No r equir ement s or demands:  T here are no required memberships,
dues, regulations, oaths, rules, or conditions. 9 . Noncontr olling:  S piritua l purity has no interest in the personal lives of
aspirants, or in dress, sex lives,  economics, family patterns, lifestyles,
or dietary habits. 10 . Fr ee of for ce or intimidation:  T here is no bra inwashing, adu lation of
leaders, training rituals, indoctrinations, or intrusions into private life. 11 . Nonbinding:  There are no regulations, laws, edicts, contracts, or
pledges. 12 . Fr eedom:  P articipants are free to come and go without persuasion,
coercion, intimidation, or con sequences. There is no hierarchy;
instead, there is voluntary fulfillment of practical necessities and
duties. 13 . Commonality:  Rec ognition is a consequence of what one has become
rather than a result of ascribed titles, adjectives, or trappings. 14 . Inspirational:  T ruth eschews and avoids glam orization, seduction, and
theatrics. 15 . Nonmaterialistic:  T ru th is  devoid  of need for worldly wealth, prestige,
pomp, or edifices. 16 . Self-fulfilling:  T ruth is already  total and complete and has no need to
proselytize or gain adherents, followers, or “sign up members.”
17 . Detached:  There is noninvolvement in world af fairs. 18 . Benign:  T ru th is identif iable along a progressive gradient. It has no
“opposite” and therefore no “enemies” to castigate or oppose. 19 . Nonintentional:  T ruth does not intervene or  have an agenda to
propose, inflict, or promulgate. 20 . Nondualistic:  All transpires by virtue of intrinsic (karmic) propensity
within the field, by which potentiality manifests as actuality rather thanby cause and ef fect. 21 . T ranquility and peace:  There are no “issues” or partialities. There is no
desire to  change others or imp ose on society . The ef fect of higher
ener gies is innate and not dep endent on propagation or ef fort. God
does not need help any more than gravity needs the “help” of an
apple’ s falling of f the tree. 22 . Equality:  This is expressed in reverence for all life in all its
expressions and  merely avoids that which is deleterious rather than
opposing it. 23 . Nontemporality:  Life is realized  to be eternal and physicality to be a
temporality . Life is not subject to death. 24 . Beyond pr oof:  T hat which is  “provable” is linear , limited, and a
product of intellectualization and mentation. Reality needs no
agreement. Reality is not an acquisition but instead is a purely
spontaneous, subjective realization when the positionalities of the
dualistic ego are surrendered. 25 . Mystical:  The origination of truth is a spontaneous ef fulgence,
radiance, and illumination, which is the Revelation that replaces the
illusion of a separate individual self, the ego, and its mentation. 26 . Ineffable:  Not capable  of definition. Radical subjectivity is
experiential. It is a condition t hat replaces the former ego-centered
condition. W ith this event, context replaces content, devoid of
temporality and beyond time. Reality does not exist in time, of it,
beyond it, or out side of it, and it has no relationship to that which is an
artifice of mentation. It is there fore beyond all nouns, adjectives, or
verbs, transitive or intransitive. 27 . Simplistic:  O ne sees the intrinsic beauty and perfection of all that
exists beyond appearance and form. 28 . Affirmative:  T ruth is beyond opinion or provability . Confirmation is
purely by its subjective awareness; however , it is identifiable by
consciousness-calibration techniques.29 . Nonoperative:  T ruth does not “do” anything o r “cause” anything; it is
everything. 30 . Invitational:  As contrasted with promotional or persuasive. 31 . Nonpr edictive:  B ecause Reality is nonlinear , i t cannot be localized or
encoded in restriction of form , such as secret messages, codes,
numbers, and inscriptions, or hidden in runes, stones, the dime nsions
of the pyramid, DNA, or the no stril hairs of the camel. T ruth has no
secrets. The Reality of God is o mnipresent and beyond codifica tion or
exclusivity . Codes are indicative of human imagination and not the
capriciousness of Divinity . 32 . Nonsentimental:  Emotionality is based on perception. Compassion
results from the discernment of truth. 33 . Nonauthoritarian:  There are no rules or dictates to be followed. 34 . Nonegoistic:  T eachers are respected but reject personal adulation or
specialness. 35 . Educational:  Provide s information in a variety of formats and ensures
availability . 36 . Self-supporting:  Neither mercenary nor materialistic. 37 . Fr eestanding:  Complete without dependence on external or historical
authorities. 38 . Natural:  Devoid of induced, altered status of consciousness or
manipulations of ener gies by artificial exercises, postures, breathing,
or d ietary rituals (that is, non reliance on form or physicality; no
invoking of entities or “others”). 39 . Complete:  Devoid of exploitation or gain. 40 . Nonviolent:  Not coercive, benign, nonthreatening. Spiritual truth is universal. The  same essential truth has been taught by
the enli ghtened mystics, saints, sages, and avatars who have appeared
throughout histo ry , in dif ferent r eligions and cultures, separated by dif ferent
sides of the globe and across many centuries. No person or religion orgroup is  the sole possessor or purveyor of truth. A truth is true at all times
in all places, in dependent of cultures, customs, opinions, pers onalities, 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 Se lf of the teacher , whose state of Self-realization serves  to activate
the s tudent’ s own inner awakeni ng. T rue teachers humbly acknowledge that
divine states are a gift of G race and therefore do not of f er spiritual
teachings for a price beyond covering expenses required for dissemination. Integrous teache rs and or ganizations are not interested in contr olling the
personal lives of students, promotionalism, gaining followers, or
entertaining peo ple with theatrical presentations. Their integr ity requires
them to share t he gift of Real ization they were given, with the unique
capacities bestowed them, but they have no attachment to the response;
what peo ple 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 “traini ngs.” Commitment is to the core of truth
itself, n ot 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-suf ficient. The teachers, teachings, or groups found attractive or meaningful depend
on the karmic propensities and evolution of the seeker at any given time. Dif ferent teachers and teaching s will appeal to dif ferent seekers and be
appropriate for dif ferent life tas ks. What is best for one person or situation
may not  be best for another . Just because a teaching calibrate s at 600 or
higher does not mean it is the most appropriate or helpful; wha t matters is
that a teaching or teacher calibrates over 200, the level of integrity . SPIRITUAL EDUCA TION
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 becomesidetracked by the seduction of attractive, glamorized aberrations away
from truth. These turn out to be fictional or romanticized fa ntasies that
attract the naïve person’ s inne r child. Spiritual fairy tales a bound and
impress the credulous, for who m anything labeled “spiritual” is imbued
with a magical glamour . T o go through that stage is routine during initial,
uncritical enthusiasm and exploration. The primary problem initially i s the lack of awareness of the dif ference
between the truly spiritual reality and the astral, paranormal, or supernatural
domains. T o the naïve, thes e latter alternatives seem amazing and
impressive. A “right-on” psychi c reading is indeed impressive to a novice. The majority of popular best-selling supposedly spiritual books are actually
fictional, and their average leve l of truth is at calibration level 190, as are
slick-appearing “spiritual” magazines that glamorize fallacious fantasies of
“other d imensions,” and so on. T he paradox is that the appeal is to the naïve
seeker who has not yet mastered this dimension , much less other fanciful
ones. Mystical “powe rs” that are g enuine are not exhibited, much less
promoted or sold for a price. Im itations of the real are a diversion that have
sidetracked and deceived many naïve spiritual students and even branches
of m ajor religions (T antric sex  and so forth). Artificial means are ego
inflating, as is denoted by the mere fact that one is attracted to th em 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 th e gifts of God can be imitated, the for gery is not the genuine. This can be ascertained by consciousness calibration. The genuine siddhis
(for example, clairvoyance, clairaudience, psychometry , telepa thy , and the
like) sta rt to emer ge at calibration level 540 and become predominant in the
range of  level 570. The promoted imitations calibrate from 155 to the lower
400s. No table al so is that no avatar or great teacher has ever re commended
the seek ing of the supernatural , as it arises of itself according to Divine
W ill.
