Hello again, everyone. Thanks for all your comments about the article on the Unitive level of development. Judging from the fact that as I write this over 140 people have posted comments, many people found this post interesting. I could respond to your comments, but since there are so many, and because it’s time to move on to something new, I’ll resist the urge. I wish I had time to respond to all your comments, but I have a million other irons in the fire and I just don’t have enough time to do so. I hope you understand.
I do appreciate it, though, when you post a comment. In fact, I’d be interested to hear from you about what you’d like me to write about from this point on. I can’t promise that I’ll write about everything you suggest, but I’d love to have your input. So please let me know what you’d like me to write about next.
Here are a few of my own ideas: a discussion of the ideas of Ken Wilber; or those of Eckhardt Tolle; a series about Holosync (how to get the most from it, why it works, what happens when you use it, how to deal with what happens when you use it, and so forth); a series on the shadow aspects we all have and why dealing with these shadow parts dramatically accelerates your growth.
There’s also a lot I could say about success, how to create what you want in the world, how to make more money, and other related topics. I have a lot to say about how what goes on in your mind unconsciously creates your moment-to-moment feelings, behaviors, the people and situations you attract or become attracted to–and, really, your entire experience of life–and how you can make this creative process conscious and have much greater control over it.
So let me know what you would like me to write about.
Now, on to something else…
Zen master Genpo Roshi and I presented another workshop on May 2-3 in Seattle. As with our Los Angeles workshop, it was packed–actually oversold, with a waiting list–and again those in attendence were blown away by what happened. (If you were there, I invite you to post your comments. And whether you were there or not, I invite you to come to our next workshop, June 28-29 in New York. Just go to www.centerpointe.com/bigmind to register–and, I just extended the Early Registration discount for a few more days, saving you $200.00 if you register right away.)
This workshop was different from the one we did in Los Angeles. First, Roshi and I both present extemporaneously, in the moment–which allows the material to be always fresh and different. Second, each workshop is new and different because the people are different each time and, as we present, we spontaneously respond to the immediate needs of the group.
As I watched Roshi present and work with people I was struck by several things. First of all, the material he was taking people through (experientially, not just intellectually) is something only a handful of enlightened teachers in the entire world even know about, much less teach. Second, NO ONE in the world could present it the way he does.
First, a teacher has to be fully awakened to even know about this stuff, and there are VERY few people anywhere who are where he is. Trust me on this. I’ve been around a lot of very highly evolved people–people who are considered to be awakened–and I’ve never met anyone like Genpo Roshi. He IS the real deal. And, the Big Mind process he has created (and is still creating, since it continues to evolve) is a real stroke of genius. With it Roshi can teach anything experientially, so that you ARE it rather than just learning ABOUT it. The insights, the big ah-ha’s that happen in this process come out of the audience members. Genpo Roshi facilitates drawing it out of you, but it’s all inside of you–which demonstrates that it really is true (and not just a cliche) that all the wisdom in the universe is inside of you.
You just have to know how to access it, and Genpo Roshi has created an elegant way to do that.
His skill in working with people continually amazes me. In my post about the Unitive level of development I noted that Unitives catalyze others just by showing up, and Genpo Roshi is a great example of this. There’s something about just being with him, even before he does any teaching, that affects you. Just watching a person who is so completely comfortable in his own skin, so totally comfortable being a human being, does something to you.
Quite frankly, as I write this, I’m somewhat at a loss to express exactly what I mean by “being so completely comfortable being a human being.” You just have to spend time with him to appreciate how different his way of being in the world is from that of other people. I so hope you’ll find a way to come to one of our workshops so you can experience this for yourself.
One thing Roshi did in Seattle was to take people through what are called the Five Ranks of Tozan. Tozan was a Zen master who lived about 1200 years ago, in the 800’s A.D. Tozan described five stages of enlightenment (you can google this, but most of what I’ve found online is not very clear, and Roshi tells me that most written material leaves out a lot of esoteric stuff that he does include. Plus, his way of teaching has a way of making all of this very clear and accessible to modern people).
At any rate, Roshi took the audience through these five stages, not by telling about them, but by having people BE in and speak from each stage so they could see what it’s like. This is part of the genius of the Big Mind process–it allows you to BE something rather than just be told about it. I’ve been in several small groups of four or five people where he took us through these stages, and it’s been a profound experience each time. This time, however–even though it was with a much larger group–I thought the way he took people through the Five Ranks was particularly stunning. I sat there thinking, “Wow. You couldn’t experience this with anyone else, anywhere else in the world.”
Let me give you a brief tour of these five stages. I can’t, in a blog post, give you the experience of each stage (though my wife, when she read this post, told me that she experienced an altered state), but I can tell you a bit about them. I think you’ll find this very interesting. And, because some of you want shorter posts, I’ll take you through stages one, two, and three in this post, and then I’ll finish the Five Ranks with stages four and five in my next post.
First, I want to make a distinction between a state experience and a stage exerience. When you experience the transcendent while listening to Holosync, or with the Big Mind process, you are very likely having a state experience. You visit, and then, when your Holosync session ends, or the Big Mind process is over, you return to the relative world, the world of your mind, the world of subject-object, of me and not-me, of separate things and events.
In a stage experience, however, you permanently inhabit a place rather than just visiting. In my posts about the developmental process, each stage I described is a place you inhabit, not a place you visit. In terms of spiritual attainment, you might have a spontaneous experience of a higher stage, or you might have such a experience because of a practice you’re doing (Holosync, vipassana, TM, Big Mind, etc.). When the experience is over, though, you’re back where you were before. The experience becomes something that happened.
Later, if you have enough of these state experiences, you may get to the point where you fully embody that experience, at which point it becomes a stage you inhabit, rather than a place you visit. Instead of visiting, you embody the experience in every moment. Each visit, each state experience, does affect you, but it usually takes a while before these state experiences grow into a true stage experience, a permanent embodiment of a new and higher perspective.
So when Genpo Roshi takes you through the Five Ranks, even though he’s able to give you an experience of each stage (in the Big Mind process, you become each stage, at least during the process), these experiences are almost always state experiences. This is because there are some deep and fundamental shifts in perspective that need to take place if you’re to fully inhabit these stages, and you might not be ready to make those shifts.
Very few people on the planet actually live in these stages (though we seem to be in a period of history where a much larger number of people than before are growing into them). And, it appears that through the Big Mind process a person can move through these stages more quickly. Still, fully embodying each stage does require a fundamental, internal change of perspective, and these changes don’t happen easily for most people.
Still, these state experiences are extremely valuable. They can eventually lead to stage changes, and they also give you a preview of where you’re heading–or at least a preview of where you could be heading. These experiences give you an understanding of what road you’re on, and what the journey ahead might be like. And, these experiences can have a very positive effect, even if you’re “just visiting.”
Finally, there’s so much more to say (and even more important, experience) about the Five Ranks than I could possibly cover in a blog post, so this will of necessity be incomplete, an overview, a taste.
Nearly all human beings are “pre-stage one” in terms of the Five Ranks. In pre-stage one you’re living in the relative world, and don’t really know about the transcendent, at least on an experiential level. You’re caught in the mind-created world of separate things and events. Pre-stage one would include, for instance, all the Susanne Cook-Greuter stages up through the Strategist–which includes 98-99% of all people. The Magician is probably the first stage that could embody a stage one perspective in the Five Ranks.
