Surrender is much more likely when the integrity of a teaching or teacher has been verified. Consciousness calibration distills and verifies spiritual truth in its essence and identifies the characteristics of integrous teachers and teachings. Whatever you entrust your soul to should be verifiably trustworthy. The list below serves as a standard of spiritual integrity.
Spiritual truth is universal. The same essential truth has been taught by the enlightened mystics, saints, sages, and avatars who have appeared throughout history, in different religions and cultures, separated by different sides of the globe and across many centuries. No person or religion or group is the sole possessor or purveyor of truth. A truth is true at all times in all places, independent of cultures, customs, opinions, personalities, or circumstances.
A true teacher claims no specialness but rather points the seeker to realize the same truth from within. The Self of the student is said to be the same Self of the teacher, whose state of Self-realization serves to activate the student’s own inner awakening. True teachers humbly acknowledge that divine states are a gift of Grace and therefore do not offer spiritual teachings for a price beyond covering expenses required for dissemination.
Integrous teachers and organizations are not interested in controlling the personal lives of students, promotionalism, gaining followers, or entertaining people with theatrical presentations. Their integrity requires them to share the gift of Realization they were given, with the unique capacities bestowed them, but they have no attachment to the response; what people do with it is up to them. People are free to come and go as they wish.
Notable is that pure spirituality has no requirements, obligations, dependencies, attachments, or other evidence of specialness, nor the imposition of control, such as oaths, financial pledges, or signing up members for classes or “trainings.” Commitment is to the core of truth itself, not to the person of the teacher, and pure spirituality is free of seduction by proselytization or secrecies. All that is necessary are curiosity and an attraction to truth, which is complete, total, and self-sufficient.
The teachers, teachings, or groups found attractive or meaningful depend on the karmic propensities and evolution of the seeker at any given time. Different teachers and teachings will appeal to different seekers and be appropriate for different life tasks. What is best for one person or situation may not be best for another. Just because a teaching calibrates at 600 or higher does not mean it is the most appropriate or helpful; what matters is that a teaching or teacher calibrates over 200, the level of integrity.
Fortunate is the seeker who has not been led away from the straight and narrow path of spiritual truth by diversions and popularized attractions. People spend lifetimes searching for authentic teachings and become sidetracked by the seduction of attractive, glamorized aberrations away from truth. These turn out to be fictional or romanticized fantasies that attract the naïve person’s inner child. Spiritual fairy tales abound and impress the credulous, for whom anything labeled “spiritual” is imbued with a magical glamour. To go through that stage is routine during initial, uncritical enthusiasm and exploration.
The primary problem initially is the lack of awareness of the difference between the truly spiritual reality and the astral, paranormal, or supernatural domains. To the naïve, these latter alternatives seem amazing and impressive. A “right-on” psychic reading is indeed impressive to a novice. The majority of popular best-selling supposedly spiritual books are actually fictional, and their average level of truth is at calibration level 190, as are slick-appearing “spiritual” magazines that glamorize fallacious fantasies of “other dimensions,” and so on. The paradox is that the appeal is to the naïve seeker who has not yet mastered this dimension, much less other fanciful ones.
Mystical “powers” that are genuine are not exhibited, much less promoted or sold for a price. Imitations of the real are a diversion that have sidetracked and deceived many naïve spiritual students and even branches of major religions (Tantric sex and so forth). Artificial means are ego inflating, as is denoted by the mere fact that one is attracted to them by their specialness and the glamour of the unique and unusual. Even when cultivated by training, such phenomena are merely acquired skills that have been sought for their own sake and reflect spiritual vanity, as evidenced by display and promotion.
While the gifts of God can be imitated, the forgery is not the genuine. This can be ascertained by consciousness calibration. The genuine siddhis (for example, clairvoyance, clairaudience, psychometry, telepathy, and the like) start to emerge at calibration level 540 and become predominant in the range of level 570. The promoted imitations calibrate from 155 to the lower 400s. Notable also is that no avatar or great teacher has ever recommended the seeking of the supernatural, as it arises of itself according to Divine Will.