Miraculous healings and other phenomena emer ge spontaneously and
nonvolitionally i n the fields of 540-plus. It is important to note that there is
no “healer” or “doer ” of such miracles; they emer ge spontaneously from the
impersonal fiel d as a conseq uence of karmic propensities  and localconditions. Imitations of the miraculous are easy to spot, a s 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 bewar e 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; ener gy-
manipulation techniques; programs and workshops for instant
enlightenment o r psychic powers (usually for a price); hold ing strange
poses for long periods of time ; blood and other body cleansers, exotic
pur ges, o r breathing exercises; and so on. Altered states are not the same as
divine s tates. Alpha-wave train ing, for example, is therapeutic but not a
spiritual state. There are astral realms and universes without number , each with its own
teachers, master s, 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 w ithin and is available b y ordinary means, without needing to be
accessed through a healer , medium, or psychic; numerology; or a channeled
entity . SELF-REALIZA TION AND ENLIGHTENMENT OF THE
MYSTIC
The truly great teachers and teachings ef fulge from s tates of
consciousness a t 600 and highe r . In religious history , the myst ic has been
both rev ered and persecuted. The mystic’ s authority stem s from the
Presence, the Divine “I” of the Self. This has been viewed as sacrilege by
authoritarian rel igions whose beliefs are limited to a transcendent God only;
mystics have thus been tried as heretics, imprisoned, excommunicated,
burned at the st ake, beheaded, or even crucified by religious authorities. Most my stics re tire from society . Some, by virtue of great ef fort, return to
the w orld but are silent about their inner state. A few mystics a re 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 b eyond personho od, for in that state, there is no longer a
“me.” T he myst ic seldom uses f irst-person pronouns and then only to assist
others who cannot grasp langu aging 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 w itness observes and then reports back the
observations wit hout 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 th e woods, one is aware that the trees are
aware. All life is shimmering fo rth, worshipful of the presence of Divinity
and very conscious and aware o f it. The universe is conscious. The tree is
vibrantly aware that it is in the presence of Divinity . Because o f its nature,
because of the s ource of its creation, which is the same source a s one’ s own
creation, the tree knows its own, for life reverences life. T echnically , this state begins at level 600, a state of infinite Peace. In
Sanskrit, it is called Satchitananda . T he 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, i llumination,
stillness, and completion. Peace (cal. 600) is a state of revelation, all-
inclusive and totally intrinsic, as it stems from within. It is motio nless as the
essence of Divinity unfolding an all-encompassing eme r gence and
ef fluence. It is also silent and wordless. T ransfigured, 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 descript ion, there is no “me” that is separate from “you,” and
separateness disappears in the Revelation of the Radiance of Oneness. What th e world calls “Enlightenment,” then, is a state in which the
former p ersonal 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 ha s been replaced by the n onlinear , and the discrete has be en replaced
by th e u nlimited. T ime has become Allness and F oreverness. Intention hasbeen replaced by spontaneity , and the limiting perception of duality has
been rem oved as the Radiance of Oneness illuminates the Rea lity and the
T ruth of nonduality . The esse nce 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 ord inary mind is the thinking mind, and it thinks in per ceptions,
judgments, and definitions. It ha s 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 inte grated, and a person can spend a whole
lifetime studying religious history and theology . In the mystic state, the
understanding comes about in a totally dif ferent, nonlinear way . It does not
come ab out as a result of reason . Rather , the understanding is an  ef fulgence,
a rev elation that requires no thinkingness at all and not even a ny religious
knowledge. The Mystical Experience
Previous books, I: Realit y and Subjectivity  and The Eye of the I: Fr om
Which Nothing Is Hidden , describe the unusual states of consciousness
experienced in this lifetime. Certain occurrences are noted here because
they exh ibit cha racteristics of the mystic. One major event for  me was an
experience in a snowbank as a teenager . As a child, I was qui te 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 W isconsin 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 . T o get out of the wind, I crushed
my w ay into the  snowbank and quickly dug out a little cave. I had plenty of
physical ener gy 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 ou t of nowhere came a pro found, Infinite Radiance of Love beyond
all im agination, beyond human l ove, timeless and eternal, no be ginning andno end. It was c loser to me tha n my own self—closer to wha t 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 th at s tate, you realize that what you are is Eternal, Infinite Love. The
Reality of that which you are is not dif ferent from Infinite, absolutely
Perfect Love, with no beginning and no end. That is the Revelation of the
T ruth of  your own existence. That is the truth of everyone’ s exi stence. 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 wo rld, people read this and then start looking
for a snowbank to experience i t, as if the place “caused” it to happen. Or
they ma ke a “holy” snowbank w here 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, beyo nd all learning, having nothing to do with
religion or theology . There is no connection between the line ar 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 ca pacity 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 t imes. Y ou may find yourself completely
incapacitated, si tting there in a state of bliss on a rock, unable to get up,
move, o r leave. The police may come and cart you of f 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 tea ching function is referred to as a sage. Self-realization, on the Map of
Consciousness, encompasses the levels 700 and up, with Raman a 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 percep tions of the
world are exactly the way the world is. But the sage sees beyond
perception, whi ch 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 a n oppressor
causing harm to the innocent on e. In contrast, the mystic sees the unity and
the truth beyond causation, beyond perception, which is emer gence . Emer gence 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  inheren tly compassion ate 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 i s 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 fo r all. It did
not start, get louder and louder , and creep up my legs. Sudd enly , out of
nowhere, I was in a totally dif ferent realm and it was beatific. The only
reason I  left that state was to re lieve my father ’ s agony . He ca me 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 n ot breathed
again. H e might have blamed hi mself for my death. So, out of lo ve for him,
I br eathed 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 a ll existence,
and the Radiance makes it dif ficult to function. One learns how to live with
it in a s eminormal fashion. W ith concentration, one can fool most of the
people most of the time—looking at them respectfully and sayin g, “Oh yes. Uh-huh. That’ s right. Y eah. 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 i s the inner path. It arises from within. A
religious education can set the s tage for it, but it does not cause it. One canstudy theology day in and day out, and that study will not necessarily
precipitate an inner spiritual rea lization. However , if there is an interest in
religion, plus a certain motivation, the inner path becomes activated. The
great saints of C hristianity demonstrate that scriptural study , w orship, and
the d evotion to r eligion can end up as a mystical inner awarenes s. Suddenly
the word s dissol ve in the Realization of the inner T ruth. They call it Unio
mystica , the mystical union of self and Divinity , a state of Divine Love. DIVINE ST A TES
This radical subjectivity may reveal itself as Agape , wh ich is the
lovingness for all existence. Bef ore you get to Agape, however ,  there is the
state of Unconditional Love at 540. It  shows itself a s a lovingness for
nature, f or all people, a sensitivity to the beauty of everything that exists,
and a lovingness for all creatures in the animal kingdom. Y ou love one
animal j ust as easily as another . It is a lovingness for all life and all its
expressions. Go d is the source of all that is, without exception (c alibrates as
“true”). Everyth ing 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,
Brahman1,000+
A vatar 985
Allness 855
God (Self) as Logos 850V oid 850
Nothingness 850
Oneness 850
Omniscience 850
Omnipresence 850
Omnipotence 850
Reality as Consciousness 850
Reality as A wareness 850
Self as Beyond Existence or
Nonexistence840
T eacher of Enlightenment 800
Arhat 800
“I”/Self-Divinity as Allness
(Beatific V ision)750
Sage—Self as God Manifest 700
Self as Existence 680
“I Am” 650
Enlightenment 600
Reality as W itness/Observer 600
Sainthood 575
Reading of such states naturally ignites an interest in experiencing them. The Ma p 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, a nd the teachings in the calibration range of the 500s (L ove) have a
major influence. Although the perfection of Love to the level of
Unconditional Love at calibrati on 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 evolvein consc iousness to the high 50 0s are termed “saints,” thereby serving as
models for humanity as a practical goal. The spiritual ecstasy of the very
high 500s is a lso recorded (for example, documented exp eriences of
Ramakrishna, the Baal Shem T ov , St. Francis of Assisi, and others) and
thereby given credence and acceptance as a possible reality fo r those who
are exceptionally motivated or gifted. At consc iousness level 500, there is a major shift of paradigm. Mentation
gives way to i ntuition, linear causality to nonlinear synchro nicity , and
external ef fort to subjective rea lization. From consciousness level 600 and
up, the spiritual reality is desc ribed as inef fable or mystical. Its nondual
quality ( that is, “no mind,” or “ Mind”) makes such a condition dif ficult to
language or conceptualize and therefore is seemingly limited as an actual
experiential pos sibility . Advance d students are familiar with the  writing s of
the great sages w hose work is c haracterized by the Sanskrit terms Advaita
and V edanta , about which there is considerable information available
through the writings of recent well-known teachers, such as Ramana
Maharshi or Nisar gadatta Maharaj. On a similar level are the teachings of
great, w ell-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. Credenc e as to the
actuality and reality of Enlightenment is supported by the rather extensive
literature about such states by w ell-known scholars, such as W illiam James,
and later scholars of the Zen tradition, such as D. T . Suzuki and Alan W atts. The dif ficulty in describing or explaining such states is simply  that the
consciousness le vel of the intel lect is limited to the 400s and includes the
presumption of cause and ef fect. Though the descriptions are linear , the
states themselves are nonlinear and thus can be alluded to but not accurately
described in familiar language. D espite the limitation of accurate depiction,
the r eality of such states is universally recognized, and most r ecently , 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, ex plicable,
or possib le of “acquisition” by the mind/intellect dismays spiritual seekers;
thus, su ch states may seem unreachable and therefore not pr actical as a
goal. On the contrary , in ac tuality , advanced states are powerfullyexperiential bec ause the Reality that they confirm and reflect is already a
fact consequent to the very obvious actuality that you already exist . Thus,
every sp iritual s tudent already has met the first requirement, an d it is only
necessary to add motivation and  commitment. Thus, the only r equirements
are, first, to exis t, then to have heard of Enlightenment, and the n to seek it
as a  rea lizable goal. What makes it seem dif ficult is the deart h of simple
information and clarification, fo r experientially the way is innately simple,
although at times seemingly ard uous. 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 ef fect,
and stud ents con ceive of themselves as being driven (that is, implying inner
willpower and so forth) instead  of the reality that they are ac tually being
attracted by their future destiny , like an iron filing to the magnet. Comfort and confidence can be  derived from a verifiable realit y that the
rare individuals who are actuall y attracted to Enlightenment as a life goal
are s o because th at is already th eir destiny (calibrates as true). For the same
reason, only future golfers would be taking golf lessons. Q&A
Q: Wher e does one begin the sear ch for spiritual truth, Self-r ealization,
and Enlightenment? A:  It is sim ple. Begin with who and what you are. All truth is found
within. Use verified teachings as a guide. Q: How does the inner path differ fr om traditional r eligious
observance? A:  The  emphasis is on the inner experiential subjective realization and
internal validation of spiritual truth. In contrast, religions often require
memorizing ecc lesiastical doctrines, learning about their historical or
mythological origins and sources, along with the citation of authority ,
precedent, and illustrious figure s and contributors. There tend to be variousregulations, 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). W ithin the domain
of religion, it is  the mystics who calibrate the highest, by virtue of their
direct, inner realization of T ruth. Q: What personality characteristics ar e favorable? A:  C haracteristica lly , devotees tend to be introspective, thou ghtful,
reflective, curious, responsible, and attentive. There is usually an aversion
