This post continues to focus on group resonance, which is the second task of the Chela on the Thread stage. In this post we at last take a look at the subject of Who Is the Master I will also look briefly at how Integral, talks about this subject, and take a brief look at how the idea of Masters may be viewed from various levels of development.
Perhaps one of the most controversial parts of the Ageless Wisdom teaching, if not the most controversial, is the notion of Masters. Who is a Master? What does a Master look and act like in the Ageless Wisdom tradition? How is this different than what other spiritual traditions have to say? Is it possible to be open to the notion of a Master without falling into glamour or delusion? This post gives some brief insights with the intention of opening up debate and discussion along these lines.
Continue reading “Chela on the Thread: Group Resonance II – Wisdom vs. Wilber”
This post moves into what I have summarized as the second task of the Chela on the Thread stage, which is one of the Six Stages of Discipleship. I have titled this task Group Resonance, which means from this point forward the concern for individual enlightenment is dropping away with group enlightenment, or group initiation, becoming the focus. As always I will attempt to correlate these stages with Integral, though that task is becoming more and more difficult.
We are One. That is a popular phrase for many to assert, but much more difficult to live. To use a Buddhist phrase, it means increasingly we need to become sensitive to “dependent arising.” To put it another way, ALL sentient beings arise together. No one goes it alone. The more we sink into this realization the more even the notion of individual enlightenment fades away, as we understand all the interconnected elements that lead to any one sentient being’s success.
Continue reading “Chela on the Thread: Group Resonance I – Wisdom vs. Wilber”
This post continues to elaborate on how the Ageless Wisdom model sees psychic powers evolving up the levels. In addition it elaborates a little bit more on some of the view of Integral along these lines. Again, this conversation is showing up here because it relates to the Chela on the Thread stage, which has as part of its tasks learning to distinguish between “higher and lower” psychic powers.
In the previous post, Chela on the Thread, Psychic Powers, I, I spoke more at length about the various levels in the Ageless Wisdom model and how they relate to the various psychic powers. In this post, I no longer introduce you to the levels. Instead, I give a brief overview of the five senses and how they evolve up the levels according to the Ageless Wisdom teachings. I also speak more at length about how the Integral model talks about “higher and lower” psychic powers,, by helping us understand the difference between magical thinking and real psychic phenomena. Continue reading “Chela on the Thread: Psychic Powers II – Wisdom vs. Wilber”
This post focuses more specifically on Ken Wilber’s exact thoughts on the nature of magical thinking versus real psychic powers so that they can be compared more precisely to what the Ageless Wisdom teachings say on the matter. This post is also connected to the Six Stages of Discipleship, especially the stage of Chela on the Thread, where we are told we need to become much more clear on the difference between lower and higher psychic powers.
In the Ageless Wisdom teachings we talk about higher and lower psychic powers. Higher psychic powers are considered Intuitional or Buddhic in nature. They include the use of the mind to analyze, investigate, and look carefully at what is going on. The books From Instinct to Intuition and Esoteric Psychology, Vol II by Alice Bailey, both talk a lot about this. In the Integral teachings they call “higher” psychic powers “Psychic” (or adult psychic). “Lower” psychic powers are called “Magic” (connected to childish magical thinking).
Continue reading “Ken Wilber’s Thoughts – Magical Thinking or Real Psychic Powers”
With this post we move beyond the levels typically talked about by Integral and enter territory that demands increased exploration and understanding. As conveyed by the Alice Bailey teachings this stage of Chela on the Thread requires increased mastery of the subtle (or psychic) realms, a process that is talked about to some degree by Integral, but not in the same way, or in the same amount.
To understand this stage of spiritual development we will need to look at how the Ageless Wisdom teachings view the subtle realms, especially in regards to psychic powers. As with all of these posts it is impossible to do more than an initial orientation, but there is some hope that you will at least comprehend the difference between what the Ageless Wisdom teachings call higher and lower psychic powers by the time this post is done.
Continue reading “Chela on the Thread: Psychic Powers I – Wisdom vs. Wilber”
This post continues the look at the Six Stages of Discipleship moving into Stage Four, Chela on the Thread. The post gives an introduction as to what the phrase Chela on the Thread means and outlines the major tasks that need to be undergone before this stage is completed. It also lays the groundwork for future posts where this stage is compared more in depth regarding what is talked about in the Integral/Ken Wilber approach.
To orient us let me again remind those of you who are reading these posts of the Six Stages of Discipleship. They are: Little Chelaship, Chela in the Light, Accepted Discipleship, Chela on the Thread, Chela in the Aura, Chela in the Master’s Heart. With Chela on the Thread we get a symbolic understanding that we are being linked up somehow. There is a thread that connects us with something else. As we will come to understand knowing what that something is, and discerning it correctly, is a big part of what the Chela on the Thread stage is all about. Also, when we review again the chart on Levels and Terms you will notice that I have currently assigned this stage to what corresponds to Violet/Indigo in the Integral model and the 2nd Initiation (expansion of consciousness) in the Ageless Wisdom model.
Continue reading “Chela on the Thread, Intro – Wisdom vs. Wilber”
This post looks at the last two major factors involved in Alice Bailey’s stage of Accepted Discipleship (which is primarily the equivalent of Integral’s Turquoise and Indigo levels). As we dive in further we examine service and the very controversial task of contacting the “Master.” The post looks at some of the glamours and distortions related to the notion of contact, and what the Integral and Transpersonal movements have to say about such a thing, especially in light of what Wilber calls the “pre/trans fallacy.”
According to the Alice Bailey teachings one of the things that happens when we get towards the end of Accepted Discipleship is what she calls “contact with the Master.” She goes on to say that this contact does not happen unless an individual has demonstrated factually that he/she is of effective service in the world. As for Integral, though it does not have effective service in the world as a requirement in their stages of spiritual development, the notion of service can be inferred beginning to some extent with their Green level and becoming more “effective” by their Turquoise and Indigo levels. As for contact with a “Master,” that is a whole other thing in the Integral world, leading us into what Ken Wilber calls his “pre/trans” fallacy.
Continue reading “Accepted Discipleship: Service & the Master – Wisdom vs. Wilber”
Moving on with our exploration of Stage Three: Accepted Discipleship from the Ageless Wisdom teachings, this post examines how we are told to blend the mystic with the occultist (heart and head), and explores how this might relate to certain things taught in the Integral approach by Ken Wilber.
The phrases mystic and occultist are not found in our modern day popular vocabulary much. If they are mentioned, they are often relegated to some sort of weird or distorted way of being, and in the case of the word occultist, this word may even be associated with something demonic. These constitute major distortions in understanding. Before we can begin any kind of comparison, and how we are supposed to blend the two, we need to better comprehend what we mean by these terms.
Continue reading “Accepted Discipleship: Mystic/Occultist – Wisdom vs. Wilber”
Soul to Spirit: The New Spiritual Psychology 