ENLIGHTENMENT
Many people wonder, or they ask me as Director of Instituto Alef, if there is some way to describe or explain in practical and understandable terms to an individual who has not specialized in the Spiritual Traditions of the Eastern World or the Advanced Sciences of the Present, what constitutes Enlightenment, or the Awakening of the Consciousness of the Human Being.
There have been many names for the most elevated state of consciousness that a Human Being can reach. Most people do not have a clear concept of Enlightenment and of what happens in the individual who reaches this state of consciousness in a permanent way.
The individual, woman or man, who has attained this state is normally integrated into the world, and although perhaps not recognized as an Enlightened Being (we have many examples of this in human history), still manages to seed the light of his Being in the hearts, minds and Being of those with whom he comes in contact during his existence. This usually occurs naturally, either through forming a school of Inner Work or by influencing others anonymously.
Through the centuries a great deal of mystery and obscurity has accumulated in relation to the subject of Enlightenment. Most often it hasn’t been suitable for those teaching something related to this theme to describe clearly, practically and simply what this Awakening means.
The explanations have been few, infrequent and very guarded. It also happens that to speak on this subject and explain it is not as useful as to under-take an Inner Work to achieve and to live this development.
The Enlightenment or Awakening of the Mind and the Being, like everything in Creation, has manifold levels. Here we will speak of Awakening in a general and practical way.
There are many ways to describe and explain what constitutes the Awakening of the Human Being. At this time, in the beginning of the 21st Century, it is easier because Western Sciences and the Eastern Knowledge have come considerably closer.
There are many methods to teach the Human Being to awaken the Mind and the Spiritual Being. All are not equally effective. At present there are so many methods that many people are confused, not knowing which way is the most suitable for them. Methods exist for those who want to cloister themselves in a monastery for life, and methods also exist for those who want to follow a path in the world.
The Awakening of the Mind and the Spiritual Being basically consists of an individual managing to contact, receive and transmit more refined energies in order to clean, awaken, develop and maintain his Being at a high level of functioning. He is thus much more able to Perceive, to Love, to Know, to Pay Attention, to Make an Intention. This capacity is accomplished through one’s finest parts, with the entire physiological system and with one’s invisible bodies, which have organs of Perception capable of receiving and transmitting very fine energies. These energies are able to polish and develop the subtle bodies in much the same way that food and muscular exercise develop the physical body.
Many ask:” Is it possible or impossible, this Awakening or Enlightenment we are considering? “
Definitely, it is possible! But there must be the correct conditions if this is to become Reality.
First, there must be at least one person who has achieved this Awakening at a minimum level and with sufficient stability, knowing it and being able to communicate it to others. Second, that individual must have the technology or knowledge necessary to contact the energy required to achieve that development. Third, there must be individuals who are ready and in the proper condition to carry out a complete course of study to achieve an Awakening of Consciousness. Fourth, the students must have a climate of well-being that is sufficiently positive to allow this development to occur.
The individual may not recognize at first that he or she has arrived at the end of the Path or of his Training because the light, and above all his experience, is not yet sufficient or complete. It is very desirable that there be a gradual awakening of consciousness so that it is achieved in a permanent way. If the awakening is too rapid the individual will not be able to cope with the intensity of the experience and the energy, nor with the new capacities to which he has access. He will not know what to do with them. The growth of consciousness and the new capacities must happen at the same rate as the capacity to use them for their true purpose: The Service to Humanity.
Now we can explore further the subject of the first question. For practical purposes we are going to consider that six conditions or situations exist in which a human being will normally operate.
First is the human being who has not prepared himself, neither having developed any capacity of his spirit nor of his mind. This is the state in which we find the primitive human being. This being lives in a state of continual tension or tensions, generally due to deficiencies of different types.
This state is caused by very many circumstances, beginning with the education the person received, in which he or she learned to manifest physical, emotional, mental and spiritual tensions. Food which lacks essential nutrients; the lack of physical, sexual, emotional, mental and spiritual satisfactions; the lack of pleasant physical exercise; the environment polluted by noise; contamination of the air, water and soil; the lack of space: all of these form a climate of tension.
Second is the human being who lives like the previous one, but who makes efforts to be better, more healthy, more relaxed.