to v iolence, 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 . Q: What about daily life? A:  Spi ritual devotion is a contin uous inner lifestyle that incorporates
constant watchful awareness. The process is self-rewarding and,
paradoxically , this results in greater benefit and enjoyment  of formal
religious partici pation 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. W ith inner awareness , religious guilt and preoccupation with sin
diminish, and instead, you ch oose positive options, rather than being
controlled by negative program s resulting in shame, fear , and guilt. (It is
well to note that the level of Gu ilt is at the bottom of the Map, while Joy is
at th e top.) Fulf illment of potential is rewarding and gratifyin g, which in
turn progressive ly reinforces motivation. Self-honesty brings g reater inner
freedom as well as adaptational expertise and flexibility . It is not necessary
to w ithdraw from the world b ut instead to recontextualize it. Spiritualevolution resul ts in greater capability due to the advan cement 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. Q: Inner spiritual work seems to r equir e discipline and endeavor . A:  These requirem ents are activated by intention. Inner work be comes
powered by an unexpected mom entum as each positive step in creases the
likelihood and ease of many m ore, like rolling a snowball downhill. T o
for give one person makes it easier and more likely to for give another and
another . Q: How do you transcend the ego? A:  Y ou begin by letting go of wanting to control aversions and
attractions. Y ou let go of all wa ntingness. In this way , you eve ntually will
transcend the experiencer , which is the core of the ego. Ev erything is
happening spon taneously 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 jum ps in and claims to be the author of experience. T o tra nscend 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. Y ou bec ome the  witness to life’ s  emer gence in each moment. Y o u are not
the c ause. Y ou a re not the doer . Y ou are not the perpetrator . Y ou  are not the
victim. Y ou drop all the concepts. Y ou are not any of those things. It’ s easy
to becom e conscious that you a re the witness of phenomena, the witness. From th at state, it is easy to mo ve into the realms of Light, Love, and the
Radiance of the Self, in which everything is happening spo ntaneously . These are the s tates of illumination. All that exists shines forth as the
Radiance of Divinity . At that point, the mind falls silent in awe.Q: Y ou say that few people ever transcend the level of Reason, and that
the mind is the gr eatest block to Enlightenment. What do you
r ecommend as a way to get beyond it? A:  T he good new s is that the mind is already 99 percent silent . If 99
percent of the m ind weren’ t silent, you wouldn’ t even know what you are
thinking. It’ s because of the si lence 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 . Y ou’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  o f silence out of which the co ntent
emer ges. Ego identifies with content. Spirit is context, which is silence. The min d is like a giant football  stadium where everyone has go ne home
and you ’re the only one in the e ntire stadium. Over in the corn er , there’ s a
small ra dio play ing, and you get focused on that radio, and you say , “This is
a no isy stadium.” Y ou think your mind is noisy , because you’re focused on
the 1 percent, w hich you think of as “me.” It isn’ t the mind that’ s an
obstruction to Enlightenment; i t’ s your identification  with the working of
the m ind as “me .” Y ou think, That’ s w ho I am . Th at 1 percent  has various
devices to keep you hypnotized. It likes to politicize, moralize, analyze,
romanticize, cr iticize, idealize, emotionalize, dramatize, h ypothesize,
theologize, fant asize, catastrophize, and so on. That’ s all the content of
mind. The silence is the conte xt. The relationship between content and
context is what spiritual work i s all about. In meditative or contemplative
style, you constantly surrender all content, as it arises. W e surrender to God;
we do so in the interest of context. Q: Beyond the states of Enlightenment and Self-r ealization, you have
described the state of “Nothingness,” classically called the “V oid.” Is
ther e any pr eparation? A:  Mi sinterpretati ons of the teac hings of the Buddha misidentify the
meaning of “V oid” and identify the Nothingness/V oid as the ultimate state,
which it decidedly is not, as de termined by both consciousness-calibration
research and subjective experience. In t raditional spiritual languaging, each of these advanced levels is
“guarded” by the “dragons” of a  duality . This is especially true at level 850,where th e presenting limitation to be transcended is the conun drum of the
seeming opposites/alternatives of whether the ultimate Reality is Allness
versus Nothingness, or is Existence versus Nonexistence. The V oid of No thingness calibrates at 850 and is the end point of the
pathway of negation that denies the reality of every thing  or any thing  (that
is, the linear form or “thingness” as attachment). The error that follows is
the p resumption  that the transce ndence of all form is the sole c ondition of
Buddhahood. This is an easy m istake to make, because experientially , the
condition of the V oid is eno rmously impressive. As it unfolds, it is
inef fable, infinit e, timeless, One, all-encompassing, still, silent, unmoving,
and strangely inclusive of the “ awareness of nonawareness” that precludes
even beingness or existence. T his state is definitely and ex perientially ,
without question, beyond dualit y . There is neither subject n or obje ct; there
is nothin g left to surrender and  no one left to surrender; thus, it indeed
seems to be the  ultimate state itself. Another dif ficulty 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 V oid (Nothingness) were the ultimate reality , it would be a
permanent cond ition, and there would be no entity to report it. However , it
is no t, and ther efore, sooner or later , one leaves the V oid and returns to
conscious existence. Next occurs the subjective experiential phenomenon of
suddenly emer ging into Existence from the oblivion of the V oid. (In this
lifetime, the occurrence for me was at age three, as described in  the “About
the A uthor” section. Suddenly , o ut of Nothingness and nonawareness, there
was the shock of not only Exis tence but also the discovery of  physicality
and that  a body accompanied t he return from Nothingness to Beingness. Thus, in this lif etime, the dilemma at calibration level 850 w as initially
presented strong ly in early life, and it recurred later , at which time it was
rejected and transcended. It took 38 years to resolve.) The Kno wingness needed to transcend this level is that Divine Love is
also nonlinear and without subje ct, object, form, conditionality , or location. The limitation (incompleteness) of the V oid 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 als o nonlinear ,
and that  spiritual love is not an attachment. The error of the pathway ofnegation is to misidentify and refuse Love because, in it s ge neral, or dinary
human e xperience, it is a limitat ion and an attachment (between a “me” and
a “you” or an “it”). In contrast, Divine Love is predominant, powerful, and overwhelming,
and is the prima ry quality or essence of the Presence. It is pr ofound and
unconditional, w ith no subject or object. It is not an emotio nality but a
condition or a s tate that is libe rating rather than limiting. The V oid (cal. 850) is compar able 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. Q: What is the final step? A:  E ventu ally , 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 s tates. 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. Y ou’ve let go of
everything this world cherishes, surrendered it all to God. Now , what do
you have left to surrender to God? Y our very life. In that moment, you
realize, I have nothing left. I surr ender my life to Thee, O Lor d . W ith that, there is a terrible fe ar of dying. When you exper ience 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, al l the way back to eternity , practically down
to th e level of  the bacteria, n eeds 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 fea r of nonexistence comes up again. And then comes the
Knowingness th at it’ s safe to lay down your life to God, because you will
have the inner k nowingness, “A ll fear is illusion. W alk straig ht ahead nomatter what.” That was the Knowingness that came from many lifetimes
ago. Th at Knowingness has to come through with an absolute certainty
from ha ving heard it from that which has walked through the p ass. That is
why I am telling you this right now . “All fear is illusion.” Y ou lay down
your life  and surrender it to G od. Then, the Splendor of Div inity shines
forth as All That Exists now or  forevermore. That is the final doorway to
the U nknowingn ess and Allness of Divinity . Y ou thereby have owned your
own divinity . Y ou have no con trol over your l ife from that point on. Y ou serve God by
serving your fellows and all life. By loving and serving others, you serve
God, and they are not dif ferent from God, for God is in everything. Q: What is the benefit of learning teachings that seem
incompr ehensible at the time? A:  They only seem  obscure to the intellect. They plant the seed, a nd the
aspirant’ s spiritu al aura incorporates the transmitted ener gy field of the
teacher ’ s aura. Certain informati on is transformational in itself. Exposure to
high tru th 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 impor tant to understand that any devoted spiritual stu dent 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 consciousnes s. It is not just a catchy phrase that says that
heaven and hell are only one-tenth of an inch apart. Y ou can, in fact, go
from the very depths of hell to the most extremely advanced states. One reason for the seemin gly endless delays on the way to
Enlightenment is doubt, which should be surrendered as a resi stance. It is
important to know that it is a ctually 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, spi ritual evolution is proceeding at an exhilarating pace, and
spiritual information never before available is now readily accessible. Theprogress of a spiritual student of today is already accelerated and
advantaged by access to spiritua l 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 Consc iousness 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 informa tion at certain points along th e way . The
knowledge that is needed at the “end” is essential right from the
“beginning.”
T o know  what it is necessary to know in order to reach Divi ne States
accelerates prog ress; otherwise,  there is an unconscious resista nce 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 Kno wingness that is also required at very advanced states. Any
student who is serious about spiritual alignment and devotion to God, to
Love, to  T ruth, to fellow humanity , or to the alleviation of hum an suf fering
or suf fering 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 av ailable, and instead, the Knowingness of
Spiritual T ruth presents itself si lently . Spiritual students should  accept the
reality that they are alr eady gifted . A serio us reader of a book suc h as this
could hardly be otherwise. Divinity knows its own; therefore, to  accept that
truth is to already feel joy . T o not experience joy by understanding this
means that it is being resi sted. This awareness is reinforced by
understanding that, contrary to the dualistic Newtonian paradigm  of reality ,
we a re n ot 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 p ulling 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 s urrendered to, for the Self i s already one’ s Reality . It is the Self that is
attracting one to spiritual information.CHAPTER NINE
G U I D A N C E  F O R  S P I R I T U A L
S E E K E R S
T o seek Enlightenment is to seek entrainment to the most powerful
attractor patterns. Entrainment t o a certain ener gy field on the Map simply
means that one is under its influence, similar to a gravitational pull. When
the ener gy field is below 200, the entrainment has a destructive ef fect. This
is clinically observed in the failure of cocaine addicts to recover if they
continue to listen to violent rap or heavy-metal music. The entrainment of a
negative ener gy field is possible  to escape only through consiste nt exposure
to a higher one, as is said: “ Just keep coming back—you’ll get it by
osmosis.” Recov ering addicts who leave the supportive ener gy field of their
self-help programs rather predictably relapse, for now there is no
counterbalance to the downward  pull of the negative habits. Their assertion
that they can “go it alone” is a notorious symptom of the ego’ s arrogance
and Pride, calibrating at 175, w hich is below the power of the ener gy field
required for healing. Spiritual aspiran ts, on the other hand, are seeking to align themselves
with pow erful e ner gy fields that can lift them out of entrenched ego habits. The key is will , a  constantly re peated act of choice. Here, the chaos-theory
principle of sensitive dependenc e on initial conditions (a slight change, over
time, can have a major impact) provides a scientific explanation of the
traditional way of spiritual progress. In all spiritual disciplines, the opening
wedge predicated for advancing one’ s awareness is described as
“willingness.” History shows what has been clinically know n as well:
persistent willingness is the trigger that activates a new attractor field and
allows one to begin to leave the old. W e may visualize a lesser attractorfield approaching a greater one, at which point the introduction of a third
element (such as free will) suddenly creates a crossover (a “saddle
pattern”), and the change takes place. When s omeone suddenly goes from the influence of a lower attractor
field to that of a higher , it is often proclaimed a miracle. The unfortunate
verdict of human experience is that few escape the ener gy fields that
gradually come to dominate the ir behaviors. A currently popular spiritual
program designe d to facilitate s uch escape is the W orkbook (ca l. 600) of A
Course in Miracles . The purpose of this course of spiritual psychology is to
lay the necessary groundwork to precipitate a sudden jump in consciousness
through encoura ging a total c hange of perception. In more traditional
fashion, prayer and meditation a lso provide points of departure to rise from
