Seven stages of the spiritual journey

1. Seven Stages of the Spiritual Journey When You Change - Everything Changes The spiritual journey is a transformational process that takes us through seven stages of our spiritual development. The path we take is built into us, in our expanding minds, hearts, and energy system. It’s an integral aspect of our desire to be alive – to live fully and grow, to expand in fulfilling ways and make a positive difference in the world.

2. The spiritual journey reveals the fullness of our human potential. Essentially, the spiritual journey takes us from fear, separation, and limitation to love, connectedness, and expansion. For life coaches, understanding these stages and developing the ability to help clients to move through them with ease has tremendous value. When you understand where the people you serve are on the journey, you can relate precisely to their needs and desires, which may be very different from yours. Realizing the supreme wisdom of the true nature of being is the absolute greatest achievement of a lifetime. Realization is a Way of Seeing! The Outcome of such realization is Lasting Peace and Happiness! . The spiritual journey reveals the fullness of human potential. Spiritual growth is a journey with many twists and turns. What is Spiritual Enlightenment? How does it Happen? What is the Code? This is what this material answers as: There are seven clear stages to the path to spiritual wholeness. The Seven Stages of the Spiritual Journey involve changing the way you view your being as you see: Ignorance of the true nature of being; The error that arises due to such ignorance; Suffering due to that error; Indirect, or second hand knowledge as learning via a book; Direct Knowledge as Insight and Understanding via Direct Experience - Knowing via Being; The ending of the error that arose due to ignorance; The ending of suffering and attainment of lasting Peace and Happiness. Spiritual Awakening - What it is and What it isn't Space Time Object The Spiritual Journey is not a journey in space.

3. It is not a physical journey from one place to another [like from earth to heaven]. It is not a journey in time, which means that you do not have to wait until after death to explore it. It is not an object that is to be attained - it is not an idea or some subtle form that you have to attain. The spiritual journey is the journey from ignorance to self-knowledge. It is available right here, right now and it is what you already are yet you do not realize it. Spiritual Knowledge is not Conventional Knowledge To 'teach' in a Spiritual Way means to Point the Way! In other words you change the Way You See! Spiritual Knowledge is not knowledge that is in the realm of that which is known or not known. And yet the wisdom of enlightened sages demonstrates that it is not unknowable. I have been actively involved with yoga study, teaching and practice for over 40 years. I have been blessed with connecting to many teachers who have helped me along the way, yet the one person who I call my teacher was a musicologist, medical doctor and sage named Jean Klein. Jean Klein helped me understand the true nondual nature of being via experience. He did this with his Presence and somewhat with his words. I had studied yoga with B K S Iyengar for many years and I had explored the teachings of folks like J. Krishnamurti, Atmananda Krishna Menon, Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta Maharaj and many others but only Jean Klein’s approach truly helped me understand all of these teachings. I created this page so that I could share with you the fact that there is another way of knowing that is distinct from the knowing and knowledge gained via

4. science or language. I created a work that I call the Seven Stages of the Spiritual Journey in which I share this way of knowing and all that I've learned. The Buddha's Solution - Insight Meditation The Buddha clearly understood the need for Insight and Personal experience that is beyond the limitations of the thinking mind. Thus the Buddha taught Vipassana Meditation, or Insight Meditation because it is based on experience.

5. Awe-Inspiring, Magical, Paradigm-Shifting and Terrifying, the spiritual awakening journey is at the core of every human’s quest for freedom, love, and happiness. By unveiling your Authentic Being, you will discover how to experience the joy, liberation, and peace that you have been searching for all along. The material uses the metaphor of a whirlpool to represent the Flow of life and the Form called your bodymind. As you explore this metaphor you will see that throughout the material there are over 30 exercises and experiments that help you to make the understanding experiential rather than just intellectual. The exercises guide you in ways which are called ‘AhA!’ moments flower, yet they do not stop there as you continue your journey you turn your ‘AhA!’ moments into ‘WoW’s!’ by applying the understanding in your life and see that it works, because that is experiential understanding! As you explore this experiential approach you quickly discover that you cannot come to the understanding of your true nature via the activity of your thinking-reasoning mind, yet you also realize that the thinking-reasoning mind can confirm the understanding once it has been understood via experience. Understanding the true nature of your being matters because: your actions and everyday life are governed by your understanding; fear of things like death and what happens after death fall away with this understanding; you realize peace of mind; you discover an ease of being – conflict, struggle, stress and strain end; when the mind is at peace there is a corresponding benefit to the well-being of your body, which means better health overall;

