brain/body chemistry and result in a more peaceful and positive outlook on life.  KNOWINGNESS, from beyond the thinking, feeling animal brain, begins to interpenetrate and modify the functioning of the lower thinking mind and physical brain.  As consciousness rises to even higher levels, this KNOWINGNESS increasingly asserts precedence over the lower thinking mind.  (Hawkins puts forward his conceptualization of some of the above described transformation in Section 2 of Transcending the Levels of Consciousness.)

The eight levels just discussed comprise the vast middle range of human life experience, where the ego still exists although in ever more diminished capacity.  There is much less ego at the last three levels discussed, than in the first five of these levels. Great difficulties, issues, temptations and challenges arise across all of these levels, and from time-to-time one may still experience occasional bouts of negativity, such as pride, anger, fear, or despair. 

               HIGHER SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS BEYOND EGO IDENTITY

At some point, the perpetual chain of thought and the associated emotions that are generated from the thoughts (the constant flow of which helped to support all of one’s concepts abut life and one’s personal identity), breaks and comes to a stop.  The set of concepts that are the foundation of ego identity have already been unraveled to the point that they barely provide a sufficient framework to support ego identity.  The remaining cluster of concepts pertaining to the supposed ego identity, no longer supported by the ongoing chain of thought/emotion, collapses and falls away.  At this point, there is an experience of unobstructed clarity of perception, and an EXQUISITE, SILENT AWARENESS, which enables the experience of deep KNOWINGNESS and enables one to begin to perceive things as not being separate, but as part of a larger whole.  

In the silent clarity that exists, after the obscuring filters of ego concepts, thoughts, and the associated emotions are removed, it becomes evident that one does not have to perceive oneself as a separate self who does things to others and to whom things are done.  There is a realization that there are no clear, distinct separations between all that is unfolding.  One sees that the perception of a separated state, as experienced at the ego levels of consciousness, was based on an erroneous understanding of the nature of existence.  One sees that at the ego levels of consciousness, erroneous concepts filtered and modified what was being perceived, so that what was perceived would match the concepts.

When the ego identity falls away, the manner in which one used to perceive life is perceived as being an illusion, as when one exits from the hall of mirrors or from the software program, where one has just experienced looking at visual effects which make one look very tall, very wide, or stretched and distorted in various ways.  People at the ego levels of consciousness look at what is projected on the screen of consciousness and take what they see as reality, not realizing that what they see is being filtered by a set of concepts in which they believe, and not realizing the degree to which those concepts modify their perceptions.

In attempting to describe things from the perspective of HIGHER LEVELS OF CONSCIOUSNESS, beyond the ego, it becomes apparent that all of human language and much of human understanding about the nature of life is built upon erroneous concepts.  Therefore, it can be difficult to find verbal constructs suitable for conveying the way that things appear from the perspective of the higher states of consciousness.  Once one sees life directly, without the filtering of the ego, one can still speak in terms of being the “one who is doing something” or the “one to whom things are being done,” so as to communicate with others who see things through that conventional set of conceptual filters.  However, when such communication takes place, it is done in a “provisional” manner.  It is understood that life’s unfolding can be viewed and divided up in all sorts of ways, according to a diversity of arbitrary mental concepts. 

It is understood that there is a conventional manner in which most of humanity views life, including the concept of separation, so that a hypothetical “me” or “this” can be perceived to be doing something to a hypothetical “you” or “that,” instead of seeing it as the unfolding of a cohesive whole.

Awareness exists and perception takes place, but it is not clear exactly what is doing the perceiving.  What ever it is, does not perceive life through as many distorting filters.  When communicating with others, the term “I” is used as a matter of convenience, but, is not taken seriously as being an “I” because it remains undefined and is perceived as merely being an aspect of the whole and not as a separate entity. 

One may well ask “Well who are you, if you are not an “I” ?.  The closest answer would be: simply an aspect of the whole (an aspect of consciousness, aware and seeing from a particular perspective); not separate from the whole; receiving guidance, insight, inspiration and KNOWINESS by virtue of being an aspect of the whole.  Not identified as a body or a story about some flow of events.  Not defined or labeled.  No cluster of tightly knit concepts held tightly together by continuous thought and emotion about its survival, status, and well being.  No perceived boundaries separating it from the whole.  There is no desire to be clearly defined and separate or to lay claim to a special identity or sense of self. 

