The 4 Stages of Ascension // Spiritual Intelligence 019

foreign [Music] spiritual intelligence this week's episode is going to be a follow-up from last week's episode on the seven levels of spiritual intelligence so if you haven't seen that episode yet definitely go back and watch that video first before jumping into this one because we're going to be building upon that conversation from last week and taking another look now at the Ascension spiral going back to the four bodies of Consciousness model that we learned about in episode number 10. but we're going to be looking now at the Ascension spiral from a new point of view

something that I call crossing over there's many different ways to view the concept of Enlightenment so I'd like to present this concept today as a new view that you might find to be very helpful so please join me for this 19th episode of spiritual intelligence as we explore the concept of crossing over the four stages of Ascension [Music] so let's get right down to it in unpacking this new term what does crossing over mean in summary crossing over is just another term that I like to use in place of the word enlightenment and that's because

as we've said before on this series sometimes we can become desensitized to these terms we hear over and over again like Enlightenment or self-realization such that they actually lose their meaning to us or in the worst case scenario we pedestalize them as these kind of unreachable goals that I certainly have no hope of attaining in this human lifetime and so introducing some new language to these Concepts can be very helpful in allowing ourselves to give us permission to be in this conversation and to understand that this is something that's absolutely available to anyone who wants

it so Enlightenment could be seen as a kind of gradual process of crossing over from a personal sense of self to an impersonal sense of self or a finite local sense of self to an infinite Universal sense of self but what is most specific to this SQ material we're going to be looking at today is seeing Enlightenment as a process of crossing over from an individual mind to the universal mind in episode 10 we talked about the four bodies of Consciousness which come from advaita vedanta Hinduism which classified this process of crossing over into four

main stages or levels the first level of Ascension is the gross body the second level is the subtle body the third level is the causal body and the fourth level is the great causal body these are the four bodies of Consciousness and what these four bodies refer to is where our sense of self resides as we move towards enlightenment we all begin at the gross body level this is where we engage with the universe from the position of the body we feel and believe ourselves to be the body confined to its limits and whatever appears

to threaten the body threatens our very sense of self this is where the deepest forms of unconsciousness take place as it is a very Primal and fear-based level of Consciousness the majority of people on this planet never make it out of the gross body level in their entire life but those rare humans who have a desire for Spiritual truth will begin to expand their Consciousness and eventually cross over into the subtle body this is our mental body where we engage with the universe from the position of the Mind the universe appears more mental to us

than it does physical we begin to understand that we actually don't share the limits of the physical body but that we can create and affect reality through things like self-belief visualization willpower and repetition reality is seen as a plane of mental laws which we can learn how to work in our favor but even more rarely some spiritual Seekers will make it past this body of Consciousness as well and cross over into the causal body the causal body is our spiritual body or the soul this is the part of us that chooses to come into a

human Incarnation to learn certain lessons and evolve through Karma the causal body level is where we engage with the universe from the position of spirit as the universe now appears to be more spiritual than it is mental and become strongly aware of the spiritual laws that govern creation this is a very high level of Consciousness but it is still not the final body the final body to which very few beings have ever crossed over is the great causal body this is the body of pure Consciousness where even the soul melts away into the infinite and

eternal mind of source the universe now appears as pure Consciousness all is recognized as the one mind alone so when we look at this process of Ascension through the lens of spiritual intelligence we know and we understand that there's only one mind in the universe there's no such thing as an individual mind that has any kind of existence of its own there's only the Universal Mind of source and perhaps the ignorance of that mind and so to the degree we are unaware of the one mind of source we will believe that we possess some kind

of individual mind which is localized in this body and separate from all the other minds and definitely separate from God's mind and this is what crossing over refers to the more we leave this delusion and become aware of the one universal mind which we are there's four classic stages that we cross over according to advaita vedanta Hinduism in this process of Ascension the gross body level the subtle body level the causal body level and the great causal body that is physical mental and spiritual and then arriving finally at pure Consciousness the one universal mind of

source in order for Consciousness to come into space and time it has to First be identified with a body just like in order for a bird to come into space and time it has to be born inside of an egg and slowly Peck its way out of that egg so it can eventually be free and fly with the other birds and so when it comes to Consciousness it's sort of like there's three eggs in one the most inner shell or egg is the physical body the gross body the second shell is the subtle body and

the third and final shell is the causal body so we're born believing that we're just physical matter with some spiritual practice and maturity we come to realize that we're more of a mind that can engage with the universe mentally and change and shape the universe with our mind but with enough spiritual discipline and spiritual seeking we can even transcend that body of Consciousness and realize ourselves to be a pure Spirit housed in a mind and in a body but far Transcendent to them we feel ourselves as being something Eternal and an aspect an expression of