It’s possible to have an experience of the transcendent at any stage, but until the Magician it’s much less likely that a person would be interested in exploring the transcendent if they did have a spontaneous experience of it. There are, of course, exceptions. Also remember that you will interpret any experience from your current developmental level, and the Magician is the first such level to see things, at least some of the time, in a non-dual way.
In pre-stage one you live in a solid world of separate objects and separate things, the world of subject-object. In this world certain separate “things” do something to other things, and the world is divided into separate events, separate objects, and separate people. This dualistic, relative world is a world of good and bad, here and there, yin and yang, life and death, having and not having, appropriate and inappropriate. It’s a world where the past and future are real (as opposed to a world where Eckhardt Tolle’s now moment is the only reality).
Once you get to stage one, though, you’ve realized that there’s more to life than just the relative world. You’ve had an experience of the transcendent which underlies the relative world, and you’ve learned how to get into the transcendent when you want to. You can’t, however, stay there. When you stop doing whatever allows you to get there, you return to the relative. You can visit, but you can’t stay.
In the transcendent, everything just “is”. It isn’t good or bad. In fact, there are no qualities to anything, and no distinctions are made. Qualities and distinctions are part of the relative world. What’s more, the transcendent has no beginning and no ending. It’s unborn and undying. It also has no boundaries. It includes everything. Everything is in it, and it is in everything. From the transcendent, there’s nowhere to go, because you’re everywhere. There’s nothing to get, because you’re everything. And, there’s nothing to be afraid of, because there’s nothing outside of you that could threaten you. Everything, including the suffering of the world, is just part of the dance of the universe. Everything is perfect, peaceful, and timeless. In the transcendent, it’s always now.
You visit this place, once you learn how to do that, and it renews you, revitalizes you, beckons you. It tells you that there’s something more to life than you thought there was. Eckhardt Tolle is inviting people into this space, and gives some great hints on how to get into it. Unless you make certain fundamental shifts in perspective, though, your mind keeps pulling you back to the relative world, to the world of the past and the future, and out of the now moment.
So that’s the first stage. You can visit the transcendent, but it isn’t your permanent experience. To get to the second stage, there are some important insights you need to have and certain things you need to drop. The first thing you need to do to get to the second stage is to fully surrender to what is. In doing this you understand at a deep level that there are certain things about the universe and about being human that just are the way they are. There’s no escape from them, and there’s no changing them, and resisting them just creates suffering.
For instance, people, things, and events exist in time. They come into being and eventually pass away. Because of this, and because to be here as a human being you have to be attached, at least a little bit, to the people, things, and events in your life, there always will be suffering in the world. Most people, of course, are attached a lot, and as a result they suffer a lot. People live, and then they die. There are causes and effects–karma. Sometimes you don’t get what you want. Sometimes you get what you don’t want. Resistance to these fundamental facts of existance, and attachment to it being otherwise, creates suffering, and keeps you stuck in the relative world.
To move into stage two you have to surrender to all of this–not intellectually, but at a deep level.
This is, by the way, the first of my Nine Principles for Conscious Living–Letting Whatever Happens Be Okay. Surrendering isn’t passivity, however. It doesn’t mean that you don’t act to get what you want. It does, however, mean that you understand (and accept) the way the universe works, and even while you take action you aren’t attached to your actions turning out a certain way.
So, surrender is the first step in stage two.
The second step is even more difficult: submission. Submission is generally accomplished by submitting to the living embodiment of the Way, the Tao, the way things are. In Zen (and in other traditions) this means submitting to an enlightened teacher, one who is the embodiment of the Way, the Tao, or whatever you want to call it, though it could also mean submitting to Jesus, for instance, or some other idealized or non-physical representation. It just turns out to be easier to submit to a living embodiment rather than an idealized one.
Westerners, of course, have a lot of trouble with this one. This is probably because we have such an independent point of view and the idea of submitting to another leaves a bad taste in our mouth. But we also resist it because there are so many egoic and false teachers around and we’ve become jaded and untrusting (for good reason). It’s difficult to trust that a teacher could really have our best interests at heart and not have some personal agenda. What if he brings out that big barrel of kool-aid?
Submission, though, is essential for the next step (or at least makes it MUCH MUCH easier), because in the next step you have to do what in Zen they call “stepping off the one-hundred foot pole”–stepping into the unknown–and that takes a lot of trust. You have to know that if you step it will be okay, that someone will catch you. The teacher, having already done this himself, helps you realize that it can be done (he seems to be okay, in fact, more than okay). His example and reassurance allows you, hopefully, to take that leap, that step into the unknown. Submission is, at least partly, your saying, “Okay, I trust that it will be okay when I take that step.”
To take that step you have to go through what Genpo Roshi calls “Great Doubt.” This is where you doubt–and I mean really doubt, totally, without reservation–that any of the stuff upon which you’ve based your Self, your identity, and your life, will ever save you, make you happy, solve the problems of being human, get rid of the basics of the human condition (including that all things–including you–are in time and eventually pass away), lead to any sort of salvation, or end your suffering.
This means that you doubt your ideas about yourself, the world, other people, life, and anything and everything else–all of them. You doubt your concepts, your premises, your way of seeing things, and the memories you string together to create a sense of an enduring “you”. You doubt all your personal defenses. You doubt the past. You doubt the future, and especially that the future will save you in any way. You doubt the value of all your accomplishments, the badges you’ve earned. You doubt your identity, your roles, your story, your idea of who you are. You doubt all your healthy eating habits, your meditation practice, your ideas about the way the world should be, your ideas about mental health, and so on and so on. You doubt the separate self. You doubt that any of this will ultimately save you or get you anywhere.
You also doubt the teacher, enlightenment, meditation, religion, spiritual growth, personal growth–all of it. None of this, you realize, is going to save you or change the basic human condition. All of these things, ultimately, are ideas about life, creations of the mind, representations of reality–but not reality. They are hopes, but not realities.
If you really doubt EVERYTHING, if you throw out all hopes, it leaves you with nowhere to stand, nothing to hang onto, no reference point. Everything you thought life was about, you doubt and discard. When you do this, really do it, there is utterly NOTHING left but now and your awareness of now. This is what Eckhardt Tolle is talking about, though he’s suggesting ways that for the most part allow you to experience the now for a few moments. Great Doubt is the doorway to being there all the time.
Is this doubting of EVERYTHING, including your own sense of self, scary? Thinking about doing it certainly is. My own experience of DOING it wasn’t scary, but thinking about doing it, for most people, certainly is, because it’s a death of everything you think of as “me”. This is the step off the hundred-foot pole I spoke about, the step into the abyss. It seems as if this step would be an annihilation of yourself, of your life. In reality, it’s an annihilation of what you mistakenly thought was you, which creates an opening to the real you. But when you consider it, it certainly doesn’t seem that way.
You can probably see why you have to have supreme trust, supreme faith, in order to do this. Otherwise you won’t really do it. This is also why, when Genpo Roshi leads people through this step using the Big Mind process, it’s likely to be just a state experience. You doubt, you let go of everything you’ve been clinging to, to whatever extend you’re able or willing to do (which varies from person to person), and to the degree you really do it, you have some amount of experience of what it’s like. But unless you’ve REALLY surrendered and submitted (which is what gives you the trust and the faith you need to fully go into this experience) you won’t fully do it. If, however, you do really do it, something extrordinary happens.
That something is what Genpo Roshi calls Great Death. This REALLY sounds unappealing, doesn’t it? When I experienced this I was ready for it to be very negative. Instead, it turned out to be incredible, and nothing like I thought it would be. Great Death turned out to be a rebirth, a rebirth into Big Mind, into the transcendent. Once you really let go of ALL the mind-stuff, there’s nothing left but the transcendent.
