Here and there, I’ve mentioned more to the picture than stages of development in consciousness. That enlightenment is not a goal but the platform for living and further growth.
When we understand the basics, we come to see the same pattern repeating itself in the layers of creation. For example, there is a one into three into 7 process of becoming. We have 7 primary chakras and there are 7 primary layers to creation, for example.
While it depends a little on how you count the colours in a rainbow, the principle holds.
We also see this in the stages of development:
7 stages of Personal Development
(Age) Alexander model / Piaget model
(0-2) Body & Senses / Sensori-Motor
(2-7) Desires & Emotions / Pre-Operations
(7-11) Mind / Concrete Operations
(11-18) Intellect / Formal Operations
(18-25) Feelings & Intuition / Post-Formal Ops
(25+) Ego (adult) [Myness]
? Universal [Amness > Isness]
7 stages in the Development of Consciousness
1 – Self Realization or Cosmic Consciousness
1a – Refined or God Consciousness
2 – Unity Consciousness, Oneness or Non-duality
2a – Refined Unity and God Realization
3 – Brahman or Beyond Consciousness
3a – Refined Brahman
3b – Parabrahman
What now becomes apparent is there is 7 stages steps in an unfolding of Pure Divinity (ParaBrahman).
This is a preliminary outline that will be subject to revision. Keep in mind this is beyond the dynamics of consciousness so is not “experienced” the way we may be familiar with. This is also well beyond our first contact with the divine.
Update: it’s now become clear these are better framed as 7 steps in the first stage of ParaBrahman. They are a preparation for the body to support later development, much as the kundalini rise supported awakening later. See the article ParaBrahman, Stage 2.
1 – pure divinity first known
2 – divine shaktis, sutras or threads
3 – divine power
4 – divine love
5 – divine causality
6 – divine knowledge
7 – divine divinity
I’m sure I’ll have much more to say on the subject over time. We’ll see how this refines.
Davidya
Last Updated on May 31, 2020 by Davidya
ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh that is sooo exciting!!!
looking forward what you have to say about the 7 stages of parabrahman.
……do you have already some words to talk about “divine divinity”?
(laughs) well – given that people are already confusing the words about basic ParaBrahman with other stages, I will be curious to see what can be said.
And no – the list came more as instruction than experience and remains to unfold further on various fronts.
Has some deeper knowledge revealed itself about the cells of the body awakening to their own divinity etc. since the last “further stages” article?
Nothing useful yet. Just really nice. 🙂
🙂
Hi David,
Do you know how the light or deathless body (or whatever we can call it) occurs?
Does it occur naturally when enough karma is let go, or is some “special” process required?
In the tantra of buddhism I have read something about particular visualisations concerning the central channel, but I was wondering if it also can happen by itself.
Thank you.
Hi N
Well – it depends some on what they’re talking about. People can experience various things as a “light body” and may confuse their experience with anothers description of something else. It’s not uncommon for people to adopt techniques designed for one thing and apply it for something else. It’s partly why many traditions kept advanced techniques secret – so they’d be applied at the right time.
We all have layers beneath our surface appearance (koshas). Some, like the bliss body is also called celestial or light body. That one is semi-universal and may be experienced as eternal or deathless. The physical and emotional body come and go while more subtle layers continue through lifetimes.
Such bodies are always with is. They are revealed when enough clarity develops, although some people may not be as visual so they become aware of them more through sound (pranava) or feel (bliss)(in the case of the bliss body).
But there is also another layer to this. What we might call embodiment. This is when deeper levels are lived more and more in the surface levels.
In all cases, these are naturally developing things that may be enhanced by appropriate techniques. However, in the current time the vast majority of teachers don’t live this stuff and the understanding of when to apply what has been lost.
Most of the progress these days is happening through natural development supported by basic techniques like I mention.
We cannot say it happens “by itself” but it happens if we set the stage well and get out of the way. 🙂
We’re on the horizon of a blossoming of understanding and depth beyond imagination. But we have to be patient with the process and let it unfold in a natural way.
Hi David,
Thanks.
It was called “the pure illusory body” and “vajra body” which means “a deathless body where he or she wil never ageing, sickness or contaminated rebirth”. So I thought it was like when people gon on to live as long as the want.
Here the say that it can be accomplished through visualising the central channel and an “indestructible drop”. This sounded very complicated and I wondered if the same body would arise throught TM for instance where complex visualisations aren’t a part of the practice (as far as I know). You said in your interview with Rich that you might have the chance to stay in your body as long as you want when your karma is over, so I thought you might have had an understanding of the process revealed.
Of course it is very much just mind candy for someone at my stage, but interesting nonetheless :).
By the way “by itself” wasn’t supposed to be understood like we don’t need to do anything. I’m not one of those ;).
Hi N
Sounds like the later embodiment type. Just keep in mind that the vast majority of such writings are translations of old texts. When the translator has not experienced what is being described, it can lead to awkward interpretations which we then amplify.
(I’ve been guilty of that on this blog)
The quality of translations has improved considerably in the last 20 years but there is still wide variations in quality.
The central channel would most likely be sushumna (to use a kundalini term) and the drop either a point in the heart or makara, just above the 6th. But it could be something else.
Visualizing doesn’t necessarily help you experience something as it may create concepts that interfere with the actuality.
I see it more like puberty. If you culture growth, natural processes unfold on their own. Manipulative techniques tend to arise when a tradition loses the means to connect to source. Or traditional techniques used to culture specific things are turned into attempts to manipulate experience.
(laughs) That was a reference to something I’ve been told by a jyotishi. That I’d have a choice. We’ll see what actually unfolds. 🙂
Yes, the drop is described to be at the level of the heart and is supposed to be moved into the central channel. In case you’re curious it is written by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso in “Modern Buddhism: The Path of Compassion and Wisdom – Volume 2 Tantra”.
“If you culture growth, natural processes unfold on their own.”. Yes, that was what I wondered.
Ah OK, I’ll cross my fingers for you :).
🙂
I’m much less familiar with Buddhist texts – just a broad familiarity.
I’ve updated the last section of this article here:
https://davidya.ca/2017/04/03/the-structure-of-divinity/