Miraculous healings and other phenomena emerge spontaneously and nonvolitionally in the fields of 540-plus. It is important to note that there is no “healer” or “doer” of such miracles; they emerge spontaneously from the impersonal field as a consequence of karmic propensities and local conditions. Imitations of the miraculous are easy to spot, as they put emphasis on the personhood of the so-called healer.
The innocent child within the seeker gets easily glamorized by imitations of the real. It is wise to beware of linear methods that promise access to nonlinear states, such as artificially induced altered states of consciousness, special garments, strange diets, and other stringent practices; energy-manipulation techniques; programs and workshops for instant enlightenment or psychic powers (usually for a price); holding strange poses for long periods of time; blood and other body cleansers, exotic purges, or breathing exercises; and so on. Altered states are not the same as divine states. Alpha-wave training, for example, is therapeutic but not a spiritual state.
There are astral realms and universes without number, each with its own teachers, masters, spiritual hierarchy, and belief systems. Many are quite intriguing. The unwary can be easily entrapped by these fascinating and esoteric doctrines; however, the seeker of Enlightenment will remember that the ultimate state is not reachable via the levels of form. All truth is found within and is available by ordinary means, without needing to be accessed through a healer, medium, or psychic; numerology; or a channeled entity.
The truly great teachers and teachings effulge from states of consciousness at 600 and higher. In religious history, the mystic has been both revered and persecuted. The mystic’s authority stems from the Presence, the Divine “I” of the Self. This has been viewed as sacrilege by authoritarian religions whose beliefs are limited to a transcendent God only; mystics have thus been tried as heretics, imprisoned, excommunicated, burned at the stake, beheaded, or even crucified by religious authorities. Most mystics retire from society. Some, by virtue of great effort, return to the world but are silent about their inner state. A few mystics are given the capacity to write and teach about the rare state that lies beyond the dualities of the ego and its identification with form.
The state of the mystic is not an “achievement.” It is not even a person, though we commonly refer to the mystic as a person. It is a state of consciousness beyond personhood, for in that state, there is no longer a “me.” The mystic seldom uses first-person pronouns and then only to assist others who cannot grasp languaging that lacks personal pronouns. The average person says, “It was raining on me yesterday.” The mystic says, “It was raining yesterday.”
There is a detachment, because one is describing phenomena from the viewpoint of the witness. The witness observes and then reports back the observations without making judgments or evaluations of what is observed. By analogy, the space in a room has no opinion about where the furniture goes or what occurs within it. The witness silently observes all things within a state of stillness and peace.
In that state, walking through the woods, one is aware that the trees are aware. All life is shimmering forth, worshipful of the presence of Divinity and very conscious and aware of it. The universe is conscious. The tree is vibrantly aware that it is in the presence of Divinity. Because of its nature, because of the source of its creation, which is the same source as one’s own creation, the tree knows its own, for life reverences life.
Technically, this state begins at level 600, a state of infinite Peace. In Sanskrit, it is called Satchitananda. The preceding states are those of Love, Joy, and Ecstasy. When one lets go of any attachment to those states, which are exquisite, there is a state of infinite, timeless peace, illumination, stillness, and completion. Peace (cal. 600) is a state of revelation, all-inclusive and totally intrinsic, as it stems from within. It is motionless as the essence of Divinity unfolding an all-encompassing emergence and effluence. It is also silent and wordless. Transfigured, the mystic realizes that this stillness of Peace is one’s true identity, which is nonlinear and harmonious with all life. It has no location, for it is totality. Unifying beyond description, there is no “me” that is separate from “you,” and separateness disappears in the Revelation of the Radiance of Oneness.
What the world calls “Enlightenment,” then, is a state in which the former personal identity and all that had been believed about it have been erased, removed, transcended, and dissolved. The particular has been replaced by the universal, qualities have been replaced by essence, the linear has been replaced by the nonlinear, and the discrete has been replaced by the unlimited. Time has become Allness and Foreverness. Intention has been replaced by spontaneity, and the limiting perception of duality has been removed as the Radiance of Oneness illuminates the Reality and the Truth of nonduality. The essence of Divinity stands forth in its Self-revelation. Mentation has ceased, and in the Silence, the Knowingness of Omniscience radiates forth unasked. Emotion has been replaced by Peace.