In nearly every spiritual tradition the teacher will tell you that your mind is in the way of experiencing yourself as bliss, peace, God, the transcendent, the All, Christ Consciousness, nirvana, Great Liberation, or whatever you want to call it. But to really drop your identification with the mind you have to doubt EVERYTHING related to it, and since we’re so attached to all those ideas, concepts, beliefs, idealized futures, identities, and so on and so on and so on, the actual dropping of them, on a deep and visceral level, turns out to be really difficult.
In fact, you might ask, who is dropping these things? The one who is dropping them IS the mind, the ego, the separate identity, the sense of being a separate self. Can the ego drop the ego? That would be like seeing your own eyes, or biting your own teeth, or touching the tip of your finger with the tip of the same finger. So this isn’t really something you can decide to do, because who would do it? The ego, the identity, the sense of being a separate self is just an idea, and an idea can’t do anything–any more than the number three (another idea) can do anything.
When you identify yourself as an ego it really does seem as if the ego, the separate self, is the one doing something. In actual fact, doing happens, but there is no separate self that actually does anything. I know that this flies in the face of common sense, but nevertheless it’s true. Doing happens, but the separate doer is an illusion. For that reason, the no-self state (or whatever you choose to call it) is something that either happens or it doesn’t. A teacher like Genpo Roshi, a fully enlightened master with great skill and experience, can sometimes put you in a place where it happens, if you are ready, but it isn’t something that you can do, because the separate you doesn’t really exist. What you think of as you is really your idea of you, and that idea can’t do a thing.
Ken Wilber has said that enlightenment is an accident, but meditation (and other spiritual practices) make you more accident prone–one of his better bon mots.
So, if you really doubt everything, which probably only happens if you fully surrender and submit–though, as I said, it is possible though more difficult to do it by submitting to an ideal rather than another person–you can step into the abyss (in other words, drop everything you always thought was you), or at least what seems like the abyss. (More accurately, you might say that if surrender and submission happens, stepping off that hundred-foot pole might happen, too.) The irony is that what seemed like a potential disaster–having nothing to hang onto, having not even a single molecule to stand on–turns out to be the doorway to the infinite.
If this happens, you are in the third of the Five Ranks. You are established in the transcendent, not as a place to visit, but as a place to live. This third stage is what is generally thought of as enlightenment–taking up permanent residence in the transcendent. In this place you aren’t just “one with everything,” you ARE everything, and everything is you. (In fact, you always were everything. It’s just that now you’ve realized it, not intellectually, but experientially.)
The experience is one of having no boundaries, no beginning, no ending. From this perspective everything is just as it should be, including everything you used to think of as “good” and everything you used to think of as “bad.” D.T Suzuki described this experience as “just like normal life, but about two inches off the ground.” Alan Watts said that it can be felt in one of two ways: either it feels as if when the universe moves, it moves you, or it feels as if when you move, it moves the universe. Both are really the same experience, but from two different perspectives.
The Third Rank is a great place to be, since everything in that place is perfect. You can hang out here forever, and many people who make it this far do. Most of the people you’ve heard of who are thought of as enlightened are (or were) in this third stage. However, there’s more, and in the next post I’ll describe, first of all, what’s missing from this third stage, and why you can be just as stuck in this stage as most people are in the pre-stage one relative world, and then I’ll describe stages four and five.
Until then, be well.
5/22/08
My experience at Big Mind in Seattle 5/3 and 5/4.
It was all the things that Bill promised it would be. On the first day, I did experience the Big Mind and the Big Heart. It was not a huge monumental thing that I had thought it would be after the indoctrination of hearing about “oneness” be “spiritually enlightened” and other phrases. In reality, it was just a subtle shift, but it was there. I knew it when I reached it. It was a very very peaceful experience.
I had seen one video of this process and thought that was all there was it. In this workshop we went so much further than the big mind. I know after leaving the first day, I really had no desire to talk to anyone I knew. There was no way to explain to them what I had experienced and I did not want to take the chance of changing and leaving the good space I was in. I was happy to learn the next day from Genpo, that this was a common feeling among the monks and those “sitting” meditation practioners. Then Genpo had us experience the APEX which took us to not only the Big Mind, but the Big Heart where it is ok to be in the world and participate in it.
On the 2nd day, when we did the shadow work, I was amazed and dumbfounded by what I witnessed and what I experienced. Some people that shared their shadows with us went through profound experiences. Their faces literally changed from start to finish in the process. The room became still and silent many times out of respect and compassion for what they experienced.
I myself resolved some shadow stuff that I didn’t even know was there. I knew this was holding me back, but because there was no traumatic event behind it, I had nothing to focus on to resolve. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt (even though more time to encounter life would be needed to experience my changed reactions) that I have changed for the better, resolved deep seated issues and will never change back. I could only change back if I were to relive my life and grow up as a young girl and teenager in this society again. That isn’t going to happen; therefore I stand by what I have said. I have resolved something and changed permanently.
During the shadow work, I did begin to feel energy moving in me. Not a small bit either, to where I wasn’t sure. It was a lot. First my left calve muscle began to twitch a little, then a lot. Next my left arm began to twitch and move in my lap. Genpo instructed us to keep feeling the energy that had been blocked and to release it all. This twitching continued for several minutes. I repeated this at home that night several times until the twitching stopped and then there was a heat, and finally the heat stopped. By being the voice of this shadow, a door was opened and the blocked energy was released.
Also the next day, I saw another shadow voice in Genpo’s book that we didn’t talk to. I had a very moving experience with this one as well, which brought tears of release.
And the inbetween stuff was also so fasinating. The two of you are a great pair. My one of my fears is that I will lose this ability. That I will forget, so I have written here and I will try to practice this on my own. I do hope to attend another workshop as well. I know it will be awesome.
Also I met some great folks there.
Thanks Bill for this blog. I’m always looking forward to your next post.
)
My preferences regarding future posts would be:
1. Shadow aspects (PLEASE, PLEASE
2. How what goes on in your mind unconsciously creates your moment-to-moment experience
3. Eckhardt Tolle
I am a faithful user of Holosync and I believe that all the support materials we got cover pretty well how to get the most from it and therefore I personally prefer other topics for future posts.
Hi Bill.
Regarding what topic you could cover next, I think dealing with shadow material would be the one I would more interested on hearing about. Maybe you could gives some ideas on how to deal with it while using holosync. Discussing the ideas of Ken Wilber and Eckhart Tolle would be also great, both are a great influences to me.
I would like Bill’s thoughts & teaching on Eckhart Toole’s New Earth Book & class. I found this very intersting & relaxing way to live. It has helped me along with Holosync to just let be what is.
Hi Bill. I have been enjoying your blog posts (and haven’t minded the length). I listen to them at work and its wonderful to learn such fascinating concepts there. Thank you for taking the time and energy to make these contributions.
As far as future topics, I too would like to hear your thoughts on Eckhart Tolle’s concepts and teachings.
Thanks!
Katy
Fort Collins, CO USA
Hi Bill! Great stuff as always, and I love my meditation CDs!! Lately, I’m dealing with lots of shadow material, and it scares the crap out of me!!! I’d love for you to share more insight on how to navigate through all of it and understand what is happening with Holosync in regards to our shadow issues. It’s not all bad… In fact, lately I have come to the realization that I’m valuable and worthy of love. It took 3 days of emotional upheaval and crying to come to this acceptance!! And, I can still tell that I resist this on some levels. It’s hard for me to believe that I can be so scared of even discovering good withing myself.
