What is spiritual development, higher consciousness and spiritual enlightenment? Well, if you are reading this, you are most likely part of a relatively small (but seemingly growing and ever larger) group of people who are interested in spirituality and spiritual development (and perhaps also personal development and self improvement).
If you have been at it for a while, there is also a good chance that you are interested in so-called spiritual awakening and the idea of becoming spiritually enlightened. If one or more of these things apply to you, you’re probably in the right place, so please read on.
We (Birgitte and Søren) have worked with spirituality for many years and have helped many people with their spiritual development partly based on our own experiences of what (a version of) spiritual enlightenment means. (And yes, it has been life-changing).
We are also bridge builders: we build bridges between between higher consciousness and everyday life, but also between different theories and techniques as well as between people (e.g., in couples therapy, conflict resolution and family therapy, as well as “between people and themselves” in the form of personal development, self-development, as well as psychedelic therapy and integration).
The reason why we can do all these things is because our work is based on our own experiences, and because we are extremely interdisciplinary and see things from above.
We are also good at extracting the essence of things and making them simple and easy to understand – which we will also do in this article that circles around the question of what is spiritual development. We do our very best to give you an overview and clarity of this subject.
Here is an overview of what we will cover in this article. If you want, you can jump directly to what you want to read more about below, otherwise, you are welcome to just go with the flow and read on.
– What Is Spiritual Development?
– What Are the Goals of Spiritual Development?
– What Characterizes the Process of Spiritual Development?
– What Is Spiritual Enlightenment?
– Spiritual Development Is Wonderful, but Can Also Be Hard and Lonely
Enjoy! 🙂
What is Spiritual Development?
– A Shift in Identification Towards a ‘Higher’ Self … Which Must Be Integrated into Daily Life
Unlike personal development, where the traditional definition focuses on changes in both the inner self and the outer self, for example, in the form of learned skills, spiritual development it seems, is more experience-oriented and therefore an almost purely inner process primarily concerning the self or ‘soul’ or consciousness.
In short, spiritual development is basically about an expansion of consciousness and a consequent choice of a core identification with a greater or higher consciousness, spirituality, or soul dimension (rather than an identification with, for example, the ego and the body). In other words, it is an expansion of our self-understanding.
Our definition of spiritual development is as follows:
Spiritual development is a positive process of change where you change your perception and experience of your ‘self’, the world, and life from something relatively limited (e.g., the ego and the body) to something larger and more comprehensive.
This change often involves a process of both healing (e.g., of traumas), letting go (of limitations), and expansion (of your consciousness), and it can happen all at once, in significant leaps, or gradually in small steps.
Typically, you will experience greater existential wholeness, meaning, wisdom, joy, love, freedom, inner peace, and authenticity, all of which are an indication that your life has improved and changed to the better.
The actual change takes place on several levels: partly in the form of a fundamental and permanent shift in paradigm, worldview, and identity (towards a larger, more ‘soul-based’ self with ‘higher’ consciousness, which includes the transpersonal dimensions, i.e., that which “lies beyond” the ego and the body), and partly in a practical integration into everyday life, where you actively live from the wisdom that the ‘greater’ self possesses, and therefore make different choices regarding family, relationships, friends, work, leisure, housing, etc.
Both of these changes require making an active choice. Therefore, spiritual development also involves learning to use your will to make conscious decisions and the strength of will to stick to them. Possibly, again and again.
The latter part of our definition of spiritual development, which deals with integration into daily life and will, is something that is very important to us here at Good Conscious Life.
You see, we find that integration is often neglected, especially after significant spiritual experiences. It is our experience that there can be a tendency in ‘the spiritual world’ to only pursue transcendental experiences and to consider daily life and the concrete, practical earthly existence as not quite as important, perhaps even somewhat irrelevant.
This can lead to a kind of distant or lofty state of being and behavior … as if the person in question would say, “I am here on Earth in a physical body, but I am not really here, because it’s just an illusion without significance (… and by the way, I don’t really want to be here either).”
From our perspective, this indicates a state of imbalance (between ‘the spiritual’ and ‘the earthly’), and is a sign that the spiritual insights are not fully integrated into daily life. And it’s easy to understand why people can end up there: There seems to be a huge gap between the spiritual truths we can experience with “higher” consciousness and the mundane everyday life where our … not very spiritual … culture dominates.
This is why we (Birgitte and Søren) define ourselves as bridge builders (among other things). Our view is that one of the overarching purposes of spiritual development must be to make the spiritual practical and usable in daily life – to manifest the experienced wholeness, meaning, wisdom, and authenticity, etc. in concrete life by choosing a new paradigm, a new worldview, a new identity, new choices, new behavior, and new, changed habits.