The ordinary mind is the thinking mind, and it thinks in perceptions, judgments, and definitions. It has pronouns, my and mine, part and parcel of its dualistic standpoint of separateness. Religious education involves the thinking mind with its learning and mastery of information. The information then becomes integrated, and a person can spend a whole lifetime studying religious history and theology. In the mystic state, the understanding comes about in a totally different, nonlinear way. It does not come about as a result of reason. Rather, the understanding is an effulgence, a revelation that requires no thinkingness at all and not even any religious knowledge.
Previous books, I: Reality and Subjectivity and The Eye of the I: From Which Nothing Is Hidden, describe the unusual states of consciousness experienced in this lifetime. Certain occurrences are noted here because they exhibit characteristics of the mystic. One major event for me was an experience in a snowbank as a teenager. As a child, I was quite religious, but the religion had nothing to do with the mystical phenomena I experienced. One can memorize all the spiritual literature in the world, and when the mystical experience occurs, it has nothing at all to do with anything ever learned in a lifetime of study.
It occurred in a blizzard in northern Wisconsin when I was caught far away from home during my 17-mile bicycle route to deliver newspapers. It became terribly windy and cold, and huge snowbanks were piled up high about ten feet on each side of the highway. To get out of the wind, I crushed my way into the snowbank and quickly dug out a little cave. I had plenty of physical energy and was not near death, but I wanted a spell of relief from the windchill. I climbed to the side of this little cave and tried to relax.
Then out of nowhere came a profound, Infinite Radiance of Love beyond all imagination, beyond human love, timeless and eternal, no beginning and no end. It was closer to me than my own self—closer to what I had ever thought of myself or my personal identity as myself. That Infinite Love was the core of who I was and had always been. It was an eternal Foreverness.
In that state, you realize that what you are is Eternal, Infinite Love. The Reality of that which you are is not different from Infinite, absolutely Perfect Love, with no beginning and no end. That is the Revelation of the Truth of your own existence. That is the truth of everyone’s existence. That which you are is Infinite Love, which has existed forever and has no beginning and no end. All that is needed right now is for you to realize that!
The state occurred spontaneously, without thought, with no pronouns, with no warning. In today’s world, people read this and then start looking for a snowbank to experience it, as if the place “caused” it to happen. Or they make a “holy” snowbank where it occurred. (The snowbank eventually melted, thankfully, so no one can put a holy placard in front of it!) It was a very profound realization, beyond all learning, having nothing to do with religion or theology. There is no connection between the linear realm of religion and the nonlinear realm of the mystic. One involves thinking, and the other is beyond it.
The mystic state is that of surrendering to the Self, to the capacity of Divinity within to reveal Itself. And it reveals Itself when it is karmically propitious to do so, not necessarily when you want it to happen. It can happen at very inconvenient times. You may find yourself completely incapacitated, sitting there in a state of bliss on a rock, unable to get up, move, or leave. The police may come and cart you off to a hospital, but in that state you have no say in the matter.
The mystic who has realized the Self and then stays in the world to serve a teaching function is referred to as a sage. Self-realization, on the Map of Consciousness, encompasses the levels 700 and up, with Ramana Maharshi and Nisagardatta Maharaj as examples of the sage. In that state, one sees the world in its essence.
The sage tells you, “The world you see does not exist.” This statement confounds the ordinary mind, which assumes that its perceptions of the world are exactly the way the world is. But the sage sees beyond perception, which is based on the illusion of separateness, and instead witnesses the unity of all phenomena. The expressions of the rain may look like separate raindrops; however, the rain is one.
