| The Realms of Consciousnessmy home page © 1999 Christopher Calder The Realms ofConsciousness"Your constant utilization of thought to give continuityto your separate self is 'you'. There is nothing there inside you otherthan that." - U.G. Krishnamurti "Some people believe we are something beyond neurons, but of course we arenot. We are just the sum total of the activity of neurons. Weassume that we have free will and that we make decisions, but we don't. Neurons do." - Rodolfo Llinás, neuroscientist Ancient Hindu yogis and Tibetan Buddhist monkscategorized seven stages of human consciousness, and refered to them as the"seven bodies." I would like to describe these "bodies" asrealms of consciousness, because I feel the evidence strongly suggeststhat they are all layers of awareness in the purely physical human brain. [see scans prove meditationalters the brain] This is my opinion, and traditionalistsmay disagree, so be aware that you are reading one man's views of ancientteaching that are not written in stone. I am trying to bring scienceand the Eastern traditions into harmony in order to express the actual facts,rather than just restating ancient myths. This marriage of scienceand meditative states of consciousness may be a bit awkward at first, asthe combination is so very new. All should be aware that an overly seriousdiscussion of higher realms of consciousness can lead to a form ofpseudo-spiritual fascism. Fixation with categorizing different levelsof consciousness tarnished the image of the Theosophical movement in theearly 20th century, as it led to a foolish competition among members. Afew Theosophists claimed to be on a higher level of consciousness than therest of the group, and felt this made them superior and of greater valueas human beings. Ultimately, human worth is subjective and rests,like beauty, in the eye of the beholder. Who is to say that even aBuddha is better than your wife, son, or daughter? Those you love mostare of highest value to you, not some far away yogi or monk. No realor imagined hierarchy of beings on higher levels of consciousness are ofimportance unless you make them important. Full enlightenment and threedollars will buy you a cup of coffee and a jelly doughnut at almost any dinerin America. The traditional Eastern descriptionsof seven bodies of consciousness are derived from subjective feeling, notobjective testing. It is therefore advised that you take these descriptionsas subjective states of consciousness, not as proven physical science. The human brain contains approximately 100 billions neurons, all connectedby an estimated 50 trillion synapses. This ocean of electrified livingcells creates the organic holographic phenomena we know as consciousness. [see TheElectric Brain] The amount of variation in human consciousnessis almost infinite because all those neurons and synapses can fire in anessentially infinite number of sequences. No twohumans have exactly the same brain structure, and no two moments in anyindividual's consciousness are ever exactly the same. The words ofGreek philosopher Heraclitus are often parapharsed as saying that "You cannever step in the same river twice." A more exacting translation ofhis words would be "We both step and do not step in the same rivers. Weare and are not." How is it possibleto know oneself objectively and thus accurately? For example,subjectively your dog may know your automobile very well. He may have ridden in your car, smelled it, felt it, and seen it asclearly as you, but does that mean that your dog really understands whatan automobile is? Likewise, just becauseyou may be able to feel different layers of consciousness does not mean thatyou understand the true nature of consciousness in an objective, factualway. Can we trust ancient scripturesfrom the prescientific era to tell us the truth? Do the famous andoften infamous "enlightened ones" have all the answers about man's innernature? I do not believe even the words of the great "Masters" canbe trusted on these issues, because history has proven that the enlightenedelite can make major mistakes, just like you and me. Even the enlightenedare subject to cultural conditioning which can distort their vision and judgment. For example, the famous Tibetan, Chinese, and Japanese sages mainlyate meat, as was the custom in their countries. The Indian mystics,however, are all adamantly vegetarian, as is their strict Hindu and Jainculture. Societal programming does effect the enlightened and thusthey may attach false beliefs to their teachings which they pass on to youas fact. If their culture believes in souls and reincarnation, theymay believe the same out of lifelong conditioning. Unfortunately, thevery real phenomena of enlightenment does not endow infallible wisdom. It is with these warnings that we enter the intriguingworld of the realms of consciousness.1) THE PHYSICAL REALM -The first realm is simple awareness of the physical body,the grossly material physical body which medical science continues to mapand explore. Those who reside primarily in the first realmof consciousness are concerned with the simple basics of life: food, shelter,and family. They may believe in organized religions, but they lackdeep involvement in anything beyond the fundamentals of physical existence.2) THE ENERGY REALM -In addition to the solid physical body that has weightand form, human beings have a second body of energy created by theactive energy content of the total human nervous system. Thissecond realm has been called the etheric, energetic, or emotional body, whichis powered by our own animal metabolism. More subtle layers of thehuman nervous system may exist that are not yet understood by Western science. For example, Western doctors have no explanation for what creates thesensation of the mysterious "meridians" (channels