6. the ease and relaxation of your mind is an environment wherein you accomplish your goals more readily – instead of chasing your dreams the case is more that ‘things fall into your lap’ when this understanding is established; this understanding lets you be a better partner and a better friend, which means that you will enjoy better relationships; the greatest gift that you can give to another is your health and well-being, because then you are a burden to no one and you are better able to help others; with this understanding you are more than knowledgeable, because you see via Insight, which means that you have access to wisdom and live from there; Insight gives you the understanding of Out of Body Experiences; Insight gives you the understanding of Near Death Experiences; Insight gives you the understanding of Psychic Powers and its wisdom lets you use them wisely; Insight gives you the understanding of Reincarnation; the benefits listed above are just a few of the reasons why the sages of all wisdom traditions direct you to ‘Know Thyself’, but perhaps a most significant reason is that with this understanding you are like Minerva’s Owl that flies at dusk, which means that in addition to the gift of Insight you also have the gift of Hindsight. Hindsight is another means of seeing clearly and again that means wisdom; wisdom means that you have become sagelike and possess the power to see via both Hindsight and Insight and the action that arises with such powers is the one that is appropriate to the moment – that action leaves nothing lacking and no residue – thus every aspect of your being is enhanced! I’ll tell you the introductory price in just a moment but first let me share a brief story that is symbolic of this approach of experiential understanding – don’t worry, it’s affordable. This story takes place on a very cold winter day and a homeowner is experiencing a serious problem because his heating system, which is a furnace in the basement of his house, is not functioning properly. The homeowner has tried everything he knows to get the furnace working properly but he has failed to get it working at all; he is very concerned because the temperature is below freezing and it is possible that water pipes may break and cause extensive damage to his home.

7. The homeowner calls a furnace repairman. The furnace repairman arrives promptly, goes downstairs and returns after just a few minutes and declares that the furnace is fixed. The homeowner puts his hand over one of the heating vents and sure enough he can feel heat there, and he can also hear the sound of the furnace running. He says to the furnace repairman. “Thank You – how much do I owe you?” The furnace repairman says, “That will be $1000.00.” The homeowner is somewhat surprised at the amount of the bill because the repairman only took a few minutes to fix the furnace; yet he is quite happy that the furnace is now working and that he has avoided more severe problems. He says to the furnace repairmen, “Would you mind giving me an itemized bill?” The furnace repairman says, “No problem – I’ll be back shortly.” The furnace repairman goes out to his van and quickly returns with the itemized bill. The homeowner double-checks that the furnace is running well and pays the furnace repairman who then leaves. This approach of Insight via experiential understanding is much like the story of the homeowner and the furnace repairman [who knows via experience]. The material I share with you is a means of experiential self-knowledge, which is akin to ‘knowing which screw to adjust’ as in the story above - in this case that 'screw' is Insight.

8. This may not be for you… One last thing before I share the price with you and that is that although this material can benefit everyone it is not for everyone, because you have to do you part in helping me share self-knowledge with you. This means that I cannot tell you what the true nature of your being is [I can tell you but it will not have any meaning unless and until you have had the experience] and that means that it is necessary for you to explore the exercises and the rest of the material such that your understanding is experiential. In this way you make the understanding your own and then you will no longer need my guidance. In this light I ask that you only get this material if you are willing to explore it fully – I can assure you that it is not what you think, because its nature is beyond thinking. You are a spiritual being and have the potential to fully embrace your spirituality. However, like everything in life, embarking on your spiritual path is