Ego is a temporarily self-perpetuating cluster of beliefs, thoughts and emotions that arise from the erroneous concept of separation.  Where there is no such concept and no bundling of thoughts and emotions relative to such a concept, there is no ego and at best only a provisional “I,” which is recognized and utilized as a sort of tentative and temporary place holder, taken very lightly, and not held to be ultimate reality.  Any “one” or “I” that is spoken of when communicating is understood to be merely an aspect of the “WHOLE.” 

Notice that in the above sentence the focus is not on the word “aspect,” but on the word “WHOLE,” which has been capitalized, italicized, bolded, and underlined.  At the higher levels of consciousness the overall emphasis and the way things are perceived is such that the primary identification is with the “WHOLE”    It is the “WHOLE” that is being identified with, far more than any temporary, provisional or tentative identification with being an “aspect.”  Any focus of attention on the “aspect” is secondary to the “WHOLE”, but never separate from the “WHOLE.”

At the levels of HIGHER CONSCIOUSNESS, there will be opportunities to resume an ego identity.  While having the experience of being an aspect of the WHOLE, the best way to stay in the higher states of consciousness is to just be LOVE. 

LOVE IS THE DIVINE CAPACITY FOR RECOGNIZING THE ESSENTIAL ONENESS, ALLNESS AND UNDERLYING UNITY WITHIN ALL ASPECTS OF THE WHOLE; AND FOR ACCEPTING AND EMBRACING EACH ASPECT OF THE WHOLE.  

LOVE ALWAYS POINTS TO ONENESS AND ALLNESS.  IT SEES THE SAME SELF, UNIFIED AWARE AND CONSCIOUS, IN ALL. 

THERE ARE ASPECTS OF DIVINITY, WHICH EXTEND BEYOND THOUGHT, FORM, TIME, AND CONCEPT.  HOWEVER, WITHIN THE DIVERSITY OF THE ALLNESS MANIFESTING AS CREATION, LOVE IS THE ASPECT OF DIVINITY THAT IS CONTINUALLY AWARE THAT ALL ARE FACETS OF ONE COHESIVE WHOLE AND THAT IT IS THE ONE SELF PLAYING, REVELING, AND EXPRESSING WITHIN THE ALLNESS.

LOVE IS UNIVERSAL CONSCIOUSNESS, PROVIDING GUIDANCE TO EVERY ASPECT OF THE WHOLE; SHINING FORTH THAT WHICH IS MOST APPROPRIATE IN EACH AND EVERY CIRCUMSTANCE, THROUGH ALL ASPECTS OF THE WHOLE THAT ARE OPEN AND RECEPTIVE TO  LOVE

LOVE SHINES BRIGHT AND WARM, RECOGNIZING, WELCOMING, ACCEPTING, APPRECIATING, AFFIRMING, ENCOURAGING, SMILING, LAUGHING, HUGGING, EMBRACING, CARESSING; OFFERING COMPASSION, KINDNESS; AND BENEVOLENCE, SERVING, UPLIFTING, LISTENING, GUIDING, INSPIRING, HEALING, RECONCILING, FORGIVING, HARMONIZING, BLESSING, CELEBRATING, CREATING, PLAYING, DANCING, SINGING, REVELING, REVERENCING, PRAISING AND ADORING ALL THAT IS, BECAUSE IT SEES ITSELF, THE SELF, SHINING FORTH IN EVERY ASPECT OF THE WHOLE; THE HEART IN EVERY HEART AND THE SOUL IN EVERY SOUL.

LOVE IS THE ONLY IDENTITY WORTH HAVING.  IT IS THE ONE IDENTITY THAT DOES NOT LEAD TO NEGATIVE LEVELS OF CONSCIOUSNESS AND SUFFERING.  IT IS THE ONLY IDENTITY THAT ONE WILL EVER NEED.  IT TAKES ONE HOME IN EACH AND EVERY MOMENT, BECAUSE IT IS ALWAYS HOME.  IF THE OCCASION EVER ARISES TO CHOOSE TO BE LOVE OR TO BE ANYTHING ELSE IN ALL OF CREATION, CHOOSE LOVE.  IDENTIFY YOURSELF AS LOVE.  BE LOVE ALWAYS, FOR LOVE IS WHAT YOU ARE.