The most terrifying thing is to accept oneself completely.
–Carl Jung
I have been following your blog for some time now, and find it extremely interesting. I have read Eckhart Tolle’s “A New Earth” and enjoyed every second of it. Now I am re-reading it as he suggests. I would very much like you write about Eckhart Tolle’s teachings in your upcoming blog entries. Your thoughts on this topic of “enlightenment” are expanding my understanding very quickly and easily. I have printed them out and re-read them often. Thank you for your insights.
Hello Bill and CRI staff,
i had been going on with the posts on Human devwlopment lately and am also a participant in Holosync end Solution program and have done Awakening Prolouge and will cent percent enroll for ur whole of the further 13 levels but am working out my money status…My PRESENT CONCERN IS THAT THE DOWNLOAD MP3 FILE FOR THE POST TITLED “The Five Stages of Enlightenment…” DOES NOT DOWNLOAD FULLY AND ONLY 2-3 MINTS OF IT IS DOWNLOADED BUT WHEN ONE WANTS TO HEAR IT WITH WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER IT DOES WORK OUT RIGHT……PLEASE FIX THIS PROBLEM AND DO SEND ME AN EMAIL IF POSSIBLE STATING THE REMEDY OF THE SAME AND HOW I MAY BE ABLE TO DOWNLOAD THE FILE……WITH BEST WISHES AND HEARTFERLT THOUGHTS FOR ALL THE SERVICE THAT U DEDICATED PEOPLE ARE PROVIDING AT CRI…GOD BLESS……WAITING FOR UR REPLY …..BYE FOR NOW
Hi Bill,
I would love to read more in-depth, one-on-one interviews and/or conversations between yourself and Holosync users about their experiences since they started the program. Perhaps you could give suggestions for what they could do/think about/try on/focus on, etc. next.
I know you are doing this through the blog currently—but it is slightly like attending a seminar. A “shot-gun” or large-quantity approach if you will. And while it certainly has influenced my thinking, and opened up my approach to things, I think it would be interesting to read one-on-one interviews and conversations occasionally. A more qualitative approach.
Perhaps my small, liberal-arts college orientation to learning is influencing this request.
If you do decide to do this, please consider not only interviewing people at the first few levels, but perhaps a range of Holosync users. I would imagine that Holosync users, as they progress through the program, require less contact and guidance as they gain experience—but I would still like to hear where they are at.
Bill, you have great ideas and really do think about how to best serve as many people as possible. You’re brilliant and inspiring. I’m sure you will choose something both interesting, wonderful, and thoughtful to write about. I look forward to it.
RE: Next topic … Well, I haven’t heard of Eckhardt Tolle yet ( will google him/her now ) but my present feeling is SHADOW SHADOW SHADOW. It seems to me both intellectually and intuitivley that this is the key to liberation.
Bill
I am just starting Awakening 2 and of course I feel already like a much different person. But Holosync has simply accelerated a process that began when I participated in Big Mind with Diane Hamilton almost 3 years ago. Since then I have been trying to stay where she was able to take me. Holosync has helped. But now I need to know HOW to create and live a life here, while also being “there”, if you understand. How do you live now that you know what is up (I don’t really know but I for sure know more than I did). I would like you to explore creating a life with one foot in and out of the door. I would also like you to do this for FREE if possible because I haven’t figured the money thing out yet. Anyway thank you for giving me a map, which feels like a lifeline at this point because I don’t really know whats next…
Big Heart
Brit
Hi Bill;
Great stuff. I seem to remember jumping off a 100 ft pole some time ago, maybe with a double back flip. Why be boring.
I do enjoy reading about the states of being although I would like to hear how this would improve a person’s daily life. At several times in my HS career there was some big openings for me. The last 2 seemed very stable but it was awkward in some ways dealing with everyday life. And maybe attempting to talk to someone about this seemed ridiculous. OK, let’s have some tea and maybe it’ll go away:)
There was that questioning and doubting everything but that seemed to fall away and it was more like “So what, it is what it is”. This, in a happy way.
I’m not feeling any anxiety or great need, although I think it would be interesting to hear how others might live and apply
their gift. How they view life in general.
Would also like to hear about the “Shadow aspect” or at least a definition of this, it sounds so ominous.
Thank again Bill, your work has been of great benefit to me and my family.
Aloha
Jeff
I am wondering if the ‘voices’ that Genpo Roshi talks about are equivalent to Carl Jung’s archetypes. Caroline Myss has done a lot of work on archtypes and says that we all have 4 basic archetypal influences – Prostitute, Victim, Saboteur and Child (in all its manifestations). In addition we have a further 8 which exert a strong influence, with others being less influential. She goes into the process of identifying and working with the various archetypal influences in her book Sacred Contracts.
I have personally found the concept of archetypes a very useful tool for understanding and growth and there is no doubt that they are a force to be reckoned with. The thing about them is that they have very powerful negative and positive influences (light and shadow polarities). It could be a worthwhile exercise to look at them as a way of expanding on both the Roshi’s work and shadow work, as many people here have expressed interest in both.
hi Bill,what you think if i tell you to make one work shop in europe you and genpo roshi?
)
think about it my friend
Hi again Bill,
Thanks for the clarification above, I didnt mean to imply that I thought you were suggesting to us to kill off our egos, I am aware that what you and Mr. Tolle are teaching is more of a dropping away of them or disidentification with them. What i I meant is that in times of confusion about which is which it FEELS like a killing. ( that has been my perception because its been painful, and the ego puts up a fight sometimes) I recognize that with progressive holosync use this confusion will get more clear. When the ego is entrenched in its IDEAS about itself and mistakes that for real self there is suffering and it can feel like a loss. That is why my personal request is more discussion about holosync and dealing with this confusion as it comes up until one’s consciousness has expanded enough to clearly discern the difference between the larger and smaller selves. (Which clearly mine has not yet
I will certainly however keep listening, witnessing and doubting and looking forward (in the present moment of course:) to your next post!
And Oh yeah, a “users manual” complete with instructions on how to operate these egos would be most helpful still. ha. and if not, maybe just some more of your thoughts on what exactly is useful about them since it is becoming obvious why they are not useful, and that we need to detach from them and I wonder why we have them in the first place if the goal is to move away from them (not kill them). I understand from previous readings of yours that they are partially for a sense of safety and I am continuing to explore life without that net. Scary.And Fun.
Thanks most sincerely,
DD
Hello Bill,
Thank you for your latest post.
I would like for your future postings to be about your thoughts on creating success in the world, getting the most from Holosync and making the creative process more conscious. Sandra
This blog is great Bill and I’m looking forward to the next installment.
Just a heads up for any of you in Europe – Genpo Roshi is currently doing a tour here and you can find details on his website. I’ve just got back from a couple of afternoons in his presence in Amsterdam.
I find myself laughing at my-self as I realise I’m teetering on the top of the pole and keep wavering between extreme doubt and abandoning all seeking and getting drawn in by the next exciting teaching that comes along (like Bill’s blog or an opportunity to see Genpo
) The contradictions in the Zen approach seem to hold the answers but without experiencing some of them (e.g. Great Doubt and Great Faith being interrelated) it is hard to ‘get’ in any real sense.
Genpo also mentioned the upcoming Eckhart Tolle commentary which I would certainly love to read. Having also been fortunate enough to see Tolle in person I think through his being he brings a great gift of stillness and offers a mirror to everyone, even offering some uncomfortable truths about attachment with great humour. As with Big Mind he can invoke stillness/oneness in others and his book ‘A New Earth’ seems to be showing the move towards ‘Big Heart’ or what buddhists might call ‘the middle way’.
