There is a great deal of work
being done at this time toward the healing of the soul, or the psyche, but
there is little said about the stages of the soul's progress. The human consciousness progresses
through discrete stages and the needs of one stage are quite different from
the needs of another. There is not
a set solution for developmental problems that is effective for individuals at
all stages. The condition of each
person will dictate the necessary change and the required operand. For example, at one stage a
person may require total freedom, while at another a strict pattern will need
to be followed. At each stage, the
world that an individual sees is different with different opportunities and
challenges. The way an individual
responds to and interfaces with each stage will also differ. Sometimes it will be successful and he
will move on, other times he will fail to move on because his responses are
mal-adapted. This is the condition
where a new understanding and approach must be found. Without an adequate knowledge and understanding of these
stages a person is often unwilling to consider the changes that are required,
or unable to adjust to new perceptions. Knowledge is equally important for anyone who is attempting to assist another
in this process. First it is
necessary to accept that stages are normal and a required part of normal growth, sometimes even when they appear to indicate the onset of abnormal conditions.
Language is both an indicator and a
tool. A person may say the same
thing but have an entirely different meaning in a different stage. If a statement is made to individuals
at different stages they may understand totally different things from it. This is the cause of many if not all
human misunderstandings. It often
occurs that two individuals are conversing, and neither understands a word that
the other is saying. With an
understanding of these stages one may form the proper sentences to engage a
person in the world that they see, and speak of that condition. They may also understand what someone
is saying by understanding the context from which it is spoken.
Much has actually been written about
these stages in the past, but since it is found primarily in religious material
it has fallen out of fashion, and been abandoned with the bath water, as it
were. I will attempt to put it
into modern (or post modern) language, although some of the concepts will be
difficult to translate into the current multiplicity of perceptions. I would like to request some patience
in attempting to understand the meaning beneath the words.
Some say the staged are
four, some say seven, and others that they do not end. I will use seven which seems both the
most common and the best defined.
The first three stages deal with the identity, and are therefore stages
of limitation, since the identity is composed of limitations. The fourth seems to be a transition
between the first three and the last three which deal with the heart. Heart here refers to an expanded awareness
beyond normal mind not to the physical organ of that same name. In the first three stages, awareness
which transcends normal thought is experienced as emotion in the last three it
is experienced as awareness or insight.
I will give a very brief description of the stages of the growth of
human awareness and how they progress.
When you were born, your senses were
new, raw and unused. You needed a
reference in order to survive and to unravel the overwhelming barrage coming
from these senses. So you began to
construct an identity. This is not
the sort of work that is done in a day.
This construct developed over many years and proceeded to
become more and more limited, since the purpose of this identity in the
beginning was to sufficiently limit sensory input to allow perception. You now had a pattern where you
approached new experience by creating new
limitations.
At some point, your true
nature became trapped by this construct, causing uncomfortable feelings. Your immediate reaction was to repress
or deny these feelings since they opposed your identity. You could not, however, deny that there
was something that you did not understand, so you began to search for some new
meaning, an answer to this nagging uncertainty. As these feelings grew, your denial grew, and your search
grew. From your perspective at
this time, you were your identity.
You did not remember life before this construct and could not in any way
imagine life without it. In fact
any feeling or thought of life without it was to you identical with death. Yet it was becoming more and more
evident there was something else out there.
At some point you will experience an
identity crisis. When this happens
you will become aware of the existence of your true nature, although you will,
no doubt have another name for it.
You will want to embrace it, but you will be totally unable to abandon
your identity, so you will begin a new construct. In this new model you will be faultless. You will project all of your perceived
inadequacies onto others. You will
become angry at each of the limitations you have invented in order to
survive. You will be like a snake
feverishly working its way out of an old skin that no longer fits. Your new skin will also tighten up and
eventually become painful. This
new construct will begin to show cracks similar to the last. Until a new crisis of identity occurs.
Since you still cannot imagine
a scenario without identity, you will begin another reconstruction. This time, in order to maintain
control, your construct will accept every responsibility with a strict code of
conduct doing what is right and not doing what is wrong. You feel that this is the secret of
control and that it will enable you to survive without any holes or cracks in
your construct.