LOVE IS ROOTED IN THE ONENESS, KNOWING ITSELF TO BE ONENESS, WHILE EXTENDING ITSELF INTO THE DIVERSITY OF ALLNESS, YET NEVER LEAVING ONENESS AND NEVER EXPERIENCING SEPARATION.  LOVE PLAYS, DANCES AND REVELS IN THE DIVERSITY OF ONE SELF AT PLAY IN ALL, LOVING EACH WAVE, AND LOVING THE OCEAN, SEEING ONLY ONE OCEAN AND EVERY WAVE AT HOME.

ALLNESS EXISTS WITHIN ONENESS AND ONENESS WITHIN ALLNESS.

LOVE IS AWARE OF THE JOY OF ONENESS EXPRESSING AS ALLNESS; AND THE BLISS OF ALLNESS REALIZING ONENESS.  LOVE IS THE BALANCE POINT, THE GOLDEN DOOR, THE POINT OF CONSCIOUS PERCEPTION FROM WHENCE ONENESS IS PERCEIVED POURING INTO ALLNESS AND WHENCE ALLNESS IS PERCEIVED POURING INTO ONENESS; THOUGH NOTHING REALLY POURS, BUT POURING IS EXPERIENCED AS CONSCIOUSNESS SHIFTS PERCEPTION.  

LOVE REVELS IN THE DANCE OF CREATION, YET KNOWSTHE EXQUISITE SILENCE, WITHIN THE ONENESS, BEYOND THE SOUND OF PLAY.   IN LOVE THERE IS NO SEPARATION AND NO NEGATION.  LOVE IS ALL AND ONE AND BOTH, FOREVER PLAYING WITHIN CREATED FORMS AND CONCEPTS, AND YET BEYOND ALL FORM AND CONCEPT, FOREVER.

After the collapse of ego identity, the conventional view of life appears very distant, superficial and unreal.  In its place, there is great clarity, so that an underlying harmony and deep, cohesive wholeness begins to be perceived.  There are now two views of life.  That which perceives can still relate to the old view, enough to communicate intelligently about it.  That which perceives can understand the illusionary viewpoint and its underlying erroneous and illogical framework and that from a certain perspective it seems completely real and logical.  At the same time, there exists a completely different perception and understanding of all that is unfolding in consciousness.

From the new perspective there is greater clarity and a great sense of freedom.  Sometimes sensory perception of the physical world, the radiance of the divine presence, perception of essence, divine attributes such as beauty, and awareness of other aspects beyond the physical dimensions can be very vivid and intense.  There is often a sense of deep connection, oneness and joy. There are times when divine attributes flow through to some person or situation with great intensity and with very deep love.  There are other times when the physical body and the material world seem distant and unreal and also times when life feels relatively ordinary.  Time seems more elastic and life seems to flow with greater fluidity.  There is increased awareness and understanding of existence and essence beyond physical space and time.  There is greater awareness of energy fields and levels of consciousness and how things play out within them.  There is an increased sense of experiencing things from the perspective of an observer of what is happening.  There is a greater awareness of the broad context in which things take place and more attention is placed on the context than on the specific content. 

Unlike conventional consciousness which has certain assumptions about cause and effect and how people and things impact each other, there is greater awareness of things playing out as cohesive aspects of the whole, within the overlapping influence and confluence of essences, patterns and energy fields, extending far beyond the specific content, on which most people focus.  Sometimes there is an awareness of what is coming or how everything fits together, like seeing it all playing out from high above or like watching a play taking place from behind the curtains, instead of from out in the audience.

Situations which are a cause for great unhappiness from a conventional perspective may not seem that way from this perspective.  That which others would pass by as mundane or ordinary may be perceived to radiate great beauty.  One is more and more aware of divine presence in all that one perceives.  Service to others takes place.  A question is asked, knowingness arises, and an answer is given.  Someone comes with a problem and there may experience a rapid transformation within or a shifting of the situation without, or both.  