the influence of a lower ener gy field into a higher . In Easte rn spiritual disciplines , it is accepted that the devotee alone,
unaided by a g uru or a teac her , is unlikely to make muc h progress. Guidance is required. The AA experience is that an addict or alcoholic is
unable t o recover without the help of a sponsor . In sports, great coaches are
sought-after because their influence inspires maximum ef fort. Devotees can
aid their own p rogress by merely focusing on an advanced teacher and
thereby aligning  with that teacher ’ s ener gy field; in our testing, it was
shown repeatedly that holding in mind the image of an advanced spiritual
teacher made every subject go strong, irrespective of their personal beliefs. THE SPIRITUAL DIRECTION
It is  helpful to  remember that neither T ruth nor Enlightenment is
something to be found, sought, acquired, gained, or possessed. That which
is th e In finite Pr esence is always present, and its realization occurs of itself
when th e obstacles to that rea lization are removed. It is therefore not
necessary to study the truth, but only to let go of that which is fallacious. When the clouds are removed,  the sun shines forth. Moving away the
clouds d oes not  cause the sun to shine but merely reveals that which was
hidden a ll along . Spiritual work, therefore, is primarily a lettin g go of the
presumably known in favor of the unknown, with the promise of others who
have done it that the ef fort is more than well rewarded at the end. On theearthly l evel, go ld is not created  but merely revealed by chippin g away that
which obscures it. One of the main spiritual tools is intention , w hich sets up priorities and
hierarchies of values that ene r gize one’ s ef forts. Spiritual work is a
commitment and also an exploration. The way has been opened by those
who hav e gone before and set th e possibility in consciousness for others to
follow . Biologist Rupert Sheldrake has demonstrated the influence of
morphogenetic fields (M-fields); that is, when someone adv ances in a
particular area, this success increases the likelihood that the rest of the
species can do the same. Just a s Roger Bannister broke through the “M-
field” of the four -minute mile, so have beings of advanced consciousness
left markers for others to follow . Every advance we make in our a wareness benefits unseen multi tudes and
strengthens the next step for others to follow . Every act of kindness is
noticed by the universe and is preserved forever . When seen for what it is,
gratitude replaces spiritual ambition. In traditional Buddhism, one seeks
Enlightenment for the good of all humankind; all gifts return to their source. In due time, one ’ s spiritual intention and focus come to replace worldly
ambitions and desires. It is as t hough one is progressively drawn into the
Self, as if there were a spiritu al gravity acting by attraction. A style of
knowingness rep laces reason and logic, and intuitive awareness focuses on
the essence of l ife and its activ ities rather than on goals or the details of
form. P erception begins to change, and the beauty of creation literally
shines forth from all persons and objects. A simple scene may u nexpectedly
suddenly become overwhelmingly beautiful, as though revealing itself in
three-dimensional T echnicolor . Q&A
Q: Y ou advise, “Live your life like a prayer .” That seems differ ent fr om
focusing on certain spiritual activities—is it? A:  By  intention, your entire lif e becomes devotional. Y ou yourself
become the prayer . By virtue of that, Divinity is invoked, and then through
the heart, through that devotion , through the alignment with D ivinity , allhumankind is empowered. The re is no value in keeping a scorecard on
yourself: How far have I come? How far do other people think I have
come? T he only person you have to answer to is yourself. When yo u do
everything you can to fulfill your potential, knowing you are answerable for
who you are and what you have done with that, even your m istakes are
sanctified. It is assuring to know that the motivation to seek God is God. It’ s
by the Grace of God that you are even interested in spiritual tru th. Nobody
seeks God except under the influence of Divinity , because left to their own
devices, people would never think of it. Q: What is spiritual “pr ogr ess”? A:  The approach to spiritual progress is not one of “getting somewhere,”
as there  is no “where” to get. Instead, authentic spiritual teachings guide
you to transcend the ego and she d all illusions so that T ruth stands revealed. The work is to  surmount and transcend the common human failings
inherent in the s tructure of the human ego. Whatever defects you have are
not personal; they are not just yours but in fact are the problem of the
human e go itself. The ego itself is not personal. Y ou would li ke to think,
Oh, me and my pr ogr ess , or Me and my sins , or Me and my difficulties , but
what yo u are talking about is no t your personal self. The problem  is the ego
itself, which you inherited by becoming a human being. Th e ego is a
product of the brain and the f unction of the brain; details of how this
expresses itself dif fer based on past karma. Q: Y ou say the ego isn’t “bad”—that it’ s best to tr eat it as a little “pet,”
which brings humor into the pr ocess. Could you elaborate? A:  Humor  is one of the most valuable spiritual tools, about which,
historically , little has been said. Laughing at the melodrama of the ego puts
us way ahead of  its game. Come dy arises as a result of the comparison that
is made between perception and essence. For example, the comedian says,
“What’ s a New-Ager?” Pause. “Somebody who goes to the sto re and buys
all th e V enus fly traps, then wants them to become vegetarians!”  W e get the
absurdity of trying to convince  a carnivorous V enus flytrap t o become a
vegetarian: “Y ou like cucumbers, don’ t you, sweetheart? Here— try a pieceof toma to!” The  joke helps us laugh at the ego’ s naïveté and immaturity ,
wanting others to conform to its spiritualized ideals and morality . Humor i s quite dif ferent from ridicule or malice, as it is compas sionate in
accepting human limitations a nd foibles as being intrinsic. It therefore
assists i n “wear ing the world li ke a light garment” and illustr ates that, in
being like the reed that bends in the wind, you survive by being
lighthearted, instead of being broken down by rigidity . The capacity to
laugh at yourself is essential  to positive self-esteem. T o respond to
everything as though it were hig hly important is a result of the v anity of the
narcissistic core of the ego (for example, being “sensitive” or “of fended”). “Don’ t take yourself so seriously” is wise guidance. Humor is an e xpression of freedom and joyfulness, and laughter is
biologically healing. While guiltiness and “sackcloth and ashes” penance
were em phasized in past centuries, it can be seen that on the Map of
Consciousness, they calibrate qu ite low . God is found at the top of the Map,
not at the bottom. Faith, Love, and Joy are the high road; doom and gloom
merely l ead to sadness and despondency . Self-hatred blinds awareness of
the Self as a reflection of Divine Creation. Q: What about diets, rituals, exer cises, br eathing techniques, mantras,
and symbols? A:  Non e o f these is necessary . It’ s useful to recognize that religion s have
their own agendas and limitations. The spiritual pathway to Enlightenment
is unique. It is not the same as “practicing a religion.” Religions tend to
emphasize historical events, their geographical locations, and past cultures
with political alliances. Enlighte nment happens in the present moment and
is outsi de time, history , or geography , which are therefore irrelevant. Theology is concerned with the consciousness level of the 400s;
Enlightenment is concerned with the levels of 600 and over . Q: What of music, incense, and ar chitectural beauty? A:  T hese are insp irational and supportive of a spiritual and reverential
mood an d attitu de and help to remove the focus of attention from thoughtcontent. Beauty is uplifting and calibrates in the high 500s, which is akin to
perfection. Q: What is the risk of spiritual knowledge? A:  The downside of spiritual education is the buildup of the vanit y of “I
know” a nd the devaluation of people who are “not spiritual.” The ego takes
personal credit for spiritual co mprehension instead of realizing that the
capacity for understanding itself is a spiritual gift from God. Gratitude is the
antidote for pride. If one acqui res information and feels grateful about it,
then spiritual pride doesn’ t gain a strong foothold. Spiritual pride can work in two  directions, either by augmenting vanity
or , paradoxically , by your taking  the position that you’re worse than others. The position of I a m just a worth less worm  is just a vanity in rags instead of
robes. Q: Is ther e a momentum to spiritual work? A:  Once you cross the critical line of Courage (200), the rest becomes
accessible. The more you advance, the more you are likely  to further
advance; and the more you ad vance from wanting to advance, the more
advanced you get to be! Once you even begin to become interested in
spiritual matters , you’re already on your way and there’ s no ne ed to worry . Nobody would be interested in a book like this unless you were destined for
its truth,  any more than you’d be at diving lessons unless you we re planning
to go deep-sea  diving. The B uddha said that once you’ve heard of
Enlightenment, you’ll never be satisfied with anything less. T o merely have
heard of it already imprints your consciousness. THE MOST V ALUABLE QUALITIES AND A TTITUDES
FOR THE SPIRITUAL SEEKER
People often ask, “What are the qualities and attitudes needed to  advance
in consciousness?”Start wi th certainty and a feel ing of security instead of self-doubt or
timidity . Accept without reservation that you are worthy of the  quest, and
be resolved to to tally surrender to the truth about God. The facts that are to
be unreservedly  accepted are simple and very powerful. Surrendering to
them brings enormous spiritual advancement. 12 Spiritual Facts
1 . The living proof of God’ s love a nd will for you is the gift of your own
existence. 2 . There is  no need to compare yourself with others regarding “hol iness,”
merit, go odness, deservingness, sinlessness, and so forth. These are all
human notions, and God is not limited by human notions. 3 . The concept of “the fear of God” is ignorance. God is peace an d love
and nothing else. 4 . The depiction of God as a “judge” is a delusion of the ego that arises
as a  projection of guilt from th e punishments of childhood. Realize
that God is not a parent. 5 . Christ’ s teaching was simply to avoid the negativity (calibrated levels
below 200), and the goal of his teaching was for his followers to  reach
Unconditional L ove (cal. 540). He knew that once the le vel of
Unconditional Love was reache d, the soul’ s destiny after death was
certain and the soul was safe. T his is essentially the same conclusion
taught by the world’ s great religions, such as Pure Land Buddhism. 6 . Salvation and Enlightenment are somewhat dif ferent goals. Sa lvation
requires purification of the ego; Enlightenment requires its total
dissolution. The goal of Enlightenment is more demanding and radical. 7 . It is not a personal “you” who is seeking Enlightenment but an
impersonal quality of consciousness that is the motivator . Spiritual
inspiration and dedication carry forth the work. 8 . Comfort replace s insecurity when you realize that the most important
goal has  already  been accomplished. That goal is to be on the road of
spiritual dedicat ion. Spiritual development is not an accompli shmentbut a way of lif e. It is an orientation that brings its own rewards, and
what is important is the direction of your motives. 9 . Every step forward benefits everyone. Y our spiritual dedication and
work is a gift to life and the love of all humankind. 10 . There is  no timetable or pres cribed route to God. Although each
person’ s route is unique, the terrain to be covered is relatively co mmon
to all. Details dif fer based on past karma. 11 . Intense prayer augments dedic ation and inspiration and facilitates
progress. 12 . The Grace of G od is available to all. The strength of the ego can be
quite formidable , and without the assistance of the power of higher
spiritual beings,  it cannot of itself be transcended. Fortunately , the
power of the co nsciousness of every great teacher or avatar who has
ever lived still remains. Histo rically , the “Grace of the Sa ge” is
available to the committed spir itual seeker . T o focus on a teacher or
their tea chings by meditation makes the power and ener gy of that
teacher available to call upon. It is the will of every truly enlightened
sage that every student succee d, not just members of a particular
group. J ust as the individual seeker benefits all humankind, so too does
the Enlightenment of the teachers benefit the seeker . There are no
requirements or obligations. 14 Spiritual Principles
Evolution on the Map of Cons ciousness is aided by following certain
spiritual principl es, which, over time, unravel the ego’ s perception: The way
I s ee the world is exactly the way it is . T he “way” of s piritual advance ment
through consciousness is actually uncomplicated and simple. 1. Look at life not as a place to acquir e gain but as an opportun ity for
learning , which abounds  even in the smallest of life’ s details. The prim ary
spiritual quality is really one of  overall attitude . A spiritual attitude leads
one to be friendly , kind, and well-meaning to all life. W e find ourselves
walking over an ant carefully rather than squashing it, not as a compulsive
“must” or a religious rule but out of a greater awareness of the value of alllife. All animals  will be discove red to actually be individuals who respond
to respect and attention. Even plants are aware of when you love and
admire them. 2. Develop humility , with the awareness of the limitations of the mind
and appearance. Y ou become increasingly aware that life is filte red through
perception and that what you witness in the world are primarily attitudes
and perceptions rather than self-existent, external realities. Every single
“happening” is consequent to countless conditions, unseen and unknowable,
as the “cause” o f anything is the  totality of the universe up to that moment. Only someone with omniscience  would be able to ascertain the significance
of it , and  thus out of humility , y ou acknowledge your lack of o mniscience! “I know” gives way to “I don’ t know .”