On the level of ordinary dualistic perception, there needs to be a “this” causing a “that.” There is always a victim and perpetrator. What would politics be without a victim and perpetrator? The life stories of most people turn on the drama of “they did this to me.” There is always an oppressor causing harm to the innocent one. In contrast, the mystic sees the unity and the truth beyond causation, beyond perception, which is emergence. Emergence means there is no conflict between evolution and creation, because creation expresses itself as evolution. The Infinite Field, out of which all phenomenal existence arises, is the field of consciousness itself, which is inherently compassionate and just, for “Love is the Ultimate Law of the Universe” (statement calibrates at 750). The field and the phenomena are one dynamic whole, simultaneously creation and evolution. The field of consciousness, in other terminology, is called the Buddha-nature.
The field, the Buddha-nature, the state of Infinite Love, is always present, awaiting your realization. It is always complete. It does not go from incomplete to complete. It is complete right from the beginning. When I lay in the snowbank, the state was complete, instantly once and for all. It did not start, get louder and louder, and creep up my legs. Suddenly, out of nowhere, I was in a totally different realm and it was beatific. The only reason I left that state was to relieve my father’s agony. He came looking for me in our old Model A Ford, tracing my paper route. I was in this state of bliss, and the next thing I knew my father was shaking my ankle: “Dave, Dave!” I could see he would have been grief-stricken if I had not breathed again. He might have blamed himself for my death. So, out of love for him, I breathed and reowned the body. The only alternative to that state of Infinite Love, then, was another form of love, personal love, and placing it in front of Divine Love.
The inner state of the mystic ultimately cannot be described. It transfigures all life like a Light has come on that illuminates all existence, and the Radiance makes it difficult to function. One learns how to live with it in a seminormal fashion. With concentration, one can fool most of the people most of the time—looking at them respectfully and saying, “Oh yes. Uh-huh. That’s right. Yeah. Mm-hmm.” Most people never know what they are in the presence of, just as they are unaware of their own inner Self.
In contradistinction to the intellectual approach in religious education, what we are describing here is the inner path. It arises from within. A religious education can set the stage for it, but it does not cause it. One can study theology day in and day out, and that study will not necessarily precipitate an inner spiritual realization. However, if there is an interest in religion, plus a certain motivation, the inner path becomes activated. The great saints of Christianity demonstrate that scriptural study, worship, and the devotion to religion can end up as a mystical inner awareness. Suddenly the words dissolve in the Realization of the inner Truth. They call it Unio mystica, the mystical union of self and Divinity, a state of Divine Love.
This radical subjectivity may reveal itself as Agape, which is the lovingness for all existence. Before you get to Agape, however, there is the state of Unconditional Love at 540. It shows itself as a lovingness for nature, for all people, a sensitivity to the beauty of everything that exists, and a lovingness for all creatures in the animal kingdom. You love one animal just as easily as another. It is a lovingness for all life and all its expressions. God is the source of all that is, without exception (calibrates as “true”). Everything and everyone are a creation of God. Nothing exists that is not a creation of God. As consciousness evolves, Divine States are calibrated as follows:
| God | Infinity |
| The Creator | Infinity |
| Divinity | Infinity |
| Archangel | 50,000+ |
| “I” as Essence of Creation | 1,250 |
| “I” of Ultimate Reality | 1,000+ |
| Christ, Buddhahood, Krishna, Brahman | 1,000+ |
| Avatar | 985 |
| Allness | 855 |
| God (Self) as Logos | 850 |
| Void | 850 |
| Nothingness | 850 |
| Oneness | 850 |
| Omniscience | 850 |
| Omnipresence | 850 |
| Omnipotence | 850 |
| Reality as Consciousness | 850 |
| Reality as Awareness | 850 |
| Self as Beyond Existence or Nonexistence | 840 |
| Teacher of Enlightenment | 800 |
| Arhat | 800 |
| “I”/Self-Divinity as Allness (Beatific Vision) | 750 |
| Sage—Self as God Manifest | 700 |
| Self as Existence | 680 |
| “I Am” | 650 |
| Enlightenment | 600 |
| Reality as Witness/Observer | 600 |
| Sainthood | 575 |
Reading of such states naturally ignites an interest in experiencing them. The Map of Consciousness may be viewed as a map of the journey to that ultimate human destiny, which is, finally, an inner path. Concepts and teachings that calibrate below 600 are comprehensible to the majority of people, and the teachings in the calibration range of the 500s (Love) have a major influence. Although the perfection of Love to the level of Unconditional Love at calibration 540 is reached by only 0.4 percent of today’s overall world population, it is nonetheless comprehended as a real, experiential possibility, and exceptional individuals who continue to evolve in consciousness to the high 500s are termed “saints,” thereby serving as models for humanity as a practical goal. The spiritual ecstasy of the very high 500s is also recorded (for example, documented experiences of Ramakrishna, the Baal Shem Tov, St. Francis of Assisi, and others) and thereby given credence and acceptance as a possible reality for those who are exceptionally motivated or gifted.