Knowingness supersedes thinkingness.  There is the realization that the underlying wholeness is so complete that one does not have to analyze and think everything through in the conventional manner.   There is simply a knowingness regarding whatever is happening   This KNOWINGNESS is an aspect of the underlying ONENESS AND ALLNESS.  The knowingness is not separate from what unfolds.  It is not as if knowingness occurs and then there is a decision to go along with it.  It is more like knowingness and any corresponding action that takes place are two sides of the same coin.  They seem to occur simultaneously. 

If deciding or intending takes place at all, it is as if it is simultaneous with the knowingness and whatever action is simultaneously unfolding.  Any deciding or intending that takes place is not done by a completely separate self, within a separate compartment, beyond the influence of all of the overlapping fields within fields and patterns within patterns.  This is what is referred to by the phrase “being lived”.  It is as if life flows and there is an experiencing of all of the facets of it – the ongoing flowing observation of simultaneously knowing, intending/deciding, and acting.  The experience of life varies greatly depending on the perspective (such as the level of consciousness) from which it is being observed.

The higher your level of consciousness, the more focus is given to the broader context.  The lower your level of consciousness, the more focus is given to the specific content.  At the lower levels it appears that choices and actions are being generated by the content, which then flow out to influence the broader context.  At the higher levels it appears that the broader context is influencing the unfolding of the specific content. Since there is no separation, they are a cohesive whole.  Each is an aspect of the other. 

The magnitude of the change of state that takes place on transcending to the first level of consciousness beyond ego identity is far greater than any of the previous upward shifts of consciousness, from a lower level to the next one above it.  It is difficult to comprehend this state until you have experienced it.  One who has not experienced it may look at someone who has and simply assume that there is an ego identity that is weighing and analyzing alternatives and making decisions and acting on them in the conventional manner.  They will see it according to their filters and projections.

Ego consciousness does not understand the nature of higher, enlightened or awakened consciousness and often tends to have very unrealistic expectations about it.  Lower level ego perceptions are based on an erroneous concept of separation, tending to perceive everything in terms of black and white, right and wrong, either/or and this or that. 

To live and experience life at higher levels of consciousness does not mean that one cannot make mistakes, has all knowledge, will never again experience any of the lower levels of consciousness (such as fear or anger), or has all power. Many aspects of everyday life go on very similar to the way that life is experienced by most other people.  Sometimes things seem very ordinary.  Things do not always LIGHT UP!  One may not always get to look from behind the stage and know what will happen next.

Reality, as perceived from the higher states of consciousness, is experienced as a continuum and not from the perspective of sets of separated and conflicting opposites. The different levels of consciousness are not closed compartments that prevent all experience of lower or higher levels of consciousness.  When reference is made to living at a particular level of consciousness it only refers to the predominate level at which life is being experienced.  There is no intent to convey that one particular level is the only level at which life can be experienced. This is true of the higher levels as well as the lower. 

It is more accurate, practical, and realistic to think in terms of gradations (e.g., most of the time, some of the time, or not very much of the time) or in terms of potential and probable rather than in terms of “all or none.”  At the lower levels of consciousness, thinkingness, negative emotion, and ego identity cover the landscape of consciousness like giant glaciers.  At the level of Unconditional Love, thinkingness, negative emotion, and ego identity are greatly reduced, so that much of the landscape is no longer covered by thick sheets of ice.  Most of the glaciers are much gone, replaced by a covering of snow, with many open places where the snow has started to melt.  As consciousness continues higher and the ego finally dissolves, there are only a few patches of snow and leaves and spring flowers are starting to blossom.  The higher the level of consciousness, the less potential there is for a snow flake or for a patch of snow to manifest and if a patch of snow does manifest, there is far less potential for it to expand into a glacier.  As consciousness ascends to higher levels one experiences things like anger less and less often and if one does experience it, it may be for just an instant or a couple of minutes, instead of happening frequently and lasting for long periods of time as it does at the lower levels of consciousness.

