Читать книгу Pointers - John K. Landre - Страница 6

Is reaching the state of Enlightenment a gradual process? Or is it something that establishes itself as a sudden insight?

On occasion a higher level of consciousness then your current one may reveal itself. When this happens you become aware of its existence. This feels as having a “peak experience”. It leaves you with a desire to get back to the state you were in during that experience. When strong enough it may even cause changes in behavior. If so, you have suddenly grown into a next, higher level of consciousness.

But mostly growth of consciousness is a gradual process. Personal needs of a next, higher level of consciousness slowly grow in importance. At the same time needs of lower levels are slowly fading from awareness because they are becoming routinely fulfilled. All the while, during daily living, we continually shift into, and out of, our current level of consciousness.

For instance, emotional, second phase people often are aware of their feelings. Yet when threatened, they may act instinctively again. And during periods when they are not emotionally involved, they may be objective and rational. By learning to routinely satisfy their emotional needs, they slowly grow into rational, third phase consciousness.

Growing into Witness consciousness, Peace consciousness, or Subjectivity is also a gradual, intellectual process. People in Witness consciousness routinely trust their intuition more than their objective rationality. People in Peace consciousness have become comfortable with the fact that they have no free will. And people at the level of Subjectivity have learned to accept that they will never know who they are.

Growth of consciousness is a preparation for “Enlightenment”. Sages, who have reached the state of Enlightenment themselves, advise that for the ultimate Understanding to occur, it is necessary to “kill the mind”. Yet they maintain that personal growth needs to happen first and that this is a mental process.

Personal growth, including the final Understanding, is an autonomous process. It either just occurs to us or it doesn’t. All personal thought and all personal action is beyond your personal control. What you do in preparation for the final Understanding is itself beyond your control.