| Explorations on a path to a higher state of consciousness |
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| Written by Dr. Ian D.D. Brown - Published in: Consciousness Review, Vol. 3, 1997, ISSN 1180-0658 | |
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OBSERVATION Not enough can be said about knowing your inner self. This is a process that can be followed by learning to listen to your inner self. Abraham Maslow demonstrated throughout his work with people who were highly “self-actualized” that one’s full potential could be realized not by suppressing signals from the inner core but, on the contrary, by learning to listen to them. His research indicated that while the “voices and impulses” from this inner core (like Jung’s Philemon) might be weak, subtle and delicate, very easily drowned out by learning, by cultural expectations, by fear of disapproval, it was nevertheless true that: “authentic selfhood can be defined in part as being able to hear these impulse-voices within oneself…” He said: “No psychological health is possible unless this essential core of the person is fundamentally accepted, loved and respected”. (Grof, 1990, p.85) Thus, through the idea of surrendering our ego, abiding by the rules of basic morality, developing concentration power and directing our thoughts inwardly it is possible to listen and begin to understand our true self. The idea of training our selves to listen is important. As Tart says “…we miss many important but delicate insights and intuitions because we haven’t trained ourselves to listen to the quiet, rapid, more subtle level of our mind, emotions and body” (1990, p. 150). LOVE (METTA) The ultimate attainment is Love. It is the complete union with God, realizing that the self is connected, and we are one with God at the same time. It is the merging of spirit with spirit. The ultimate Truth at the heart of creation. Realizing and applying this, we develop habitual loving-kindness. Union with God in absorbing Love marks the height of attainment, but Sufis, according to Robert Graves (in Shah, 1971), “admits its value only if the devotee can afterward return to the world and live in a manner consistent with his experience” (Goleman, 1972, p.162). Establishing a connection with God, and acting as a conductor for his light can be accomplished. Essentially you become a channel, allowing Love to pour forth from every cell in your body. BEYOND A PATH I believe it is important to live among the people and to stay in tune with the world. Many people think they must go to India, live in a log cabin, change religions, become a monk, etc. to achieve a higher state of consciousness. From someone who has tried all of these paths Richard Alpert a.k.a. Baba Ram Dass has said “I’m beginning to see that I am only going to be free when I’m fully involved in the world. A strange insight for me” (1982, p.182). Thus these changes are fully capable of happening right where we are. It is still important to rise above the material world and to be in tune with the universe. “I tell those who come to me to lead a life unattached like the maid-servant. I tell them to live unattached to this world - to be in the world, but not of the world…” (Frager and Fadiman, 1975, p.70). Anyone can decide to elevate his or her own consciousness. Once this decision has been consciously made half of the work is already done. It is important that a person stick with their decision, for it has been said that obstacles are those things we see when we take our eyes off the goal. For most people “The underlying premise is constant with my basic belief system, and it is something that they would like to do… …[BUT] of those people, only a tiny fraction actually persevere with the practice.” “I think that the problem is that they do not get the constant reinforcement that they need in order to keep the practice up” (Tart, 1990, p. 162). It requires patience, in the words of Ram Dass. “Ten years ago I used to be counting, How soon ‘til I get enlightened? Now I’ve developed patience. It’s not despair. It’s patience. It’s rooted in hopelessness. My attachment to where I was going was getting in the way of being. The third Chinese patriarch says, “Even to be attached to enlightenment is to go astray.”” (Alpert/Ram Dass, 1982, p. 182). McDonald-Smith agrees. From her twenty years of practice she reports that there is a lot for us to develop. She believes that the map of what needs to be done keeps enlarging. “There’s such a vastness to spiritual practice; there’s so much for all of us to develop” (McDonald-Smith, 1996, p.43). Wren-Lewis offered his input on a path to a higher state of consciousness. Here is a man who had a near death experience (NDE). While traveling in Thailand he was poisoned by a stranger. Upon returning back to life he had a different outlook on life. Wren-Lewis suggested that there are not any mystical traditions that can offer the kind of immediate liberation that NDE’s can bring. He believes too often people get bogged down with the preoccupation with one’s personal future, this perhaps is the cause of all the trouble in the world. “What I suspect we need is not any kind of path or discipline, but a collection of tricks or devices for catching the Dark at the corner of the eye, as it were, and learning how to spot its just-waiting-to-be-seen presence, combined with strategies for stopping the hyperactive survival-programs from immediately explaining the perception away.” (Wren-Lewis, 1994, p.114) Achieving this realization one will often find oneself no longer bothered to pursue worldly, materialistic goals, since in this new consciousness, satisfaction is the basic essence itself, not the result of desire gratification. Giving up this competitive stance one may rely instead on one’s intuition and synchronistic occurrences. Thus a path to a higher state of consciousness can be expanded upon to overlook the preoccupation with a path, and lead to a trust in self. COLLECTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS As we learn more about ourselves and take steps towards improvement, we discover that there is more to the puzzle than first anticipated. Our sense of self can encompass a larger aspect of life and universe. As Grof noted (1990, p. 91), “it completely overrides the everyday illusion of Newtonian reality, where we seem to be “skin-encapsulated egos” existing in a world of separate beings and objects.” Our actions can have multiple effects beyond our-self. Individuals who take up the path to a higher state of consciousness can thus help the overall evolution of humankind. By elevating ourselves we cannot but help increase the awareness of those around us. I see collective consciousness as a merging into what can be called a critical mass when everyone will have achieved a higher state of consciousness. This will in turn help our understanding of the nature of consciousness. Still in this time there are many impediments. When we learn to overcome the problems of ineffability, our science only recognizing as real those objective experiences and our old research methods, we will begin to understand more about consciousness. |