By its very nature, consciousness is a very fertile field in which all kinds of concepts may easily manifest.  Although the specific cluster of concepts that form the core of the ego identity can unravel and fall away, that does not mean that all concepts have ceased to exist. Indeed, there is nothing wrong with concepts.  Concepts exist at very high levels of consciousness.  If every form of concept ceased, there would be nothing to do or say or know or experience pertaining to anything.  There are aspects of DIVINTIY that are beyond concept and there are aspects of DIVINITY in which concepts flourish.

It is beneficial to know the following.  Some concepts are erroneous by their very nature.  Others are erroneous, not in and of themselves, but when perceived from a specific vantage point.  Almost any concept can be perceived in a manner that is erroneous.  Erroneous concepts have the potential to serve as the seeds around which other erroneous concepts may cluster, forming the foundation for ego identity to develop.  Even erroneous concepts are harmless, if they are clearly understood to be erroneous, instead of being believed to be a true and accurate reflection of reality.

At higher levels of consciousness, tiny threads or wisps of erroneous concept may be encountered at any point in time and be experienced, understood and/or released.  From the perspective of being at a higher state of consciousness, coming across an erroneous concept is often like coming across a thin thread.  This is different from the lower states of consciousness where one continuously encounters massive webs of erroneous concepts made of thousands of crisscrossing threads.  Depending on the nature of the erroneous premise or concept that is encountered, there can be a temporary sense of uncertainty, confusion, fear or anger or other negative emotion, as the concept is held in mind and experienced.  The erroneous concept of an “I” or “me” that could potentially be harmed can momentarily arise, even at a relatively high level of consciousness.  If it is held in mind, it may be perceived as being important enough to think about and a brief chain of thought may occur. If it takes root and continues to expand, there could be a downward fluctuation in consciousness for a period of time.

At the highest levels of consciousness this kind of event may be as rare as a snowstorm in the Bahamas, where it is generally much too warm for snow or ice to develop.  None-the-less, there is a potential for it to happen, even at very high levels. A careful reading of the life of Jesus indicates a few situations where he was confronted with erroneous concepts and records how he responded.

At the first level of consciousness beyond the ego, there is the potential for thinkingness to briefly manifest or for a seed concept of ego identity to begin to crystallize.  However, due to the innate power emanating from that high field of consciousness it is also easy for these to quickly melt away.  If thinkingness ensues for a long period or time or if a cluster of erroneous concepts crystallize and begins to grow larger, the experience is perceived as being so intensely unpleasant that it tends to be released, so that the fullness of the higher state again predominates. 

It is important to maintain a sense of proportion when discussing the potential possibility for an erroneous concept to emerge and be temporarily held in mind at the higher levels of consciousness.  There is a vast difference between occasional encounters with erroneous concepts at the higher levels, compared to the ongoing experience of the full fledged mass of ego identity and thinkingness that exists at the lower levels of consciousness.

It is possible that one who has been at a high level of consciousness might fluctuate downward to a lower state and stay there for some period of time (seconds, minutes, hours, days, months or years).  However, it is the same situation as discussed previously regarding the Dark Night of the Soul.  Once the error or misperception is seen and released, there can be a very swift return to the experience of higher states of consciousness.  There is a certain benefit to be gained from experiencing a few fluctuations in that it tends to greatly increase and stabilize equanimity and depth and breadth of overall understanding at the higher level.

As consciousness transcends to higher levels, interesting phenomena tend to occur.  That is stuff continues to come up.  Perception may occasionally encounter some density or disharmony of life experience or the emergence of an archetypal energy pattern.  When this happens the concept could arise, “Oh my! What is this! How could this occur!  Is this stuff “MINE?”  At this point, there is an opportunity to buy into an assumption that there is a “ME,” who has some stuff and that it is “My” stuff.  In reality, it could be taken impersonally without investing or buying into the belief in a concept of a “my,” “me” or “mine.”  When walking down the street, one may occasionally see some litter or a trash can that has been knocked over.  One does not have to make the assumption that it is “my litter” or “my trash” to stop and clean it up.