Hi Bill,
I would like to hear more about Holosync and how to use it to the maximum benefit in my life. I have the CDs from one of your retreats. They are from 2003 so I was hoping for some updates. I have listened to them over and over.
The shadow information and dealing with that sounds very interesting too. I look forward to all that you publish. I haven’t been disappointed yet.
Thanks for the work that you do.
I am looking forward to getting more of the Holosync CDs later this month.
Hi Bil
I have read all the blogs, they have helped very much. I would like to know more about Holosync. Also I would like to have more information on Neuroplasticity, could write on that subject .
Jan
Shadows please
Interesting read Bill. In response to your question about what to write about next, Please Please write about Holosync. Theres plenty of old articles about the technology and how it works, but there’s always room for more. I can’t get enough information on holosync, it also very much helps me to want to do the program when Im constantley reading about why I should be using it. Thanks
My bumper sticker says “The Map is not the Territory “
Hi Bill,
Since Holosync is the core of Centerpointe a series about Holosync before going off into Ken Wilber and Tolle would be great. Sharing your personal life story about Holosync would also be great.
Thanks for all the things you do for us. —Robert
when are you coming to England….when are you coming to england….when are you coming to England…???
i’ ll make you a nice cup of tea!
promise
Hi Bill,
I really enjoy all your Posts. There is always so much to digest each time I read through each one, I have begun a folder so I can revisit them when I find time.
You mentiond you wanted ideas to write about. I have been reading a lot about accessing the knowledge that is buried in our minds and have read and heard many times that “All the knowledge of the universe is contained in each person’s mind”. I understand that we are currently limited to what we, as a being are capable of understanding, at this point in our development. Are there indications the the “Human Race” as we know it will advance, mentally, to the point we may reach the level of understanding that some SiFi writers have suggested could exist?
The more I try to read and understand how the mind works, the more it seems possible that there may be a way.
I understand that there will always be some who will not evolve or want to evolve to such a level, but I would think that with understanding would come a desire to atain the highest level possible.
Could you comment on that some time?
Thank You for all the information you pass.
Chuck
Hi Bill,
I’m a new participant in holosync and new to the blog as well. I really appreciate your breadth of awareness of various transformational methodologies and trains of thought. As a psychiatrist in training, I am constantly thinking how to bring both a transformational approach and velocity to the process of therapy (perspectives that have both been lacking in a field dominated by psychoanalytic thought). I would love to hear to hear a discussion on both Eckhardt Tolle AND Ken Wilbur. If it does not create a commercial conflict, I would also to love read a posting on the technology of Landmark Education–which as far as I seen, generates lasting transformation about as quickly as methodology that is out there.
Bill,
I’m really glad I read this post. I have been dissapointed in myself lately for all the doubt I’ve been going through. After all I have learned from you the past few years (from your book, Online Course, Holosync material and now Blog) I started doubting anything you (or anyone else) had to say and was becoming angry that I exist at all and no one was going to say anything to make that better. I’ve been letting this attitude be ok as I learned in the Online Course but couldn’t figure out why I developed it other than realizing it was some form of resistance. It makes more sense to me now after reading this. Thanks!
FROM BILL: The kind of doubt I’m talking about only leads to spiritual breakthrough when it is TOTAL doubt. The kind of doubt you have when your life isn’t working may just make you miserable. If you are doubting everything because nothing is working, you need to learn how to make things work. The kind of doubt I’m talking about usually comes from people who know pretty well how to make things work, and realize that even when you “make things work” it still doesn’t really solve the problems of being human. Before you can REALLY doubt something will help you, you have to be able to do it or experience it reasonably well. Then if it doesn’t bring satisfaction, you can really doubt it. You can’t, for instance, doubt that sex is great unless you’ve had enough sex to know what you’re talking about. Developmentally people go through doubt at the juncture between each new developmental stage. At that point the old way of being in the world doesn’t work, and you have no new way yet. Part of the process of getting a new way is to doubt the old way. I would be willing to bet that this is what is happening to you.
Hello Bill,
This is a very interesting post. I can relate to all 3 of these stages, actually do more than relate because I’ve lived through them.
Respectfully skipping Stage 1 to comment about Stage 2… the night before I had to undergo my first open-heart surgery in 2003 is when I hadn’t any choice but to “truly” surrender to the grace of what is… not just in a safe workshop environment. When I was faced with my 2nd open-heart in 2006, I was way past surrender.
When one evolves through these kind of life experiences, much of the “intellectual process” of evolving through these stages literally falls away from you. Especially when you come out the other side and are required to function like the rest of the world.
I do have one issue so far about submitting to a “teacher”. The issue is that, when one introduces the concept of the teacher, one also introduces the concept that there must be a student. This in and of itself is dualistic in nature, which conflicts with the way you present Stage 1. At what point in teaching… does the teacher relenquish their ego to become the student? In essence the very premise of a teacher, student, or enlightenment as something to be obtained is an illusion.
I’m sharing this with you, because the whole time I’m reading your post my ego is wanting to jump out of my chair.
I mean, just look at this title that you wrote:
“Zen master Genpo Roshi”
If you, or I, or Genpo were truly “masters”, there wouldn’t be any need or desire to describe ourselves as anything, because we would be aware that “it” will all take care of itself.
Once the idea of a master is introduced, the hairs on the backs of ALL egos will stand at attention.
The true masters are the ones who sit by themselves, by the side of a lake, giving thought to nothing.
It’s all illusion. (Please excuse the meta-violations). Every thought, concept, or idea is merely a device by which our conscious “selves” project into a world that we perceive as permanent to make it last… and to make a living teaching meditation or enlightenment or what have you. Yet, nothing lasts… not even enlightenment.
No “one” knows anything and in that is bliss… but to truly attain that one must cease to “be” or hold a perception that they exist in the world at all.
in understadn why these “things” must be taiught in workshops, etc. so that others may learn it… or will they?… Or is it even necessary?
For the collective makes up the whole and the whole is always running around, away, and into “one” another until we all just let it go… or those “things” we hold so dear are simply taken from “us”.
Sincerely,
Ilias Glenis
I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope
For hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love,
For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith
But the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting.
Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought:
So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing….
In order to arrive there,
To arrive where you are, to get from where you are not,
You must go by a way wherein there is no ecstasy.
In order to arrive at what you do not know
You must go by a way which is the way of ignorance.
In order to possess what you do not possess
You must go by the way of dispossession.
In order to arrive at what you are not
You must go through the way in which you are not.
And what you do not know is the only thing you know
And what you own is what you do not own
And where you are is where you are not.
— T.S. Eliot
East Coker, The Four Quartets
There is no perfect stage.. Whatever you call perfect doesn’t have any quality. It certainly attracts people
we all are looking for something better, ultimately perfect…Those stages just are……like everything just is .. You are having the same life…the same problems…. the same everything … What changes is a perception….
One doesn’t get reach or whatever he wants at that stage..
Hi Bill
Thanks for the blog: as always, very enlightening.
It would be interesting to hear your thoughts on owning and maturing the various aspects of the mind including the disowned shadow aspects and how to integrate all aspects to operate effectively together.
Be well
Kevin
PS: Aswell as your reading your blog, I am finding your Life Principles Integration Program to be a great complement to Holosync (and vice versa): taken together, they are enhancing my experience of life enormously and for that I thank you.