9. a choice. In life you are presented with several choices leading to new stages of development. Initially, most progress along the same path but, at certain points, you have choices—whether to stay immersed in the status quo world or to explore the splendors of your spiritual journey. These choices can appear at any time during your life; the key is to stay alert and listen to the wisdom of your heart. Stage 1: Innocence You are born into a material world, where your life is dominated by your lower three chakras. You enter the world in a state of innocence and as long as you are healthy and have a loving family, you live in a world of joy and bliss. You still have a strong connection to the Divine and the field of the Absolute from which your consciousness just emerged. The spiritual being is still very much awake. However, for most this memory begins to fade as you are taught how to “fit in” and you become distracted by the world around you. A rare few manage to maintain their Divine connection and enjoy spiritual greatness. Stage 2: Fear, Ego As you grow, the ego emerges and soon you realize that you are completely at the mercy of all around you. The pure love you have experienced up until now begins to be overshadowed by fear and its corresponding emotions. You find that to get what you want, you have to please those in charge. You develop your personality and begin creating all the stories that will shape and define your life. Stage 3: Power In your desire to overcome fear, you create success in your life. You become educated, start your careers and family. You want to have control to eliminate fear. You accumulate things to give you a sense of security.

10. First Choice For many people, further growth and spiritual development ends here. You choose to continue to be consumed with material desires, you seek more and more power and control. Your life becomes self-centered and you remain at Stage 3. For others, a feeling that there is more to life begins to dawn. Rather than just accumulating possessions and power, you look for a deeper meaning to life. You start to awaken spiritually and continue to Stage 4. Stage 4: Giving In this stage, you begin to realize that there is more to life than personal power and material gain. You ask yourself how you can help others, how can you serve the world around you. You become comfortable with giving as well as receiving. However, giving can also create a sense of power. At this stage, giving can often still be ego driven. You give because you expect some form of recognition or because it makes you feel good about yourself. Second Choice You can continue to give from the level of ego, always expecting something in return for your giving. This obviously can have a lot of merit, and you can do many good things in the world. However, it leaves a constriction to your full spiritual growth. The opportunity of your second choice is when you begin to give from the level of love and compassion without any concern for recognition or reward. Your giving becomes selfless and your true spiritual journey begins.

11. Stage 5: The Seeker Now you begin your regular spiritual practices. The longing for Enlightenment grows within you. Your decisions now come mostly from the fourth chakra, the heart center. You begin to look for the deeper meaning of things. You try to understand why you are here and how you can make your life more meaningful. You may study with teachers and gurus. You read books and practice techniques. You have glimpses of the goal that encourages you to remain on the path. The throat chakra opens as you express the qualities of the heart in your life. Stage 6: The Sage Cosmic Consciousness dawns. Your mind fully awakens. You become the witness of your actions and realize that you are the role player in the multitude of roles you play. The fear of death dissolves as you realize that life is just another role. Simple yogic powers become available to us. However, there is still a separation between the giver and the recipient. Third Choice You have now reached another critical junction point in your journey. Your mind is fully awake but some ego is still present. The choice or mistake here is to believe that you are something special. You mistakenly think you have reached the goal and may promote yourself as such. The end is in sight but you have allowed the ego to hide it from view and you remain stuck in a false sense of spiritual attainment. The alternative choice is to recognize the ego but not succumb to it, to allow it to find its place harmoniously within the whole. You continue your journey with humility and devotion. Giving is done purely for the sake of giving. “What’s in it for me” becomes “How can I serve?”

12. Insight and spiritual inspiration begin to grow, you hear the voice of the inner guru as the sixth chakra opens. Stage 7: Spirit Your Consciousness. heart now fully awakens. You experience Divine and Unity There is no longer any separation. No giver, given, or giving. No sense of “I” or “me,” just an awareness of Oneness. You still live “in the world,” but are no longer “of the world.” Your spiritual practice is Pure Joy. All the chakras are open, spiritual energy flows freely. Choicelessness When you reach the seventh stage there are no longer choices. You function totally in harmony with nature. Everything is provided exactly as needed, at exactly the right moment. You are the Totality.