When such an occurrence takes place, you are not there by accident.  If you choose to look at it as your stuff, it will seem to be your stuff.  On the other hand you may have been guided to walk down a certain path, so that love could shine through the aspect of the whole that people think of as you to bring loving service, kindness, harmony or compassion to a certain situation.  Perhaps there will be some learning, some releasing of an erroneous concept, or some reorganizing within the local aspect of consciousness that you lightly and provisionally perceive as your self, or within the broader range of consciousness around about.  In the freedom of the higher state, one may choose to look at what is taking place from a perspective such that it would appear to be at least partially or provisionally “one’s stuff.”  But if that choice is made, it is made lightly.

From an ego identity perspective, one tends to take things personally, perceiving all sorts of supposed problems and issues and seeks to assign blame, responsibility, ownership and accountability.  At the higher levels of consciousness things tend to be much less tightly defined.  Whatever is taking place, unfolding or happening just is perceived as part of a cohesive whole.  It just  IS .  When there is no ego identity, what takes place is not identified with or taken personally, because there is no apparent boundary where the local aspect, or aspects, of consciousness end and the WHOLE begins.  The focus remains on the WHOLE.

In the higher states, from time to time, there will be a strong awareness of major energy shifts or of certain energies or archetypal patterns arising or rippling through people and events like giant waves.  A group of people may suddenly begin to experience great concordance or great discordance.  In the case of great discordance, it may not feel good.  In fact it may feel really very messy, uncomfortable, or perhaps even painful.  It may come in a manner that results in a release of some erroneous concept, misperception or negativity held within group consciousness, resulting in many going higher together.  It need not be taken personally, when these arise in consciousness.  It is just part of the landscape, as when a thunderstorm passes by and cleanses everything.  If it seems to be of a negative nature, it can be taken as an opportunity to clean up some litter.  In these types of situations there will often be a perception of compassionate understanding and of love or light flowing in to balance, uplift and harmonize. 

We have talked about the possibility of downward fluctuations in consciousness.  Now let’s look on the bright side and discuss the potential for experiencing upward fluctuations.  At all of the ego levels of consciousness, both positive and negative, there was a strong belief in separation, along with many erroneous concepts, many of which were very limiting.  At those levels one feels that one does not deserve to go higher, is incapable of going higher, or will be prevented from going higher.  These feelings and beliefs are significant obstacles to going higher.  None-the-less, upward fluctuations take place and very high states of consciousness are sometimes experienced by those who are normally at a lower level of consciousness.  The good news is that once the ego identity dissolves and the perpetual chain of thinkingness is broken, it becomes much easier to explore the height and depth and breadth of the HIGHER STATES OF CONSIOUSNESS.

The higher levels of consciousness exert a continuous powerful upward pull.  The higher levels are perceived as accessible, accepting, inviting, welcoming and uplifting.  At the higher levels of consciousness there is a knowingness of an underlying UNITY, ONENESS AND ALLNESS which enables consciousness to soar higher and higher.  At the higher levels, the different aspects of consciousness begin to merge into each other in a nonlinear manner.  Experience is much less limited than previous, to moving upward and/or being at just one level at a time.  Once one has transcended the ego identity, it becomes possible to explore levels far higher than the current predominate level, whatever level that may be, simply because a very great potential exists to do so.  As consciousness focuses upon much higher levels and is filled with and lifted by their resonance, it soars higher and higher.

From time to time, I hear people say that we are all enlightened and there is a degree of truth in that statement.  That which we take to be our local individual consciousness exists as an aspect of a continuum of overlapping fields of energy/consciousness, within overlapping fields of energy/consciousness. Since there is no separation, one is always held within the higher energy fields, even when one may feel that one is stuck in the lower energy fields.  Since there is no separation, one may as well claim the higher energy fields as one’s destiny and inheritance and begin to explore them.  If you have Mount Shasta in your backyard, why not venture out and climb it all the way to the top.  No one is stopping you.  Everyone already has all of the prerequisites for experiencing the Higher Levels of Consciousness.  There are three key prerequisites.