“So please let me know what you’d like me to write about next.
Here are a few of my own ideas: a discussion of the ideas of Ken Wilber; or those of Eckhardt Tolle; a series about Holosync (how to get the most from it, why it works, what happens when you use it, how to deal with what happens when you use it, and so forth); a series on the shadow aspects we all have and why dealing with these shadow parts dramatically accelerates your growth.” Bill Harris
Dear Bill- I want to thank you for your time and effort put into this wonderful and insightful blog. I have found it extremely helpful and interesting. ALL of your ideas for future posts sound equally exciting. I wish to add a request of my own. I have a keen interest about the overlap of modern western psychology and the nondual. I’ve found that understanding the points where both meet, helps me to digest it better (western education) and proves useful in applying to everyday life situations. I had lingering questions about the value/importance of ego for everyday walking around, and how (exactly) to step back into witness mode, in a useful manner. Since I’m not affiliated with any organized religion or group, I lack the support of a teacher or ‘master’, to help through the finer points of application. Modern western transpersonal psychologists are blazing a path in bridging the two. Meditation and holosync puts one in the driver’s seat. I’m just looking for the buttons to the moon roof and the rear window defroster… Kind regards, Michele
Hi Bill,
Like an earlier poster, I’d love to hear your thoughts on Holosync and where the various levels tend to calibrate on Dr. Hawkins’ scale of consciousness from 0-1000 (from the book Power vs. Force). I found that book amazing and I often compare my progress on Holosync to his descriptions of the characteristics of individuals along this scale. What are your thoughts? Thanks in advance
I am so greatful to Eckhart Tolle and Oprah for turning me onto Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor and her beautiful book “”My Stroke of Insight”". Her story is amazing and her gift to all of us is a book purchase away I’m happy to say.
Dr Taylor was a Harvard brain scientist when she had a stroke at age 37. What was amazing was that her left brain was shut down by the stroke – where language and thinking occur – but her right brain was fully functioning. She experienced bliss and nirvana and the way she writes about it (or talks about it in her now famous TED talk) is incredible.
What I took away from Dr. Taylor’s book above all, and why I recommend it so highly, is that you don’t have to have a stroke or take drugs to find the deep inner peace that she talks about. Her book explains how. “”I want what she’s having”", and thanks to this wonderful book, I can! Thank you Dr. Taylor, and thank you Eckhart and Oprah.
Hi,
And thanks for the free Eckhart Tolle course.
In relation to Tolle, who seemingly had ‘one dark night of the soul’ and then awoke with unity conciousness, how does this relate to stages not being skipped? Is Ramana Maharshi another example of this?
Future topics:How about spiritual traps?or What is ‘real’ or not i.e angels, ascended masters,channeling,dematerialising saints, astral travelling,2012etc.
Thanks
Will
FROM BILL: The stages I was talking about are called structure stages–different perspectives from which we see life. Unity consciousness is what Ken WIlber (and some other developmental theorists) call a state stage. States would be, for instance, waking, dreaming, deep sleep, turya, and turyatita. The last two are varieties of unity consciousness. Anyone, at any structure stage, could have an experience, or even live permanently, in a certain “state stage.”
A tribal-level shaman, for instance, who in terms of structure stages might be at a magical level of development, could have an experience of (or live from an experience of) unity consciousness. When we have different state experiences (or, permanently live from them, in which case they are called stages rather than just state experiences), we interpret our experience from the structure stage we’re at.
Someone who has an experience of unity at a magical stage might describe it, for instance, as the nature spirits entering him. Someone at a mythic level might say that Jesus (or whomever) came to him and infused him with the Holy Spirit. Someone at one the higher Susanne Cook-Greuter levels would have another experience and description of it.
Wilber arranges these two (state stages and structure stages) in a lattice, where one axis is state stages and the other is structure stages. The highest level of development and consciousness, then, would be unity consciousness AND the highest (broadest, most all-inclusive) perspectve–in terms of structure stages–available on the planet. This is difficult to explain well in a few paragraphs. For a deeper treatment of this idea, see Ken Wilber’s book Integral Spirituality.
You cannot skip stucture stages, though, because each stage builds upon the last. Skipping stages would be like molecules coming into being before atoms, or proteins coming into being before molecules. Since molecules transcend and include atoms–they are made of them–atoms have to develop first. The same with proteins and molecules–molecules have to come first.
In structure stages, you have to go through each stage in order. There is no way to skip stages. In state stages, waking, dreaming and deep sleep are available to everyone. Then, some people have peak experiences of turya or turyatita (google these for more info). Or, after an event such as Tolle’s spontaneous awakening, or after a lot of spiritual practive, a person can become established in one of those places. Turyatita, though, builds on turya, just as with the structure stages, so you’d have to experience turya first.
Tolle’s awakening came, by the way, because in his depression he surrendered–something I discussed in the post about the first three stages in Tozan’s Five Ranks. Someone at any developmental level could surrender, or have a powerful state-stage experience. It will, though, be seen and interpreted at the structure stage that person inhabits. My guess, based on his writings and talks, is that Tolle is either at Susanne Cook-Greuter’s Pluralist, possibly higher. He expresses a lot of Green values in his books, which correspond to the perspective of the Pluralist, possibly the Strategist.
I am just going on my 2nd level in Holosync and so far it’s been a wonderful experience. Also I did something that normally I would never and that was to quit my very tiring and going no where job. It was a frustrating decision but I have to admit that it was making me “Toxic”. I also came to a conclusion that this is a new step for me and that all the jobs prior to this one were of the same “Toxicity” but this one was the worse that I have ever had. I did notice that because I was not truly happy there it caused my surroundings to become combatant. There were moments that I was happy for a while but when that wore off it was back to the same old thing. I feel so much better and this was long over due. This contributed to my awakening feeling because I felt like I was in bad dream state and then to finally come out of it was the awakening part. I am so much more happier than ever and I feel like doing things that I couldn’t do before because of that awful job. My self-esteem rose up almost immediately and I attribute my feeling to the Holosync program because all the things that used to bother me before they just don’t.
Regarding jumping off the 100 foot pole as described in your post, is this a one-time thing wherein afterwords we’re enlightened, or is this something that an individual may go through more than once; also interestingly might both situations be true, depending on your level of development and awareness of how you create your reality. It would seem to me that it’s possible to take the leap (so to speak) and by doing so become enlightened in a certain way relating to the situation in which the individual made the leap, however I imagine that this leap (of faith or whatever) might be made more than once and as such more than one “enlightening” experience can happen. For instance if I’m feeling anxious in a social situation, I might decide to step off into the abis and just go with what I intend to do anyway, and in doing so have a really enlightening experience of having a great time being myself and not worrying about what others think of me; previous to taking the leap from the 100 foot pole I would have stayed in the smaller anxious state and acted like a dope, simply because I was anxious (having nothing to do with the situation at hand until I worried about worrying). This may not be enlightenment for most people–if this sort of thing isn’t the flavor of enlightenment you mean I’d certainly be interested to hear your take on this in the next post–however this concept you’ve laid out clearly shows me how I might become a completely new person in such situations where a leap of faith–the faith that all will work out if I trust my unconscious mind–is required. In this way I see myself having enlightenment after enlightenment, with no regret of my not being enlightened yet; after all if one could jump off of the 100 foot pole just once and become enlightened there would be no opportunity for further enlightening experience which, in my estimation, is the whole reason for living. And what about taking the leap of faith regarding ignorance, and how such ignorance creates the world? We ordinarilly treat ignorance (and the attachment it causes) as a bad thing or as something to be overcome, whereas if we take the leap of faith which demonstrates that we can live a fulfilled life regardless of our ignorance (or unconsciousness) we open ourselves up to such a greater freedom of understanding and expression.
