Theos-Talk Archives (December 1995 Message tl00443)

AEB

In reading your excellent post I encountered your terms of level of
consciousness. I come to theos-l with terminology from over 20 years of
reading
Bailey so that is what I am familiar with. Could you explain or direct me
to
the source of your terms such as fourth and fifth-level consciousness?

RI

Thank you for all *your* excellent posts.

I have tried to simplify my terminology over the last couple decades and am
now down to *degree* of Self-awareness and *level* of consciousness.

While I can be tedious at the slightest provocation on the subject of
*psychogenesis* the important part I suppose is the realization that
individuals can be "ranked" according to the point at which their sense of
Self "Undifferentiated Consciousness" is no longer able to its unable to
"hold Its ground" along the "continuum" of psychological conditions which
result from interactions with a person's energy-physical emotional mental
and Spiritual nature thus giving rise to all the varieties of
"differentiated consciousness".

Perhaps the first hurdle to get over in all this is to realize that
*everything* we experience has an "egoic" component as a result of the
involvement with partial transformation of the Self the primordial sense
of *I am*. Thus when we have a toothache there is little way to escape
the psychogenetic state of *I AM the pain in my molar*. If our attention
shifts to a different tooth the previous ego-formation dissolves and then we
are "I AM the pain in my incisor."

I call such egoic-formations "semi-Selves." Fortunately semi-Selves forming
one at a time please at this "physical level of consciousness" are so
gross that--unless the pain or sensation is *really* intense-- there is
usually some "remainder" of untransformed Self present to keep a
"Once-Removed Vantage" on the psychological condition. The person is seldom
completely deluded that he or she *really is* a physical semi-Self o.k.
o.k. maybe if the taste of the pecan pie is amazingly good . . ..

Things get a little more problematic when semi-Selves form at higher levels
of consciousness. Keeping the Once-Removed Vantage is dependent upon how
much Self-awareness the person has developed often by means of meditative
practice.

Theosophical writers have tried to indicate the levels of consciousness in a
variety of ways--number of divisions qualities etc.--so many in fact that
an individual has little choice but to repeatedly watch the inner progression
for himself or herself during meditation. I have settled on these seven for
myself: *pranic physical desire-feeling desire-mental mental
Spirit-mental and Spirit*. Theosophical scribes and pharisees will try to
tell you that you are wrong because so-and-so says such-and-such; however
this is a situation where you must stick to what you experience in
meditation. Your purpose is not to come up with the last word on this
subject only to get enough personal experience with the levels of
differentiated consciousness so that you can USE them in Adept fashion.

However you cannot use in a mistake-free manner the ones which entirely
gobble you up egoically. When I say that someone is in the "fifth degree"
all I mean is that he or she is able to experience "fourth-level"
desire-mental consciousness without losing the Once-Removed Vantage. When
I say "sixth degree" I mean someone who does not turn egoically kamikaze
when utilizing a semi-Self forming at the "fifth level" of consciousness
desire-free mentation.

All in all I suppose this terminology is just an attempt to take the
time-honored concept of *older and younger souls* not to mention *Rounds
Root Races Sub-Races* etc. out of the context of anthropogenesis and see
what it might mean in the context of psychogenesis. The power associated
with this possibly newly unfolding component of theosophy is spectacular
Ann. With a little practice one can not only begin to look at oneself in a
far more expert way but often many of the more common mysteries regarding
why other people behave as then do etc. simply seem to fall away as well.

And the coolest thing about it Ann is that so many people are so well along
the way with this personal theosophical development--without having needed
any special terminology at all!

Best wishes

Richard Ihle