the one mind but even that body can be Transcendent and when we Peck through the final eggshell we're born into pure consciousness we're no longer an individual of any kind or even an expression of the one mind we are the one mind itself so this is essentially a three-stage process as the fourth stage represents the arrival at the universal mind so the question you may be asking is how can I know which of these three stages of Ascension that I'm currently in and to answer that question let's take another look back at the SQ chart

from last week's episode when we apply the four bodies of Consciousness to the SQ chart they range as follows from an SQ score of 0 to 75 we are living in the gross body the gross body spans the first two levels of SQ insanity and ignorance emotional suffering is the greatest obstacle to crossing over from the gross body into the subtle body as it requires us to heal our deepest traumas and come out of victim Consciousness we cannot cross over into the subtle body until we fully realize that reality is not evil or unfair to

us in any way but that mind creates reality as we discussed last week the highest realization of the empowerment level is I create my reality this is the realization that signifies crossing over into the subtle body so the further into the subtle body we move the more repulsive victim thoughts will feel to us and so the subtle body ranges from 76 to 125 spanning the SQ ranges of empowerment and Awakening to cross over from the subtle body requires us to transcend all material desires all the things we believe will fulfill us as an individual self

this is because the ego is a story character that the mind has built out of memory and the ego is moved to action based on its desires the more attached we are to material things the more we act on behalf of the ego so at the highest point of the subtle body level we become aware that just as the Buddha said we suffer because we desire this is desire in the sense of attachments anything that we believe can give us happiness we do not already possess desire is what causes clinging and resisting in the mind

which keeps us locked in the world of duality so to cross over into the causal body requires us to transcend Duality which ultimately means transcending personal desires this happens at the highest realization point of the illumination level I am perfect I want nothing this is the state of desirelessness and reaching this SQ level represents crossing over from the subtle body into the causal body spanning from illumination to mastery in the causal body we become pure Spirit without identity a sense of individuality Still Remains but the sense of being a person does not we know ourselves

to be something Eternal and formless Beyond the body and the mind and so the highest realization available at the causal body level is at 175 SQ there is no doer of actions because the ego's actions are generated by its desires once we transcend desire we then begin to lose the sense of Performing actions as well we become aware that the universal mind is acting through us and so our Consciousness becomes like a mirror at this level it is now only aware of reality itself so the realization that there is no individual doer or Chooser of

actions marks the crossover from the causal body level into the great causal body of pure Consciousness this is the singularity level where we become the universal mind these are the four stages of Ascension and so we could also summarize them as victim Consciousness in the gross body Creator Consciousness in the subtle body mirror Consciousness in the causal body and pure Consciousness at the great causal body SQ is the measurement of how far we have crossed over from Individual mind to Universal Mind so when we look at the SQ chart we're really just looking at a

measurement of How Far We've crossed over from Individual mind to Universal Mind and when we know this it gives us a big secret to raising our SQ level which is focusing upon and meditating upon the truth of one mind if we are believing in two minds at all we are deluded because there's not two minds in this universe but one so in the same way that a Whirlpool is not a separate second ocean but it's just a small concentration of water in the ocean in the same way an individual mind is not a separate or

second mind but just a small concentration of the one universal mind when the Mind looks at a whirlpool in the ocean the Mind thinks that it's seeing a individual object that's existing independently for a little while and then Fades away but in reality the whirlpool was never anything but the ocean the whirlpool was always just something that the ocean was doing in the same way that our individual mind right now is just something that the universal mind is doing it's never been separate from that mind and so to understand this conceptually is not too challenging

but to realize it within yourself is a whole other story this is not a small realization to have it requires diligent and consistent meditation and contemplation to break through this delusion that our mind has that it's an individual self but it is perhaps the most important truth we can meditate on to raise our SQ level the truth of one mind and once we understand that there's just one mind we can begin to understand the deeper implications of what this means in order for us to realize the truth of one mind we have to begin accepting

the fact that in the one mind is perfect intelligence Perfect Harmony and perfect Unity there is no Discord or disharmony of any kind in the one mind of source which means that appearances like war and death and disease and sin and suffering do not actually exist meaning they are not activities of or by the one mind of source but these appearances are the lack of mind they are the lack of intelligence God or source is love and love is intelligence love is the most intelligent thought the mind can possibly have and we don't need to

look any farther than our own species to see the evidence of this because Humanity lacks such love for one another and is in so much division we are killing one another poisoning one another and going to war against ourself and what's more unintelligent than going to war against yourself so because love knows that the highest truth of the universe is Oneness wherever love is there is Harmony and unity and balance this is what intelligence is is it not so disharmony Strife division attack war is not an activity of the one mind but a lack of