At consciousness level 500, there is a major shift of paradigm. Mentation gives way to intuition, linear causality to nonlinear synchronicity, and external effort to subjective realization. From consciousness level 600 and up, the spiritual reality is described as ineffable or mystical. Its nondual quality (that is, “no mind,” or “Mind”) makes such a condition difficult to language or conceptualize and therefore is seemingly limited as an actual experiential possibility. Advanced students are familiar with the writings of the great sages whose work is characterized by the Sanskrit terms Advaita and Vedanta, about which there is considerable information available through the writings of recent well-known teachers, such as Ramana Maharshi or Nisargadatta Maharaj. On a similar level are the teachings of great, well-known mystics of all religions, such as the Sufis, the Kabbalists, or the Zohar. Of major importance, and also well known, are the teachings of the Buddha, the Hindu sages, and the Zen adepts. Credence as to the actuality and reality of Enlightenment is supported by the rather extensive literature about such states by well-known scholars, such as William James, and later scholars of the Zen tradition, such as D. T. Suzuki and Alan Watts.
The difficulty in describing or explaining such states is simply that the consciousness level of the intellect is limited to the 400s and includes the presumption of cause and effect. Though the descriptions are linear, the states themselves are nonlinear and thus can be alluded to but not accurately described in familiar language. Despite the limitation of accurate depiction, the reality of such states is universally recognized, and most recently, we have confirmed the Reality of enlightened states with consciousness calibration research. Though statistically rare, such advanced states are inspirational and give recognition to the potential of human consciousness to evolve.
The fact that the enlightened condition is not comprehensible, explicable, or possible of “acquisition” by the mind/intellect dismays spiritual seekers; thus, such states may seem unreachable and therefore not practical as a goal. On the contrary, in actuality, advanced states are powerfully experiential because the Reality that they confirm and reflect is already a fact consequent to the very obvious actuality that you already exist. Thus, every spiritual student already has met the first requirement, and it is only necessary to add motivation and commitment. Thus, the only requirements are, first, to exist, then to have heard of Enlightenment, and then to seek it as a realizable goal. What makes it seem difficult is the dearth of simple information and clarification, for experientially the way is innately simple, although at times seemingly arduous. This book contains information that clarifies the essential steps.
Another reason that reaching the state of Enlightenment seems impractical is because the mind conceptualizes in terms of cause and effect, and students conceive of themselves as being driven (that is, implying inner willpower and so forth) instead of the reality that they are actually being attracted by their future destiny, like an iron filing to the magnet.
Comfort and confidence can be derived from a verifiable reality that the rare individuals who are actually attracted to Enlightenment as a life goal are so because that is already their destiny (calibrates as true). For the same reason, only future golfers would be taking golf lessons.
A: It is simple. Begin with who and what you are. All truth is found within. Use verified teachings as a guide.
A: The emphasis is on the inner experiential subjective realization and internal validation of spiritual truth. In contrast, religions often require memorizing ecclesiastical doctrines, learning about their historical or mythological origins and sources, along with the citation of authority, precedent, and illustrious figures and contributors. There tend to be various regulations, such as those regarding lifestyle, dress, and hairstyles, as well as rules of conduct pertaining to marriage, procreation, and social and sexual activities, based on ecclesiastical doctrine, correlated with specified ethnic or tribal cultures limited in time and geography. In addition, there are explicit or implied requirements, such as attendance, membership, and group commitments. These often result in social/group inclusions and exclusions (for example, believers versus nonbelievers). Within the domain of religion, it is the mystics who calibrate the highest, by virtue of their direct, inner realization of Truth.