of energy) which are activatedby acupuncture, even though those meridians can be clearly felt by many patients. The second realm can be energized by deep breathing, yoga postures,jogging, and good health in general. Those who live in the second realmhave enough cognitive power to feel the inner workings of the human nervoussystem. Most human beings primarily reside in the secondrealm of consciousness, and they create the majority of our culture, art,politics, and organized religion. The second realm is not meditative,but is richly and complexly emotional. No actor could develop great"emotional range" unless he was at least a conscious resident of the secondrealm. This ranking of realms implies no overall superiorityof human worth. A person who lives in the first realm may be good heartedand hard working, while a second realm individual may be a thief, drug addict,and murderer. Imagine the earth viewed from the perspective of deepspace, the thin layer of our "humanity" barely visible as a dulling of theearth's atmosphere due to the pollution we create. Who can judge anyhuman worth from the eternal cosmicperspective? 3) THE ENHANCED MENTAL REALM- The third realm, sometimes called the "astral body,"is the first realm of meditation. I reject the "astral" label as bothdishonest and inaccurate. I would prefer to call the third realm theenhanced mental realm. When you sit in meditation and startto feel bigger than the purely physical, that is the third realm revealingitself. It is colorful and pleasant, but fairly low in energy. Entering the third realm means that you have gained some progressin meditation, either through formal practice in meditation techniques, orthrough the genetic gift of a naturally meditative mind-brain from birth. Those who reside in the third realm have good skills of observationand a knack for letting go of the thought process. The third and fourthrealms of consciousness are closely associated with the functions of thebrain itself, just as the second realm is closely associated with the functionof the total physical body and its peripheral nervous system. When one says that a person is in the third realmof consciousness, it means that is where he or she resides most of the time. Consciousness fluctuates up and down, burning brighter or becomingdimmer when one is tired or less attentive. Those who primarily residein the third realm have frequent jaunts into the fourth, but may also fallback into the second realm when their awareness is less activate. Thosestudents who primarily reside in the fourth have frequent excursions intothe fifth realm of consciousness, which is called a 'satori.' Eventhose in the third realm may sometimes jump up temporarily to the fifth fora glimpse of freedom. These glimpses may be initiated by intensepractice of meditation techniques, or triggered by close proximity to a teacherwho resides in the higher realms. You can call this transference directtransmission, shaktipat, or simply a "contact high." The vast majority of people who practice meditationlive in the second or third realms, but you would be surprised at the numberof letters I receive from novice students who automatically assume they arein the fifth realm or even higher. Many are in a blind rush to becomeenlightened and naively think they can achieve the ultimate after a few shortyears of practice. It is a common mistake to believe that intellectualknowledge about enlightenment is equivalent to enlightenment itself. TheIndian sage Ramana Maharshi once said that enlightenment was an "unlearning,"not a learning. Meditation is a knack, an energy phenomena of the brainand consciousness. It is not an accumulation of borrowed wisdom dumped,like a landfill, into the thinking part of the brain. One mustdevelop patience in order to make progress in meditation. 4) THE SUPERMENTAL REALM -The fourth realm has been called the "mental body" andfeels much larger than the third. I would prefer to call the fourthrealm the supermental realm. Subjectively, the fourth feelsoceanic and is filled with more intense energy and light. The fourthis highly projective and is the instrument of clarity, imagination, and vividdreams. Many great artists have been awakened to the fourth realm anddrew inspiration and energy from its depths. Frank LloydWright and Andrew Wyeth are obvious examples of fourth realm artists. Those who reach the fourth realm often imaginethey are enlightened and become even more arrogant and selfish than theywere before attaining it. Most Indian and Tibetan gurus and contemporaryJapanese "Zen Masters" are in this fourth realm, and that is why most arenot very helpful to their own students. The potential for ego inflationis difficult to resist, but can be fought off by remembering that the fourthis relatively easy to attain and there are thousands of midlevel fourth realmstudents in the world at any given time. The fourth can be achievedthrough the use of methodology if a student makes a sincere effort over along period of time. While there is nothing historically unusual aboutentering this expanded state of consciousness, it does take us one step closerto true wakefulness. In this more science friendly system of definingthe realms of consciousness, there is no "soul body," as the ancients havesuggested. By this definition if you have not yet reached the Voidon a permanent basis, you are still in one of the mental states of consciousness. This system also discards any idea of "moksha" (freedom fromreincarnation), because it rejects the premise that souls and reincarnationexist. Thus, there are only five realms of consciousness describedin detail here, which I believe reflects the honest facts. [seeDo you have asoul?] 