Because time-wise it is our daily life that takes up most of our time. Therefore, it makes sense to have the best possible experience of it. And spirituality doesn’t have to be airy and otherworldly; it’s actually the perfect platform for a good life in practice.
What Is It You Seek in Spiritual Development?
– The Purpose Is Greater Understanding and a Higher Quality of Life
When you embark on a spiritual development process, it’s typically because you seek something that is experienced as better than what you already have … or more accurately … is.
Most people probably wouldn’t say that what they are seeking is a new paradigm, a new worldview, and a completely new identity, so let’s take a step further down in abstraction level. Let’s look at what it is we typically would say we desire or want to achieve when we engage in spiritual development.
In everyday speech, it can be said quite briefly and simply:
We want to feel better and at the same time understand more about who we are and how everything fits together!
In other words: Deeper insight, a better overview, as well as greater joy and quality of life.
More specifically, spiritual development is what we seek …
When we want to feel and experience ourselves as:
– whole
– healthy
– in balance
– well-functioning
– connected (to everything, including that which is greater than our daily self)
And when we want to experience states of being such as:
– joy
– freedom
– love
– empowerment
– inner peace
– wholeness
– meaning
And, when we want answers to life’s big (existential) questions such as:
– who we are (also on a soul-based and higher level of existence)
– what life is
– what truth and reality are
– how we and everything are connected
– what the meaning of our life is
– why we are here
– how we can best live a good life
In addition to these inner changes, many people are also driven by making a positive difference in the world and making Earth a better place for us all.
What is interesting and perhaps a little unexpected here is that when you experience positive states of being (joy, freedom, love, etc.) on a daily, continuous basis, you will automatically be driven to do something good. You can’t help it, simply because doing good things feels good.
So objectively speaking, optimal spiritual development is a win-win situation. We create positive change on the inner level, which leads to positive change in the world.
What Characterizes the Process of Spiritual Development?
Since we are all different, we cannot make a precise and detailed outline for the process in spiritual development that fits everyone. Instead, such an outline needs to be generalized, which fortunately also means that many people will be able to relate to it to some extent.
Overall, spiritual development is typically mostly based on working directly with consciousness, but it will typically also involve other parts of that wholeness which is us, such as body, energy, emotions, behavior, and habits, etc. After all, many elements are involved in the wholeness that is us – and spiritual development really is a lot about wholeness.
In practice, spiritual development especially focuses on “higher” consciousness, i.e., that which lies beyond the ego and the body – the transpersonal and transcendent realm.
Often, the ultimate destination (if one can speak of such a thing) of spiritual development is called spiritual enlightenment or spiritual awakening. This is a very desirable goal for many people. Even though there is actually no consensus on exactly what spiritual enlightenment is … many of us just find it appealing and want it.
But as already mentioned, there is also a practical side to spiritual development, namely the integration of spiritual insights etc. into our daily lives, our practical lives.
In the following, we will present what we see as a classic process for how spiritual development generally may take place.
A Desire for Change:
– I Want to Experience Something Different, Understand More, and Contribute Positively to the World in My Own Way!
As we have already touched upon, the initial motivation for spiritual development is typically that we experience that we ourselves and life simply have got to be greater and better than what we have so far experienced and been told by authorities, media, parents, etc.
Many people have a basic feeling that something is missing in their lives. Both experientially and in terms general understanding. They desire more and better experiences of themselves, the world, and life in combination with a desire to understand themselves in a greater context of life.
Many people start their journey from an unconscious desire to come ‘home’. Home to themselves. They may express this motivation as a desire to experience more authenticity, cosmic consciousness, divinity, unlimited love, happiness, freedom, inner peace, etc.
Regardless of the word used, what we are all truly seeking is the experience of wholeness.
On a deep existential level, we want to experience being one with everything and being completely free and unlimited, calm, in harmony, unconditionally loved and empowered.
In addition to these experiential desires, many people also feel compelled to contribute to the world in an internally driven way that is authentic to them, to make a difference based on who they are. This can be expressed through the development of spiritual abilities such as clairvoyance, healing, telepathy, and wordless communication, intuition, channeling, out-of-body experiences, manifestation, etc., but it doesn’t have to.
(And by the way, these abilities are something that often emerges naturally at a certain point in people’s spiritual development – it’s actually so common that various spiritual traditions emphasize not to be ‘blinded’ by the abilities or ‘get stuck’ in them, but instead to focus on one’s continued spiritual development).
The most important thing is simply that you do what you are, and in doing so, make a positive difference in the world, which will bring you a sense of meaning and joy – both for yourself and others. And it doesn’t really matter whether if it is as a cashier in a supermarket or as a Reiki healer.
