The 21 steps to enlightenment

[paul]

The thread has had a few edits to improve readability.


The first stage recognised as achievement of enlightenment in humans is when the physical, emotional and mental bodies have been brought under control. This state is the basis of being a true Master Mason.

The process of enlightenment, in terms of the mastery aspects, can be considered as 21 steps - one for each subplane of the physical, emotional and mental planes of Existence.

Each subplane has characteristic qualities and typical challenges and lessons. As may be surmised, the human race has made significant progress and the lessons of the lowest subplanes are passed. Occurrences of such problems being symptomatic of external influences including entities and karma.

Thus the lowest subplane is solid physical matter - with a numbering of 7.7. A typical result of this energy being out of control is gross physical desire e.g. eating the wrapper with the hamburger, or raping 80 year old women. These are sub-human characteristics.

The next is liquid matter - 7.6 and a typical challenge is the uncontrolled desire for wet sex. (The key is the uncontrolled nature of the desire. The desire overwhelms social conditioning.)

The next is gaseous matter - 7.5 and a typical challenge is the uncontrolled desire for erotic sex. Consider erotic dancing as imitating gaseous swirls.

The next is the first of the etheric levels - on which sound exists 7.4. (Sound is now known to be quantised - hence phonons). And the typical challenge is the uncontrolled desire to hear nice things said about oneself - regardless of truth.

The next is 7.3 where exist the qualities of light. Here we have uncontrolled desire for bling, jewellery and gold - e.g. gold fever. There was an outbreak of gold fever in the New Guinea highlands in the 1990s, but the race has generally moved on. Genuine misers are likewise very rare these days - only partly because money has no intrinsic value.

The next is 7.2 where pure forms exist - hence human control is challenged by the desire to accumulate beautiful possessions, antiques, cars, spouses

The last of the physical subplanes is 7.1 which is characterised by electricity. (Recent research indicates that electricity may be the gaps between the electrons - i.e. is not physical.) Thus the uncontrolled desire here is for power. I recall a senior engineer in a large electricity generating board explaining to me that the management were motivated by the desire for power.

Once the energies of 7.1 are controlled (in principle, but not continuously in practice) the human knows that he or she exists beyond the physical. This ability to control th energies of the physical plane is one of the preconditions for the first inner initiation.

I should state that the control of energies required is control of the impact of those energies on the light body of the human. It is not control of energies in the outer world.

Thus we have the first 7 steps towards enlightenment.

[LorrB]

I shall look forward to the rest of this thread. Would it be useful to repost your numbering diagram here for the benefit of our newer members? That would give them an idea of numbering section. (Plus it will save me the job of going to look for it )

[paul]

The original image has disappeared from the web. Here is a replacement.

[paul]

My usual test for someone who wonders if they are a genuine 1st degree initiate is to ask them:

- Do you believe that Life has meaning or do you know that Life has meaning?

I had a work friend who was getting close to the first initiation. I saw him one day in the street and it was apparent me that he had made that transition so I tried my test question on him.

He replied that he did not know that Life had a meaning but had stopped hoping to get something undeserved such as a lottery win. It seemed to me that his giving up on getting undeserved benefits was just another way of saying that Life has meaning.

I should note that as humans approach the first initiation they often report wobbling between belief and knowing.

Once they are a knower they are a gnostic - by definition - and theo-logical statements and beliefs have much less interest for them.

[LorrB]

I just found Leadbeater's chart ... which might be helpful further along in this discussion? Delete it if you wish.

[paul]

I chose the first one because it has the subplane numbers. The second charts is useful too in that it has labels - although some of the upper labels could do with revision.

[paul]

Each subplane has an associated primary challenge and hence an associated virtue. This is reflected in Masonry where we are told that the mystical ladder veiled by Jacob's Ladder has as many rungs as there are virtues.

[paul]

Here are the emotional steps (no published source).

6.7 Lowest emotional subplane. Characterised by the desire to be individual e.g. Mohawk haircut with araldite

I once had concrete floor laid in the sun-room while I was out at work and as I came up the street I found I did not want to enter my house. It seemed that the concrete floor was filled with the energy of 6.7 - presumably by the labourer. I removed that energy in a few minutes and did not have any more trouble.


6.6 Desire to attract others. This is closely related to jealousy.

6.5 Desire to be alone in facing problems. This can often be seen when a child is determined to do something for itself. I had a manager who wrestled with this. He could never delegate.

6.4 Desire for Mastery of the Personality. This can be seen in a desperate search for personal growth courses. The above manager who could not delegate, finally learned to control the energy and then we hardly ever saw him. He was always off on a personal development course.

I recall a friend who had to take a bunch of botany uni students to a pleasant sub-tropical island. On all previous trips they had all run around having a great time and doing no work. So she decided to fix that. In the ferry on the way over she flooded them with love on 6.4 and they spent the whole weekend pestering her to explain ecosystems and identify plants. She was run off her feet.