Hi,
thanks for the clarification in you reply.
I think my confusion was around the ’spontaneous awakening’ aspect.
Quote:Or, after an event such as Tolle’s spontaneous awakening, or after a lot of spiritual practice, a person can be established in one of those places. Turyatita , though builds on turya, just as with structure stages, so you’d have to experience turya first.
i.e Tolle and Ramana with their spontaneous awakenings ’seem’ to have gone to a state stage of Turyatita. But i’ve probably got that wrong and I do accept that stages can’t be skipped.
Thanks again,
Will
I would appreciate receiving your views on Tolle, Holosync (how to get the most from it, why it works, what happens when you use it, how to deal with what happens when you use it, and so forth); and a series on the shadow aspects we all have and why dealing with these shadow parts dramatically accelerates your growth.
Greetings.
As it was with stages of human development and the Unitive stage, this is a wonderful discussion of stages of Enlightenment. I look forward to reading the conclusion of this blog segment on the last two stages.
My being is very appreciative of anything free to help others realize Enlightenment. In relation to that, permit me to ask a question to anyone who cares to comment. In your opinion, would a being that is truly enlightened at least to the third stage as defined in this blog charge money to convey Enlightenment to others?
Regards.
FROM BILL: I’ll comment. Enlightenment has NOTHING to do with money, or any behavior, for that matter. Enlightenment has to do with knowing who you really are, not what you do or don’t do once you know. You might NOT be a saint if you become enlightened.
It takes money to run a business. I pay $45,000 a month just for health insurance for my employees, along with Centerpointe’s portion of social security and medicare taxes, for instance. The people who do those things that allow you to use Holosync have families to support. I have to pay them to get them to come to work each day. We have telephone bills, rent, internet expenses, and on and on and on (and on). I couldn’t do something like this for free, even if I wanted to. A month later, I’d be out of money (probably sooner), and then I’d be doing nothing to help people–unless I sat around and taught 20 people for free in my living room. Personally, I’d rather teach hundres of thousands of people all over the world.
At any rate, Holosync is ridiculously inexpense. If you do each level for the recommended time period, you can do the entire program for forty-four cents a day. Yes, if someone is REALLY poor, they can’t afford to do it. For anyone else, it’s a matter or priorities. I’ll bet that almost everyone who complains about the cost of HOlosync owns a TV, a car, and many other items that cost a lot more than Holosync, and spends way more only on beer and cable TV than they do on Holosync–because those things are more important to them. If someone can’t carve out $.44 a day for Holosync, it’s a choice they’re making.
And, you can become enlightened right now for free. Just stop identifying yourself with your idea of who you are. Live outside the world you are creating in your mind. Holosync is voluntary, and if someone doesn’t think it’s worth it to trade their money for it, they don’t have to.
Hi Bill, how come you are always trying to sell me something? Every other e-mail from you is a referall link to one of these things your trying to sell us on. Commercialized expensive spirituality always strikes a message of falsity with me. This stuff is meant to be free / affordable, I doubt it’s part of the Divine plan to charge money for “enlightenment”. Rather, one should look to serve in the best way possible.
FROM BILL: If I knew about something that might help you, but I didn’t tell you about it, what would you think of me then? All buying is voluntary. If I recommend something and it offers benefits you want, at a price you think is worth it for those benefits, then get it. If not, forget about it. This is your stuff about money. If people didn’t offer things for sale, you wouldn’t be able to buy anything, and I’ll bet you DO buy things. And, I make nothing on anything I tell you about other than Centerpointe. Enlightenment IS free. Just stop identifying with an illusory separate self you made up.
Dear Bill
Your comments are always highly meaningful, insightful and enjoyable. They build on previous teachings and reaffirm the path taken. Thank you.
Almost for each Holosync disk, I get to a stage similar to the one you call submission, where I feel I cannot hold to anything, any believes. Believes appear just fake, which makes me feel almost desperately annoyed.
However, after that experience, which usually takes one or two days, everything seems so refreshing and new, as if I am discovering a new dimension to the very things I see every day. The funny thing is that every time it happens, I only realise after it’s gone; sometimes I say to myself “well this may be the works of Holosync”. Mainly because it happens once every two months, and it is a bit scary since my existence seems to be rather smooth and coping with most things without problems.
The other great comment was in relation to the “doer”. This is, I believe, something difficult to grasp for most people, because everybody thinks that “if they let go” nothing will happen, therefore, there is this vicious circle of attachment to the things the way they are (and implicit belief that they cannot be different: hence I am not in control of my reality, and then to paradoxically conclude “why to bother?”)
The topics I would like you to talk about is “Shadow aspects” to dramatically accelerate change.
Thank you again.
Hi Bill,
It has been an awesome journey through the cognitive stages of development. I thank you for sharing it with us all. Since you are taking requests on what we’d like to hear about next I thought I’d put my two cents worth in. I’ll just make a list of things I’d like to hear your opinions or perspectives on I wasnt going to comment at all for fear that my suggestions would be wierd but then I heard a lady say she wanted you to write about what you did in your free time so I thought it would be safe to throw my requests out there so here is a list.
your thoughts on:
2012 and the planetary Ascension
12 DNA Activations
Enlightenment vs Ascension are they the same thing or different things?
Remote Viewing and Influencing in theta and Delta states
If you think Holosync corolates to any of the above?
Well thats all I can think of off the top of my head. I know some of those things are probably out side of the realm of what you might normally discuss but there are more and more websites devoted to these topics every day and I am curious to hear your thoughts on these topics.
Thanks for your time,
Sincerely Josh Sorenson
Bill, Chris here again!
Just saw my earlier post about asking if you’re enlightened. After responding to some comments (and much self observasion about my own world and potential developmental level) it’s obvious you are where you are, and it AWESOME!, As I just ordered AL 2 and am looking forward to increasing benefits (3days in).
Just wanna say I love what you’ve created and on top of that, just saw the “truth behind the secret” video, and MAN! You just have a way of explaining, that is well…. truthful???? I don’t want to talk of “submitting” too early to a master, but there’s something different about the way you explain things, and how up to date you are to helping people. I’m gonna stick around!
TO BILL HARRIS
Greetings Bill,
Thank you for commenting directly on my post above. Your explanation of charges resonates well with me. Who could argue with reaching hundreds of thousands versus twenties of people? On top of that you are supporting other humans who have opportunity in some way of spreading awakening (employees there) and you are able to offer many free ‘pointers’ like this blog, others you highlight like Genpo and Ken Wilbur, and like the free online lessons about teachings of Eckhart Tolle, not to mention the devotion of your own energies. It is certain that none of this would be possible without some form of income, and it does not go unrecognized, and it is appreciated. Donation to such activity would be the pleasure of many.
In view of your opening comment about Enlightenment, please permit me respectfully to ask another question. There is no intention of offering anything negative to detract from your posts on Enlightenment so feel free to moderate/eliminate this and the following paragraphs in any way you choose before posting, if at all. It is just that there may be misinterpretation. You wrote:
“..Enlightenment has NOTHING to do with money, or any behavior, for that matter. Enlightenment has to do with knowing who you really are, not what you do or don’t do once you know. You might NOT be a saint if you become enlightened.”