Exploration of Your Own Consciousness
– Identification and Letting Go of Consciousness Programming and Other Stressors
Once we have decided to embark on a journey of spiritual development, it is a very good next step to choose to explore our consciousness to see if there are any blockages that might be hindering us. It is almost 100% certain that we will find some, as we all have them to a greater or lesser extent.
The purpose of such an exploration (preparation) is to make the rest of the process faster and easier, and also to enhance the effect of the altered state of consciousness (consciousness expansion) later in the process. The more ‘pure’ and clear our consciousness is, the better we can use it, and the easier it will be to expand it even further.
Most people’s consciousness has been severely constricted and limited through their upbringing, especially with various forms of consciousness programming. (A habit – when we think, feel, choose, and act in the same way every time – is a good example of consciousness programming).
Consciousness programming makes it sound very rigid and computer-like. As if our psyche and consciousness were just a machine that can be programmed … and it is like that, but not just like that.
It sounds provocative, yes, but there is actually a certain similarity between the way programs work in a computer and the way, for example, beliefs work in our consciousness. (Our consciousness is just so much more than that, but we’ll come back to that).
When you program a computer, you tell it what to do in different situations. That is, programming is a way of controlling how the computer works.
Consciousness programming can be seen in a similar light. Consciousness programming controls how we use our consciousness, including how we use our will, and how much willpower we have.
This means that consciousness programming has a huge, huge impact on what we believe (our beliefs), what we think and feel about it, and how we choose to act and behave, as well as how much will we have to change something and follow through on our decision. In fact, consciousness programming controls how we can even think, feel, choose, and act.
In other words, our consciousness programming determines who we are and how we experience ourselves, the world, and life.
Two Types of Consciousness Programming
Basically there are two types of consciousness programming: social and cultural consciousness programming, and personal consciousness programming.
Social and cultural consciousness programming revolves around the assumptions, values, norms, habits, traditions, and laws that we adopt from our culture, our family, friends, teachers, etc. Because we are social beings, we want to fit in and meet the expectations of our surroundings. Therefore, we choose to believe that what we see and are told is true and should be followed. We adapt to the consensus reality that prevails in our culture and surroundings. It’s completely natural … but not always entirely beneficial.
As well as this, we have our personal consciousness programming. Much of this programming of our consciousness has been done very early in our lives – in our very first years of life. And this programming is often not very beneficial for us as adults. But it still guides us, many years – or decades – later.
Our personal consciousness programming includes our personal beliefs, mindsets, habits, attitudes, assumptions, expectations, values, decisions, and, not least, our ego (AI, our artificial intelligence).
We also have a personal reality (our perception of reality), which is entirely our own.
In the end, all our consciousness programming is something we have done or integrated ourselves (to ourselves), but we have done it unconsciously under strong external pressure – from family, friends, teachers, religion, culture, and society.
The More Limiting Programs We Have, the Worse a Life We’ll Have
From a positive perspective, one can say that our programs have helped us fit in. As a child, it’s a must to be in a community, such as a family and a society, or else we simply won’t survive. Therefore, a child will accept and install (almost) any programming. For the child, it’s life or death.
But it’s also important to understand that the more beliefs we have, the less we see reality for what it is. It sounds strange that just because we believe something (our beliefs), there is something else (reality) that we cannot see. But that’s actually the nature – and also the function – of beliefs:
Beliefs highlight something by excluding something else. If you firmly believe in something (e.g., that a choice is “good” and “right”), you cannot simultaneously believe in the opposite (that the choice is “bad” and “wrong”). With beliefs, it’s “either-or.”
In this way, beliefs aim to tell you what is right and wrong, what should feel good and bad, what you should do in certain situations, and so on.
In other words, beliefs control your view of yourself and life and tell you what you should believe, feel, think, and choose, as well as how you should act. The more beliefs you have, the more filters will exist between you and reality.
Imagine, for example, that each belief you have is like a pair of colored sunglasses. Some are green, others are gray, blue, brown, or red. The more sunglasses (beliefs) you wear, the less you see reality for what it is. It becomes a ‘muddy’ mishmash.
What you see is therefore distorted by your beliefs. This is uncomfortable enough in itself, but add to that the fact that most beliefs are actually based on fear and therefore also create fear, and hence you will have the basic ingredients in the recipe for a bad life.
This whole process can be seen as a constriction of consciousness. Unfortunately, it’s probably an almost unavoidable effect of growing up in a not-very-conscious culture … which is the case in almost all cultures in the world, even the Indian one, which is otherwise world-famous for embracing spirituality.
Therefore, spiritual development is to a large extent about removing everything that obscures reality and truth. And much of what obscures reality is our programmings. But it can also be other stressors such as traumas, shadow aspects, “attention thieves” (such as social media, fear-based news, etc.).
