Seeing Stuff

In posts like Seeing with the Heart or Is God Real?, I talk about some stuff that may sound pretty ‘out there’. God in form, light beings, angels, devata…

I also talk about personalization, how subtle form is more generalized so can be changed by our expectations. This is why there is so much variation in form, but much less in content and context.

The main point is that the consciousness in which we live, who we are, is a much vaster place than we have the remotest hint of. Or can even know. Our universe is bigger and older than we think, but it’s also only one of many. Not alternate, but completely independent universes. And that’s just in this creation, this dream. Within our universe are many layers of reality, each with life.

The point of descriptions like this is to expand your horizons so when an experience comes along, you can begin to differentiate subtle from dream. Or dream of the universe from dream of the person. (laughs)

Equally though, I’ll emphasize that this stuff is not that important, so it should not be your focus. Is it important to visit Sri Lanka in this lifetime? You may or may not. But it might be nice to see some pictures.

Devas we may meet are there for a specific purpose and often find questions of concepts tiresome or meaningless. They work with feeling values, energy. If you haven’t done your emotional work they may find your attention grating. Each of us have multiple devata or guardians but again they’re specialized. In any case, the best thing you can do is experience gratitude. When you get clearer, you’ll be able to offer soma.

You may want dearly to experience this stuff. You may not want it at all. Because of the nature of desire, that pushing for or pushing against will tend to ensure it doesn’t happen. We experience what we’re willing to allow to be as it is.

This stuff does not mean you’re suddenly buried in a whole new layer of stimulus, intruding into your world like a bunch of noisy electronic billboards. At first it may be experienced as if in a separate world. But soon, the continuum becomes clear and it’s more like shifting focus.

In other words, you can turn the experience on and off. See it or not. Listen or not. See it in a shared space or separate space.

Beings you may meet are just like humans – you’ll like some and not others, there’s the nice, the manipulators, and so forth. The good and not so good neighborhoods. Don’t assume that just because they’re nonphysical that they have your best interests in mind. Sometimes they just want the attention. They’ll say whatever you want to hear, however useless and misleading. I’ve seen the same issues with channellers sources.

Just remember that it’s just an experience, like eating a plum. It’s another part of the story. The only real truth is that which does not change, under all experiences and forms.
Davidya

The Yogas or Paths

I regularly mention the various paths here and realized I’d not covered this here.

There are as many paths to Oneness as there are people. People exist to experience Self or source in different ways, so each has a unique journey.

But there are basic common means used and techniques developed for that journey. [Edited] Each of us has a dominant tendency. Many in the west for example are strong karma yogis. But each of us needs a little heart, a little understanding, a little body. Mind, heart and body all together gets us through the door.

In India, the standard paths or Yogas (yoga means union) are:
1 – Hatha yoga is the path of the body, what people often call “yoga” in the west. Yoga asanas or postures, breath work and similar practices are used.

2 – Karma yoga is the path of action and perception, of doing and experiencing. Many in the west are on this journey, refining consciousness by the act of living life and performing correct action.

3 – Bhakti yoga is the path of devotion, the heart or faith. This is the journey through feelings and love, through a relationship with the divine and prayer.

4 – Gyan or jnana yoga is the path of the intellect, the path of discrimination. Because of the close focus required, such people may tend to become monks but few in the west have this pure a calling.

There are also other more specialized yogas like Laya, the path of the warrior.

Meditation is a practice common to all of the above. A connection to source benefits all journeys.

