Self-Awareness and Meditation Course

Lesson Three

The Psychology behind Self-awareness and Meditation (2)

Continuing with the psychology behind Self-awareness and meditation, I'll take a look at the Self-awareness and meditation logo at the top of this page as this symbol signifies much of what meditation is about. The upper triangle points upwards and represents the higher self or soul consisting of spiritual will, higher mind and intuition. In meditation we hope to gain more and more connection with this aspect of our selves. In fact this represents the soul which is a subtle energetic level of consciousness and yet a lower subtle energy than the Spirit. When I refer to Self with a capital 'S' as in Self-awareness, I am referring to the subtler dimensions of our being. In the psychology of Self-awareness and meditation it refers to the first stage self. In esoteric psychology the personality provides a physical vehicle for the soul while the soul, or causal body, provides a vehicle for the Spirit or supracausal.

The lower triangle represents the personality which consists of the physical/etheric body, rational mind and emotions. This represents the second and third stage selves. In the last lesson I mentioned that the third stage self is the ego and is what we have created to enable us to live successfully in the world. Through meditation, as we learn to connect with the higher self or soul and gradually the soul's ability to operate through the personality increases while at the same time the hold of the ego decreases. The eventual goal is to be a 'soul-infused personality'. Our day to day awareness is controlled by our connection with soul or Source rather than living through the fears and conditionings of the ego.

The two triangles or aspects of our Self are linked by the rainbow bridge (antahkarana). The rainbow bridge is the connection, or bridge, that we build between our personality and soul. The seven coloured balls represent the seven chakras or energy centres of the etheric body from the lowest, base chakra which represents our basic instinctual nature and the crown chakra at the top which is our closest connection to soul or Source. As we become more aware spiritually the higher chakras become more active. Notice that the central, green chakra is that of the heart centre and is considered to be the link between the soul and personality. This whole diagram is enclosed within the vertical shaped eye which represents the Third Eye or Spiritual Eye. The spiritual eye is pure intuition and the ability to see from a spiritual perspective.

The essence behind all being is one Source consciousness. This one consciousness is multidimensional in its experience from dense, physical matter through to subtle levels of energetic experience. It is possible to delineate seven dimensions from subtle to dense:

Void

Supracausal

Causal

Subtle

Mental

Emotional

Physical

The Void

The ultimate reality is symbolised by the Void as it is beyond all experience. It has been referred to as the pregnant void because it is the womb behind all experience and within which the potential for all experience is found. It is the One, eternally delighting in itself.

The Relative Field

All experience takes place within a polarised, multidimensional reality known as the relative field. All the dimensions from physical to supracausal are found here. The two polarities are positive and negative and yet there is in reality only One Source Consciousness. The two polarities can be found in a multitude of forms whether dark and light, unity and diversity, interior and exterior, male and female, happiness and sadness, being and becoming, and so on. Within the relative field the negative polarity dominates the positive polarity.

In the most subtle dimensions there is more relative balance between the polarities and consciousness is aware of itself as One Consciousness. In the Most densest of dimensions there is less balance and consciousness is not fully aware of itself as One Consciousness. This is known as fragmentation or disunity. Disunity is an illusion for in reality there is only One Consciousness. All experience is a progressive increase in wholeness through the dimensions until consciousness recognises itself as One.  Muktananda referred to this as the Play of Consciousness. It is a game within creation in which consciousness hides itself from itself so that it can then find itself again and increase its delight in the process.

Human experience is thus also a progressive experience from dense to subtle, imbalance to balance. At the same time, human experience is also multidimensional. Increasing Self-awareness relies on increasing wholeness which is itself proportional to balance. The key to Self-awareness is, therefore, balance and, since it is the negative polarity that is dominant, to increase balance the positive polarity must be emphasised, in all the dimensions. In later lessons we will look at how to emphasise the positive polarity in the physical, emotional and mental dimensions. Until these dimensions are balanced it is less likely that we can gain awareness of the higher dimensions of our reality.

Lesson Four

References:

Copyright © Charles Attfield, 2006

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