Welcoming Expanded Consciousness/Spirit Into Your Life
Part One: States of Consciousness in Integral Christianity
What do you think of when you read and hear the term " Spirit"? (Traditionally written with an upper case "S" to make sure (wrongly, in my opinion) that we are thinking about God's spirit and not the human spirit.)
What do you think of when you read or hear the term "consciousness?" Consciousness is what allows you to be aware of reading this sentence. It has been defined as a complex and multifaceted concept that refers to our subjective awareness and experience of the world and ourselves. This dimension of being human is crucially important because it encompasses our ability to perceive, think, reason, have self-awareness, and connect with spiritual realities.
Ken Wilber, the integral guru of consciousness and author of over twenty books that explore consciousness, says that if Christianity knew what we know now about consciousness, it would have been included in early Christianity. He further states that incorporating meditative, transforming practices is the only way to stop people from drifting away from Christianity! That's what ICN is doing!
That's all well and good, but what do you and I know now about consciousness? When you hear or read the words "holy spirit" and "consciousness," what do you think of? Even better, what do you feel or experience in your body?
In this five-part series, I want to review and add to what we have previously said about spirit and consciousness. My aim is to connect spirit and consciousness so that we can rest in their intimate connection, not just mentally but bodily.
A Definition of Both Consciousness and Spirit
In my recent series, What in the World is Holy Spirit? I unfolded my definition of spirit as found throughout the Bible and in today's theistic mysticism.
Spirit is the life force and energy of divine consciousness present in and as the consciousness of finite humankind.
Put more simply, and for those who don't want to lose the word and idea of spirit:
CALL AND WRITE IT "SPIRIT CONSCIOUSNESS" OR "CONSCIOUSNESS-SPIRIT."
All consciousness is spirit! And all spirit is consciousness! This is most easily understood when we view spirit as "the life force and energy of divine consciousness present in and as the consciousness of finite humankind (as well as all sentient creatures)."
VARIETIES OF CONSCIOUSNESS
Ordinary, everyday consciousness/spirit
Most of us experience three everyday, ordinary states of consciousness/spirit. First is our waking consciousness as we go about our daily activities. Waking consciousness/spirit is what allows you to be aware of reading this sentence.
There are two more ordinary dimensions when we sleep: the dreaming sleep state. Some people remember their dreams upon waking and some do not.
And there is the dreamless, deep sleep state. In dreamless, deep sleep, we sleep without any dreams or disturbances. We don't remember our deep sleep state, but we feel it when we wake up refreshed.
We can also experience other altered states of consciousness through chemical substances, but that is not our focus here.
Expanded, Mystical Spirit Consciousness
There are more than those three ordinary dimensions of consciousness. The mystics of many traditions, the Bible, and contemporary integralists point to several other states of spirit-consciousness that move us into mystical, numinous experiences and enlightened perspectives. They are real, important, and already reside in you!
These are often associated with the contemplative or meditative prayer practices of various religious and spiritual traditions, such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Sufism, and certain streams of Christianity, such as this one.
In mystical, expanded consciousness/spirit, the boundaries between the self and the external world may dissolve, leading to a sense of ego dissolution or ego transcendence. This can result in a feeling of being interconnected with all beings and the entire universe, often described as a mystical oneness or unitive experience.
Mystical experiences are highly subjective and can vary significantly from person to person. They are frequently described using symbolic language or metaphorical expressions due to their ineffable nature since they often transcend ordinary language and rational understanding.
At ICN, we refer to two dimensions of expanded, mystical consciousness/spirit
Subtle or Awakened Consciousness-spirit
Subtle awakened spirit/consciousness moves between faint, fleeting, dreamlike impressions to intense, trance-like visions, sensations, and auditory phenomena. We often refer to this as "awakened consciousness" because we are waking up to the mystical reality beyond our ordinary, physical perception.
Awakened, subtle awareness includes peak experiences of profound joy, awe, or ecstasy. They are characterized by a heightened sense of meaning and purpose, intense emotional states, and a sense of expanded awareness. This is where we connect with the spirit presences in our lives. These experiences can lead to personal transformation and a shift in one's perspective on life.