Raja yoga is the royal yoga, a blend of the above. It combines elements of the Yoga and Sankhya schools. In Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, he outlines eight limbs (astanga) of Raja in sutra (verse) 2.29:
(note – these are not steps but limbs – to be done together)

1. Yama (restraints) detailed in verse 2.30:
non-violence, truthfulness, non-stealing/honesty, moderation (brahmacharya), non-covetousness
2. Niyama (observances) detailed in verse 2.32:
purity, contentment, tapas (warming, purifying actions), study and mantra, absorption in Ishwara (Supreme Being)
3. Asana (posture, see Hatha above)
4. Pranayama (regulation of breath, breathing exercises)
5. Pratyahara (sense withdrawal of mind onto internal practice)
6. Dharana (effortless focus of attention)
7. Dhyana (meditation – continuous attention, silence of the mind)
8. Samadhi (transcendent, via surrender)

In some traditions, a practice consists of asanas, then pranayama, then a meditation that blends 5, 6, & 7, leading to 8. Correct action and a complete practice thus cover all limbs.

Note how they are interactive. Through connection with source, contentment dawns naturally. Through moderation, meditation is better. Through practice we purify. And so on.

A number of people also consider Patanjali’s description of the experience of correct meditation – focus (Dhyana) – to indicate that concentration is necessary in meditation. Or that Dhyana is contemplation. However, concentration and contemplation both hold the mind in itself. They only lead to samadhi if the mind is exhausted by the practice. Adyashanti found great focus was necessary for his journey due to his very active nature but doesn’t recommend it for most. An effortless meditation allows the mind to transcend itself.

Finally, it’s useful to understand that at different points on the journey, different yogas become more important. Perceptions of Karma yoga are necessary for awakening. God realization is a heart centered journey. And Unity is in the end an intellectual realization. Thus, all aspects are part of our journey.

The key thing to remember is that it’s about the journey, not the result. It’s about what is happening now, not where and when we might arrive. As long as arrival is in the future, it will stay there. We can only awake now.
Davidya

Soul and Self

I’ve spoken of the process of awakening quite a bit on this blog – everything from the 7 states of consciousness and Perspectives to the Veda of Unity. Recently, on Models of Awakening, I mused on the challenges of modeling such an organic process.

One could easily chart hundreds of steps or openings people will tend to have. Many go by without even being noticed as they are simple, natural shifts. Only when they are more flashy or cause a larger perception shift do we tend to notice. The trick is, the sequence for any given person is too “messy” for any chart or checklist.

Mother Meera puts it well.

“Q: What are the stages of the path?

MM: It is better not to say – people may think wrongly that they are at one stage or another and may thereby delude themselves. As people grow, they will know how far they have come in their development. Their own experience will tell them how far they have reached and how far they still have to reach.

Q: Is there suffering at every stage of the path?

MM: In one way, yes. But joy becomes greater than pain. And pain becomes joy because it is offered and understood.

Q: It seems that a further stage of this yoga unfolds just when one thinks one is done.

MM: You must stop nowhere.

Q: There is no end to real knowledge, is there, because there is no end to the journey into God?

MM: Yes, no end. One common mistake is to think that one reality is THE reality. You must always be prepared to leave one reality for a greater one.”
– Mother Meera, Answers Part 1

In Models of Awakening, I also commented on the difficulty of naming conventions for our awakening to soul and Self. I thought it would be worthwhile to define them a little better so the meaning is understood.

The soul or jiva is that inner spark of divinity within. The key detail is that it has a boundary or quality of uniqueness. An individual soul. Typically it is experienced as a golden or white point of light in the heart. Some experience it as a wave on the ocean. Or simply as an inner spirit.

A typical sequence might be an experience of it, a recognition of it as our divine seed, and more deeply, a recognition of it as our essence. It is the point the cosmic infinity collapses into. Some taste of this is what often begins the path of seeking.

When that point is seen as the infinity of the whole or Self, we see it’s unbounded quality. We will first get a taste of that, then step into its fullness (or emptiness). Later comes the recognition that I am That. But the ego self remains. So there is a Self and a self both. Atman and jiva.

“Jiva, then, is individualized cosmic existence; it is the individual spirit within the body. With it’s limitations removed, jiva is Atman, transcendent Being.”
– Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, from the commentary on verse 2-18 of the Bhagavad Gita

Finally, we switch. We shift from a person experiencing Self to Self experiencing a person. This is awakening.