Fortunately, It’s a Choice Whether We Want to Be Limited in Our Consciousness
Consciousness programming and other stressors are all things that make our lives worse. And if we’re not super attentive, it can easily feel like it is something external that is done to us, and thus we become victims of it.
But … That’s not actually the case.
The truth is:
– Yes, things have happened – and continue to happen – in our lives … for example, something bad of some kind that can lead to traumas; or the fact that our family, society, religion, and culture try to influence and manipulate us, especially by controlling and limiting our consciousness (with beliefs, norms, traditions, expectations, etc.).
and
– Yes, there are things that are actually sick (dysfunctional), and that also can make us sick … social media, for example, or a stressful job … and various ideologies, belief systems, and groups that are based on separation, fear, hatred, and exclusion.
But we OURSELVES CHOOSE the way we relate to these things. We choose both whether we want to let them affect us – and if so, how and how much.
We don’t have to succumb to peer pressure, and that’s true whether there really is pressure or it’s just something we imagine. We can actually refuse to participate, move away, set boundaries for what we will tolerate and enforce those boundaries, seek healthier alternatives, choose to let go of programming, and overall take care of ourselves … and we can also actively inform others about – or even fight against – harmful things.
It’s US ourselves who have the power over our own consciousness and our boundaries, and thus the power over our experience of everything.
However, it doesn’t necessarily seem all that easy. The challenge here is twofold:
– Firstly, we are not aware of and conscious about many of the things that affect us; or how they affect us. They are often completely unconscious to us … until we decide to change that.
– Secondly, we have made – and continue to make – unconscious decisions about all those things.
Our unconscious choices have an interesting characteristic: They don’t seem like our own. They seem like “something that just happens” or even like “something done to us”. When it comes to our unconscious choices and their consequences, it’s easy to feel like a victim!
However, our unconscious choices are still our own. We can acknowledge them, which gives us power over them. And it’s worth doing so, because it’s not just ourselves, but also others and the world, that have to live with the consequences of them.
The solution (which is an extremely important part of personal and spiritual development) is:
There is significant benefit gained from becoming aware of everything that limits our consciousness and will, thus hindering our development opportunities and undermining our quality of life.
Then, we can use our will to make conscious choices, which we implement and stand by from now on.
Inner Journeys – Accessing and Experiencing an Expanded State of Consciousness
After (or perhaps even better:) at the same time as working to actively remove limitations on our consciousness, a good next step in spiritual development is to embark on some form of inner journey.
How Is an Expanded State of Consciousness Experienced?
An inner journey is a journey in consciousness. Typically, it involves changing the way you use your consciousness so that you can experience things you don’t experience in your daily state of consciousness.
Experientially, what typically characterizes opening up your consciousness is that it seems larger because you gain access to more – both good and pleasant stuff (your potentials) and uncomfortable and limiting stuff (e.g. your old traumas). Your analytical, constantly talking, thinking, and judging brain is turned down – and if you’re lucky / choose it, it might even shut down for a while.
This doesn’t mean that you’re not alert, less awake, or less conscious; quite the contrary, you’re super conscious. You’re in a sort of relaxed, experiential state where you mostly just ‘are’ and let things happen. You surrender to what is now … which is your consciousness.
And the more you allow yourself to just be and let things happen, the more your consciousness will expand. The deeper … or higher you will go. And the less control and fewer blockages (such as consciousness programming) you have, the easier and faster it will happen.
What Can We Experience on Inner Journeys?
The more you engage in various forms of inner journeys, the more aware you become of two things: how limited your daily consciousness is, and how incredibly vast, varied, and powerful consciousness actually is. You will realize that in our daily lives, we humans use only a tiny fraction of our consciousness’ potential and that we have access to so much more.
What can we experience on inner journeys?
The answer is: Ourselves, life, the universe, and everything.
We can experience things that relate to our daily life with our body and ego, or we can experience what lies beyond our body and ego: “the transpersonal,” which is an enormous and very exciting dimension of consciousness.
It often becomes easier to reach the transpersonal realm when we have clarified significant issues that lurk in our everyday state consciousness – old traumas, for example, but also limiting beliefs and various other constraints of consciousness.
The reason is that each of our consciousness constraints, as mentioned, functions as a filter (like a pair of sunglasses) on our consciousness, preventing us from seeing things as they are: We only see some of that-which-is, and that we even see as somewhat distorted.
When we have freed ourselves from the worst (most limiting) of our consciousness filters, we can begin to experience everything that lies beyond our body and ego in the transpersonal field of consciousness.