The students could not control the desire to master their own personalities and thereby were forced to control themselves. Ironic?

6.3 Desire to be all things to all people. Women suffer from this more than men because women have more roles. There is a book about it The Type-E Woman www.amazon.com/Type-Woman-Overcome-Everything-Everybody/dp/0595222730

6.2 Desire for Good. The junior initiate hopes that there will be one set of things/decisions that can please or be good for everyone. Of course there is not and eventually the initiate discovers that they just have to make a call and everyone has to put up with the results.

6.1 Desire for the Oneness of All. This is the limit of emotional mysticism. And of course the desire needs to be brought under control.

I recall a woman who channeled Sanat Kumara in a rather emotional way and many were put off. One night we had a group in my house with her. The session ran from about 7pm to midnight. Everyone lay down and the woman went to another room and lay down to channel the energy. A friend who lay next to her said that when the channel fell asleep on occasions, the energy intensity would drop off. One of the participants the next day, said that having had a difficult relationship with her father for a decade, suddenly felt much better about him and called him.

The channel was drawing in energy from 1.4 on which can be found the perfect pattern of relationships. (1.5 has the perfect pattern for matter)

Anyway the point of the story is that despite this channel being quite remarkable, her uncontrolled desire for oneness put off about half of those who wanted help.



One of the reasons for posting this material is to give opportunity for forumites to make a provisional self-assessment.

There are of course complications such as resonances from uncontrolled higher levels with long controlled lower levels that bring old troubles back in a super-energised form - until that resonance is controlled. Such events can be rather confusing.

[paul]

A little story about the perfect pattern for matter: The friend who lay on the bed beside the channel had an inherited problem with her legs so she needed 2 sticks to walk. She had some black tea that she liked but it gave her the runs which was not much fun as she walked so slowly. She asked me to fix it which I did using 1.5. After that it did not give her the runs. Then she went away for a few weeks and some people stayed in her house. When she returned the tea was still there in its jar but now it gave her the runs again and I had to fix it again.

As far as I could make out the people staying in the house did not believe in the perfection of matter and the tea at least had responded to their belief.


The woman was in the 4th generation to have the leg problems - that typically manifested when the family members were over 20 years old. The 5th generation did not have the problem. Sound biblical?

[LorrB]

6.3 and 6.2 .... hmnn

As I said previously.. loving this thread. It a bit like cleaning out cupboards ...

[paul]

I should note for 6.3 that one of the risks of trying to be all things to all people is forgetting who one is, if one ever knew.

Thus the way to control 6.3 is to become clearer about who one is and is not.

[LorrB]

I have to confess that I think Jesus is wrong (or was mistranslated) when he said to leave family/friends behind and pursue the dream.. but goes on to say that there is no greater love than to lay down one's life for a friend.

Thy will not mine O Lord - if I am stuck here doing this, than that must be my job! Well that's how I see it.

How would you reconcile the above? Most people I know find themselves in the same situation.

[paul]

> that there is no greater love than to lay down one's life for a friend.

It rather depends on the situation. What is the greater good in the situation? And sometimes it is the easy way out to be the one to die.

>if I am stuck here doing this, than that must be my job!

For a long time personal will is the dominant influence in making choices. Eventually however the human starts to have some perception of reality (mental plane 5.6) and starts to see a bigger picture. About the same time there is recognition of the need to become whole, physically, emotionally and mentally.

Thus at some stage the human is capable of understanding enough issues to make a relatively free choice about their own good, the good of their group and the good of the planet. That choice may not be very efficient, but marks an important stage in becoming independent of the mass influences.

There may also be internal or external conditions keeping a person in a situation - e.g. personal or group karma.

As time goes on it is easier to take life as it is, being at peace within and not too fussed about the outer circumstances that are not our preference.

[stewartedwards]

Mar 2, 2013 20:01:15 GMT 9.5 paul said:

And sometimes it is the easy way out to be the one to die.

Never a truer word said.

In my own time at the old gates being offered passage through I can assure you that it would have been far easier simply to step over, in fact I nearly did.

And yes I know for those who get upset by this, I was in hospital in a fever spike pumped full of hosiptal antibiotics with my brain chemicals going do-lally.

[LorrB]

It would seem so. That is kind of beautiful in its own way. We can have little virtues carry us along while we work on the big ones.

[paul]

Mar 2, 2013 13:34:58 GMT 9.5 LorrB said:

6.3 and 6.2 .... hmnn

As I said previously.. loving this thread. It a bit like cleaning out cupboards ...

When we have concepts to describe issues or challenges then I think that it is much easier to deal with them. For example once named we can rest our intent upon resolution.

[paul]

The lowest mental level is 5.7. When 5.7 is controlled the human knows that the mind is an instrument to be used. The human, with earlier experience of controlling the physical energies, now knows that once any part of a plane can be controlled, eventually all of it can be controlled.