We also call it a subtle state because this represents a more refined or subtle level of awareness beyond the ordinary state. It is aptly described as "subtle" because, in this state, one becomes attuned to the more nuanced aspects of their being, such as subtle energies, emotions, visions, sensations, intuitions, and thoughts. The subtle state is associated with increased inner stillness, expanded perception, and a sense of interconnectedness. It provides access to intuitive knowledge, spiritual insights, and non-ordinary experiences.
My experience with the subtle awakened state
I (Paul) have not been very tuned in to my more intuitive and subtle dimensions for most of my life. Born into a traumatic home life, I quickly repressed my confused and anxious emotions and, instead, became the "smart" kid at the top of the class in both grade school and high school. Add that to being president of the Bible Club (in the 1950's this was still allowed) and carrying my Bible on top of my other books which took more guts than I thought I had. I was also first chair violin concertmaster in our school orchestra and the All-City Symphony. All of this made me a FIRST-CLASS NERD! And which many of my 3000 fellow students in my enormous high school did not neglect to constantly remind me!
However, with my nerdiness receding in my twenties, I heard about Unity's word for the day, which they published in their literature that my mother read. I thought, "How does Unity know what my word for the day is? I think I will get mine from Jesus. So, for years, in the mornings, I made my first foray into subtle state listening. I would ask Jesus for a word for that day. I went with the first word that popped into my mind. This was amazingly helpful for "shut down" me.
And then, one day in my fifties (I am such a slow evovler), I had my first subtle state vision. I had a call from the fellow pastor of the local MCC, gay-oriented church, asking me to accompany him on a hospital visit to one of his members who was a much-abused Southern Baptist. While my church did not look very Southern Baptisty anymore, they had not yet kicked us out, so I qualified as a fellow Baptist.
This man was covered with the purple skin lesions of Kaposi's sarcoma that mark the end-of-life stage of those with AIDs. My pastor friend's church, six blocks from mine, was filled with such dying people at that time in the AIDS epidemic. This was before life-saving treatment had been found.
I wished I had more to offer this dear soul than a short prayer as we sat and prayed with him.
As I was lamenting my lack of spiritual perceptivity, I suddenly had a fleeting glance of a man sitting up in the left-hand corner of the room. "Oh no, now I was seeing things! " I immediately thought, "I'm just making that up." Then I thought, "Come on, Smith, you believe in spiritual guides. You've just never seen one. Go with it!"
So I overcame my skepticism and said to the man, using my then-traditional "angel" language, "I see an angel sitting up in the corner of your hospital room." His eyes opened wide. I told him what the angel said, which I no longer remember. Except that it was very comforting to my dying new friend.
Five years ago, when we began ICN's WeSpace groups, I found myself again seeing spirit guides when doing resonating prayer with our groups. Only this time, I recognized what I was seeing, and when I connected with them, they were animated and often talked with me and the person we were sending resonating prayers.
More recently, having practiced WBMA for five years, one day I sensed a shift in my whole body. I suddenly felt more spacious and alert. I tuned in to where in my body I felt this. I realized that all my four centers of spiritual knowing were now open in a new way. At a slightly under-the-surface level all the time and fully present anytime I thought about my centers.
This has prepared me for Luke's Whole Body Mystical Presencing. This is a natural evolution of my regular practice of WBMA. WBMP is letting subtle divine human consciousness/spirit emerge into my daily life in a new way.
Transcendent or Oneness Spirit-Consciousness
A second dimension of expanded mystical spirit/consciousness is transcendence.
Hinduism and Buddhism often call this expanded meditative prayer state by the term causal consciousness or the "witness" state. Eastern traditions also call waking consciousness the gross state, the dreaming state (while sleeping or in a waking dreamlike state) subtle state consciousness.
Drawing on our Christian lineage, we have come to the terms “Awakened” to refer to subtle consciousness and “Oneness” to refer to our embodied transcendence into God.