13. As you progress through these stages, the material world seems very attractive at first while the spiritual might seem empty and hard but, if followed, it eventually leads to the experience of the True Self and eternal bliss. There is nothing lacking in the life of a great yogi. He or she doesn’t feel that anything has been given up. In fact, it’s the reverse—great yogis feel that by not following a spiritual path, eternal bliss has been renounced for the sake of a few passing moments of happiness. The material world is like a dry garden waiting for knowledge of the Divine to make it bloom. In the material world you only have the energy of the body, on the spiritual path you tap into Divine Consciousness, Cosmic Energy. The material world is a prison, the spiritual path leads to unbounded freedom. You are always at a junction in your path, Truth or illusion, material or eternal. The ego will constantly try to keep its limiting hold on you. Choose wisely. Everything you do is a spiritual act if you do it with awareness. Find your path and inner peace. Be regular and disciplined with your spiritual practice. Don’t be disheartened if you wander off. Ultimately your spiritual journey becomes your way of life, like a lush oasis in the desert of mundane living. Interest in the Spiritual Journey and Stages of Development We’ve had a deep interest in the spiritual journey for more than three decades. Over time, we recognized seven stages of spiritual development we all pass through along the way. This map of the path to wholeness is the result of extensive research and understanding of the human energy system, along with a wide range of experience with ourselves, our clients, and students. The seven steps or stages roughly correspond to seven spiritual activations that transform our perspectives on who we are, why we are here, and what is possible. As we evolve, our perspectives evolve, so we can think and process information about our reality more expansively and inclusively. We now understand the

14. focus of these stages as a shift in our experience of reality we call the “Ultimate Paradigm Shift.” The Nature of the Spiritual Journey We begin the first two stages of the journey with our feet firmly planted on the physical plane, viewing ourselves primarily as limited physical beings. Our consciousness is ruled largely by fear, which makes us easy targets for being controlled by others. Many people in these early stages view themselves as victims of circumstances that are beyond their control. As we evolve, our “world” expands, and we glimpse beyond the material world into the realms of the human soul. Fear recedes and love blooms. Holistic Journey Life Coaching and the Spiritual Coaching clients to progress with greater ease on the spiritual journey is powerful. If you are a life coach, imagine the tremendous benefits you can offer to clients. When you understand precisely where clients are on the journey, you can pinpoint the challenges and opportunities that are inevitably playing out in their daily lives. This helps them to progress more quickly and receive exponentially better results.

15. Knowledge of the seven stages of spiritual development and their impact on your life may be your most practical tool on the spiritual path. Once you understand the sequence, you can track your development step-by-step and bring deeper meaning to the events of your life, along with those you serve. You can also avoid the pitfalls that prevent people from evolving, and manifest the life you deeply desire. An Overview of the Seven Stages 1. Recognition: From a place of lack of self awareness, something wakes up and we recognize that we have some choices. We are going with the crowd, but we are starting to awaken. The mind is becoming more active and new possibilities are emerging. 2. Breaking Loose (Renunciation): Now we recognize the opportunity to free ourselves from the herd and jump over the fence to freedom. This takes courage. We have to sacrifice the perceived safety of the crowd to open to more individual opportunities. As we prepare to take charge, fear starts to lose its hold. 3. Claiming Our Power: This is where it starts to get interesting. Now we get our first taste of freedom as we claim our right to live the lives we were born to live. The mind is expanding further now as we explore new possibilities. At this point, we enjoy the benefits of independence. Free from the herd, people often do uncharacteristically different things at this stage. They may start to dress differently, travel, change jobs, develop new interests, and change behaviors. 4. Embracing Our Greatness: Exploring freedom leads to a deeper exploration of who we are. This is when people begin to experience soul searching and recognition that the truth lies within, in the power of our hearts and souls. It’s the time when we bridge the gap between the restrictions of the physical plane and expansiveness of the spiritual plane. We are preparing to make the ultimate paradigm shift into a new way of being in the world, but don’t know where we are going.

16. 5. Expressing Our Uniqueness (Sovereignty): As we embrace ourselves as spiritual beings, we rise to a new level now, onto the spiritual plane. Now we are guided by the truth in our hearts. This stimulates a desire to express our deeper purpose and share our greatness with the world. 6. Integrating Our Roles as Creators: Our integration of this creative reality includes mastering our thinking and ways of being on the spiritual plane. Becoming more aware of the big picture now, we recognize how our actions can have a positive impact on larger numbers of people. More Notes on the Stages of our Spiritual Development The first two stages of our spiritual development (Recognition and Breaking Loose) could be viewed as preliminary. Our personal transformation really begins when we are free of the hold of the herd with the completion of the second activation. At this stage, we recognize the need to think for ourselves and release the grips of those who seek to control our lives. Having the courage to free ourselves from these ties provides us with the momentum we need to make the ultimate paradigm shift. Then we can move forward and become creators of the lives we were born to live.

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