The first prerequisite is AWARENESS. We all have a degree of awareness.  We could not get very far in life without it.  The second is the upward pull of the higher fields/levels of energy/consciousness.  The third is intention/focus which is an aspect of awareness.  Awareness has the innate capacity to focus, much like a lens.  Awareness naturally focuses on that to which it is attracted and to which it is being pulled.  Whatever awareness is focused on is that which fills one’s consciousness at any given time.  When one is focused on any person, place, or thing that resonates at a very high level of consciousness, or on one of the divine attributes, such as joy, love, peace or harmony, these will fill consciousness and pull one higher.  In this way one, one can transcend swiftly.  This is how one can move very quickly out of the Dark Night of the Soul, or up from any other lower state, toward the much higher levels of consciousness, within which one already exists.

Two lists are given below.  The first list points to the awareness and experience of higher levels of consciousness in the midst of everyday human life and activity.  The second list addresses the awareness and experience of higher levels of consciousness at the LEVEL OF INFINIITY.  Some of the levels and attributes may appear to overlap in various ways.  That is because they do overlap.  As we proceed to higher levels of consciousness, we are moving deeper into the nonlinear, where everything merges, reflects the others and contains the others and is an aspect of the others.  Certain qualities tend to emerge at certain levels. 

If some of the levels or qualities seem to repeat, you can think of it as an intensification of some aspect of consciousness, which initially becomes noticeable at one level and then becomes much more noticeable at another level.  As consciousness goes higher and higher, it becomes more and more difficult to place one level or set of attributes over the others, as being higher.  At the highest levels they are all aspects of each other and none need be considered higher or lower. 

All of these levels and qualities may be accessed simply by focusing awareness on them.  It is possible to focus on those levels that are very high, sufficient to receive a perception of their resonance.

Read through the following states one by one, letting your mind focus on each level and feel its resonance.

LEVELS OF HIGHER CONSCIOUSNESS IN DAILY EXPERIENCE.

FIRST STAGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT -- SILENCE OF MIND 

KNOWINGNESS  --  DEEP INNER  PEACE

Cessation of Ego Identity and Thinkingness

Cessation of the perception of Subject and Object and cause and effect.

Cessation of the sense of existing within a localized physical body.

Increased perception of existing in a continuum. 

BROADENING PERCEPTION  - Strong awareness of the vast context in which content arises, more than with the content.  Strong awareness of the “observing capacity” (observing what is taking place, along with the awareness of observing, the observing taking place.)  Increased awareness of underlying harmony and unity.  Perception of DIVINITY shining in creation.

PERCEPTION OF DIVINE ATTRIBUTES AND ESSENCE BEYOND FORM / TIME/ SPACE, INCLUDING SPACIOUSNESS, KINDNESS, GENTLENESS, AWARENESS, LOVE, JOY, PEACE, AND MANY MORE.

PERCEPTION OF WHOLENESS -  Increased perception of CREATION as a seamless and interconnected whole.  Deepening sense of ONENESS AND UNITY.

DIRECT AWARENESS OF CREATION AS THE EXPRESSION OF THE CREATIVE SOURCE IN EACH MOMENT AND OF THE SACREDNESS OF EACH MOMENT

BRILLIANCE - GOLDEN LIGHT - SPLENDOR

PLAY OF CONSCIOUSNESS - Perceiving what is experienced in life as being within, rather than without - unfolding within consciousness - a play of consciousness.

AWARENESS OF THE VOID - AN INFINITE EXPANSE OF CONSCIOUSNESS

Frequently experienced by those on the path of negation, who in trying to release the ego, develop a strong aversion to concepts and form and desire to move completely beyond CREATION.  Especially, likely to be experienced if not balanced by practices of embracing ALLNESS.   The void is not the end all and be all, just a bit of scenery along the way.

