Stages of enlightenment?

[ethereal]

Does anybody know of any resources (or your personal experience) that talks about the stages of enlightenment? and what practices/methods to progress along each stage, what dualities need to be transcended, etc.?

I think most people think that enlightenment is a one-shot deal, one final liberating experience that propels you into the Absolute -- but that is rarely the case. Liberation only comes after much purification and transcending many stages of awakening and enlightenment, until at the very end you let go of the last duality of Life itself (what Hawkins terms the "final doorway"). I think most of us are still far far away from that experience, at least I know I am, so I'm hoping to find some information that would be more helpful where I'm at

[themaster]

I think the "Michael" information has some stages.. best I can think off, offhand..

[Johnny5]

Hi there

There are four stages of enlightenment:

Four stages of enlightenment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

the method to practice:

Noble Eightfold Path - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

the qualities that help you to become enlightenment

Bodhipakkhiy�dhamm� - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


The information you can read:

Access to Insight

The information you can listen:

talks by Gil Fronsdal

I hope the links above will help you out.

Best Regards,

Johnny

[MiBeloved]

Very good topic. I too would be interested to hear what others say about this.

[spacedout]

Originally Posted by ethereal

Does anybody know of any resources (or your personal experience) that talks about the stages of enlightenment? and what practices/methods to progress along each stage, what dualities need to be transcended, etc.?

Excellent question. By doing a lot of research and having experienced enlightenment (pure awareness) there does seem to be stages that one can follow to reach enlightenment. Anyway, it's working for me. Here are the steps I am following: 1) Learning how to still the mind through meditation. 2) Be able to go very deep into personal feelings and emotions while having a calm mind. 3) Get in touch with values and feelings. 4) Construct a mandala from the values and feelings. 5) By using the mandala understand the 'self.' 6) Transcend the ego and the 'self' by observing them. 7) Learn how to recognize the five different stages of consciousness. 8) Be able to recognize pure awareness when it presents itself. 9) Practice staying in pure awareness. 10) Stay in pure awareness for life.

At the present moment this person is working on stage #9. My book is not a big seller but a few people are using it. It requires dedication, practice, and a lot of patience. I have learned that most people want quick results. In my experience, the road to enlightenment is very, very slow. If a person has intention and is not afraid of work, it is possible.

Namaste

Pureawareness.info. Pure Awareness

[MiBeloved]

If you ever think of changing your name, I would suggest SpacedIn

[nightdiamond]

Hi Ethereal,


There is a book by a Stephen Wolinsky called "Quantum Consciousness".

It is supposed to be a step by step guide that teaches one how to obtain states of awareness that similar to what others call "enlightment", "samadhi", or a blissful non dual state.


It takes a somewhat scientific, step by step approach to it. It contains a number of exercises, and basically, different levels of awareness that are obtained after mastering each exercise.

The exercises, according to Wolinsky, are designed to give a person an actual experience of this state, rather than thinking about it.

There isn't as much "spiritual" teachings in it, more like a step by step guide book approach to it.

It also has a laid back approach to it as well. In it, Wolinsky says you can pick the exercises you'd like to try and skip over the ones you're not interested in.

Wolinsky himself claims to experience this state himself frequently, and he's supposed to be student of a Nisargadatta Maharaj, a guru who supposedly taught about that state.

Other than that, I don't know if it's real or not, but I find the scientific step by step style interesting.


Take care..

[Rhythman]

Originally Posted by nightdiamond

Hi Ethereal,


There is a book by a Stephen Wolinsky called "Quantum Consciousness".

It is supposed to be a step by step guide that teaches one how to obtain states of awareness that similar to what others call "enlightment", "samadhi", or a blissful non dual state.


It takes a somewhat scientific, step by step approach to it. It contains a number of exercises, and basically, different levels of awareness that are obtained after mastering each exercise.

The exercises, according to Wolinsky, are designed to give a person an actual experience of this state, rather than thinking about it.

There isn't as much "spiritual" teachings in it, more like a step by step guide book approach to it.

It also has a laid back approach to it as well. In it, Wolinsky says you can pick the exercises you'd like to try and skip over the ones you're not interested in.

Wolinsky himself claims to experience this state himself frequently, and he's supposed to be student of a Nisargadatta Maharaj, a guru who supposedly taught about that state.

Other than that, I don't know if it's real or not, but I find the scientific step by step style interesting.


Take care..

Wolinsky Rocks! I watched the "I am that I Am" DVD set he created which details Nisargadatta Maharaj's teachings. Great Stuff! I'll have to check out this book.

thanks
Rhythman

[subhaikav]

I have read about in the book written by "Osho". It will be quite interesting. you can try it out.