How you will experience this will vary widely. Other terms like divine seed or spark may feel better. The mind will want to place itself on this continuum as Mother Meera said. Better to use it to confirm your experience than rate yourself. Speaking from personal experience, trying to rate yourself is not only delusional, it leads to confusion as nothing ever plays out like its ‘supposed’ to.

Enjoy your journey. What’s happening now is the goal, not some future achievement. You and your truth are only right now.
Davidya

PS – it may seem contradictory to talk of stages and refer to stages leading to delusion, but this is the balancing. Showing the perspectives. I have been greatly helped by understanding the journey, especially at points of transition. Equally, I have been confused by models not fitting and have had to shed my ideas of it several times. They are the most help around the time of change, to help with what is happening and verify it afterward. They are the least help when we try to conceptualize something several steps away or judge ourselves.  Wjen the connection with source within becomes deep enough, we become our own guru.

Fire the Grid II

“Be Present”
Recently, whispers of Fire the Grid began to arise again. Then an announcement that this last weekend, the new web site would go live.

http://www.firethegrid.com/

Shelley wrote a letter explaining why she dropped off the map and the site wasn’t updated after the very successful event. Here’s a video version:

The original video with Shelley’s explanation was pulled.

Bradfield has made a new one though:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HokRs1EYLno
(see comments)

Also, here is a slide show about it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ilnDZadPkg

It’s worth mentioning that all of the site updates have been done by one guy in about a month, so there’s some glitches. They don’t accept donations, so it’s just the 3 2 of them doing it gratis.

The site now has a massive Testimonials section (use the map at the top) from the first event.

They’ve posted a half dozen videos where she explains why Brazil, what it’s about (raising consciousness), how and why they’re counting us, and so on. While some of the language she uses is a little different, I’m surprised by the depth of the message. It’s quite a bit more mature than the first events.

The videos are downloadable Quicktime .MOV files. Not sure why they didn’t use an external service to host them and reduce their traffic.

There’s lots of other background across the site as well. You’ll find FAQs interesting.

FTG II: July 28, 2009 3:19pm Pacific time. (a Tuesday) A little easier than 4 in the morning as last time 

Oh, and there’s a third FTG to follow.

What would make this round superior was if there was a central communications hub for group leaders who could then coordinate local events. Individuals could find their group there. There was some of that last time. But even with a few groups merging into one event here, there was another just across the bay, the 2 unknown to each other.

They’re asking everyone who played a role gathering people last time to do so again. Share your Joy.

Oneness is inclusive and arises in togetherness.

Be Present
Davidya

Seeing with the Heart

There’s an interesting phenomena that takes place in the evolution of perception. One that may not make sense in our typical understanding of how the senses work. But if we understand that senses and their forms arise in consciousness, it makes more sense that a change in consciousness may change the process of perception.

When our consciousness flows out through the mind, the senses experience the world of form in a conceptual framework. The world is physical and we relate to it by seeking to explain it. Once the mind has a reason, it is satisfied and we live life on the basis of our often conditioned concepts.

As we step into the less bounded layers of consciousness, other types of perception can unfold. We have for example identified “psychic” versions of the senses that are less constrained than the physical senses. Clairvoyance, clairaudience, clairsentience, clairgustance (taste), clairolfaction, and variously described knowingness or intuition,  the “6th sense”.

While we may not consider ourselves psychic, everyone has had ‘extrasensory’ experiences of one sort or another. Typically though, if they don’t fall into the concepts of mind, they get quickly forgotten. Or we read way too much into it.

As the nervous system is refined by our practice, there are a series of stages of unfoldment of the senses. First, it will be occasional impressions, then fuller experiences, then a sustained ability to explore with the faculty. As they deepen, whole worlds appear that are unseen by the physical eyes. We discover that the physical world is a small part of a much bigger place.

