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Moving beyond Delusional Enlightenment

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Moving beyond Delusional Enlightenment:
Exploring Potential Integration with the Higher Self

By George A. Boyd © 2021

This is a continuation of last week’s article, “Varieties of Enlightenment.” If you have not read this article, please go back and read it, as it will give you context for this week’s web log post.

Q: In the article, “Varieties of Enlightenment,” you speak of the state of delusional enlightenment. Is it possible for individuals to integrate this state of enlightenment, so it is not distorted and delusional?

A: In the Subtle Realm, during their initial enlightenment experiences, aspirants gain temporary union with their Soul Spark. Below the wave of consciousness of the present time on the Akashic Records Subplane of the Abstract Mind Plane, aspirants are commonly drawn up to this level of the mind. Aspirants who have progressed beyond this stage might be brought up to gain union with a seed atom in the Psychic Realm (Star Seed), into the Moon Soul nucleus of identity, or the Solar Angel nucleus of identity. They may be alternately guided up to unite with the Soul.

Without having context for these experiences, however, the aspirant may receive distorted or false material in these altered states of consciousness—or misinterpret what the experience means. This warped lens of perception then forms the kernel of delusion and self-deception. Several elements have to be bought together to ensure these experiences become properly integrated.

  1. Awakening of the Kundalini – This raises the energy substanding awareness to activate each of the vehicles of the upper Subconscious, Metaconscious, and Superconscious mind up to the current stage of evolution of the Soul. This awakening allows the Soul to have full access to its knowledge, virtues, and abilities in each vehicle of consciousness from the system of chakras of the Subconscious mind to its station on the Path.

This awakening of the Kundalini Shakti needs to be methodical, level-by-level, and fully under the direction of the Soul—this promotes integration. In contrast, a sudden awakening of the Kundalini may give a glimpse of the Soul and a temporary enlightenment experience, but these experiences do not allow the Soul to gain exact knowledge of its vehicles, nor can the Soul identify where these experiences arise on the Continuum.

  1. Progressive movement of attention – Training attention to move along the thread of consciousness and recognize each focal point up to the presence of the Soul brings the ability to recognize the phenomena of the mind on the stratum where it arises.

Abruptly lifting attention into union with the Soul—or a nucleus of identity—does not permit a clear understanding of where this spiritual essence is in relation to the ground state of attention in the waking state of awareness. Instead this promotes confusion and mystification.

  1. Activation of the Antakarana – Activation of the cord that connects the intellect with the Soul’s intuitive vortex plays a key role in facilitating integration. Progressive awakening of this cord gives understanding of each step of development up to the Soul’s current station on the Path.

Skipping ahead, without tracking what is at each stage of development, can lead to viewpoints restricted to a narrow band of the Continuum. For example, if the experience that purportedly grants enlightenment illumines only a section of this cord, you perceive an incomplete picture of the Path your Soul has opened. Instead, your vision might only contain:

  • The worldview from the wave of consciousness on the Akashic Records Subplane
  • The perspective from a seed atom (Star Seed) in the Psychic Realm
  • The view from the Moon Soul nucleus of identity
  • The standpoint of the Solar Angel nucleus of identity

In Mudrashram®, we have students study each aspect of the Continuum in the Mudrashram® Correspondence Course, so they have a thorough understanding of each stage of the Path. In contrast, jumping ahead into these restricted viewpoints can spawn distortions and delusional beliefs.

  1. Aligning the three conative streams – It is important to align the three conative streams—will, intention, and wish—with the Soul’s purpose. In integration, the egoic and human octaves of the will are in one accord with the transpersonal will of the Soul that enacts its Soul Purpose. The intention of the attentional principle supports this volitional stream, as does the wish of the spirit: Everyone is rowing together.

In non-integrated, delusional forms of enlightenment, the attentional principle anchors suggestion to fulfill desires or to manifest the agendas of a group to which it affiliates—apart from alignment with the Soul Purpose. These random, disorganized episodes of intentional creation are out of touch with the Soul.

  1. Grounded appreciation for your abilities at each level of functioning – This recognizes and appreciates the range of abilities that each octave of functioning contributes to human life and spiritual development. Understanding the range of abilities of the ego, the Self, and the Soul, and the band of the mind in which these abilities operate is crucial to permit integrated functioning and maintain appropriate boundaries, accurate self-knowledge, and congruent identity.

Jumping up into a purported state of enlightenment without clearly defining the operational arena of the ego, Self, and Soul can lead to self-delusion and grandiosity. These disorders of identity that arise in states of delusional enlightenment include:

  • Solipsism – This is the distorted notion that only the Soul is real.
  • Narcissism – This is the belief that only your desires are important and others only exist as a means to fulfill your desires.
  • Grandiosity – This conflates the ego with the Divine Atom within the Soul, so that you believe that your ego is God.
  • Boundary confusion – In this scenario, you do not know where your Self begins and ends, and where others begin and end. You believe you are other people: you can be readily controlled or manipulated when you adopt this enmeshed mindset.
  • Group identification – You strongly identify with a group, whose mission you seek to enact. As a result, you can become completely absorbed in the agenda of your political party, your religion, a religious cult, or a hate or terrorist group.
  • Codependency – You care for others without considering or honoring your own needs. You do not set appropriate limits.
  • Arrogance – You believe your vision of the world is highest and best. You believe this gives you the right to impose this view on others and attempt to convert them into seeing the world they way you see it.