Some might instead say that what we experience is “the quantum field,” while others may call it “reality”, “the truth”, “the divine”, “pure consciousness”, “that-which-is”, or something entirely different (such as “big consciousness”).
Within the vast, transpersonal part of (our) consciousness, there are almost unlimited possibilities to what we can experience. If we were to pick a few of these possible experiences to focus on because they help us answer a question that concerns us all, namely “Who am I?”, we could – in a very simplified way – say that we can experience three levels of consciousness and beingness or identity:
– Little personality (the ego and body as we know them from our daily life)
– Greater personality (our soul or essence, which many people call Home – with a capital H)
– Vast beingness (experiences of unity, where we feel one with everything)
At all three levels, we can have revolutionary experiences, but it is often at the latter two levels that things get really interesting. Just experiencing that we indeed have a greater personality, a soul, which by all accounts is completely independent of our body and ego, can be life-changing.
Unfortunately the word “soul” has been used and misused so much that many of us today are inclined to reject it just by hearing it. But regardless of what it is called, all those who have experienced it agree that it is a very positive experience. An experience permeated by one or more of the positive states of being described earlier, such as unconditional love, wholeness, freedom and limitlessness, deep meaning and understanding, inner peace, etc. For many people, this is a deeply healing experience.
For people interested in spiritual development (and personal development / self improvement), it is highly recommended to try to experience these expanded levels of consciousness.
And if you go far enough out (or in), you will at some point face a kind of choice. This choice is often described as the choice of ego death.
Ego Death Usually Leads to Experiencing an Even Higher State of Consciousness
When talking about ego death on inner journeys, it involves temporarily (or more permanently) letting go of the ego and transcending it. And this really does feel like dying! (No, you do not physically die, but it feels as if you do).
Ego death can be extremely frightening – it can cause existential fear – until you actually let go and allow yourself ‘to die’. Then there will be a moment of confusion, and after that, it will feel totally liberating and absolutely wonderful – because this is what the ego-free state of consciousness is like.
When you transcend the ego, your consciousness will be greatly expanded and start to operate on a higher level. In practice you will experience what ‘higher consciousness’ means, and you will really get to put your your small, daily (ego-influenced) identity into perspective.
If you are willing to experience ego death, to ‘die’ experientially (again: without physically dying), you can progress far and fast … and correspondingly, if you are not willing to experience dying, then you generally cannot progress as far or as fast.
Søren knew a shaman who had a very special but enthusiastic way of referring to ego death:
“I love it when I die!”
~ “Jan” ~ (died in the 2000s), a Nordic shaman who used
entheogens (psychedelics) in his work with his own and other people’s consciousness, and who here was speaking about ego death – something which he considered very important for spiritual development.
‘Slow Ego Death’ – Higher Consciousness a Little at a Time
It is important to say that it is not necessary to experience intense ego death to transcend the ego. It is a very quick and effective way to do so, but not the only one.
You can also gradually transcend the ego through overall choice, willpower, and persistent self-work. Simply by working purposefully on letting go of your consciousness programming and perhaps embarking on gentler inner journeys, where you experience healing states of being and possibly use various other methods and techniques that help to expand your consciousness and understand yourself and life (three of the oldest and most well-known means are meditation, yoga, and mindfulness, but there are many, many others).
How Do We Get Access to an Expanded State of Consciousness?
There are many, many ways and approaches to healing, elevating, and expanding your consciousness. Besides the different methods available, some more potent than others, it also depends on who you are and what suits your personality best, whether you are mentally oriented, physically oriented, emotionally oriented, etc.
Some people find success with meditation, others with yoga. Some with extreme sports, others with intense (possibly tantric) sex or walks in magnificent nature and breathtaking sunsets.
Moreover, there are also various specific tools and methods that different individuals have invented with the purpose of creating inner healing and exploring expanded states of consciousness.
Some of these include: fantasy journeys and various other gentle methods for inner journeys (such as psychosynthesis by Italian psychiatrist, Roberto Assagioli, Bruce Moen’s method for inner journeys, and possibly Hemi-Sync audio CDs from The Monroe Institute, The Work by Byron Katie, The Journey by Brandon Bays, Voice Dialogue (also known as the inner parliament) by Hal and Sidra Stone, as well as our (Birgitte’s and Søren’s) own ‘Lend Me Everything’ and ‘The Let Go Method’). On the slightly more intense end of methods is, for example, Stanislav Grof’s Holotropic Breathwork.
In addition to this, there is, of course, a very powerful and direct path via psychedelics, such as psilocybin from certain mushrooms or the South American brew ayahuasca.
What Happens in Our Brain When We Expand Our Consciousness?