When even this fails you will
at last be willing to admit to the defeat of the identity and allow your true
nature to emerge. As this new
consciousness grows, you will begin to miss your abandoned identity. This will lead to depression and
grief. As the grief waxes you will
try all the old solutions and more, but eventually you will be compelled to go
through the grieving process to the other side.
This is when the awareness
will move to a new home. It is
variously called, from mind to heart, or from left brain to right brain, or
from earth to heaven. Here grief
will become joy, sorrow will be happiness and anxiety will give way to
contentment. Where you once had
feelings you now have knowledge and insight. You will understand in an instant what you could not write
in a lifetime.
These insights will grow
and you will be more and more astonished as you learn what it means to be
human. What you learn here can be
expressed only through the arts or in actions. You may be sought out for your wisdom, insights and
perspective, but perhaps with little or no appreciation and respect. You may appear eccentric.
There is no need to
describe the remaining stage. If
you arrive you will know, if not it really doesn’t matter. It is who you are and who you will be,
and where you are at peace.
I hope this serves as an
overview as we look at some specifics of each stage. The most useful approach is probably to focus on how to help
another person move from one stage to another. It will help if we see them as common to all and not as some
sort of ranking. Individuals may
regress in response to a life crisis or a bad choice, so all we may do is help
each other where we are in the moment.
The first stage is usually referred
to as search or concupiscence.
Individuals here are searching whether they know it or not. Denial is the strongest characteristic
here since they don’t know that they know, so they search everywhere else. It is important that they look
everywhere. The symbol or sign
that will trigger an awareness might be anywhere. If they confine themselves too much they may miss it, and if
they do nothing to protect themselves they may come to harm. They must remain detached, avoiding
both love and hate, which would mislead them. They must also avoid backbiting which would end the search
before it begins. Thus protected
they must search confidently and patiently knowing that they will eventually
find what they need. You cannot
successfully argue with them. You
can best help them be providing them with new material and experiences, by
listening as they sort things out, and by answering their questions. When finally they glimpse their true
nature they will transform before your eyes.
The second stage is called
love or irascibility. This stage
is characterized by criticism and opposition. Here the individual is attempting perfection, projecting all
faults to others. These are the
individuals who have given the ego a bad name. These are the theosophists. They believe that their new identity is their true self,
free from all limitation. It is
not. They must learn the painful
lesson that life in a comparative world does not allow perfection of this
sort. They must remain until they accept
their own imperfection. Once again
you must not argue, even if they do.
You must not criticize them, since this prevents them from seeing their
own shortcomings. Help them to
talk things through until they see their own position in them. Demonstrate your own ability to accept
error and take responsibility.
Thank them for their criticism, understanding the goodness they
intend. When finally they
understand something of their own condition they will be able to move on.
The third stage is
known as knowledge or inspiration.
This is the last stage of the identity where it is willing to take on
all responsibility in order to maintain control. The individual here no longer tries to be right, but rather
tries to do right. They must
eventually learn that control is not and never was theirs. Having an illusion of control has been
useful and even necessary in the past but now they are able to conceive of a
life without it. They will learn
this best if you let them practice this illusion and not obstruct them. They must see for themselves and cannot
be told. It is not confidence but
faith that will allow them to relax so that their true self may emerge.
The fourth stage
is unity or benevolence. It has
been referred to as nirvana. Here
the illusions are lifted the constructs are gone and the individual is able to
perceive the world by its true nature.
Once again the birth person, now able to understand. This is the death once feared now
beloved. Conflict is gone. All is
from a single place. The ransom
far greater than the expectation.
Ambition has no meaning beyond service. The individual here no longer feels needed, not necessary
any more; beginning to miss the illusion, beginning to miss the limits. Depression of a sort, because happiness
remains, begins to emerge. All
things must be grieved when lost even the identity. Until this grief is gone through contentment will be denied. When at last it ends pure joy is its
replacement. A gentle wind blows
through and a new home is found.
The fifth stage is
contentment. This is the beginning
of the stages of the heart.
See the
world grind slowly by
from this new abode
where a thousand things occur at
once
and not a single one untold.
Only a poet may speak of this place
in a way you can understand.
Only for artists and singers
this
beautiful inner land.
Outsiders
are barred from even a peek.
Though this be the place that all of them seek.