Before 5.7 is controlled there tends to be a belief that freedom of thought/speech is the highest good.

With control of 5.6 the mind begins to open to the realities of life. The world is no longer seen in simple polarities e.g. capitalists and socialists.

With 5.5 the rights of man are cognised. It turns out that most human rights are only social conventions. The right to dignity, however, is genuine being based on the flame of Spirit in the human heart.

On 5.4 the human begins to know the nature of life and hence have some sense of higher purpose. The reason for this is that 5.4 is the highest level of the personal mind. As that is brought under control the human becomes increasingly sensitive to transpersonal energies such as those of the soul.

In humans the frequencies of 5.4 are commonly anchored horizontally across the head through the eyes. 5.4 is the level on which the personal will makes its home, hence the need to observe the eyes to determine what is true.

5.3 is the lowest subplane of the soul body. With its control the human begins to function as a conscious cell within a greater being and thereby is much more capable of cooperation with other true brethren.

5.2: awareness of the link with the greater mind. One of the characteristics is being able to distinguish a home-grown thought from an incoming thought. This skill is critical to cooperation with higher forces. The link to the greater mind can be made more active at will.

5.1: Willingness to be at one with all. This is the point of maximum isolation for the initiate - having broken free from emotional and mental bondage the initiate experiences separation from humanity. The initiate is stuck at that point until he or she changes from willingness to a Will to be at One.

Notice that the characteristics of 7.1, 6.1 and 5.1 are all related - being progressively more refined expressions of union.

Other resonances can be found e.g. 6.4 and 5.4, or 6.3 and 5.3.

These resonances can work both up and down to shift energies. For example turmoil on 5.4 may activate both 6.4 and 6.5



With:

- control of the mental plane
- accumulation of sufficient light body substance on 5.1, 5.2, 5.3 and 6.1
- resolution of personal karma (cleansing of the light body)
- intent to move from isolation to union
- other factors including cosmic cycles and group karma

the human becomes eligible for the 3rd initiation.

[paul]

Progress seems to me more a zigzag than a straight line. In any case there are light body preconditions for many changes and those preconditions usually take much longer to achieve than reading books.

[stepnwolf]

A caveat, foxfires, about Pike's book. The Northern Jurisdiction of Scottish Rite in the US has recently changed the names and contents of some of the degrees they work, which will explain why Morals and Dogma (MAD) no longer reflects current usages. I have read that similar changes are occurring in other jurisdictions.

Second, I found that ploughing through MAD is as befuddling as attempting to read Blavatsky's Secret Doctrine. The only difference, I suspect, is that Pike deliberately tried to hide things from the uninitiated and sometimes from the initiated as well.

No doubt Pike had a great store of knowledge, but he may have needed a computer to put it into better order. Good luck to you on this adventure into the little known. It will be one of many discoveries.

[paul]

And here are the next 7 steps having made it to the first stage of enlightenment. (In practice there is overlap. For example by the time 6.3 is brought under control most educated humans will already have 5.7 under control)

4.7 Initial Identification (experience of another's being). By identification, one can experience what another entity is experiencing. For example Parsifal cries out with the pain of Amfortas. Identification is useful for diagnosis and perhaps to see as another sees. I was quite surprised to see how sharp was the vision of a passing eagle - it could zoom right in. I later read that eagles can change the shape of both the lens and the cornea giving a telescopic view.

4.6 Perception of the heart qualities of others

4.5 Direct perception. This is perception without mental or conceptual processes intervening. For example, long ago in meditation I was very deep and heard God speak to me. There was no thought: who is that voice. There was direct immediate perception that it was God. Unfortunately I was so deep in mediation that I could not later recall what He said. I dare say He anticipated that.

4.4 Sensitivity to the Rhythm of the Whole. A critical skill of the initiate is right timing for action. This requires a sensitivity to the greater beingness - moving with the tide.

4.3 Sensitivity to Divine Ideas. It is said that ideas exist on the Buddhic plane and ideals on the mental. Thus initial sensitivity to the Divine Plan becomes clearer and by choice when 4.3 is brought under control.

4.2 The power of divine love. Love being second ray, requires particular resonances for free flow. 4.2 provides such a resonance.

4.1 The will to love. Compare with 7.1, 6.1 and 5.1 to see the increasing focus on unity, and since our God is a God of love, the will to love is the intent to unity. Note that it is not love under will but the will to love.

Control of 4.1, subject to similar conditions indicated for the third initiation, prepares the initiate for the 4th initiation. This involves renunciation of self interest and personal life. It is sometimes referred to as a crucifixion.

While there can be quite a lot of heart pain in working through the 4s, it does bring a great blessing - sometimes called the Draught of Forgetfulness. The initiate lets go of the pain of all the past events and failures, keeping only the learnings.