When we expand our consciousness, something very interesting happens in our brain. From a neurological perspective, science has found that when people enter the transpersonal dimension, their brain becomes more balanced in terms of brain waves. Our brain simply functions better as a whole, as brain waves synchronize and run more harmoniously in relation to each other. This can be observed through various means of measuring.
Furthermore, in terms of brain wave types, we also move away from our daily, focused, and analytical state of consciousness, characterized by fast beta brain waves, which can vary in speed depending on how stressed we are.
When we move into a more unfocused and ‘broader’ state of being, brain waves shift to slightly slower oscillations, known as alpha waves. Some people call this state lightly meditative, while others simply refer to it as “pure, clear, and calm”. It has been found that the alpha state is a very healthy state for our brain to be in, and the more we can shift into it in our daily lives, the more balanced we will experience ourselves to be.
However, it doesn’t necessarily end with alpha. There are also even slower brain waves of the theta type (which is the state adults enter just before falling asleep, and which children actually spend much of their time in until a certain age). It’s a state where you are halfway between waking and sleeping. Some people experience being able to see with closed eyes, gain spiritual insights, have out-of-body experiences, etc. during this state.
In fact, spiritual experiences can also occur through the delta state, which is another form of brain waves where the oscillations are even slower – this is typically the state our brain is in during deep sleep.
Last but not least, there are gamma brain waves. Gamma waves that look similar to beta with rapid oscillations, are something entirely unique in this context.
Gamma is special in this regard because it’s associated with profound spiritual experiences such as experiencing being one with everything, being the entire universe. This experience is deeply healing, and many have experienced spontaneous healing of serious illnesses through gamma waves.
We personally know someone who trained himself to produce gamma brain waves using a biofeedback machine and thereby cured his debilitating migraines, which he had suffered from for over 40 years and had tried virtually everything to get rid of it. Learning to put his brain into a gamma state was what made all the difference for him.
Additionally, in the gamma state, new synaptic connections are formed between neurons, restructuring the brain, which physically changes our brain. So new experiences, thoughts, and feelings created in this state of consciousness are effectively engraved into the brain. Physiologically, this is also why people feel like new individuals after a profound inner experience.
For more information about spirituality and brain wave states, you can read Tal Dotan Ben-Soussan’s (Director of the Research Institute for Neuroscience, Education, and Didactics (RINED) – Paoletti Foundation) article “Spirituality is a brain state we can all reach, religious or not” here.
Other similar approaches to achieving higher consciousness can be found in articles such as Resetting Your Mind for Higher Consciousness by Deepak Chopra, How to Achieve a Higher Level of Consciousness and Go Beyond the Mind by Tim Denning, or this article From “Mind” to “Supermind”: A Statement of Aurobindonian Approach by Kamaladevi R. Kunkolienker.
Summary: What Do We Gain from Expanding Our Consciousness?
– Spiritual Development Leads to a Permanent Restructuring (Improvement) of Your Consciousness
Why is it so appealing?
There are many, many benefits to focusing on spiritual development and expanding our consciousness, and so far we have only described some of them (for example, we have not yet reached spiritual enlightenment).
To summarize:
– It is often overlooked that spiritual development and experiencing positive states of being such as love, joy, freedom, greater existential wholeness, meaning, wisdom, inner peace, and authenticity are acts of will, a choice. But it is not a choice to act, rather quite the opposite. The choice is often experienced as a “surrender,” meaning letting go of control and letting everything be as it is.
– In the transpersonal domain, we can not only experience positive states of being, but also find knowledge and wisdom (and possibly a form of spiritual enlightenment).
– The more we visit and experience the transpersonal field, the more we will find that we bring the positive states of being from there back into our daily lives. We are, so to speak, changed (in a very positive way) by higher consciousness, even when we are not meditating or on an inner journey.
– Spiritual development truly happens when we integrate our wisdom into our daily life. When we do that, we will have a better life experience (our ‘inner’ life with states of being) and a better practical life (our ‘outer’ life with family, relationships, work, etc.).
– You will want to do something good for others and the world in a way that is authentic to yourself.
What Is Spiritual Enlightenment?
For many people interested in spiritual development, the phenomenon of spiritual enlightenment is the ultimate goal or ‘the holy grail’.
However, there is no consensus on what spiritual enlightenment means.
Some people consider themselves spiritually enlightened (be cautious with them!). Some people definitely do not consider themselves spiritually enlightened but are still labeled as such by others. And then there are others who live very discreet lives, yet their behavior suggests that they might indeed be spiritually enlightened.
Traditionally, spiritual enlightenment has often been presented as an either-or thing: “Either you are fully spiritually enlightened, or you are not enlightened at all.” In that view, spiritual enlightenment is typically something that only very, very few people achieve – as we have heard numerous people say.
(Note the word “achieve” – we’ll come back to that in a moment).