5) THE REALM OF ENLIGHTENMENT- Those who go beyond the fourth realm permanentlyare born with a rare genetic gift of naturally greater consciousness. Thefifth realm of consciousness, in my opinion, cannot be reached by effortalone. Living in the fifth realm as a permanent resident, not justas a temporary guest, is the truly difficult task for students of meditation. To reach the fifth one must journey upwards, not just outwards, andthis higher plane facilitates a continuous state of superconsciousness. The fourth can be described as an ocean of light that is highly projective. The fifth realm is nonprojective and is beyond the ocean of light,beyond the thought process, and beyond the human mind. Subjectively,the fifth feels like an infinity of warm and comfortable darkness that softlyenvelopes the mind ocean. To put it in other terms, in the fourth realmyou feel like a ball of consciousness floating in the depth of space. Whenentering the fifth realm you literally feel that you are the depth of spaceitself, the Void. When you remain in the 5th realm permanently, youare enlightened, a Buddha! The Total Awareness method described inMeditationHandbook is a means by which students of meditation who residein the fourth realm can gain reliable glimpses of the fifth. A glimpseof the fifth is called a satori, a temporary peak at enlightenment. Manystudents confuse the blissfulness of the third and fourth realms they experienceduring meditation sessions with satori, which is a deeper phenomena. Evento experience an authentic satori is relatively easy. To live in satori,the fifth realm, is relatively impossible. It is almost like the differencebetween visiting Hawaii and actually owning Hawaii. The fifth realmis the only truly comfortable level of consciousness where one finally feelsat home. Until the fifth is attained, we live as strangers toourselves because we have not yet come home to our own essential being. Until the fifth we do not know our "original face," and thus wesuffer. In my opinion, the stages, bodies, or realms abovethe fifth are fictional and do not exist as separate, definable stages. Iwould categorize all enlightened teachers as residing permanently in thefifth realm, with some having a little greater psychic energy output thanothers, but I doubt this slight edge endows greater potential for insightand wisdom. Enlightenment is a physical phenomena of the human brain,not a fairytale product of magic, so variations in its manifestations areto be expected. Differences in the expression of enlightenment maybe due to the genetics of internal brain structures, brain chemistry, oreven brain size. No two brains are the same, and as stated earlier,no two moments in anyone's consciousness are ever exactly the same due tothe incredibly large numbers of neurons and synapses the human brain contains. Claims made by some gurus that higher levels ofconsciousness make one capable of time travel are false. All of thestages of consciousness and all of life exists in the here and now. Evena full Buddha is not capable of seeing into the future in any magical waybeyond ordinary reasonable guesses. Unfortunately, there is muchself-promotion in the world of gurus which often leads to exaggeration. Likewise, such often claimed powers as the ability to materialize matterand the attainment of an all-seeing, infallible wisdom are equally fictitious. Human beings in the fourth realm and beyond often do have authenticpowers of rudimentary telepathy and direct energy transmission(shaktipat). 6) The "sixth body" has been called the "cosmicbody" by the ancients, but that term describes the fifth realm equally well,so I reject the assertion that there is a distinct "sixth body." Thefifth realm is the Void, and you cannot go beyond it because thatis all there is. In my opinion, stories of bodies beyond the fifthare born of spiritual politics and one-upmanship. These myths are passeddown from one generation of gurus to the next, and no one questionsthe myths because the East is in love with tradition and all that isancient.7) The "seventh body" is refered to as "nirvana" or"moksha," and those who achieve it are said to gain the ultimate spiritualfreedom, which includes freedom from cycles of rebirth through reincarnation. In my opinion, all of the objective evidence suggests that there isno reincarnation, no seventh stage, no seventh realm, and no seventh body,but I may be wrong. Humans have had a fascination with the magicalnumber '7' for centuries, and the idea of "seven bodies" has great salespotential for gurus, even if it is pure fiction. For a classic example of a totally enlightened teacher,a man who had it all regardless of what "body" or "realm" you brand on him,see this inspiring picture ofRamanaMaharshi. Christopher Calder - E-mail - Myhome pageCopyright notice: Please feel freeto copy, repost, or publish The Realms of Consciousness (©1999 Christopher Calder). You may repost or publish any of my essayswithout cost, but you must clearly state that the essays were writtenby Christopher Calder, and you must not change any of my words or theirmeanings. I prefer that those who repost my essays install a weblink to my homepage, but that request is not a demand. This is a 100% free website, published only forthe benefit of other students of meditation.Suggested ReadingThe "God" Part of theBrain, by Matthew Alper. Alper details the logical scientificargument that spirituality is the product of genetics and biochemistry, andthat God, soul, and reincarnation are inventions of the human brain, usedas a device to relieve the tremendous stress of death awareness.Note Opinions expressed on thispage must be viewed as the ideas of an ordinary student of meditation. While I truly believe everything I say, you should not believe anythingunless you see it, feel it, and know it for yourself. I make no claimsof infallibility. In fact I absolutely claim fallibility.
|
|