A: Characteristically, devotees tend to be introspective, thoughtful, reflective, curious, responsible, and attentive. There is usually an aversion to violence, cruelty, nonintegrity, and the fanfare and drama of glamour or vulgarity. There are the attraction to learning for its own sake and the pleasure of discovery of basic premises, and a capacity for rigorous self-honesty.
A: Spiritual devotion is a continuous inner lifestyle that incorporates constant watchful awareness. The process is self-rewarding and, paradoxically, this results in greater benefit and enjoyment of formal religious participation or practices as well. The reflections of truth are everywhere to be seen and recognized in multitudinous expressions. By internal observation, you develop an inner wisdom that facilitates compassion and spiritual comprehension rather than an “ought to” discipline. With inner awareness, religious guilt and preoccupation with sin diminish, and instead, you choose positive options, rather than being controlled by negative programs resulting in shame, fear, and guilt. (It is well to note that the level of Guilt is at the bottom of the Map, while Joy is at the top.) Fulfillment of potential is rewarding and gratifying, which in turn progressively reinforces motivation. Self-honesty brings greater inner freedom as well as adaptational expertise and flexibility. It is not necessary to withdraw from the world but instead to recontextualize it. Spiritual evolution results in greater capability due to the advancement of consciousness that ensues. It is a matter of motivation. It is not necessary to go into monastic retreat, although there may be such periods that are beneficial.
A: These requirements are activated by intention. Inner work becomes powered by an unexpected momentum as each positive step increases the likelihood and ease of many more, like rolling a snowball downhill. To forgive one person makes it easier and more likely to forgive another and another.
A: You begin by letting go of wanting to control aversions and attractions. You let go of all wantingness. In this way, you eventually will transcend the experiencer, which is the core of the ego. Everything is happening spontaneously by virtue of the field of infinite power, that is Divinity, but you will see that within one ten-thousandth of a second, the ego jumps in and claims to be the author of experience. To transcend that one ten-thousandth of a second is what happens when you finally transcend the limitations and identification with a personal ego. Then you’ll see that nothing happens in linear, causal sequence. Nothing causes anything; everything arises spontaneously as potentiality becomes actuality by virtue of the power of the field. There is no “this” causing a “that.” That is merely the ego, the perceiver’s, projection.
You become the witness to life’s emergence in each moment. You are not the cause. You are not the doer. You are not the perpetrator. You are not the victim. You drop all the concepts. You are not any of those things. It’s easy to become conscious that you are the witness of phenomena, the witness. From that state, it is easy to move into the realms of Light, Love, and the Radiance of the Self, in which everything is happening spontaneously. These are the states of illumination. All that exists shines forth as the Radiance of Divinity. At that point, the mind falls silent in awe.
A: The good news is that the mind is already 99 percent silent. If 99 percent of the mind weren’t silent, you wouldn’t even know what you are thinking. It’s because of the silence of the forest that you can hear the birdsong. The forest is 99 percent silent and 1 percent birdie! It’s only because you listen to the 1 percent that the forest seems noisy. You’re hypnotized by the 1 percent. It’s a hypnotic trance with the content of mind, so what you do is shift to the context of silence out of which the content emerges. Ego identifies with content. Spirit is context, which is silence.
The mind is like a giant football stadium where everyone has gone home and you’re the only one in the entire stadium. Over in the corner, there’s a small radio playing, and you get focused on that radio, and you say, “This is a noisy stadium.” You think your mind is noisy, because you’re focused on the 1 percent, which you think of as “me.” It isn’t the mind that’s an obstruction to Enlightenment; it’s your identification with the working of the mind as “me.” You think, That’s who I am. That 1 percent has various devices to keep you hypnotized. It likes to politicize, moralize, analyze, romanticize, criticize, idealize, emotionalize, dramatize, hypothesize, theologize, fantasize, catastrophize, and so on. That’s all the content of mind. The silence is the context. The relationship between content and context is what spiritual work is all about. In meditative or contemplative style, you constantly surrender all content, as it arises. We surrender to God; we do so in the interest of context.