Regardless of the lack of consensus on precisely what spiritual enlightenment is, many of us have a certain sense about it: It involves transcending your ego and all that goes with it, and feeling (truly) good, which often leads to loving, calm, generous behavior.
Here and now, we are not going to attempt to define what it means to be spiritually enlightened, but we would like to share some thoughts about it …
Spiritual Enlightenment is Not ‘Either-Or’, but a Is Matter of Degree
We of course have our own thoughts on spiritual enlightenment. First, let’s clarify that we wouldn’t call ourselves spiritually enlightened, even though we’ve had (unity) experiences in slightly different ways that give us some idea of what it is (for us, anyway).
We don’t see spiritual enlightenment as necessarily “either-or”, but rather as something one can gradually approach if desired.
This means that we can view “spiritually enlightened” as something we all are – to a greater or lesser degree. So, once again, it’s not either-or, but a matter of degree. Therefore, spiritual enlightenment can be seen as a sort of scale – or continuum – that we experience and live on.
At one end of the continuum, you have a life where you are completely dominated by the ego. The ego itself is just a program running in your consciousness, and you also have plenty of other limiting consciousness programming, so you perceive and experience reality through many limiting filters.
In other words, you only experience a very small part of reality. In such a life, you will feel separate from everything and everyone, and the prevailing experience of life will generally be characterized by various degrees of fear, loneliness, and discomfort.
At the other end of the continuum, the ego has found its proper place as a ‘servant’. You will have chosen to let go your limiting consciousness programming, which allows for space to experience reality as it is – without preconceived opinions and attitudes.
(We like to call this filterless reality “that-which-is” – more on that in a moment). The experience of life here is characterized by a deep sense of peace and unity with yourself, the world, and life.
By becoming aware of and deprogramming (letting go of or otherwise freeing oneself from) unhelpful beliefs, you will automatically move towards spiritual enlightenment on the continuum. But perhaps you only do this in certain areas of life, while stubbornly holding on to old limitations in others.
Therefore, some people may be more ‘spiritually enlightened’ in some areas than others, and even quite enlightened spiritual gurus may have areas where there is significant struggle and their ego dominates.
So not only is spiritual enlightenment a continuum, it’s also something you can have more or less of in different areas.
We’re not going to say that one degree or type of spiritual enlightenment is “better” than the other; they’re just different, and what suits one person well may not suit another.
The same goes with spiritual teachers or gurus: One may benefit greatly from a teacher or guru in a certain area or at a certain time in one’s life, and later find much more benefit from another – or from not having a guru or teacher at all, but rather finding one’s own path.
Spiritual Enlightenment Is About Experiencing and Living from ‘That-Which-Is’
We consider the phenomenon of “that-which-is” to be very important. Here’s how we see it:
‘That-which-is’ = reality as it actually is, and not as we imagine it to be. That is to say: that-which-is = ourselves, life, the universe, and everything as it is, without filters.
That-which-is can also be called:
– Absolute and impersonal reality and truth
– Absolute consciousness
– Absolute wholeness
We (Birgitte and Søren) have both, in our own ways, experienced that-which-is. We both have access to the that-which-is at any time, but again: in slightly different ways. We use it in our work as consciousness guides (yes, it’s actually our most important tool), where we serve as bridges builders between that-which-is and people’s everyday lives:
There’s nothing mysterious about that-which-is. Seriously, it’s … overwhelming, yes, and revolutionary compared to the way we humans normally think, understand, and experience everything, but there is ABSOLUTELY nothing mysterious about that-which-is, and it’s not something we need to chase or find.
It’s just reality and truth which ARE THERE ALL THE TIME, underneath all our many beliefs, opinions, habits, and other consciousness-stuff that we go around assigning a meaning to, which it doesn’t actually have.
But what about that which we understand as reality and truth in our everyday life and culture? Consensus reality, for example? Or the things we believe in and experience? Aren’t those things reality? Aren’t they truth?
The answer is: Only to a certain extent … those things are only relatively real and true, not absolutely real or true.
Which means: We can believe that they are real and true, and then we can experience them as real and true, but that does not make them absolutely real and true, it only makes them relatively real and true – for ourselves and possibly others who share our belief.
The more we humans can experience and live from ‘that-which-is’, the better a life we will get, and the more useful we will be for others, the world, and life.
We Humans Start as Out as Spiritually Enlightened, but Forget It Again
By all accounts, we are all spiritually enlightened from birth; most of us just forget it again; we have forgotten our true nature as consciousness, which is one with everything, yes, which IS everything.
Possibly, this (‘forgetfulness’) often occurs due to various influences such as trauma and cultural socialization, as well as our choice of ego type.