3. Be w illing to ove rlook and for give . T his willingnes s allows the ser ious
spiritual student  to resign from the self-appointed duties of bein g the one to
judge, correct, control, direct, a nd change the world, and expre ss opinions
about everything. As a serious s piritual student, one is no long er obligated
to c ontinue these chores; inste ad, they are turned over to divine justice. Inasmuch as the mind has no i dea of what Reality even is, relinquishing
these for mer duties will be a relief and also bring an end to a lo t of guilt. It
is therefore quite helpful to give up “causes” and rallies for the oppressed,
downtrodden, other victims, and sentimentalities. Each person is merely
fulfilling their own destiny; allo w them to do so. W ith detachment, it will
be observed that most people enjoy the melodrama of their lives. 4. Observe people  with compassion. Observation reveals that physical
appearance is a great deceiver . Most people look like adults but are not
really ad ults at all. Emotionally , most are still children. The emotions and
attitudes that prevail in kinder garten and on the playground cont inue on into
adult life but ar e hidden in more dignified-sounding terminol ogy . W ithin
most people is a child who is merely imitating being an adult.
_OceanofPDF.com_The_Map_of_Consciousness_Explained_-_David_R_Hawkins.txt
Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

        No r equir ement s or demands:  T here are no required memberships,
dues, regulations, oaths, rules, or conditions. 9. Noncontr olling:  S piritua l purity has no interest in the personal lives of
aspirants, or in dress, sex lives,  economics, family patterns, lifestyles,
or dietary habits. 10. Fr ee of for ce or intimidation:  T here is no bra inwashing, adu lation of
leaders, training rituals, indoctrinations, or intrusions into private life. 11. Nonbinding:  There are no regulations, laws, edicts, contracts, or
pledges. 12. Fr eedom:  P articipants are free to come and go without persuasion,
coercion, intimidation, or con sequences. There is no hierarchy;
instead, there is voluntary fulfillment of practical necessities and
duties. 13. Commonality:  Rec ognition is a consequence of what one has become
rather than a result of ascribed titles, adjectives, or trappings. 14. Inspirational:  T ruth eschews and avoids glam orization, seduction, and
theatrics. 15. Nonmaterialistic:  T ru th is  devoid  of need for worldly wealth, prestige,
pomp, or edifices. 16. Self-fulfilling:  T ruth is already  total and complete and has no need to
proselytize or gain adherents, followers, or “sign up members. ”
17. Detached:  There is noninvolvement in world af fairs. 18. Benign:  T ru th is identif iable along a progressive gradient. It has no
“opposite” and therefore no “enemies” to castigate or oppose. 19. Nonintentional:  T ruth does not intervene or  have an agenda to
propose, inflict, or promulgate. 20. Nondualistic:  All transpires by virtue of intrinsic (karmic) propensity
within the field, by which potentiality manifests as actuality rather thanby cause and ef fect. 21. T ranquility and peace:  There are no “issues” or partialities. There is no
desire to  change others or imp ose on society. The ef fect of higher
ener gies is innate and not dep endent on propagation or ef fort. God
does not need help any more than gravity needs the “help” of an
apple’ s falling of f the tree. 22. Equality:  This is expressed in reverence for all life in all its
expressions and  merely avoids that which is deleterious rather than
opposing it. 23. Nontemporality:  Life is realized  to be eternal and physicality to be a
temporality. Life is not subject to death. 24. Beyond pr oof:  T hat which is  “provable” is linear, limited, and a
product of intellectualization and mentation. Reality needs no
agreement. Reality is not an acquisition but instead is a purely
spontaneous, subjective realization when the positionalities of the
dualistic ego are surrendered. 25. Mystical:  The origination of truth is a spontaneous ef fulgence,
radiance, and illumination, which is the Revelation that replaces the
illusion of a separate individual self, the ego, and its mentation. 26. Ineffable:  Not capable  of definition. Radical subjectivity is
experiential. It is a condition t hat replaces the former ego-centered
condition. W ith this event, context replaces content, devoid of
temporality and beyond time. Reality does not exist in time, of it,
beyond it, or out side of it, and it has no relationship to that which is an
artifice of mentation. It is there fore beyond all nouns, adjectives, or
verbs, transitive or intransitive. 27. Simplistic:  O ne sees the intrinsic beauty and perfection of all that
exists beyond appearance and form. 28. Affirmative:  T ruth is beyond opinion or provability. Confirmation is
purely by its subjective awareness; however, it is identifiable by
consciousness-calibration techniques. 29. Nonoperative:  T ruth does not “do” anything o r “cause” anything; it is
everything. 30. Invitational:  As contrasted with promotional or persuasive. 31. Nonpr edictive:  B ecause Reality is nonlinear, i t cannot be localized or
encoded in restriction of form, such as secret messages, codes,
numbers, and inscriptions, or hidden in runes, stones, the dime nsions
of the pyramid, DNA, or the no stril hairs of the camel. T ruth has no
secrets. The Reality of God is o mnipresent and beyond codifica tion or
exclusivity. Codes are indicative of human imagination and not the
capriciousness of Divinity. 32. Nonsentimental:  Emotionality is based on perception. Compassion
results from the discernment of truth. 33. Nonauthoritarian:  There are no rules or dictates to be followed. 34. Nonegoistic:  T eachers are respected but reject personal adulation or
specialness. 35. Educational:  Provide s information in a variety of formats and ensures
availability. 36. Self-supporting:  Neither mercenary nor materialistic. 37. Fr eestanding:  Complete without dependence on external or historical
authorities. 38. Natural:  Devoid of induced, altered status of consciousness or
manipulations of ener gies by artificial exercises, postures, breathing,
or d ietary rituals (that is, non reliance on form or physicality; no
invoking of entities or “others”). 39. Complete:  Devoid of exploitation or gain. 40. Nonviolent:  Not coercive, benign, nonthreatening. Spiritual truth is universal. The  same essential truth has been taught by
the enli ghtened mystics, saints, sages, and avatars who have appeared
throughout histo ry, in dif ferent r eligions and cultures, separated by dif ferent
sides of the globe and across many centuries. No person or religion orgroup is  the sole possessor or purveyor of truth. A truth is true at all times
in all places, in dependent of cultures, customs, opinions, pers onalities, 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 Se lf of the teacher, whose state of Self-realization serves  to activate
the s tudent’ s own inner awakeni ng. T rue teachers humbly acknowledge that
divine states are a gift of G race and therefore do not of f er spiritual
teachings for a price beyond covering expenses required for dissemination. Integrous teache rs and or ganizations are not interested in contr olling the
personal lives of students, promotionalism, gaining followers, or
entertaining peo ple with theatrical presentations. Their integr ity requires
them to share t he gift of Real ization they were given, with the unique
capacities bestowed them, but they have no attachment to the response;
what peo ple 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 “traini ngs. ” Commitment is to the core of truth
itself, n ot 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-suf ficient. The teachers, teachings, or groups found attractive or meaningful depend
on the karmic propensities and evolution of the seeker at any given time. Dif ferent teachers and teaching s will appeal to dif ferent seekers and be
appropriate for dif ferent life tas ks. What is best for one person or situation
may not  be best for another. Just because a teaching calibrate s at 600 or
higher does not mean it is the most appropriate or helpful; wha t matters is
that a teaching or teacher calibrates over 200, the level of integrity. SPIRITUAL EDUCA TION
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 becomesidetracked by the seduction of attractive, glamorized aberrations away
from truth. These turn out to be fictional or romanticized fa ntasies that
attract the naïve person’ s inne r child. Spiritual fairy tales a bound and
impress the credulous, for who m anything labeled “spiritual” is imbued
with a magical glamour. T o go through that stage is routine during initial,
uncritical enthusiasm and exploration. The primary problem initially i s the lack of awareness of the dif ference
between the truly spiritual reality and the astral, paranormal, or supernatural
domains. T o the naïve, thes e latter alternatives seem amazing and
impressive. A “right-on” psychi c reading is indeed impressive to a novice. The majority of popular best-selling supposedly spiritual books are actually
fictional, and their average leve l of truth is at calibration level 190, as are
slick-appearing “spiritual” magazines that glamorize fallacious fantasies of
“other d imensions,” and so on. T he paradox is that the appeal is to the naïve
seeker who has not yet mastered this dimension, much less other fanciful
ones. Mystical “powe rs” that are g enuine are not exhibited, much less
promoted or sold for a price. Im itations of the real are a diversion that have
sidetracked and deceived many naïve spiritual students and even branches
of m ajor religions (T antric sex  and so forth). Artificial means are ego
inflating, as is denoted by the mere fact that one is attracted to th em 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 th e gifts of God can be imitated, the for gery is not the genuine. This can be ascertained by consciousness calibration. The genuine siddhis
(for example, clairvoyance, clairaudience, psychometry, telepa thy, and the
like) sta rt to emer ge at calibration level 540 and become predominant in the
range of  level 570. The promoted imitations calibrate from 155 to the lower
400s. No table al so is that no avatar or great teacher has ever re commended
the seek ing of the supernatural, as it arises of itself according to Divine
W ill. Miraculous healings and other phenomena emer ge spontaneously and
nonvolitionally i n the fields of 540-plus. It is important to note that there is
no “healer” or “doer ” of such miracles; they emer ge spontaneously from the
impersonal fiel d as a conseq uence of karmic propensities  and localconditions. Imitations of the miraculous are easy to spot, a s 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 bewar e 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; ener gy-
manipulation techniques; programs and workshops for instant
enlightenment o r psychic powers (usually for a price); hold ing strange
poses for long periods of time ; blood and other body cleansers, exotic
pur ges, o r breathing exercises; and so on. Altered states are not the same as
divine s tates. Alpha-wave train ing, for example, is therapeutic but not a
spiritual state. There are astral realms and universes without number, each with its own
teachers, master s, 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 w ithin and is available b y ordinary means, without needing to be
accessed through a healer, medium, or psychic; numerology; or a channeled
entity. SELF-REALIZA TION AND ENLIGHTENMENT OF THE
MYSTIC
The truly great teachers and teachings ef fulge from s tates of
consciousness a t 600 and highe r. In religious history, the myst ic has been
both rev ered and persecuted. The mystic’ s authority stem s from the
Presence, the Divine “I” of the Self. This has been viewed as sacrilege by
authoritarian rel igions whose beliefs are limited to a transcendent God only;
mystics have thus been tried as heretics, imprisoned, excommunicated,
burned at the st ake, beheaded, or even crucified by religious authorities. Most my stics re tire from society. Some, by virtue of great ef fort, return to
the w orld but are silent about their inner state. A few mystics a re 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 b eyond personho od, for in that state, there is no longer a
“me. ” T he myst ic seldom uses f irst-person pronouns and then only to assist
others who cannot grasp langu aging 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 w itness observes and then reports back the
observations wit hout 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 th e woods, one is aware that the trees are
aware. All life is shimmering fo rth, worshipful of the presence of Divinity
and very conscious and aware o f it. The universe is conscious. The tree is
vibrantly aware that it is in the presence of Divinity. Because o f its nature,
because of the s ource of its creation, which is the same source a s one’ s own