Of course, this will sound like fairy stories, literally, if it’s not your experience. Compounding this is the muddiness of “personalization“, like giving things wings. Perception at subtler levels is more pliable to thought, so expectations change how it’s seen. Thus, such things are often described less consistently and sometimes more fancifully. Especially if the person experiences a lot of happiness with the opening. For example, angels, which have amorphous bodies best described as fields, are widely portrayed as having clothes, hair, and wings. While there’s nothing wrong with that and it makes such experiences easier to relate to, it’s better if we understand what we’re adding to the equation. They’re about feeling, not form.

This effect of pliability has another quality. If you offhandedly reject such experiences when they come along, they will not be seen. Or if seen, written off as fantasy. I’ve seen people quite surprised when they realized this was part of their experience but they’d chalked it up to daydreams.

There are, of course, a number of ways of dividing what is really just a continuum. Some people talk of other dimensions, but that is the perspective of the person. It is one space, separated only by resolution of perception.

If we look at sight for example, we find:
1 – Physical sight (visible spectrum)
2 – Etheric sight (auras, emotional energy)
3 – Vital Sight (light fields, life flow)
4 – Celestial sight (devas or angels, etc.)
5 – Universal sight (pre-universe)
6 – Cosmic sight (creation)
7 – Spiritual (transparent sight, Self in all)

Of course it’s not as tidy as this. “light beings” may be seen far before 4. Some define many levels of the celestial. Different people have different natural perceptive tendencies so may perceive one level more than others.  Other forms of Clairvoyance such as remote sight in time and space, seeing inside the body (common in some healer families), and seeing a life with the aid of objects may develop. Depending on areas of the nervous system that are clearer and history, one may do sound or taste better than sight. Patanjali, in his Yoga Sutras, documents some of this as abilities, complete with the technique to develop it.

However, he also touches on another key point. All of this can be a trap. The key is to develop spiritual depth, allow for this if it comes up, but focus on our connection to source. When you are grounded in source, what develops naturally will not catch you in desire.

But there’s more. The above is simply the development of what some call the third eye. All of which can be processed with mind. In other words, we are still perceiving via mind. (although we have to be stepping out of individual mind for 5+)

When the divine moves into the heart, it is filled with love. When the upper centers clear, their energy joins love as compassion. When the lower centers clear, they join love as faith.

Gradually, the center of perception shifts from the head to the heart. Those same values of perception, but now seen through love. We begin to see as as God sees. And we gain a new, deeper wisdom, the wisdom of the heart.

That cannot be explained as that takes concepts. But suffice to say, it exponentially exceeds anything the mind can process.
Davidya

Seeking vs. Gaining

When either a soul or a human is young, they feel a sense of connection to the whole. They are part of the unified one. As the soul or person starts to differentiate itself, the sense of person gradually grows. They become a part of a tribe or family and everything is in relationship to peers. Then self becomes stronger until it is dominant. Individuality is king. Power and control are the game.

At a certain point, this begins to lack satisfaction and we begin search for something bigger than ourselves. Thus, the seeker is born.

The seeker works to find higher truth, to clear out the barriers to awakening, and to refine the nervous system and perception. As Lorne put it, “Consciousness is refining itself itself through you.” The practice is not for gaining enlightenment but for refining the vehicle.

This may be in contrast to your teaching but if you understand it clearly enough, you will see it to be true. You can seek as long as you want but seeking will never give you enlightenment. Any mental or physical practice is always mental or physical. There is nothing you can do to reach enlightenment as enlightenment is a state of non-doing. It is reached by allowing, not doing. But for the allowing to take place, the experience has to be clear enough to see what is to be allowed. And that is the role of the practice. To prepare.

Another way to put this – the practice can bring you near the door but only you can step through. But here’s the trick. You don’t. It is not the me that wakes up. It is Self that awakes to Itself, through the refinement of the vehicle.

