Waking From Sleep: The Causes of Higher States of Consciousness. By STEVE TAYLOR— Higher states of consciousness (HSCs) – or awakening experiences, as I prefer to call them – are moments of revelation, when we perceive reality at a heightened intensity. The world around us comes to life, and is filled with an atmosphere of harmony and meaning. A spirit-force seems to pervade all things, and the spaces between them, bringing everything into oneness. We experience ourselves as part of this oneness too, and feel ecstatic or serene. These experiences are sometimes associated with meditation, nature or psychedelic drugs, but what exactly is it that causes them? Neuroscientists generally believe that HSCs are caused by changes in brain activity. My view is that there are two basic types of awakening experiences, which have two distinct causes. Indigenous peoples often fast and deprive themselves of sleep as a preparation for rituals, dance and vision quests, using physical deprivation as a way of ‘purifying’ themselves.
Intensifying Life-Energy. A Conversation with Terence McKenna and Ram Dass (1992) Higher consciousness. Higher consciousness is the consciousness of a higher Self, transcendental reality, or God. It is "the part of the human being that is capable of transcending animal instincts". The concept developed in German Idealism, and is a central notion in contemporary popular spirituality. Philosophy[edit] Fichte[edit] Fichte distinguished the finite or empirical ego from the pure or infinite ego. Fichte (1762-1814) was one of the founding figures of German idealism, which developed from the theoretical and ethical writings of Immanuel Kant.
According to Michael Whiteman, Fichte's philosophical system "is a remarkable western formulation of eastern mystical teachings (of which he seems to have had no direct knowledge). " Schopenhauer[edit] In 1812 Schopenhauer started to use the term "the better consciousness", a consciousness ... According to Schopenhauer, The better consciousness in me lifts me into a world where there is no longer personality and causality or subject or object.
Religion[edit]
Fourth Way. According to this system, the chief difference between the three traditional schools, or ways, and the fourth way is that "they are permanent forms which have survived throughout history mostly unchanged, and are based on religion. Where schools of yogis, monks or fakirs exist, they are barely distinguishable from religious schools. The fourth way differs in that it is not a permanent way. It has no specific forms or institutions and comes and goes controlled by some particular laws of its own. " It always has some work of a specific import, and is never without some task around which and in connection with which it can alone exist.
When this work is finished, that is to say, when the aim set before it has been accomplished, the fourth way disappears, that is, it disappears from the given place, disappears in its given form, continuing perhaps in another place in another form. Overview[edit] Three ways[edit] The Way of the fakir The Way of the monk The Way of the yogi The Fourth Way[edit]
Fourth Way enneagram. Enneagram with point numbers and octave designations for octave beginning at point 9. Points 3 and 6 show "shock points" at which a new Do may enter and develop alongside the existing octave. Origins[edit] As reported by P. D. Ouspensky the enneagram was introduced by George Gurdjieff to his study groups in Saint Petersburg and Moscow in 1916. Ouspensky records this original explication in his book of Gurdjieff's teaching In Search of the Miraculous where the enneagram appears as Figure 44 and in further diagrams.[1] It was presented as an ancient secret being released for the first time, the truth behind for example the philosopher's stone. Robin Amis claims an Orthodox Christian origin, claiming that both Gurdijeff and Ouspensky developed their teaching with insights gained from visits to Mount Athos.[7] Another proposal suggests the diagram is a map of the chakras from yogic schools.[8] Background of the enneagram in Gurdjieff's cosmology[edit] At point 3, Mi-Fa, occurs a "shock".
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Fourth Way enneagram. Enneagram with point numbers and octave designations for octave beginning at point 9. Points 3 and 6 show "shock points" at which a new Do may enter and develop alongside the existing octave. Origins[edit] As reported by P. D. Idries Shah, a populariser of Sufism, has claimed that the enneagram has a Sufi provenance and that it has also been long known in coded form disguised as an octagram.[4] Another claim to a Sufi provenance is offered by the Sufi Enneagram website.[5] The archives of the Naqshbandi Sufi order of Daghestan have been claimed to provide an account of a meeting between Gurdjieff and Shaykh Sharafuddin Daghestani in which the secret of the nine points was transmitted to Gurdjieff.[6] Robin Amis claims an Orthodox Christian origin, claiming that both Gurdijeff and Ouspensky developed their teaching with insights gained from visits to Mount Athos.[7] Another proposal suggests the diagram is a map of the chakras from yogic schools.[8] At point 3, Mi-Fa, occurs a "shock".
Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. Chandra Mohan Jain (11 December 1931 – 19 January 1990), also known as Acharya Rajneesh from the 1960s onwards, as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh ( pronunciation ) during the 1970s and 1980s, and as Osho ( pronunciation ;) from 1989, was an Indian mystic, guru and spiritual teacher. His international following has continued after his death. A professor of philosophy, he traveled throughout India during the 1960s as a public speaker. Rajneesh's ashram in Pune[6] is today known as the Osho International Meditation Resort.
Biography[edit] Childhood and adolescence: 1931–1950[edit] University years and public speaking: 1951–1970[edit] In 1951, aged nineteen, Rajneesh began his studies at Hitkarini College in Jabalpur.[19] Asked to leave after conflicts with an instructor, he transferred to D.N. After calling for a greater acceptance of sex in a 1968 lecture series (later published as From Sex to Superconsciousness), Rajneesh was dubbed "the sex guru" by the Indian press. Bombay: 1970–1974[edit] Peter B. Zizek- First as Tragedy, Then as Farce - RSA Animate. Richard Alpert (Ram Dass) on LSD. Robert Anton Wilson.