A: Misinterpretations of the teachings of the Buddha misidentify the meaning of “Void” and identify the Nothingness/Void as the ultimate state, which it decidedly is not, as determined by both consciousness-calibration research and subjective experience.
In traditional spiritual languaging, each of these advanced levels is “guarded” by the “dragons” of a duality. This is especially true at level 850, where the presenting limitation to be transcended is the conundrum of the seeming opposites/alternatives of whether the ultimate Reality is Allness versus Nothingness, or is Existence versus Nonexistence.
The Void of Nothingness calibrates at 850 and is the end point of the pathway of negation that denies the reality of everything or anything (that is, the linear form or “thingness” as attachment). The error that follows is the presumption that the transcendence of all form is the sole condition of Buddhahood. This is an easy mistake to make, because experientially, the condition of the Void is enormously impressive. As it unfolds, it is ineffable, infinite, timeless, One, all-encompassing, still, silent, unmoving, and strangely inclusive of the “awareness of nonawareness” that precludes even beingness or existence. This state is definitely and experientially, without question, beyond duality. There is neither subject nor object; there is nothing left to surrender and no one left to surrender; thus, it indeed seems to be the ultimate state itself. Another difficulty at that level is that there are no teachers with whom to consult, share, or reflect confirmation, much less instruction, for the state is indeed wondrous, and the need for such a direction would not seem to be necessary or present itself for confirmation.
If the state of Void (Nothingness) were the ultimate reality, it would be a permanent condition, and there would be no entity to report it. However, it is not, and therefore, sooner or later, one leaves the Void and returns to conscious existence. Next occurs the subjective experiential phenomenon of suddenly emerging into Existence from the oblivion of the Void. (In this lifetime, the occurrence for me was at age three, as described in the “About the Author” section. Suddenly, out of Nothingness and nonawareness, there was the shock of not only Existence but also the discovery of physicality and that a body accompanied the return from Nothingness to Beingness. Thus, in this lifetime, the dilemma at calibration level 850 was initially presented strongly in early life, and it recurred later, at which time it was rejected and transcended. It took 38 years to resolve.)
The Knowingness needed to transcend this level is that Divine Love is also nonlinear and without subject, object, form, conditionality, or location. The limitation (incompleteness) of the Void is reached as a consequence of intense dedication to the pathway of negation; however, missing is the realization that Love is a primary quality of Divinity and is also nonlinear, and that spiritual love is not an attachment. The error of the pathway of negation is to misidentify and refuse Love because, in its general, ordinary human experience, it is a limitation and an attachment (between a “me” and a “you” or an “it”).
In contrast, Divine Love is predominant, powerful, and overwhelming, and is the primary quality or essence of the Presence. It is profound and unconditional, with no subject or object. It is not an emotionality but a condition or a state that is liberating rather than limiting. The Void (cal. 850) is comparable to infinite, empty, conscious space. In contrast, the Presence of Divinity is like the heart of the sun. There is no mistaking it, for the Love is realized as the very core and Source of one’s primary Self.
A: Eventually, by surrendering every state to God, you enter a space beyond all previous spaces. As each state comes on, be willing to experience an even greater dimension. There is a state beyond all the prior states. A state of pure austerity. I have spoken of it as the High Pass, and detail it here because readers of this book will confront these states. When you have surrendered everything to God through meditation and contemplation, and let go of all attachments and aversions, you reach a very High Pass where there is no one. In the High Pass, you’ve let go of the attachment to the details of life, money and power, prestige, and excitement and thrills. There is nothing left except your own life. You’ve let go of everything this world cherishes, surrendered it all to God. Now, what do you have left to surrender to God? Your very life. In that moment, you realize, I have nothing left. I surrender my life to Thee, O Lord.