[ethereal]

Thanks for all the replies, will definitely take some time to go through them and learn more

Just to add some information that may be helpful for others, from the teachers I've been studying from:

Dr. Hawkins (who pioneered kinesiology and the levels of consciousness detailed here)

Illumination - level 600

No "you" or "I"
From viewpoint of witness
Pathway of no conceptual thinking

Self-Realization - 700-850

Truth = Love = Divinity
Enlightened
All that's left of the person is the witness

Full Enlightenment - 850-1000

Divinity as all-present Oneness
Consciousness as omniscience
Divinity innate to all existence
Consciousness as Source of Life
Life cannot be destroyed -- it can only change form
Consciousness is an aspect of Divinity
Like a light goes on that illuminates all of existence

Also, the dualities of Nothingness vs. Allness, Existence vs. Non-existence is at 850. Hawkins remarked about how at this point you wonder whether there is an opposite to God (the answer is no)

Another one from Hawkins:

Stages (Classical)

1. purgation of bodily desires
2. purification of the will
3. illumination of the mind
4. unitive state - unification with the Divine
5. self dissolves in Self
6. final "state" or "condition"
7. the Sage

------------

From Adyashanti, he gives three stages of awakening:

1) waking "to" -- you realize that Divinity is within you, that Peace or Love is always present

2) waking "in" or "up" -- you wake up not to just the fact that there is a constant and permanent Divinity within you, but you realize that you ARE that Divinity, that Peace and that Love. There is a sudden shift of identification away from the personality and to the Self. All the attention is focused inwardly, inside. At this stage it can feel a little blank, dry, boring (compared to before) -- attention is focused on the emptiness of the emptiness, and not realizing the Fullness of it. Dark nights of the soul can take place here.

3) waking "out" -- where previously the focus was inward on the emptiness, now we can see the fullness of the emptiness, the formless Self now looks "outward" and doesn't just see itself as empty and formless, but it sees itself in all forms and all things. There is no difference/duality between the formless Self and its manifestations in form.

I think Adyashanti doesn't give the full range of stages to liberation, only to enlightenment with the end of the duality of form/formlessness.

-------------

Bernadette Roberts, a Christian Mystic, describes in her book "The Experience of No-Self" her path to no-self and what stages and insights she went through along the way. There's a nice summary here. It's too detailed to list all the insights and stages she went through, but it is a fascinating journey that I would encourage everybody to read about.

However, I think this is also incomplete, as liberation is beyond the stage of no-self as well. The senses still remain as she describes, and who is it that is sensing? Some kind of self, even if it doesn't feel like a self.

Hope to find more info from others

[Ariel Bravy]

With respect to stages, I find Adya's descriptions more in alignment with my own experience. Not that Hawkins is wrong or anything, but it doesn't seem to be as black and white as I perceive his LoC scale to be.

For example, you can start to have glimpses and insights into higher levels temporarily before finally settling there for good. It's not like everyone always crosses some invisible threshold called 599 to 600 or 699 to 700. It can happen that way, but not necessarily.

In the same way, you can calibrate at one LoC, Love for example (500-600), yet still experience the emotion of anger (below 200) or the energy of deep peace (over 600).

Also what I like about Adya's descriptions is that it's more "zoomed in" than Hawkins' map. Hawkins' map covers the entirety of human consciousness, while Adya provides a more focused look into the area of enlightenment itself.

For example, here's a look at some of the finer points of awakening, written by my friend Davidya:

Layers of Stages « In 2 Deep

[Ariel Bravy]

Oh, and if you want a deeper look at Hawkins' map of consciousness, he has a book out called Transcending the Levels of Consciousness.

[ethereal]

A classic one: the ten oxherding pictures of Zen

two versions I've found on the net:
version 1
version 2

[nightdiamond]

Originally Posted by Rhythman

Wolinsky Rocks! I watched the "I am that I Am" DVD set he created which details Nisargadatta Maharaj's teachings. Great Stuff! I'll have to check out this book.

thanks
Rhythman

Hi Rhythman,


I went back and looked at the book again to really try to understand exactly what the book offers or says can be achieved by following the exercises.

It has a lot of terms and explanations in it, and I found it easy to get lost in it when I read it.

So I'll try to give a quick summary of what I understood from reading parts of it, hopefully it might help out.

I guess the main state the book is talking about is what he calls 'the no state state'. He also equates this state with the quantum level where everything is one, and is made of the same substance.

He says whenever he entered this state, the difference between himself and whatever he observed disappeared, and he was "left in a quiet wholeness"


He says that the experience of "Quantumn Consciousness" is the same thing ancient texts describes as samadhi or satori.


He also describes this state as "pain free" where "personal problems would appear and disappear".


The exercises are supposed to show one how to experience these states at different levels.

So, each level described in the book has its own experiences and discoveries down to the most advanced level where everything is experienced as one.

According to the book, after experiencing this state, to re-enter it all you have to do is learn to shift your attention.

It seems very similar to what the other posters have posted as well.

Hope that helps, take care..