Lorne put it this way: “Enlightenment cannot be found by searching. Chasing what cannot be caught.”
“It happens by non-doing. Then it becomes awake to it’s non-doing by doing nothing. By being awake to it’s awakeness. By listening to Itself speak to Itself.”

This brings us back to the value of the group. “Waking happens with intensity of Self” as Lorne put it. In a group, that intensity can be increased considerably. In person is ideal but may not be necessary. That signal can be built even by connecting to a group remotely such as over a conference call. I know a number of people who have woken by listening regularly to conference calls focused on Self listening to Itself.

Of course, they were ready to allow. They had been meditating and had become familiar with the silence. They had cleared some of the chaff.

And that clearing is also a process of allowing. When we make some progress down the road we discover that much of what is in the way of clarity is our old emotional baggage, the stuff we’ve been holding in spite of our practice. When we apply allowing to that, the old resistance can complete itself and be done.

Lorne put it like this: “Allow the feeling without labeling it or associating it with a past experience.“

Then there is simply the experience of an emotion. If it’s strong, it may wash over us. And then it will be complete. The energy it took to sustain it is freed. Clarity grows, the load lessens. Bit by bit we peel the onion.

This is not to say we go into the pain and reindulge it. Just allow it.

Soon you will be able to feel every resistance as it comes up. You’ll be able to see the mind try to engage it. And then you can choose. All the old junk falls away until you find yourself in an open space. A space Self can see and in the seeing, see Itself and become.

And thus Self falls into Itself completely. The point becomes infinite.
That Thou Art.
Davidya

Big Bang go Boom

Science has built a very curious artifice. They see the universe beginning in a Big Bang, a massive explosion out of nothing that created everything. The dust that was created gradually fell together, increasing gravity. Larger concentrations lit up into stars whose dust clouds were further drawn together into planets. And on this planet, by random fluke, life emerged and developed until it became self-aware. Oops – isn’t that breaking the laws of entropy?

What about the fact that the equations are massively unbalanced, requiring huge volumes of undetectable pretend “dark” matter. Or that the models of cosmology don’t work at the subatomic level or vice versa.

This whole model is based on an underlying assumption that the physical world is real and everything else is an effect. Including that self-awareness. It’s an accidental side effect of brain function. Your feelings, a way of perceiving chemical responses to stimulus.

In short, you are a machine, at the mercy of your genes. Your sense of person and feelings about the world are an interesting phenomena, a curiosity.

What this misses is that states of consciousness completely change this perspective. Certainly the examples of dream and sleep state suggest this but can be explained away. But what happens when your sense of person is contained by (smaller than) your sense of self? When you are awake internally, even in deep sleep? When with your attention, you can observe events at a distance? Or remember a verifiable past prior to even being in this body?

Clearly the model of consciousness as an effect of biology is lacking. Soon it becomes clear that it’s actually inside out. Biology is an effect of consciousness. However, it’s not a one way path. Biology is our vehicle for experiencing, offering feedback to consciousness. It can appear, as in Stroke of Insight, that a change in biology is the cause of changes in consciousness. We can also see plainer examples, like getting drunk. But this is due to effects of the biology on consciousness, not because consciousness itself is an effect.

What science has been doing is studying the effects, not that causal source of the mechanics of our life and our universe. This is why the gaping holes, like the actual experience of being human. However, from the perspective of science, being human is subjective so has to be left out of the equation, filtered out of the research. Who we are is rendered irrelevant.

But if consciousness is primal and the researcher is filtering it out, they are failing to account for their own assumptions. And thus the entire basis for objective thinking is built on illusion. It is founded in a state of consciousness they don’t understand and don’t allow for. But there are hints of it, like the well known double slit experiment where the attention of the scientist affected the results.

In actual fact, our universe does not originate in an explosion but rather an implosion. What might be called the cosmic infinity collapses in on itself to a point so that it can experience itself. This happens at every point within itself. You are one of those points. A vehicle for that which is without form to experience itself through form.

