The spiritual landscape has been evolving over the years. And this reflects the evolution of consciousness that’s underway.
When I was a young meditator, many spiritual circles placed an excessive emphasis on renunciation and withdrawing from the world. The Dark Ages and Shankara‘s monastic revival had swung the pendulum towards a monks path when most of us are householders. Gradually, a more balanced view emerged, but some remain in an overemphasis of escaping the world.
So few people had moved beyond awakening then that many teachers didn’t talk about more. That became a message that awakening was it. There was a lot of resistance to talk of further stages. I was invited to speak on stages at a conference, but I was dubious that the audience would be receptive. Then more people began experiencing more, and the message became more accepted. I presented at SAND in 2015. Then, in a similar presentation in 2017, attendees warmly received me. I published Our Natural Potential (on stages) then, too.
As more and more lived higher stages, the message began to come out about coming back down and in, about embodiment. At some point, that process comes down to what is unresolved here, and we’re called to healing work. For me, this came first as energy healing, then later more directly as somatic work.
It’s become clear to me that doing somatic work sooner will improve quality of life and make the awakening process easier, particularly the embodiment part. Facing our humanity will also make the process more real. What’s the point of exalted states of being if we just use them as an escape? If we don’t do the work, can we really expect to be done with human life? What’s unresolved is what’s going to draw us back again for completion.
The idea is to optimize your process so it’s smooth and productive, while allowing for the cycles of time and our humanity. Don’t assume that what’s unconscious doesn’t exist.
Davidya