the one mind it is not an activity by intelligence but it is the lack of intelligence the intelligence of love can look around at this planet and easily decipher that we could create a Utopia on this planet a kind of Heaven World almost overnight if we began to live by the truth of unity and service to others but because we're still a planet that fears One Another We're creating hell on Earth for ourselves and we're not able to recognize it so this means that fear does not represent a second kind of intelligence but the absence

of it all the calamities on our planet only manifest because we believe we're a bunch of separate individual Minds fighting against one another for survival we are unaware of the one mind in which nothing but perfect Unity Harmony and intelligence exists it's simple to understand that a shadow does not represent a second kind of light but merely the absence of light that light is the only real substance and that darkness is merely the absence of that substance we understand that there's no second sun which creates Darkness Darkness is instantly created in the absence of light

likewise the one mind of source has nothing to do with all of the sin and evil that happens on our planet as these things only happen by the ignorance of the one mind the seeming existence of any other mind but the one is an illusion like a shadow being cast by an object individual mind does not actually exist and this means that no responsibility rests on us to remove falsity or destroy the ego the ego can no more be destroyed then a shadow can be destroyed it is only the lack of divine illumination so we

must always be wary of making the mistake of trying to get rid of a mind that does not exist we must never make the mistake of fighting Shadows but instead only seek to light up the darkness the truth is that you possess here and now the mind of God which already knows Eternal Perfection and Harmony in everything it looks upon it does not see evil or anything that could possibly oppose the truth so at this point I'm sure that some of you are thinking well come on Aaron if it's this simple if we just have

to realize that there's just one mind and that's Enlightenment then do we really need to map everything out like this do we really need to go to these lengths and my answer is no of course not we don't need to map everything out like this Enlightenment can definitely happen without knowing any of the territory or the the Journey of Ascension and the progression of consciousness Enlightenment is our very nature so it is an inevitable realization for all of us but with that being said if you're trying to make your way through an unknown territory it

can be very helpful to have a map in hand when you don't even know where you are or how to get where you're trying to go the journey can take a lot longer but when you know exactly where you are on that map and exactly how to get to the place you're trying to get to then you can make the most efficient route to your destination one of the greatest detriments to spiritual progress is when we try to bite off more than we're capable of chewing at our current level of SQ for example if you

know that you're still at the gross body level of victim Consciousness it would be an enormous waste of time and expecting far too much of yourself to try to reach desirelessness at 150 SQ when you're still being triggered over texts from your ex-girlfriend or boyfriend uh still arguing and debating with people on Twitter and uh getting upset over minor things it's much more realistic for you to first try to reach the realization I create my reality I am not a victim can you get there first before you try to become totally desirous like the Buddha

that is a much more available realization to you at the gross body level and reaching for that realization is how you will cross over into the subtle body we all know that you have to learn how to walk before you can run and you have to learn how to crawl before you can walk but this is as true spiritually as it is physically this is what happens to people in non-duality circles all the time myself included that most people who study non-duality are reaching for truth that are Way Beyond where they currently are and this

is why I believe that the SQ chart has some major benefits that can Aid our spiritual progress because as we study the seven levels of SQ it gives us a great idea of where we are and helps us to know the next best thing for us to be focusing on to progress to the next level a baseball coach would never take their little league athlete in front of a Major League baseball pitcher and expect them to hit a 95 mile an hour curveball the coach knows that that's just gonna halt their athlete's progress so instead

it's much better to keep them at the level they're currently on and help them learn how to succeed there before progressing to the next level but this is what the spiritual ego does to us this is the sneakiest trick spiritual ego plays on us to Halt our progress that it loves to pedestalize high-level spiritual truths and then tries to hold you to a totally unrealistic standard come on how long have you been studying non-duality you should have transcended suffering a long time ago you should be living from this realization already I guess you're just not

cut out for this Enlightenment stuff people will often say things to me like Aaron what's all this talk about non-doership I hate this teaching I don't like the thought that I'm not the doer of my actions it feels so disempowering I want to go create my reality to which I say fantastic then forget all about non-deership and go be the Doer go create your reality that's just as valid of a spiritual teaching so being true to where you are is so important for your progression and the SQ chart helps us to see that Enlightenment is

a progression not a destination in the same way that we grow and mature physically from infancy to Childhood to adolescence to adulthood we also have to mature spiritually as well so we can no more skip over levels of SQ than we could jump from infancy to adulthood so we could see the gross body level like spiritual infancy and do you judge infants for being infants of course not right it's an equally valid expression the subtle body would be like spiritual childhood the causal body would be like spiritual adolescence and the great causal body would be

like full spiritual adulthood so a lot of us are spiritual infants or children trying to be spiritual adults and that's just not how Evolution works we cross over each one of these four levels of Ascension gradually and naturally as we raise our SQ so being true to where you are on your spiritual path is the golden ticket to spiritual evolution [Music] [Music]