That collapse creates the process of experience, space and time, intelligent structure, fields, elements and matter. This has been documented in great detail for thousands of years, such as in Sankhya of Kapila. It can be experienced directly, without multi-billion dollar equipment.

It’s also not a collapse that happened in the distant past. Because the collapse creates time, it is outside of time. Thus it happens only in this moment, right now. In other words, the universe is created only now, instantaneously. The past and future are also only here, now.

This can be proved when you experience wakefulness in deep sleep. When the mind goes to sleep, the universe ceases to exist. You may also have noticed that occasionally when you wake in the morning, there is no you there for a moment. That program has not yet booted.

This may at first seem scary. But if the universe is being created at every moment by you, how is there a hazard? Instead, what is possible? What are the limits?

It comes down to this – do you want to have someone tell you who you are or do you want to see for yourself? The difference is night and day.
Davidya

Seeing the Seer

A great new video from Lorne and Lucia.

“This talk takes you into the real Seer – the Awareness that is listening beyond the mind.”

It is this conversation of Self with Itself that allows Self to become awake to Itself and thus realize Itself.

Unassailable

Recently, I’ve spoken about such matters as fatigue, diet, and sex on a spiritual path. The overriding message is of course moderation in all things worldly.

But there’s an aspect of this I think it’s worth clarifying. The difference between Self and Perception.

Eating wrong food or too much or too little, excess physical activity, illness, injury… all of these affect our nervous system. As our nervous system is the vehicle for perception, compromising or exhausting the nervous system will reduce the quality of perception. Typically, it will be foggier but it can be compromised in various ways.

This will thus affect our experiences like subtle perception, the heart and feelings, receptivity, intuition, the intellect, and so forth. This is the value of taking care of our physical resources.

However, one thing it will NOT affect is the Self. The silent Self, the observer, is beyond perception, the nervous system, illness, or any other effects of the world. It infuses the world but is not of it. It is unchanging, unlimited, and eternal. This is why some call it Presence.

This means that when Self is fully awake through us, when Self realization dawns, you can never go back. (laughs) It is unassailable and unaffected by anything. Self remains, whether the body be ill, asleep, exhausted, impaired… whatever. It does not matter. The Self remains and overshadows any transitory experience, any perception. It is the rock.

Because love and bliss are qualities of Self, they too remain but their expression may be muted by the condition of the nervous system. So yes, it is possible to be surprisingly happy when you’re sick in bed.

The Self is literally immortal. This means that it is unaffected even by death. This is why they say that once you awake, there is no further lives. You’ve transcended that. Some further experiences may be needed to tidy things up and finish the purpose. But the need for a vehicle to awaken is complete.

However, as I’ve said many times here, that is not the goal. It is only the beginning. Yep – there’s better than unending bliss and immortality. (laughs) The true experience of reality is still a little further down the road. With Self realization, we’re still experiencing the world as other. We need to bring that into the fold too. Not to mention all the other aspects of Self yet to awaken – the people still in shadow.
Davidya

Models of Awakening

When I first began exploring the nature of consciousness, I was fascinated by models of higher states of consciousness. I latched on to a model of 7 states which fortunately was one of the better ones.

Many teachers avoid such analysis as it’s all concepts of mind. This can be a barrier to the process itself. Partly as the process is organic and non-linear and partly because concepts create incorrect expectations. Being has nothing to do with mind.

However, if you have a strong intellect, it will not be satisfied by generalizations. As well, understanding the journey allows you to accept the experiences as they arise.

I have come to the conclusion that a framework is useful as long as it’s understood that it’s a generalization.

It’s interesting to see frameworks evolve. The 7 states model typically describes 3 realizations or awakenings or higher states of consciousness. However, in some of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s earlier writings, he describes it a little differently.

In the 1960′s, Maharishi worked with Dr. Vernon Katz to write a new translation and commentary on the Bhagavad Gita and the Brahma Sutras. The first 6 chapters of the Gita were published in 1967. The rest remains unpublished yet.

