Metaphysical Models and Spiritual Attainment
(Levels of Reality Comprehension)
by Tom Hickey
There are a number of possibilities at work in the construction and interpretation
of the metaphysical models. Here are some of the important ones that I
think one needs to take into consideration, although this list is meant
to be suggestive and not exhaustive. These models are constructed and interpreted
respectively by:
1. Those who consciously embody Reality.
Those on the "seventh plane" still using a body state of Sahaj Samadhi
enjoyed by Jivan Muktas in Vedanta and station of Baqa Billah in
Sufism, for instance. (Enlightened Beings, Jivanmuktis, boddhisattvas,
buddhas, avatars etc)
2. Those who "see" the fixed realities, but as separate.
This is the sixth plane ("Bhagawan chetana" in Vedanta, and the station
of Pir in Sufism) where one sees "God" and only "God," that is, the finest
level of relative manifestation (called in the Vedic
terminology Iswara, Divine Mother, or Skt. prakriti). This is
not God as a person but rather seeing the "ground state" of Nature, so
to speak, the undifferentiated underlying the differentiated. This is experienced
as "celestial light" (Skt. tejas) which is the characteristic of
the finest relative level (Skt. sattva).
3. Those who "know" the fixed realities in the "pure light."
In Plato's cave analogy, it is "seeing the Sun"
This is the fifth plane (Turiyatit Avashta in Vedanta and the station
of Wali in Sufism). The "pure light" is sattva in Vedanta, and the causal
world is the level where sattva predominates. In Plato's cave analogy, it is "seeing the Forms in the light of the Sun, but
not yet the Sun itself." In the Patanjali Yogadarshana, it is called ritam
bhara pragya, or truth-bearing wisdom. What the "fixed realities" are
cannot be put into words (Plato uses the poetic image of Forms (Gr. idea).
The "fixed realities" are the unfolding of the internal dynamics of pure
awareness (the real meaning of Veda) in an illumined mind (fifth
or sixth plane), whereas subtle conscious individuals (1st -4th plane)
experience this as the subtle world,and ordinary people experience this
same unfolding in gross mind as the gross world, where only the "shadows"
of the Forms are visible, in Plato's poetic metaphor.
Nisaragadatta Maharaj was once asked what was the difference between
what an illumined being sees and an ordinary person. He said that the illumined
one sees what actually is, whereas others see through the "glasses" of
their own projections. These "projections are the projections of ego-mind
due to the eveolutionary impressions that carry across lifetimes (Skt.
sanskaras, Ar. nuqush-e-amal, "sins").
4. Those who intuit the fixed realities.
This is the experience of those on the first through fourth planes, who
are not yet illumined but have a more direct way of knowing than gross
mind. Bascially, those on this level of awareness experience subtle energy
(rajas predominant) rather than the causal realm (sattva
predominant) above it or the gross world (tamas predominant) below
it. Sattva, raja and tamas are the three fundametnal
qualities (guna) constitutive of the relative. (The characteristics
of sattva are illumination and purity, of rajas desire and energy, and
of tamas ignorance and inertia.)
5. Those who have knowledge on the reports of the above
through conscious guidance.
Some people are conscious of the source of their inner guidance, to one
degree or other, on the inner planes of consciousness.
6. Those who have knowledge on the reports of the above
through semi-conscious guidance.
Other people are only vaguely conscious of the source of their inner guidance,
or their experience is mixed with a lot of their own "stuff" so they misinterpret
it somewhat.
7. Those who have knowledge on the reports of the above
through unconscious guidance.
Many people do get guidance but they are pretty much unaware of the source
and process. A lot of times they (identifying with ego) resist their guidance
and may even fight with it.
On the subject of Guidance: There are different ways this guidance
manifests in different people and over time in the same person. Some people
commune though dreams and visons, others through direct telepathy, and
some even experience apparently physical "visitations." Actually, one is
not guided to a Master, rather the Master pulls one to him/her, even though
one is likely unaware of it and thinks that one is seeking on one's own.
Like everything that seems to just "happen" from the vantage of gross
consciousness, gudidance is always based on "karmic connection." One's
teachers (upagurus) and Master (Sadguru, Avatar) are
ones with whom one has been with before. In the same way, everyone one
encounters, at least
in any significant way, is part of the same "caravan" wending the process
of evolution and involution through myriad lifetimes.
8. Those who rely on intellect along with deep feeling
(what is commonly called intuition, but is not always reliable).
This includes those who are still in gross consciousness but approaching
the peak of it. Reason plays a role in their knowledge but not the predominant
one. They are guided primarily by their heart, which very highly cultured
but not yet enough to transcend the gross reliably.
9. Those who rely on intellect and take as their premises
the truth of the reports of the Masters, saints and seers - although they
have no criteria to distinguish one level from another other, or the bogus
from the genuine article.
This is the level of people who function predominantly on the basis of
reason. They think of themselves as "open-minded" vs. fundamentalist, but
they are actually operating on the basis of hidden assumptions. The work
of Godel, Wittgestein and the Deconstructionists, for instance, has brought
to light many of the limitations of so-called "open-minded and rational"
thinking, demonstrating that there are no absolute criteria available to
a changing mind knowing a relative universe.
Additionally, there are movements, afoot today e.g., in Transpersonal
psychology, to categorize spiritual and metaphysical teachers and teachings.
But these categorizations typically fail to the degree that the awareness
of the one making them is not inclusive of the subject matter. These are
the same sort of category mistakes made by "editors" of spiritual and metaphysical
teaching, such as many Theosophists.
There is a strong (usually unconscious) tendency, first, to jumble
things together somewhat indiscriminately and secondly, to "curve-fit",
that is, to select and organize the data to justify one's point of view
and preferences.
10. Those who have fixed point of view and search the
(privileged) scriptures and reports of the (accepted) sages, etc., to corroborate
it.
This is the religious literalist and the "apologist."
Tom Hickey
(adapted from a post to the Donmeh discussion group -
back to Stages
on the Spiritual Path
page uploaded 29 October 1998