With that, there is a terrible fear of dying. When you experience the agony of dying, you know you’re in the right place. This is the agony that you agreed to go through. That which you have believed you were, throughout all these lifetimes, all the way back to eternity, practically down to the level of the bacteria, needs to be surrendered. All through the evolution of consciousness, that which you believed to be the very core of your existence, you are now asked to surrender.
The fear of nonexistence comes up again. And then comes the Knowingness that it’s safe to lay down your life to God, because you will have the inner knowingness, “All fear is illusion. Walk straight ahead no matter what.” That was the Knowingness that came from many lifetimes ago. That Knowingness has to come through with an absolute certainty from having heard it from that which has walked through the pass. That is why I am telling you this right now. “All fear is illusion.” You lay down your life and surrender it to God. Then, the Splendor of Divinity shines forth as All That Exists now or forevermore. That is the final doorway to the Unknowingness and Allness of Divinity. You thereby have owned your own divinity.
You have no control over your life from that point on. You serve God by serving your fellows and all life. By loving and serving others, you serve God, and they are not different from God, for God is in everything.
A: They only seem obscure to the intellect. They plant the seed, and the aspirant’s spiritual aura incorporates the transmitted energy field of the teacher’s aura. Certain information is transformational in itself. Exposure to high truth initiates a yearning in the psyche. The Buddha made that observation when he said that once a person has heard of enlightened truth, they will never be satisfied with anything less, even though it takes innumerable lifetimes to attain it.
It is very important to understand that any devoted spiritual student can suddenly be at an extremely high level with no advance warning. Thus, all students should be instructed ahead of time as to how to handle very advanced states of consciousness. It is not just a catchy phrase that says that heaven and hell are only one-tenth of an inch apart. You can, in fact, go from the very depths of hell to the most extremely advanced states.
One reason for the seemingly endless delays on the way to Enlightenment is doubt, which should be surrendered as a resistance. It is important to know that it is actually extremely rare for a human to be committed to spiritual truth to the degree of seriously seeking Enlightenment, and those who do make the commitment do so because they are actually destined for Enlightenment.
At this time, spiritual evolution is proceeding at an exhilarating pace, and spiritual information never before available is now readily accessible. The progress of a spiritual student of today is already accelerated and advantaged by access to spiritual information that in past times was limited to the very select few.
Spiritual progress does not follow in convenient, definable, progressive steps, as the Map of Consciousness might seem to imply with its progressive levels. The path is not linear. Unexpectedly, great leaps may very well occur at any time, and all students should have the advantage of knowing the necessary information at certain points along the way. The knowledge that is needed at the “end” is essential right from the “beginning.”
To know what it is necessary to know in order to reach Divine States accelerates progress; otherwise, there is an unconscious resistance of fear due to ignorance. This fear is overcome by the acquisition of the necessary understanding; therefore, there is nothing left to fear, and all fear is an illusion—a Knowingness that is also required at very advanced states. Any student who is serious about spiritual alignment and devotion to God, to Love, to Truth, to fellow humanity, or to the alleviation of human suffering or suffering in all sentient beings is already very far advanced.
Consistent application of any spiritual principle can unexpectedly result in a very major and sudden leap to unanticipated levels. At that point, memory may not even be available, and instead, the Knowingness of Spiritual Truth presents itself silently. Spiritual students should accept the reality that they are already gifted. A serious reader of a book such as this could hardly be otherwise. Divinity knows its own; therefore, to accept that truth is to already feel joy. To not experience joy by understanding this means that it is being resisted. This awareness is reinforced by understanding that, contrary to the dualistic Newtonian paradigm of reality, we are not just the consequence of the past. On the contrary, our present position is due to the attraction of potentiality, because both the past and the future are illusions. Therefore, commitment to Enlightenment now becomes like a magnet pulling us toward it, and the rate of evolution is up to the individual’s willingness to surrender resistances.
Enlightenment is not a condition to be obtained; it is merely a certainty to be surrendered to, for the Self is already one’s Reality. It is the Self that is attracting one to spiritual information.