(Regarding ego types, see for example the Enneagram, which is an advanced system describing nine types of ego. The best book on the Enneagram is this one.
Or put another way: Beneath various defense mechanisms, coping mechanisms, traumas, shadow aspects, ego, beliefs, norms, traditions, habits, and other forms of consciousness programming, we probably all have the same unlimited consciousness, which can be said to be our fundamental nature. It is this vast and “high” consciousness that spiritually enlightened individuals identify with and live through.
This again points to the fact that spiritual enlightenment seems to require transcending one’s ego and everything that comes with it.
However, it is also probably important for creating wholeness and continuing to be able to function in the world to embrace (integrate) your ego as a part of the wholeness that constitutes you.
After spiritual enlightenment, the ego will become a very small part of the wholeness that you are and will no longer be something that you identify with.
Which Individuals Are Somewhere Near ‘Spiritually Enlightened’ on the Consciousness Continuum?
Is it possible to point out people who are spiritually enlightened?
Of course, although there is often just as much discussion about whether they are enlightened as there is discussion about what spiritual enlightenment actually is.
Among enlightened individuals from earlier times, Siddharta Gautama, better known as Buddha (who lived around 500 years before the Common Era), is considered one of the most enlightened people. (And since then, there have been a number of other individuals who have also been called “buddha”). Another highly recognized example is probably Jesus of Nazareth.
A little closer to our time, we find among others Johannes Eckhart von Hochheim (ca. 1260-1328), better known as Meister Eckhart, and much closer to our time there are, for example, Ramana Maharshi (1879-1950), Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895-1986), and Lester Levenson (1909-1994), who is also known for his technique “The Sedona Method”.
Among the living, many would agree that Eckhart Tolle is among the world’s spiritually enlightened individuals, and there is also little doubt about Byron Katie, while other teachers occasionally generate more discussion but appear to live in some state of spiritual enlightenment. This applies to teachers such as American Adyashanti, American Gangaji, Jamaican Mooji, Australian Isira, Australian Leonard Jacobson, French Francis Lucille, English Richard Sylvester, German Karl Renz (whose website is worth visiting solely because it looks like it was made in the internet’s youth in the 1990s), Danish Nukunu Jørgen Larsen, and notably the late ‘troublemakers’ Adi Da Samraj, born Franklin Albert Jones (1939-2008), and Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, later known as Osho (1931-1990).
Perhaps one of the most interesting cases of spiritual enlightenment in our time is American Suzanne Segal (1955–1997), who spontaneously became fully or partially spiritually enlightened at a bus stop but did not know what it was. She simply suddenly experienced no ego identity anymore.
Afterward, she sought out various (Western) psychiatrists and psychologists for several years, who either could not say what she was experiencing or diagnosed her with various mental illnesses.
Buddhists, on the other hand, whom she later sought out, congratulated her on achieving spiritual enlightenment!
And later still, she suddenly experienced, spontaneously – and permanently during the last years of her life – not only being ego-free but being one with everything:
“In the midst of a particularly eventful week, I was driving north to meet some friends when I suddenly became aware that I was driving through myself. For years there had been no self at all, yet here on this road everything was myself, and I was driving through me to arrive where I already was. In essence, I was going nowhere because I was everywhere already. The infinite emptiness I knew myself to be was now apparent as the infinite substance of everything I saw.”
~ Suzanne Segal ~ (1955–1997), whom you can also read an interview with here. The quote is from her autobiography “Collision With the Infinite: A Life Beyond the Personal Self”.
Perhaps the most important thing to remember here is this:
Spiritually enlightened individuals are also human beings. They have challenges, strengths, and weaknesses, just like everyone else, and they say and do both wise and less wise things. We can benefit from listening to them – but with our hearts / intuition, and only accept those things that feel right and true to us, right now.
Spiritual Development Is Fantastic, but Can Also Be Hard and Lonely
– A Good Idea: Seek Out Like-Minded People
If you are engaged in spiritual awakening and development and you find it incredibly tough, know that you are not alone. It CAN indeed be extremely hard! And most people experience periods where it is so. Spiritual awakening can feel like dying and being reborn. Sometimes over and over again.
Therefore, it can be a really good idea to associate with like-minded people to the extent you feel inclined to be social. Like-minded people who are also interested in spiritual development are likely to provide better support and inspiration than the ‘normal’ circle of friends, who live in the ‘consensus reality’ and who may find it difficult to understand what you’re talking about. However, they can of course be great to be with on their own terms. We all need to be with others on our own terms.
At the end of our article on personal development, you will find an overview of places where you can seek like-minded company on your journey.
Enjoy your spiritual development!
Warm regards
Birgitte Coste and Søren Lauritzen
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