FULL AWARENESS OF DIVINITY IN ALL

PERCEPTION OF POTENTIAL

PERCEPTION OF BEINGNESS AND ISNESS

PERCEPTION OF ONENESS

PERCEPTION OF THE SELF

PERCEPTION OF ALLNESS

FULLNESS OF DIVINTY   

         EXPERIENCING THE FULL STATURE OF CHRIST ON EARTH  

         CHRIST CONSCIOUSNESS AS UNITY WITH SOURCE

         FULL AWARENESS OF BEING LOVE EXPRESSING

HIGHER CONSCIOUSNESS AT THE MACROCOSMIC LEVEL

That which has been discussed thus far focuses on levels of consciousness and the experience of DIVINITY close-up and intimate, at the microcosmic level, in the midst of the unfolding of everyday human life, while working, resting, playing, and being of service to others.  The focus of this section is on the awareness of HIGHEST LEVELS OF CONSCIOUSNESS AND THE EXPERIENCE OF DIVINITY AT THE LEVEL OF INFINITY.  Most of the human experience of higher states of consciousness is at the local microcosmic level.  But, consciousness is capable of extending its focus much wider and at least touching and obtaining a glimmer of THE HIGHER STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS, THE EXPERIENCE OF DIVINITY, AND THE DIVINE ATTRIBUTES AT THE LEVEL OF INFINITY.

It is increasingly difficult to list these higher states relevant to a perceived level of LOVE, POWER, AND UNDERSTANDING.  At the level of infinity, they all blend into each other, reflect each other and are contained within each other.  At the level of infinity, there is non-linearity, so that hierarchies, for the most part, break down. 

It would be a misperception to think that BEYOND THE BEYOND is higher than POTENTIAL, or LIGHT, or BEINGNESS.  Each is simply a different aspect of the whole.  Manifest is not higher or lower than Unmanifest.  They do not exist in separation from each other.  They exist beyond time, so none may be seen to come before the others from a chronological perspective.  We could make suppositions that some states are the foundation for others from a logical linear perspective, but since we are focusing on nonlinear reality, it is not clear that it would be more than an empty exercise to do so.  All exist in a continuum.   We could label, define, value and separate, based on some arbitrary set of premises, but it would be an empty exercise.  

Some might be inclined to think that the qualities or states that are farthest beyond all form and concept are to be most sought after; for instance, that it is better to experience a state of pure POTENTIAL or some state of BEINGNESS, beyond form, than to experience the PLAY OF CREATION.  But, all exist in and of the DIVINE and are not separate.  As you go higher, enjoy the capacity to experience DIVINITY beyond form and also DIVINITY within and expressing as form.  A dancer does not fear dancing because it is transient and comes to an end.  The dancer exists after the dance and will rest and then arise and dance again, for the joy of it. 

These very high states/qualities or consciousness are provided below so that you may let your awareness focus on them and feel their resonance.  This is possible because your field of consciousness is within them and not separate from them.  THEY ARE YOUR SOURCE, YOUR DESTINY AND YOUR INHERITANCE. 

HIGHER STATES AND DIVINE QUALITIES AT THE LEVEL OF INFINITY

BEYOND THE BEYOND

POTENTIAL

UNMANIFEST AND MANIFEST - SOURCE OF ALL

POTENTIAL MANIFEST   -   BEINGNESS    -   ISNESS

LIGHT  -  LIGHT UPON LIGHT - AWARENESS

AWARENESS OF BEING AWARE - CONSCIOUSNESS

THE SELF - SENSE OF SELF - AWARENESS OF SELF

EXISTENCE, CONSCIOUSNESS AND BLISS

DIVINE CREATOR - DIVINE MIND - AWARE - CREATING - MANIFESTING

DIVINE ATTRIBUTES - DIVINE PRESENCE, LOVE, PEACE, JOY, 

HARMONY, SPACIOUSNESS, RADIANT LIGHT, SILENCE

CHRIST CONSCIOUSNESS - UNITY OF CREATION AND SOURCE

FULL AWARENESS IN CREATION OF UNITY WITH SOURCE

COSMIC CONSCIOUSNESS OF ALL UNIVERSES AND DIMENSIONS

ALLNESS -  ONENESS  -  WHOLENESS  -  COMPLETENESS

SUPREME SPIRIT - ALL IN ALL

After reading and experiencing the resonance of the following states, imagine them arranged in the same order, but in a circle, with the most comprehensive and highly integrated state   -  SUPREME SPIRIT - ALL IN ALL  circling clockwise back up to
the top to connect with the most undefined state   -  BEYOND THE BEYOND.   
Imagine each of these two states side by side at the top, each being an aspect
of the other.

HIGHER SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS VOLUME 1
Copyright  2010 © by David Winfree  All Rights Reserved

Back to top of page.

Back to Articles Page