creation, the tree knows its own, for life reverences life. T echnically, this state begins at level 600, a state of infinite Peace. In
Sanskrit, it is called Satchitananda. T he 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, i llumination,
stillness, and completion. Peace (cal. 600) is a state of revelation, all-
inclusive and totally intrinsic, as it stems from within. It is motio nless as the
essence of Divinity unfolding an all-encompassing eme r gence and
ef fluence. It is also silent and wordless. T ransfigured, 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 descript ion, there is no “me” that is separate from “you,” and
separateness disappears in the Revelation of the Radiance of Oneness. What th e world calls “Enlightenment,” then, is a state in which the
former p ersonal 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 ha s been replaced by the n onlinear, and the discrete has be en replaced
by th e u nlimited. T ime has become Allness and F oreverness. Intention hasbeen replaced by spontaneity, and the limiting perception of duality has
been rem oved as the Radiance of Oneness illuminates the Rea lity and the
T ruth of nonduality. The esse nce 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 ord inary mind is the thinking mind, and it thinks in per ceptions,
judgments, and definitions. It ha s 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 inte grated, and a person can spend a whole
lifetime studying religious history and theology. In the mystic state, the
understanding comes about in a totally dif ferent, nonlinear way. It does not
come ab out as a result of reason. Rather, the understanding is an  ef fulgence,
a rev elation that requires no thinkingness at all and not even a ny religious
knowledge. The Mystical Experience
Previous books, I: Realit y and Subjectivity  and The Eye of the I: Fr om
Which Nothing Is Hidden, describe the unusual states of consciousness
experienced in this lifetime. Certain occurrences are noted here because
they exh ibit cha racteristics of the mystic. One major event for  me was an
experience in a snowbank as a teenager. As a child, I was qui te 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 W isconsin 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. T o get out of the wind, I crushed
my w ay into the  snowbank and quickly dug out a little cave. I had plenty of
physical ener gy 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 ou t of nowhere came a pro found, Infinite Radiance of Love beyond
all im agination, beyond human l ove, timeless and eternal, no be ginning andno end. It was c loser to me tha n my own self—closer to wha t 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 th at s tate, you realize that what you are is Eternal, Infinite Love. The
Reality of that which you are is not dif ferent from Infinite, absolutely
Perfect Love, with no beginning and no end. That is the Revelation of the
T ruth of  your own existence. That is the truth of everyone’ s exi stence. 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 wo rld, people read this and then start looking
for a snowbank to experience i t, as if the place “caused” it to happen. Or
they ma ke a “holy” snowbank w here 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, beyo nd all learning, having nothing to do with
religion or theology. There is no connection between the line ar 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 ca pacity 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 t imes. Y ou may find yourself completely
incapacitated, si tting there in a state of bliss on a rock, unable to get up,
move, o r leave. The police may come and cart you of f 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 tea ching function is referred to as a sage. Self-realization, on the Map of
Consciousness, encompasses the levels 700 and up, with Raman a 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 percep tions of the
world are exactly the way the world is. But the sage sees beyond
perception, whi ch 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 a n oppressor
causing harm to the innocent on e. In contrast, the mystic sees the unity and
the truth beyond causation, beyond perception, which is emer gence. Emer gence 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  inheren tly compassion ate 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 i s 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 fo r all. It did
not start, get louder and louder, and creep up my legs. Sudd enly, out of
nowhere, I was in a totally dif ferent realm and it was beatific. The only
reason I  left that state was to re lieve my father ’ s agony. He ca me 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 n ot breathed
again. H e might have blamed hi mself for my death. So, out of lo ve for him,
I br eathed 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 a ll existence,
and the Radiance makes it dif ficult to function. One learns how to live with
it in a s eminormal fashion. W ith concentration, one can fool most of the
people most of the time—looking at them respectfully and sayin g, “Oh yes. Uh-huh. That’ s right. Y eah. 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 i s the inner path. It arises from within. A
religious education can set the s tage for it, but it does not cause it. One canstudy theology day in and day out, and that study will not necessarily
precipitate an inner spiritual rea lization. However, if there is an interest in
religion, plus a certain motivation, the inner path becomes activated. The
great saints of C hristianity demonstrate that scriptural study, w orship, and
the d evotion to r eligion can end up as a mystical inner awarenes s. Suddenly
the word s dissol ve in the Realization of the inner T ruth. They call it Unio
mystica, the mystical union of self and Divinity, a state of Divine Love. DIVINE ST A TES
This radical subjectivity may reveal itself as Agape, wh ich is the
lovingness for all existence. Bef ore you get to Agape, however,  there is the
state of Unconditional Love at 540. It  shows itself a s a lovingness for
nature, f or all people, a sensitivity to the beauty of everything that exists,
and a lovingness for all creatures in the animal kingdom. Y ou love one
animal j ust as easily as another. It is a lovingness for all life and all its
expressions. Go d is the source of all that is, without exception (c alibrates as
“true”). Everyth ing 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,
Brahman1,000+
A vatar 985
Allness 855
God (Self) as Logos 850V oid 850
Nothingness 850
Oneness 850
Omniscience 850
Omnipresence 850
Omnipotence 850
Reality as Consciousness 850
Reality as A wareness 850
Self as Beyond Existence or
Nonexistence840
T eacher of Enlightenment 800
Arhat 800
“I”/Self-Divinity as Allness
(Beatific V ision)750
Sage—Self as God Manifest 700
Self as Existence 680
“I Am” 650
Enlightenment 600
Reality as W itness/Observer 600
Sainthood 575
Reading of such states naturally ignites an interest in experiencing them. The Ma p 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, a nd the teachings in the calibration range of the 500s (L ove) have a
major influence. Although the perfection of Love to the level of
Unconditional Love at calibrati on 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 evolvein consc iousness to the high 50 0s are termed “saints,” thereby serving as
models for humanity as a practical goal. The spiritual ecstasy of the very
high 500s is a lso recorded (for example, documented exp eriences of
Ramakrishna, the Baal Shem T ov, St. Francis of Assisi, and others) and
thereby given credence and acceptance as a possible reality fo r those who
are exceptionally motivated or gifted. At consc iousness level 500, there is a major shift of paradigm. Mentation
gives way to i ntuition, linear causality to nonlinear synchro nicity, and
external ef fort to subjective rea lization. From consciousness level 600 and
up, the spiritual reality is desc ribed as inef fable or mystical. Its nondual
quality ( that is, “no mind,” or “ Mind”) makes such a condition dif ficult to
language or conceptualize and therefore is seemingly limited as an actual
experiential pos sibility. Advance d students are familiar with the  writing s of
the great sages w hose work is c haracterized by the Sanskrit terms Advaita
and V edanta, about which there is considerable information available
through the writings of recent well-known teachers, such as Ramana
Maharshi or Nisar gadatta Maharaj. On a similar level are the teachings of
great, w ell-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. Credenc e as to the
actuality and reality of Enlightenment is supported by the rather extensive
literature about such states by w ell-known scholars, such as W illiam James,
and later scholars of the Zen tradition, such as D. T. Suzuki and Alan W atts. The dif ficulty in describing or explaining such states is simply  that the
consciousness le vel of the intel lect is limited to the 400s and includes the
presumption of cause and ef fect. Though the descriptions are linear, the
states themselves are nonlinear and thus can be alluded to but not accurately
described in familiar language. D espite the limitation of accurate depiction,
the r eality of such states is universally recognized, and most r ecently, 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, ex plicable,
or possib le of “acquisition” by the mind/intellect dismays spiritual seekers;
thus, su ch states may seem unreachable and therefore not pr actical as a
goal. On the contrary, in ac tuality, advanced states are powerfullyexperiential bec ause the Reality that they confirm and reflect is already a
fact consequent to the very obvious actuality that you already exist. Thus,
every sp iritual s tudent already has met the first requirement, an d it is only
necessary to add motivation and  commitment. Thus, the only r equirements
are, first, to exis t, then to have heard of Enlightenment, and the n to seek it
as a  rea lizable goal. What makes it seem dif ficult is the deart h of simple
information and clarification, fo r experientially the way is innately simple,
although at times seemingly ard uous. 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 ef fect,
and stud ents con ceive of themselves as being driven (that is, implying inner
willpower and so forth) instead  of the reality that they are ac tually being
attracted by their future destiny, like an iron filing to the magnet. Comfort and confidence can be  derived from a verifiable realit y that the
rare individuals who are actuall y attracted to Enlightenment as a life goal
are s o because th at is already th eir destiny (calibrates as true). For the same
reason, only future golfers would be taking golf lessons. Q&A
Q: Wher e does one begin the sear ch for spiritual truth, Self-r ealization,
and Enlightenment. A:  It is sim ple. Begin with who and what you are. All truth is found
within. Use verified teachings as a guide. Q: How does the inner path differ fr om traditional r eligious
observance. A:  The  emphasis is on the inner experiential subjective realization and
internal validation of spiritual truth. In contrast, religions often require
memorizing ecc lesiastical doctrines, learning about their historical or
mythological origins and sources, along with the citation of authority,
precedent, and illustrious figure s and contributors. There tend to be variousregulations, 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). W ithin the domain
of religion, it is  the mystics who calibrate the highest, by virtue of their
direct, inner realization of T ruth. Q: What personality characteristics ar e favorable. A:  C haracteristica lly, devotees tend to be introspective, thou ghtful,
reflective, curious, responsible, and attentive. There is usually an aversion
to v iolence, 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. Q: What about daily life. A:  Spi ritual devotion is a contin uous inner lifestyle that incorporates
constant watchful awareness. The process is self-rewarding and,
paradoxically, this results in greater benefit and enjoyment  of formal
religious partici pation 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. W ith inner awareness, religious guilt and preoccupation with sin
diminish, and instead, you ch oose positive options, rather than being
controlled by negative program s resulting in shame, fear, and guilt. (It is
well to note that the level of Gu ilt is at the bottom of the Map, while Joy is
at th e top. ) Fulf illment of potential is rewarding and gratifyin g, which in
turn progressive ly reinforces motivation. Self-honesty brings g reater inner
freedom as well as adaptational expertise and flexibility. It is not necessary
to w ithdraw from the world b ut instead to recontextualize it. Spiritualevolution resul ts in greater capability due to the advan cement 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. Q: Inner spiritual work seems to r equir e discipline and endeavor. A:  These requirem ents are activated by intention. Inner work be comes