The third individual is one who, besides being more healthy and more relaxed than the first, has also managed to enter a state of creative inspiration in an accidental or non-deliberate way, by being in places where there are better general conditions and levels of energy. This can be because he or she lives in a place in which this is naturally occurring, or also because there is close by an individual who has already obtained better states of consciousness.
The fourth individual is more scarce than the previous one, and in addition to the previous qualities also has the possibility of having intuition (direct knowledge of things without the process of logical thought) and a better relationship with all that is of higher quality for the life of the human being. His or her Being is in a general state of greater relaxation.
The fifth individual is one who has begun to do Inner Work in a school of inner development. This includes deliberately relaxing the muscular and physiological tensions, as well as the emotional, mental and spiritual tensions. He or she has begun to transform these tensions that cause a great loss of energy, and begins to have access to better states of consciousness.
The first of these better states of consciousness is that in which the human being is more relaxed in his physiology, emotion, mind and spirit, and can achieve through that greater relaxation a more complete life for himself and his fellow human beings. He begins to intuit that other superior levels of consciousness exist, not only with his mind but with all his Being, which includes his physical body, emotion and spirit.
The sixth individual of this description is one who, by means of the spiritual practices and exercises in a School of Inner Work, begins to achieve the stabilization of a permanent and constant relaxation of all the elements already mentioned. He manages to live in the fast and pressured world of today, making deliberate use of the capacities he needs according to the circumstances. He doesn’t constantly use all the faculties and elevated states of consciousness available to him, and he is able to enjoy situations, activities and things that are very natural and simple.
The Traditions of the world have many names for the Awakened Human Being. The Complete Man is one of these forms: Insan-i-Kamil. This being can depend upon the good operation of all his parts: physical-sexual-instinctive-emotional-mental and spiritual; and he is able to take care of them to maintain this health and good operation.
In terms of the present Science of the 21st Century we can say it in another way:
The first individual is one who operates mainly in the BETA range of brain waves, frequencies of between 38 and 14 cycles per second. He is often reacting in a tense way to exterior stimuli.
The second is one who can live and know, during certain moments, states in which the cerebral waves are between 14 and 19 cycles per second; that is in the ALPHA frequencies. In these states there is a normal relaxation or even a deeper relaxation.
The third individual is one who manages, by means of better living conditions, hygiene, order, quality of food, to enter and live more of the time in brain waves of 8 to 14 cycles per second: THETA rhythm. This gives him times which are much more full of inspiration, spiritual connection and deep meditation without planning it in any special way.
The fourth individual is one who understands in a direct way many things that occur; who for reasons of environment, genetics and geographic conditions is often in states of deep intuition that happen when the brain is in DELTA rhythm, between one-half cycle and 4 cycles per second.
The fifth individual is one who, by means of a discipline of meditation, breathing, visualization, intention and inner exercises of various types and by being in contact with one who knows the state of Awakening, has managed to enter these states and brain rhythms deliberately. In this individual one could measure a combination of brain waves which are presently called BETA, ALPHA, THETA and DELTA.
The sixth individual, the Awakened and Developed Being, can use in a voluntary and simultaneous way all the brain waves known to modern science (Beta, Alpha, Theta and Delta) and can use his unified brain in a complete way, with both hemispheres operating in unison.
The physical body, the emotion, mind and spirit of this Human Being begin to act as a “superconductor” for the reception, without resistance, of very refined energies in a manner which enables him to Be in active, passive and neutral modes simultaneously. These states can be entered, sustained and activated by a refined and subtle use of humor.
If, for example, one could only be passive, as is often believed or has been described regarding those who have attained superior states of consciousness, one could not maintain all the brain waves or the frequencies that one’s Being selects simultaneously, as I have already described.
When the human being has achieved the sixth level, his subtle organs of perception also find themselves functioning in harmony, as do all the glands and the areas that the yogis call “chakras”.
In a School of Inner Development the individual who is dedicated can, by means of an interior discipline prescribed by his Guide, achieve that which is described above. This can be attained at the end of the course of study without the dangers found in “rapid” practices, of entering in impermanent or incomplete states in which there is a risk to sanity. The methods that speak of partial development, without knowing that this is what they are describing, are abnormal, unnatural and undesirable due to being only the partial development of the complete potential of the human being. This is like a description of an aircraft in which one speaks only about the means of acceleration.
It may be that what I have described in these pages gives rise to various questions. Before you ask them, I would request that you read this text thoroughly, think carefully about it and then, if you still have questions, write to me.