Through clearly defining the operational zones of ego, Self, and Soul, you sidestep these distortions of identity, boundaries, and self-knowledge. We study these levels that are encapsulated with the ego, the Self, and the Soul in the Mudrashram® Correspondence Course, and our other meditation programs.

  1. Synthesis – In this state, you have coherent and synthetic understanding that is grounded in the Soul, based on its progressive evolutionary experience.

In non-integrated and delusional approaches, they toss together information into the same basket—ideas picked from science, philosophy, New Age teachings of the Psychic realm, Judeo-Christian beliefs, and insights drawn from traditions that dwell in Cosmic, Supracosmic, and Transcendental Bands of the Continuum.

Instead of grounding each concept in its perspective on the Continuum, and recognizing that this is a description of the world from that vista, non-integrated approaches conflate disparate viewpoints as pointing to the same idea—when they clearly are depicting something else.

In integrated approaches, each idea is appreciated in its own context. You understand that the unified field theory portrayed in quantum mechanics really is not the same as the oneness the Yogi experiences when he or she is in union with Brahman.

  1. Absence of perceptual warping – Integrated approaches do not warp and bend reality to conform to your wishes or desires. In integrated views, you observe the world and the mind as they are—there is no desire to impose your agenda.

In delusional enlightenment, there is a hidden agenda to make things appear the way you want them to be or so the world will fulfill what you desire. For example:

  • Your group will enact its agendas so others will conform to its vision of the world
  • You will create what you wish to get what you desire, without considering its impact on other people and the world
  • You believe you are persecuted and under attack because you hold beliefs that you believe are true, but others don’t agree with your vision of the world. You desire that others will see the world your way and embrace your delusional vision of the world.
  • You want your political party or religion to take control and you will do everything in your power to impose your values on others.

If you can begin to tease out these different threads that distinguish integrated and delusional enlightenment—and increasingly shift into the integrated posture—you will come to find that your spiritual experiences will no longer be islands of disjointed insights, realizations, revelations, and impressions. Instead, you will make sense of your inner experiences, and they will become synthesized into your Soul. You will comprehend these experiences, and use them to bring forward your Soul’s purpose. These experiences will assist your Soul serve humanity in the way it was sent forth from Source to do.

Varieties of Enlightenment

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This is the first article of two in which we will explore pseudo-enlightenment or delusional enlightenment. This week, we will discuss where delusional enlightenment fits on the spectrum of potential states of enlightenment. Next week, we will explore what is needed to ensure your enlightenment experience is truly integrated and genuine.

By George A. Boyd © 2021

Q: We usually think about enlightenment as the experience of the Buddha sitting under the Bodhi tree, awakening to Supreme Wisdom and Knowledge and Boundless Compassion. But the term appears to be widely used outside of this context. Are there different types of enlightenment?

A: There are seven major varieties of enlightenment. Not all of them are similar to the experience that Lord Buddha’s enlightenment exemplified:

  1. Delusional enlightenment – Awakening as a higher spiritual essence—ensouling entity or nucleus of identity—or a state of consciousness without any context or understanding. This state of so-called enlightenment conveys a state in which an individual feels god-like and omnipotent, but they believe irrational things. This is the state of those who:
    1. Awaken to the so-called “truths” found in conspiracy theories
    2. Are swept away to become “true believers” in religious cults and in hate and terrorist groups
    3. Encounter a higher state of consciousness through the use of hallucinogenic drugs
    4. Discover the “enlightened state of mind of the wave of consciousness on the Akashic Records” and believe that they can magically “create” whatever they want
    5. Slip off into a psychotic state

While their attention may be in union with a spiritual essence, unconscious mind material and the false indoctrination from the groups that promulgate these states of consciousness contaminates and vitiates this experience. They believe they have found profound truth: instead, they have found delusion.

  1. Non-functional enlightenment – “Samadhic trance” characterizes this type, where aspirants behold a beatific state or encounter a form of the Divine in meditation, but they are locked in a state of trance and catatonia. They cannot move. They cannot speak. They cannot think. Their emotions are numb.

This type is commonly found in meditation systems that unfold a spiritual essence outside the cutting edge of spirituality, and creates severe imbalances—there is a wide gap between their development on this track and the ensouling entity at the cutting edge of spirituality.

  1. Enlightenment “Possession” – These are states in which individuals encounter a spiritual being on the inner Planes, who takes over their mind and consciousness. These individuals become channelers, shamans, and emissaries of new or novel sects of established religions.

They may be granted spiritual powers from this encounter. They may channel guidance. They may be empowered to bestow attunements or healing.

This state appears to be a blending with the being that possesses the individual, so that the individual undergoing this possession experience effectively disappears. The entity possessing them may come to dictate every action of their lives. Those who encounter them commonly observe these “God-possessed” individuals undergo radical changes in their beliefs and behavior.