While researching something else, I ran into his description of 4 realizations in the commentary on verse 6-47, the last verse in the work.

These 4 realizations or levels of attainment were:
1 – realization of Self consciousness
2 – realization of Cosmic consciousness
3 – realization of God consciousness or God realization
4 – realization of all creation in God consciousness, what he came to call Unity in God consciousness, then Unity consciousness.

Later, he introduced Brahman consciousness.

In the usual descriptions, realization of Self is associated with the experience of Transcendental consciousness. It is not described as a separate realization. Yet it’s clear from some other models and my own experience that it’s a separate realization or awakening, as noted above. Or at least it can be perceived as such. For some, it will be a less obvious signpost. It’s interesting I didn’t catch this before. One can assume the usual nature of the mind – it misses things outside it’s conceptual models or beliefs. (laughs)

Seeing this as a separate realization should not be a surprise as any new state of consciousness is typically first experienced in various values until it is fully integrated or realized. One becomes That. Why would Transcendental consciousness be any different?

Not sure why they stopped talking about it like this. Probably because it caused some confusion or distracted people from going further. Self realization is when we realize we are the Self within but ego is still retained. Only In Cosmic consciousness does the ego fall away, when we fully become Self. Until then, the person is still subject to the traps of the ego. “Premature immaculation” is one possible trap.

There is also the simple question of which realizations to include. Which are the key definers of progress? Certainly, the realization of divine love is important. Perception of the finest relative values, where creation is first becoming is also significant. Discovering there are light beings can be profound, or that you have a whole chain of them on your uplink. Seeing the origin of space and time. The reality of God. The origin of existence. The raptures. The structure of the universe. And so on.

Someone has probably made a whole list of these somewhere in the Vedas or Buddhist texts. But such a ‘checklist’ would create far more concepts than would have value, in spite of the clarity one might gain by comparing notes. I moved through one transition very easily as I had heard it described in detail prior. Yet I’ve seen many people holding dearly to their ideas of it, refusing to let it be. Even good experiences can lead to concepts and memories that hold us from what we seek. A focus on just the key signposts is perhaps better. The surprise of a new revelation keeps it more innocent. Although there can certainly be some adjustments if you don’t believe in angels and they start showing up. (laughs)

It also is clear I need a little work on my own terminology. At some point on the journey, the student has to step out of the box of the teacher and find their own way. When I began writing again, I did not have a complete terminology. I began here by using “first awakening” to describe what Maharishi has called Cosmic consciousness. I have mixed feelings about such a generic word as cosmic. Aside from the fact that the term is used loosely in the field, it is also applied to things like space. But First is worse. (laughs) Relative to what?

I then took to calling it Self realization but Maharishi’s list above makes it clear that’s misplaced. There is clearly a realization of Self prior to its becoming full in Cosmic consciousness. What other word does English offer though? Self as Self realization? (laughs)

Fortunately, terms like God realization and Unity continue to be unambiguous and useful. In some ways, unity is better than the more common Oneness as prior states are characterized by an internal oneness that some confuse with true unity.

It also makes it clear that Self realization is different from jiva or soul awakening as the Self is much deeper than that. This means what I’ve identified as soul awakening is only generally.  That explains a great deal for me.

hmm – such a journey it is. Takes the mind awhile to catch up sometimes.
Davidya

Addendum:

It seems Self Realization is still the most common term for awakening. If we take realization to be equivalent to a switch in who we are, then Cosmic remains the equivalent to Self realization. I can leave that language the same.

Seems I need a term for when we awaken to the Self. Some apparently have that with Self realization, some separately. And some notice an awakening to the soul or jiva before both.
Soul awakening and Self awakening?   Perhaps I need to do a Buckminster Fuller and make up my own terms. (laughs)

And of course, i found the mind charting various realizations into a larger model this evening but I don’t think I have enough data + the lesser realizations are far more variably placed.