The Journey Continues

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This is a teaching on levels of consciousness. All levels exist but each person is focused on their level that is aligned with the Divine timing best for their evolutionary path. 

Soul consciousness:

“I am an individual expression of Divine Love, and I consciously practice embodying it.”

Monadic consciousness:

“Love is what I am, and my individual life is an expression within it.”

Notice the center of consciousness. Soul is still in the body, but Monad is outside of the body.

At Soul-centered consciousness:

“I am a Soul having an embodied experience.”

At increasingly Monadic consciousness:

“The embodied Soul is an expression within a consciousness larger than this body.”

The body is still here.

The Soul is still here.

The personality is still here.

But the perceived center of identity (at Monadic consciousness) is no longer confined to the embodied individual. 

Maharshi and Yogananda increasingly spoke in Monadic terms:

“There is only the Self.”

“God is the true doer.”

“The body is an instrument.”

“Consciousness is universal.”

Another Monadic expression: "The universe is looking out these eyes"

Not my eyes, "these eyes"

The identity shifts to the Monad over the form.

The form is part of the experience but no longer the center of consciousness.

At ordinary identification, attention tends to run upward from the bottom:

“I am this body experiencing the universe.”

With Monadic consciousness, the perspective reverses:

“The universe/consciousness is experiencing through this body.”

Soul: “I am the consciousness expressing through this form.”

Monad: “This form is an expression within consciousness."

Soul = Point

Monad = Field

Soul consciousness is centered at a point.

Monadic consciousness is centered in the field.

This is a shift from personal to transpersonal.

Here are the levels:

  

The Parable of the Empty Boat

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You may recognize yourself in this story. What happens around you is often shaped by what’s happening within you.

A monk wishing to meditate away from others takes a boat and goes to the middle of a lake. He closes his eyes and begins to meditate. After a few hours of uninterrupted silence, he suddenly feels and hears a bumping of another boat hitting his.

He keeps on with his practice, with his eyes still closed, slightly disturbed though by the interruption of silence. He then feels the bump again. Now his thoughts rise and an irritation stirs within him. His anger rises to the point that he cannot contain it any longer. He is ready to shout at the boatman "who dares to disturb my meditation!"

However, when he opened his eyes, all that he sees is an empty boat, just floating in the middle of the lake… At that moment, the monk achieves self-realization and understands that anger is within him; it simply needs to hit an external object to provoke it.

After that, whenever the monk met someone or something that irritated or provoked his anger, he remembered: “It is just an empty boat...The anger is inside me."

Love-Wisdom Balance

Love-Wisdom balance is the middle way through life’s experiences.

Reflect on how love without wisdom can lead to emotional attachment or enabling.

Reflect on how wisdom without love can become cold or isolating.

Contemplate each life experience.

Ask yourself:

Where did I express love without wisdom?

Where did I express wisdom without love?

How can I respond to each life experience with greater Love-Wisdom balance?

How to reach Enlightenment

Offered in love and light, these are the principles of the path. Observe them, apply them, and realize the truth within your own heart and awareness.

• Master the lessons of duality, free will, and the consequences of choices.
• Develop a sense of self-awareness, self-reflection, and personal responsibility.
• Cultivate empathy, compassion, and understanding of others.
• Let go of attachments to material possessions, ego, and external validation.
• Develop a sense of unity and connection with others, recognizing that we are all one.