  1. Incarnation of the Loving Heart of God – These individuals, who practice devotional meditation for sustained periods of time, merge into the Sun of the Divine Beloved, and lose themselves in the Ocean of Love. The greatest love and compassion for others and lives of selfless service characterize this type of enlightenment. They may not articulate teachings or doctrines, but their lives are a testament to their genuine encounter and union with the Divine.
  2. Creative enlightenment – This type results from the full awakening of the Illumined Mind or Buddhi. This type of enlightenment appears as the prolific inspiration of the Soul and expresses this in areas such as literature, music, invention, or poetry. At this stage of spiritual development, the Soul is awakened, and directly communicates its genius and mastery through this form of expression.
  3. Universal state of consciousness – A disciple enters this state of consciousness when an ensouling entity or nucleus of identity reaches this universal nexus on the Continuum. When disciples ascend to this state, great knowledge dawns. They gain access to spiritual powers. They have penetrating insights.

Yogis refer to this state as Sabikalpa Samadhi. Among the levels at which this type of enlightenment occurs include:

  1. The Light at the top of the Ideational Plane in the First Cosmic Initiation
  2. The Realization of Brahman in the First Cosmic Initiation
  3. Assumption into the golden lotus of the Yogi Preceptor in the First Cosmic Initiation
  4. Union with the Light Master at the top of the Cosmic Soul Awareness Plane in the Second Cosmic Initiation
  5. Awakening of the God Self in the Fifth Cosmic Initiation
  6. Fusion of a Supracosmic seed atom with the Supracosmic Soul on a Supracosmic Path
  7. Ascension of the Supracosmic Soul to the point between the eyebrows chakra on a Supracosmic Path, which opens a universal vista of consciousness
  8. Attainment of Supracosmic Mastery in the throne of Realization and Empowerment (Guru Padam) above the brain chakra on a Supracosmic Path
  9. Rising to a state of empowerment below the highest stage on a Transcendental Path, such as the Subud Master on the seventh Plane on T1; the Shabd Master above the second Plane on T2; the Brahmi Bhut on the seventh Plane on T3; the Maharaj above the seventh Plane on T4; and the Madhis on the fifth Plane on T5.

This is the type of enlightenment that Buddha appears to have attained, according to the popular imagination. [His attainment in this perspective would correspond to (h); the Bodhisattva to (g); and the Arhat to (f).]

  1. Synthetic enlightenment – This type combines several forms of enlightenment in one. In this type we see the combination of:
    • Incarnation of the Loving Heart of God as the Nadamic Master
    • Creative enlightenment as the illumined teacher and fount of inspired discourse (satsang)
    • Attainment of a universal stage of Mastery with empowerment and Divine anointing
    • Ability to extend guidance and Grace to aspirants and disciples

    We see synthetic enlightenment in beings that have become members of the Hierarchy of Light at Planetary, Cosmic, Supracosmic, and Transcendental levels; Transcendental Path Sat Gurus; and Adi Sat Gurus (Multiplane Masters).

    In truth, Lord Buddha’s enlightenment was of this synthetic type. While his disciples see him in the context of his realization upon the Buddhist Paths of the Supracosmic Sphere, he possesses and operates through many other forms of Mastery. For example, he served as the World Teacher in the Hierarchy of Light before Jesus. He achieved the high throne of Sat Guru on several Transcendental Paths.

    We suggest that the delusional and non-functional types are not enlightenment at all, even though those who enter these states claim to have profound experiences. The groups that hold out these states of awareness as enlightenment believe that these rudimentary experiences are of the highest order, when they actually are not.

    Enlightenment possession has given us remarkable individuals with spiritual gifts and insights, but they do not possess these abilities and wisdom through the aegis of their own ensouling entity—these powers and inspiration are vouchsafed to them though the mediation of another being. Those who receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit are of this type: they preach under inspiration; they demonstrate supernormal abilities—but when the anointing goes away, so do the knowledge and abilities.

    Incarnation of the Loving Heart of God is associated with the highest development on Pole Two.

    Creative enlightenment typifies the highest development on Pole Three, representing the full flowering of the Illumined Mind.

    Attainment of universal consciousness is correlated with the unfoldment of the ensouling entity on Pole One. Varieties of this type of enlightenment may also be conveyed through a nucleus of identity, as is characteristic of universal consciousness stages (a) to (d).

    The synthetic variety of enlightenment combines Poles One, Two, and Three, plus the attentional principle on Pole Four is able to gain full conscious union with this blended nexus of Mastery.

    In Mudrashram®, we hold out the goal of synthetic enlightenment as being the goal of spiritual development. In our Integral system of meditation, we develop Poles One, Two, and Three in synchrony, and travel on the Fourth Pole as the attentional principle to witness this development. At advanced stages of discipleship, the attentional principle actively participates in spiritual ministry and initiation.

    Those who wish to learn the methods to ultimately develop synthetic enlightenment will benefit from taking one of our intermediate classes—the in-person Mudrashram® Master Course in Meditation and the by-mail and online Accelerated Meditation Program—where this training is imparted.