My intellect has been struggling with this. It seems to indicate that the transformation of sense-of-self ‘from’ a finite, separate, ego-oriented being (pre-stage one relative world) ‘to’ a sense-of-self as infinite and one with all (stage three) has nothing to do with what one does (or does not do) thereafter. If this be so where does Eckhart Tolle’s ‘New Earth,’ Paul Tillich’s ‘New Being,’ and Genpo Roshi’s functioning with wisdom and compassion toward all beings come from?
Regards
Robert
FROM BILL: Seen from a certain developmental level (usually the Pluralist, but it could be others), enlightenment is seen as being about behavior, about “being good,” or “being saintly.” This is a reflection of the consciousness of the person making the commentary, however, not an intrinsic aspect of enlightenment. The truth is that USUALLY an enlightened person is going to behave in a way that IS “good.” However, that may not be the case. The enlightened person is beyond good and evil, which are seen for what they are: ideas, not intrinsic realities.
In short, enlightenment is not about being “like Jesus.” And, Jesus pitched a fit about the money lenders, you may remember, and many Eastern masters were knowed for being assholes in various ways, often being quite abusive (at least it looked that way) to their followers. One reason for this is that they were in non-dual STATES, but sometimes at lower levels developmentally (you could be at any of the developmental stages I discussed in my various posts and at the same time be living from a non-dual state of consciousness). There are tons of stories about Buddhist bodhisatvas who, as a skillful way to liberate others who were in a certain situation, took the form of a prostitute, or a thief, or some other “negative” persona.
So enlightenment is about being aware of the empty nature of all existence, being aware of the transcience of all things in the relative world, of not confusing one’s ideas about reality for reality itself (especially one’s idea of who one is–which is really what the ego is)–and especially knowing, feeling, experiencing oneself as the entire going on of it all, empty, unborn, undying, etc., etc. How a person behaves once they have this realization might be “saintly” and it might not. How a person’s behavior stacks up is an interpretation, and that interpretation is a reflection of the interpreter’s developmental level. Because an enlightened person really KNOWS that he is everything, he is unlikely to harm others, since that would be like harming yourself. On the other hand, he also knows that nothing in the relative world in any sort of ultimate sense matters–everything is perfect, including suffering, destruction, or whatever.
Eckhart Tolle doesn’t say that you will be “a good person” once you are awake, though he does imply that you will behave in a way supportive of the whole, which is generally true. He would also agree, though, that in an ultimate sense nothing can harm the whole, the idea that it can be hurt is an illusion.
TO BILL HARRIS:
Greetings again, Bill.
Thank you so much for taking time to respond to my quandary over your statement – ‘Enlightenment has nothing to do with any behavior.’ Your responses are always humbling, particularly because of the lucidity and comprehensiveness with which you write on such topics.
Still, puzzlement remains. Could it be semantics and perhaps my lack of understanding in your use of the term, Enlightenment? (Genpo’s last two stages are anxiously awaited.) To help clarify what may be the basis of my problem, let me explain that for me Enlightenment is best described from ‘above;’ that is, from the non-dualistic view. Enlightenment is when the Infinite (the Source, God) realizes itself through human consciousness. Enlightenment is the term that one can apply to the total resultant manifestation in all aspects including all three corners of Genpo’s triangle of dual-nondual-integration and Big Mind plus Big Heart. Would it not be the centerpoint of doing and behavior thereafter?
Does not your own life exemplify this? Or, take the case of the master who becomes a prostitute as a creative way towards the purpose to ‘liberate’ someone. Does not the ‘purpose’ come from the master’s own Enlightenment? Or does not Genpo’s central purpose to aid awakening of the planet come from his own Enlightenment?
Again, feel free to ignore my comment and not post it if you feel it detracts from the thrust and intention of this blog in any way. The comment is offered with the sincere hopes that your responses will contribute to the understanding of Enlightenment in all of us – the subject of this five-part segment of your blog.
As Always, Best Wishes,
Robert
Hi Bill and others,
Your writing about the transcendent, clarifies a lot of who i am.
Feeling at home, being me at that state, but always falling back in a world of pain, my own and others, coming from prenatal trauma (surviving abortion, and total exclusion within family of origin).
Having focused on that for many years, through therapy, feeling i was put on the wrong foot by many theories, i have to find and master my own different approach of how to let go of all the trauma and finally create an emotional threshold. (your book was extremely helpfull in understanding i totally lack on, not knowing the difference between my feelings and others)
My transcendent state is being recognized when walking in the street. I lovingly connect with, and they with me, many people, sharing light.
On the personal level realationships i get traumatriggered, so for now i am abstaining from those.
As the Druids say, some people(very few) journey an opposite journey, coming from above, having to descend into their human body.
As many western writer you write about including all, yet in your list i see no mention of Allah. Having my feet firmly planted in both worlds, the esoteric as well as the muslimworld (having become a muslim, after integrating many esoteric views and recognizing them in the Quran, as well sensing the presence of the divine in the book), it feels as if your mind you are not only excluding me, but also other millions of sensitive, traumatized believers. I expect more of you.
It is a good opportunity for me however to speak out, that i do not want to be excluded, coming from being totally unwanted (being a calendar accident) within my family of origin. Constantly repeating the experience with others, who had the need to abandon, abuse, attempt to kill.
Being the descendant of french huguenots refugees, slaughtered in France, being denied their religion, my present position seems undoubtingly to be fitting to my spiritual development. Being who i am, it also enables me to kindly remind you, to ponder on whether including me in this world might not only be the correct idea, but also about time.
With my exhusband, an algerian refugee, without status, talking about all these states, was easy, as was feeling truely connected. Wars are about injustice, often fuelled through historic traumatized collective emotional states of peoples. Having had the privilege to be included in understanding has clarified much for me. Though much is wrong in the islamic world,(i also lived that) there is also so much correct beauty, western people could learn from. I have learned from. Peace to you all and may God be with you all. Gertrude
Bill, In your May blog you ask for suggestions about what to write on. You suggested Holysync. I for one would like to read that because, frankly, when I listend to the CD’s I didn’t get it. I almost wondered if there was something wrong with my recording or my hearing. At any rate, maybe if I understand the background better I might try it again. Thanks, Maya
Bill the way you explain this is so thorough and if people have a problem with understanding it they should read Eckhart Tolle’s book again “The Power of Now”. I read that book about 2 years ago and I really got something wonderful out of it. Then I read his second book “The New Earth” and I really got an enlightenment feel that he promised all who read it would get. That book was really wonderful for me and while reading it I had so much chaos in my life at that time. Most of the chaos was from trying to get rid of bad thoughts that had been part of my life for far too long they are not easy to get rid of and should be surrendered if anything first. I did notice when reading certain chapters that I would go through these stages of realization from all the changes that you are making in your life. From those changes there were these strange attitudes that no longer stayed with me and they actually attached onto people that I came in contact with. Those things that I am talking about were the restless states of mind that people have in themselves that don’t even know it. What it might be is the alter ego which can be thought of as the thing that causes turmoil in all of us. The book teaches you how to get rid of that thing and not to give too much thought on things that are not important which are worries that you can not doing anything about. After reading those books getting into Holosync was the best thing I ever did.
I woudd be intersted on an article on Holysync and how it works and how to get the most out of it etc.I have found your other articles very interesting and thank you for taking the time out of you busy schedule to do free lessons on Masters of the Secret and Eckard Tolle and co.Again Many thanks
Kathleen
Hi Bill
I think i read somewhere that each stage of Holysync is stand alone .? that correct and are the changes or transformations with each stage permanent or do you need to practise some form of maintenance.
Many thanks
Kathleen