powered by an unexpected mom entum as each positive step in creases the
likelihood and ease of many m ore, like rolling a snowball downhill. T o
for give one person makes it easier and more likely to for give another and
another. Q: How do you transcend the ego. A:  Y ou begin by letting go of wanting to control aversions and
attractions. Y ou let go of all wa ntingness. In this way, you eve ntually will
transcend the experiencer, which is the core of the ego. Ev erything is
happening spon taneously 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 jum ps in and claims to be the author of experience. T o tra nscend 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. Y ou bec ome the  witness to life’ s  emer gence in each moment. Y o u are not
the c ause. Y ou a re not the doer. Y ou are not the perpetrator. Y ou  are not the
victim. Y ou drop all the concepts. Y ou are not any of those things. It’ s easy
to becom e conscious that you a re the witness of phenomena, the witness. From th at state, it is easy to mo ve into the realms of Light, Love, and the
Radiance of the Self, in which everything is happening spo ntaneously. These are the s tates of illumination. All that exists shines forth as the
Radiance of Divinity. At that point, the mind falls silent in awe. Q: Y ou say that few people ever transcend the level of Reason, and that
the mind is the gr eatest block to Enlightenment. What do you
r ecommend as a way to get beyond it. A:  T he good new s is that the mind is already 99 percent silent. If 99
percent of the m ind weren’ t silent, you wouldn’ t even know what you are
thinking. It’ s because of the si lence 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. Y ou’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  o f silence out of which the co ntent
emer ges. Ego identifies with content. Spirit is context, which is silence. The min d is like a giant football  stadium where everyone has go ne home
and you ’re the only one in the e ntire stadium. Over in the corn er, there’ s a
small ra dio play ing, and you get focused on that radio, and you say, “This is
a no isy stadium. ” Y ou think your mind is noisy, because you’re focused on
the 1 percent, w hich you think of as “me. ” It isn’ t the mind that’ s an
obstruction to Enlightenment; i t’ s your identification  with the working of
the m ind as “me. ” Y ou think, That’ s w ho I am. Th at 1 percent  has various
devices to keep you hypnotized. It likes to politicize, moralize, analyze,
romanticize, cr iticize, idealize, emotionalize, dramatize, h ypothesize,
theologize, fant asize, catastrophize, and so on. That’ s all the content of
mind. The silence is the conte xt. The relationship between content and
context is what spiritual work i s all about. In meditative or contemplative
style, you constantly surrender all content, as it arises. W e surrender to God;
we do so in the interest of context. Q: Beyond the states of Enlightenment and Self-r ealization, you have
described the state of “Nothingness,” classically called the “V oid. ” Is
ther e any pr eparation. A:  Mi sinterpretati ons of the teac hings of the Buddha misidentify the
meaning of “V oid” and identify the Nothingness/V oid as the ultimate state,
which it decidedly is not, as de termined by both consciousness-calibration
research and subjective experience. In t raditional spiritual languaging, each of these advanced levels is
“guarded” by the “dragons” of a  duality. This is especially true at level 850,where th e presenting limitation to be transcended is the conun drum of the
seeming opposites/alternatives of whether the ultimate Reality is Allness
versus Nothingness, or is Existence versus Nonexistence. The V oid of No thingness calibrates at 850 and is the end point of the
pathway of negation that denies the reality of every thing  or any thing  (that
is, the linear form or “thingness” as attachment). The error that follows is
the p resumption  that the transce ndence of all form is the sole c ondition of
Buddhahood. This is an easy m istake to make, because experientially, the
condition of the V oid is eno rmously impressive. As it unfolds, it is
inef fable, infinit e, timeless, One, all-encompassing, still, silent, unmoving,
and strangely inclusive of the “ awareness of nonawareness” that precludes
even beingness or existence. T his state is definitely and ex perientially,
without question, beyond dualit y. There is neither subject n or obje ct; there
is nothin g left to surrender and  no one left to surrender; thus, it indeed
seems to be the  ultimate state itself. Another dif ficulty 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 V oid (Nothingness) were the ultimate reality, it would be a
permanent cond ition, and there would be no entity to report it. However, it
is no t, and ther efore, sooner or later, one leaves the V oid and returns to
conscious existence. Next occurs the subjective experiential phenomenon of
suddenly emer ging into Existence from the oblivion of the V oid. (In this
lifetime, the occurrence for me was at age three, as described in  the “About
the A uthor” section. Suddenly, o ut of Nothingness and nonawareness, there
was the shock of not only Exis tence but also the discovery of  physicality
and that  a body accompanied t he return from Nothingness to Beingness. Thus, in this lif etime, the dilemma at calibration level 850 w as initially
presented strong ly in early life, and it recurred later, at which time it was
rejected and transcended. It took 38 years to resolve. ) The Kno wingness needed to transcend this level is that Divine Love is
also nonlinear and without subje ct, object, form, conditionality, or location. The limitation (incompleteness) of the V oid 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 als o nonlinear,
and that  spiritual love is not an attachment. The error of the pathway ofnegation is to misidentify and refuse Love because, in it s ge neral, or dinary
human e xperience, it is a limitat ion and an attachment (between a “me” and
a “you” or an “it”). In contrast, Divine Love is predominant, powerful, and overwhelming,
and is the prima ry quality or essence of the Presence. It is pr ofound and
unconditional, w ith no subject or object. It is not an emotio nality but a
condition or a s tate that is libe rating rather than limiting. The V oid (cal. 850) is compar able 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. Q: What is the final step. A:  E ventu ally, 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 s tates. 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. Y ou’ve let go of
everything this world cherishes, surrendered it all to God. Now, what do
you have left to surrender to God. Y our very life. In that moment, you
realize, I have nothing left. I surr ender my life to Thee, O Lor d. W ith that, there is a terrible fe ar of dying. When you exper ience 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, al l the way back to eternity, practically down
to th e level of  the bacteria, n eeds 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 fea r of nonexistence comes up again. And then comes the
Knowingness th at it’ s safe to lay down your life to God, because you will
have the inner k nowingness, “A ll fear is illusion. W alk straig ht ahead nomatter what. ” That was the Knowingness that came from many lifetimes
ago. Th at Knowingness has to come through with an absolute certainty
from ha ving heard it from that which has walked through the p ass. That is
why I am telling you this right now. “All fear is illusion. ” Y ou lay down
your life  and surrender it to G od. Then, the Splendor of Div inity shines
forth as All That Exists now or  forevermore. That is the final doorway to
the U nknowingn ess and Allness of Divinity. Y ou thereby have owned your
own divinity. Y ou have no con trol over your l ife from that point on. Y ou serve God by
serving your fellows and all life. By loving and serving others, you serve
God, and they are not dif ferent from God, for God is in everything. Q: What is the benefit of learning teachings that seem
incompr ehensible at the time. A:  They only seem  obscure to the intellect. They plant the seed, a nd the
aspirant’ s spiritu al aura incorporates the transmitted ener gy field of the
teacher ’ s aura. Certain informati on is transformational in itself. Exposure to
high tru th 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 impor tant to understand that any devoted spiritual stu dent 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 consciousnes s. It is not just a catchy phrase that says that
heaven and hell are only one-tenth of an inch apart. Y ou can, in fact, go
from the very depths of hell to the most extremely advanced states. One reason for the seemin gly endless delays on the way to
Enlightenment is doubt, which should be surrendered as a resi stance. It is
important to know that it is a ctually 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, spi ritual evolution is proceeding at an exhilarating pace, and
spiritual information never before available is now readily accessible. Theprogress of a spiritual student of today is already accelerated and
advantaged by access to spiritua l 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 Consc iousness 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 informa tion at certain points along th e way. The
knowledge that is needed at the “end” is essential right from the
“beginning. ”
T o know  what it is necessary to know in order to reach Divi ne States
accelerates prog ress; otherwise,  there is an unconscious resista nce 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 Kno wingness that is also required at very advanced states. Any
student who is serious about spiritual alignment and devotion to God, to
Love, to  T ruth, to fellow humanity, or to the alleviation of hum an suf fering
or suf fering 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 av ailable, and instead, the Knowingness of
Spiritual T ruth presents itself si lently. Spiritual students should  accept the
reality that they are alr eady gifted. A serio us reader of a book suc h as this
could hardly be otherwise. Divinity knows its own; therefore, to  accept that
truth is to already feel joy. T o not experience joy by understanding this
means that it is being resi sted. This awareness is reinforced by
understanding that, contrary to the dualistic Newtonian paradigm  of reality,
we a re n ot 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 p ulling 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 s urrendered to, for the Self i s already one’ s Reality. It is the Self that is
attracting one to spiritual information. CHAPTER NINE
G U I D A N C E  F O R  S P I R I T U A L
S E E K E R S
T o seek Enlightenment is to seek entrainment to the most powerful
attractor patterns. Entrainment t o a certain ener gy field on the Map simply
means that one is under its influence, similar to a gravitational pull. When
the ener gy field is below 200, the entrainment has a destructive ef fect. This
is clinically observed in the failure of cocaine addicts to recover if they
continue to listen to violent rap or heavy-metal music. The entrainment of a
negative ener gy field is possible  to escape only through consiste nt exposure
to a higher one, as is said: “ Just keep coming back—you’ll get it by
osmosis. ” Recov ering addicts who leave the supportive ener gy field of their
self-help programs rather predictably relapse, for now there is no
counterbalance to the downward  pull of the negative habits. Their assertion
that they can “go it alone” is a notorious symptom of the ego’ s arrogance
and Pride, calibrating at 175, w hich is below the power of the ener gy field
required for healing. Spiritual aspiran ts, on the other hand, are seeking to align themselves
with pow erful e ner gy fields that can lift them out of entrenched ego habits. The key is will, a  constantly re peated act of choice. Here, the chaos-theory
principle of sensitive dependenc e on initial conditions (a slight change, over
time, can have a major impact) provides a scientific explanation of the
traditional way of spiritual progress. In all spiritual disciplines, the opening
wedge predicated for advancing one’ s awareness is described as
“willingness. ” History shows what has been clinically know n as well:
persistent willingness is the trigger that activates a new attractor field and
allows one to begin to leave the old. W e may visualize a lesser attractorfield approaching a greater one, at which point the introduction of a third
element (such as free will) suddenly creates a crossover (a “saddle
pattern”), and the change takes place. When s omeone suddenly goes from the influence of a lower attractor
field to that of a higher, it is often proclaimed a miracle. The unfortunate
verdict of human experience is that few escape the ener gy fields that
gradually come to dominate the ir behaviors. A currently popular spiritual
program designe d to facilitate s uch escape is the W orkbook (ca l. 600) of A