I know all of this vocabulary can be quite confusing as it was for me at first. But in order to reflect and talk about these experiences, we need helpful terminology.
Awakened subtle and Oneness transcendent states are already present in all of us right now. We only need to wake up to them. Waking up to the presence of these dimensions can begin in ordinary consciousness, where we embrace these states conceptually and perhaps even imagine them. Reading writings such as this can help remove our intellectual barriers, which, in turn, can lead to subtle and transcendent dimensions.
Wilber on Transcendence
My friend, Ken Wilber, who wrote the Afterward to my most recent book, has written extensively on transcendence, calling it the "causal" realm of consciousness. I love his stirring framing of it here. I have inserted in parenthesis the particular center of spiritual knowing that seems to be involved in his description.
"Nature retreats before its God, Light finds its own Abode. That's all I keep thinking as I enter into this extraordinary vastness. I am going in and up, in and up, in and up, and I have ceased to have any bodily feelings at all. In fact, I don't even know where my body is, or if I even have one. [Head Center and beyond]
I know only shimmering sheaths of luminous bliss, each giving way to the next, each softer and yet stronger, brighter and yet fainter, more intense yet harder to see. Above all, I am Full. I am full to infinity, in this ocean of light. I am full to infinity, in this ocean of bliss. I am full to infinity, in this ocean of love. I cannot conceive of wanting something, desiring something, grasping after anything. I can contain no more than is already here, full to infinity. I am beyond myself, beyond this world, beyond pain and suffering and self and same, and I know this is the home of God, and I know that I am in God's Presence. I am one with Presence, it is obvious. I am one with God, it is certain. I am one with Spirit, it is given. I shall never want again, for Grace abounds, here in the luminous mist of infinity. [Heart Center]
Around the edges of this love-bliss there are tender tears, the faint reminders that I have so wanted this, so longed for this, so desperately yearned for this—to be saturated to the ends of the universe, to be full and free and final. All the years, all the lifetimes, searching for only this, searching and suffering and screaming for only this. And so the tender tears stand at the edge of my infinity, reminding me.
Out of this Light and Love, all things issue forth, of this I am now certain, for this I have seen with the eye of my own true soul. Into this Light and Love, all things will return, of this I am now certain, for this I have seen with the eye of my own true soul. [Gut/Spiritual Womb Center]
And I have returned with a message: Peace be unto you, my human brothers and sisters; and peace be unto you, my animal brothers and sisters; and peace be unto you, my inanimate brothers and sisters—for all is well, and all is well, and all manner of things shall be well. [Feet/nature-cosmic grounding] We are all of the same Light and Love, of this I am now certain, for this I have seen with the eye of my own true soul."
My experience
Some years ago, an early experience of trance transcendence left an intense impression on me. While in meditative prayer, I experienced the dissolution of my physical surroundings. With my eyes open, my living room's walls, floor and furniture faded to almost nothing, similar to the above image. I kept looking around waiting for them to come back but they stayed transparent. When I came out of the trance, or "one taste" as Wilber described it in a conversation I later had with him about it, the walls and room came back, but I felt disoriented for several days.
I recently began to experience a luminous spaciousness or transcendence, which is somewhat different in each of my four centers of spiritual knowing. My head tingles as I rest in energizing nothingness. My heart feels an intense emotion of blissful oneness with everyone. My spiritual womb feels like a ball of radiant energy expanding outward, although this may be more in the subtle realm. I have much more to go in the less familiar realm of my gut. My feet feel big, heavy, and merged with nature and the physical cosmos.
I share my experiences with the expectation that yours will be different in many ways. My hope is that all of these varieties of consciousness-spirit will be a part of your life in some form.
Next time, we will explore how to access these expanded states of spirit-consciousness.
For further reflection . . .
What experiences of awakened, subtle spirit-consciousness have you had?
What times of Oneness, transcendent awareness have you experienced?
How has your life changed because of these experiences?
All Images are open-source, used with permission, or created by ICN