Course in Miracles. The purpose of this course of spiritual psychology is to
lay the necessary groundwork to precipitate a sudden jump in consciousness
through encoura ging a total c hange of perception. In more traditional
fashion, prayer and meditation a lso provide points of departure to rise from
the influence of a lower ener gy field into a higher. In Easte rn spiritual disciplines, it is accepted that the devotee alone,
unaided by a g uru or a teac her, is unlikely to make muc h progress. Guidance is required. The AA experience is that an addict or alcoholic is
unable t o recover without the help of a sponsor. In sports, great coaches are
sought-after because their influence inspires maximum ef fort. Devotees can
aid their own p rogress by merely focusing on an advanced teacher and
thereby aligning  with that teacher ’ s ener gy field; in our testing, it was
shown repeatedly that holding in mind the image of an advanced spiritual
teacher made every subject go strong, irrespective of their personal beliefs. THE SPIRITUAL DIRECTION
It is  helpful to  remember that neither T ruth nor Enlightenment is
something to be found, sought, acquired, gained, or possessed. That which
is th e In finite Pr esence is always present, and its realization occurs of itself
when th e obstacles to that rea lization are removed. It is therefore not
necessary to study the truth, but only to let go of that which is fallacious. When the clouds are removed,  the sun shines forth. Moving away the
clouds d oes not  cause the sun to shine but merely reveals that which was
hidden a ll along. Spiritual work, therefore, is primarily a lettin g go of the
presumably known in favor of the unknown, with the promise of others who
have done it that the ef fort is more than well rewarded at the end. On theearthly l evel, go ld is not created  but merely revealed by chippin g away that
which obscures it. One of the main spiritual tools is intention, w hich sets up priorities and
hierarchies of values that ene r gize one’ s ef forts. Spiritual work is a
commitment and also an exploration. The way has been opened by those
who hav e gone before and set th e possibility in consciousness for others to
follow. Biologist Rupert Sheldrake has demonstrated the influence of
morphogenetic fields (M-fields); that is, when someone adv ances in a
particular area, this success increases the likelihood that the rest of the
species can do the same. Just a s Roger Bannister broke through the “M-
field” of the four -minute mile, so have beings of advanced consciousness
left markers for others to follow. Every advance we make in our a wareness benefits unseen multi tudes and
strengthens the next step for others to follow. Every act of kindness is
noticed by the universe and is preserved forever. When seen for what it is,
gratitude replaces spiritual ambition. In traditional Buddhism, one seeks
Enlightenment for the good of all humankind; all gifts return to their source. In due time, one ’ s spiritual intention and focus come to replace worldly
ambitions and desires. It is as t hough one is progressively drawn into the
Self, as if there were a spiritu al gravity acting by attraction. A style of
knowingness rep laces reason and logic, and intuitive awareness focuses on
the essence of l ife and its activ ities rather than on goals or the details of
form. P erception begins to change, and the beauty of creation literally
shines forth from all persons and objects. A simple scene may u nexpectedly
suddenly become overwhelmingly beautiful, as though revealing itself in
three-dimensional T echnicolor. Q&A
Q: Y ou advise, “Live your life like a prayer. ” That seems differ ent fr om
focusing on certain spiritual activities—is it. A:  By  intention, your entire lif e becomes devotional. Y ou yourself
become the prayer. By virtue of that, Divinity is invoked, and then through
the heart, through that devotion, through the alignment with D ivinity, allhumankind is empowered. The re is no value in keeping a scorecard on
yourself: How far have I come. How far do other people think I have
come. T he only person you have to answer to is yourself. When yo u do
everything you can to fulfill your potential, knowing you are answerable for
who you are and what you have done with that, even your m istakes are
sanctified. It is assuring to know that the motivation to seek God is God. It’ s
by the Grace of God that you are even interested in spiritual tru th. Nobody
seeks God except under the influence of Divinity, because left to their own
devices, people would never think of it. Q: What is spiritual “pr ogr ess”. A:  The approach to spiritual progress is not one of “getting somewhere,”
as there  is no “where” to get. Instead, authentic spiritual teachings guide
you to transcend the ego and she d all illusions so that T ruth stands revealed. The work is to  surmount and transcend the common human failings
inherent in the s tructure of the human ego. Whatever defects you have are
not personal; they are not just yours but in fact are the problem of the
human e go itself. The ego itself is not personal. Y ou would li ke to think,
Oh, me and my pr ogr ess, or Me and my sins, or Me and my difficulties, but
what yo u are talking about is no t your personal self. The problem  is the ego
itself, which you inherited by becoming a human being. Th e ego is a
product of the brain and the f unction of the brain; details of how this
expresses itself dif fer based on past karma. Q: Y ou say the ego isn’t “bad”—that it’ s best to tr eat it as a little “pet,”
which brings humor into the pr ocess. Could you elaborate. A:  Humor  is one of the most valuable spiritual tools, about which,
historically, little has been said. Laughing at the melodrama of the ego puts
us way ahead of  its game. Come dy arises as a result of the comparison that
is made between perception and essence. For example, the comedian says,
“What’ s a New-Ager. ” Pause. “Somebody who goes to the sto re and buys
all th e V enus fly traps, then wants them to become vegetarians. ”  W e get the
absurdity of trying to convince  a carnivorous V enus flytrap t o become a
vegetarian: “Y ou like cucumbers, don’ t you, sweetheart. Here— try a pieceof toma to. ” The  joke helps us laugh at the ego’ s naïveté and immaturity,
wanting others to conform to its spiritualized ideals and morality. Humor i s quite dif ferent from ridicule or malice, as it is compas sionate in
accepting human limitations a nd foibles as being intrinsic. It therefore
assists i n “wear ing the world li ke a light garment” and illustr ates that, in
being like the reed that bends in the wind, you survive by being
lighthearted, instead of being broken down by rigidity. The capacity to
laugh at yourself is essential  to positive self-esteem. T o respond to
everything as though it were hig hly important is a result of the v anity of the
narcissistic core of the ego (for example, being “sensitive” or “of fended”). “Don’ t take yourself so seriously” is wise guidance. Humor is an e xpression of freedom and joyfulness, and laughter is
biologically healing. While guiltiness and “sackcloth and ashes” penance
were em phasized in past centuries, it can be seen that on the Map of
Consciousness, they calibrate qu ite low. God is found at the top of the Map,
not at the bottom. Faith, Love, and Joy are the high road; doom and gloom
merely l ead to sadness and despondency. Self-hatred blinds awareness of
the Self as a reflection of Divine Creation. Q: What about diets, rituals, exer cises, br eathing techniques, mantras,
and symbols. A:  Non e o f these is necessary. It’ s useful to recognize that religion s have
their own agendas and limitations. The spiritual pathway to Enlightenment
is unique. It is not the same as “practicing a religion. ” Religions tend to
emphasize historical events, their geographical locations, and past cultures
with political alliances. Enlighte nment happens in the present moment and
is outsi de time, history, or geography, which are therefore irrelevant. Theology is concerned with the consciousness level of the 400s;
Enlightenment is concerned with the levels of 600 and over. Q: What of music, incense, and ar chitectural beauty. A:  T hese are insp irational and supportive of a spiritual and reverential
mood an d attitu de and help to remove the focus of attention from thoughtcontent. Beauty is uplifting and calibrates in the high 500s, which is akin to
perfection. Q: What is the risk of spiritual knowledge. A:  The downside of spiritual education is the buildup of the vanit y of “I
know” a nd the devaluation of people who are “not spiritual. ” The ego takes
personal credit for spiritual co mprehension instead of realizing that the
capacity for understanding itself is a spiritual gift from God. Gratitude is the
antidote for pride. If one acqui res information and feels grateful about it,
then spiritual pride doesn’ t gain a strong foothold. Spiritual pride can work in two  directions, either by augmenting vanity
or, paradoxically, by your taking  the position that you’re worse than others. The position of I a m just a worth less worm  is just a vanity in rags instead of
robes. Q: Is ther e a momentum to spiritual work. A:  Once you cross the critical line of Courage (200), the rest becomes
accessible. The more you advance, the more you are likely  to further
advance; and the more you ad vance from wanting to advance, the more
advanced you get to be. Once you even begin to become interested in
spiritual matters, you’re already on your way and there’ s no ne ed to worry. Nobody would be interested in a book like this unless you were destined for
its truth,  any more than you’d be at diving lessons unless you we re planning
to go deep-sea  diving. The B uddha said that once you’ve heard of
Enlightenment, you’ll never be satisfied with anything less. T o merely have
heard of it already imprints your consciousness. THE MOST V ALUABLE QUALITIES AND A TTITUDES
FOR THE SPIRITUAL SEEKER
People often ask, “What are the qualities and attitudes needed to  advance
in consciousness. ”Start wi th certainty and a feel ing of security instead of self-doubt or
timidity. Accept without reservation that you are worthy of the  quest, and
be resolved to to tally surrender to the truth about God. The facts that are to
be unreservedly  accepted are simple and very powerful. Surrendering to
them brings enormous spiritual advancement. 12 Spiritual Facts
1. The living proof of God’ s love a nd will for you is the gift of your own
existence. 2. There is  no need to compare yourself with others regarding “hol iness,”
merit, go odness, deservingness, sinlessness, and so forth. These are all
human notions, and God is not limited by human notions. 3. The concept of “the fear of God” is ignorance. God is peace an d love
and nothing else. 4. The depiction of God as a “judge” is a delusion of the ego that arises
as a  projection of guilt from th e punishments of childhood. Realize
that God is not a parent. 5. Christ’ s teaching was simply to avoid the negativity (calibrated levels
below 200), and the goal of his teaching was for his followers to  reach
Unconditional L ove (cal. 540). He knew that once the le vel of
Unconditional Love was reache d, the soul’ s destiny after death was
certain and the soul was safe. T his is essentially the same conclusion
taught by the world’ s great religions, such as Pure Land Buddhism. 6. Salvation and Enlightenment are somewhat dif ferent goals. Sa lvation
requires purification of the ego; Enlightenment requires its total
dissolution. The goal of Enlightenment is more demanding and radical. 7. It is not a personal “you” who is seeking Enlightenment but an
impersonal quality of consciousness that is the motivator. Spiritual
inspiration and dedication carry forth the work. 8. Comfort replace s insecurity when you realize that the most important
goal has  already  been accomplished. That goal is to be on the road of
spiritual dedicat ion. Spiritual development is not an accompli shmentbut a way of lif e. It is an orientation that brings its own rewards, and
what is important is the direction of your motives.
Wher e does one begin the sear ch for spiritual truth, Self-r ealization,
Y ou advise, “Live your life like a prayer.” That seems differ ent fr om
It is simple. Begin with who and what you are.
Where does one begin the search for spiritual truth?
Surrender everything to God, including your attachment to your own life.
What is the final step in spiritual growth?
The downside of spiritual education is the buildup of the vanity of "I know" and the devaluation of others.
What is the risk of spiritual knowledge?
The way to see the world is exactly the way it is. Look at life not as a place to acquire gain but as an opportunity for learning, which abounds even in the smallest of life's details.
What is the approach to spiritual progress?
A spiritual attitude leads one to see the intrinsic beauty and perfection of all that exists beyond appearance and form.
What is the main spiritual quality?