The Five Stages of Enlightenment…
by Bill HarrisMay 19th, 2008
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.
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May 19th, 2008 at 11:44 am
Bill,
I would love it if you would write in response to Eckhart Tolle’s teachings, especially if you watched the webcast with Oprah and have read his books. I have heard that Ken Wilber places him at green - although I’m not sure that is true. I don’t see Tolle or his teachings as at green at all, although some people interpret his teachings at that level - of course that would be the case if that is where they are at themselves. I was a part of a book club where I saw all the different interpretations based on people’s level of development which was interesting to watch.
I am concerned about teachings at these higher levels being misunderstood and misapplied particularly when it is mixed in with New Age ideologies. I am even more concerned that I myself will get off track somewhere. Even though I am somewhat well versed in the pre/trans fallacy, it can get tricky to sort it all out when “higher truths” that come from genuine awakenings (which I definitely believe Tolle has had) are mixed in with green thinking. I realize green is a tremendous breakthough for many people at this point. However, having gone through the painful realization of its shortcomings, I am sometimes weary of my mind falling back into its seeming comforts if I am not vigilant in my thinking. After all, applying all these conceptual interpretations can be a dangerous game.
So, thats my vote; although, I look forward to whatever you decide to address next.
Thanks so much for taking this time with us.
Suzanah
May 19th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
How about some posts that are more personal and a little less abstract? Your teaching has helped me transform my life–for which I am extremely grateful–but I get it now and lately I have found myself pushing the “surprise” button. I would love if you shared a bit about the things you do for fun, the things you value, your big goals and dreams for the future, and maybe even tell us a story or post some music you’ve written. In short, surprise us.
May 19th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
Hello,
My name is Basilia and i am from Sydney Australia. i have been aware of Centrepointe for quite some years and have actually started using your program.
I feel quite lost I have read Eckkhart Tolle, Gary Zukav, Wayne Dyer & Deepak Chopra all amazing.
I am looking for answers but just when i feel i am getting somewhere i find i am overtaken by shawdowy impulses such as alcohol or pharmacy medications nothing too dramatic i hasten to add I have successfully stayed away from alcohol for some time now…….but i find i am always thinking about it or tablets…….i am really really trying to stay away from all this rubbish and i am very very tired of “trying so hard” at times overwhelmed …….i was wondering if there is a book that anyone out there could recommend to me …….perhaps something I havent read before or something i may not be aware of ……..anything really would be appreciated……….i am married with 2 beautiful children……….
very kind regards
Basilia
May 19th, 2008 at 8:44 pm
Hey Bill,
it’s so cool to read your posts! Knowing more about Holosync in one of your next posts sounds interesting! But more so is knowing more about shadow material, personally when I heard of this for the first time I immediately thought of the negatives, but I reckon that there are also positives which we see in others but not in ourselves…please definitely do post about this topic! I also heard from Ken Wilber that this shadow material is at a wave length that is theta or so, and therefore reached by Holosync. I think it would be great if you’d post something on Shadow and include the effects of Holosync on this.
Take Care, Dave
May 20th, 2008 at 12:07 am
Hi Bill,
wow- these blogs have been incredible and I love the fact that I now know I have sooo much to venture towards. This is the first really clear, step by step, easy to understand explanation of this type of growth I have come across.I found the readings refering to Dr Cook-Greuter easy to understand and inspiring. For each step I felt a minny moment of awarness of what it would be like and could link some past experiences to what what being explained. I am only at the beginning of level 3 Holosync and am in the process of doing the work in Big Mind but already feel some much more comfortable with and able to understand this new and exciting information.
My life is taking on new shapes, shades and tones each day and with it I seem to be getting calmer and calmer.
This has great material to have while entering level 3 Holosync for me. Bill I love your work, thanks so much for all your hard work
May 20th, 2008 at 12:25 am
Hi Basilia
I have just tried this Holosync program for the first time last night. I borrowed it from my sister as she has been using it for a while. I belong to another school of thought and have been using their meditation programs for a while. I was impressed with how quick holosync takes you deep.
From my experience in the years I have been meditating, every now and then I also get to a point where I grow . All of a sudden i get these big urges to do something CRAZY. Something out of my normal way of thinking or behavior and event stuff that I have left behind. Sometimes I give in a little but while in there, it hits me like a ton of bricks - like how I am over this. I’m starting to feel less guilty or punishing myself more and more . Cause the more you develop, the more you will learn to let go. Letting go is not something you read from a book. It is personal and most of the time to really let go - you have to experience what is holding you back.Once you do that then it does not seem so bad after all.
Some times to surrender well what helps me is to write down what bugs me and why am I back at that stage again. I write it down in my meditation space as if I am talking to the peace of paper. As if the center of my chest is burning with the feelings of the words I put down. Once I’m satisfied that I cannot write anymore. I take that peice of paper and burn it in a candle as a symbol of letting go. Sometimes I would combine this with talking with some I trust, if you like speaking to a trained person to help get over the hudle.
the first step to change is to identify a challenge. Once you do that, then you get the guts to move on to the next step which what you have done.
I cannot recommend any books but I hope my post has shared a light for you..
Nakedi
May 20th, 2008 at 4:20 am
Hi Bill,
Any of the topics you mentioned:
“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.”
All are good topics.
I am not a blind follower of Eckhart Tolle. I think he has some good ideas, his depiction of pathology is quite good, but he also misses the boat on a bunch of things. Thus, I look forward to your comments, since I have seen little criticism of him, and all that from lower stages of development–religious traditionalists.
Lalia
May 20th, 2008 at 4:33 am
Regarding what to cover next i’d vote either something about shadow elements and the relationship with holosync
Or
more about Holosinc itself. Possibly the relationship between holosinc and “enlightenment” … Can listening to holosinc make you enlightened? etc.
All the best
May 20th, 2008 at 4:48 am
Regarding to Suzannahs post; this reminds me of the story where the devil is walking with his assistent down a road. While walking there they see a monk, bending down in total bliss and he picks up something. He’s so blissfull! the assistent gets worried. He asks his master (the devil), ” what did he found?” The devil answers: ” Oh, he just found a piece of the truth”. the assistent gets concerned: “doesn’t that worry you? I think that can be very dangerous!!!! If the truth gets spread, we’re out of business!” and the devil smiles: “No worries mate, before you know it they’ve made a system out of it, some sort of religion, will fight with other truth-finders, get organised, stop thinking themselves etc etc…., no on the contrary: work enough for us!”
Thats why they say: if you meet the Buddha, kill him!
May 20th, 2008 at 5:47 am
Bill,
I’m a long time user of Holosync(since 2003 using Purification level 3 now) and can feel subtle yet deep changes in myself. The sensitivity and clarity I’m gaining has led me to an issue that has taken over much of my daily thought. The topic?: “Peak Oil”. Our way of life, our very civilization seems to be on the brink of chaos and catastrophe of epic proportions. As petroleum supplies decline hunger, disease, pervasive social unrest will become common features of our era. Many predict a ‘die off’ of human life. Indeed this scenario seems to be slowly unfolding what with ever rising gasoline prices and food riots in many countries. the more I study this trend the more bleak I feel. What are the uses of ”enlightenment’ in the face of these drastic changes? Sincerely, Christopher
May 20th, 2008 at 6:49 am
Hi Bill,
you took my suggestion of not leaving it so long this time. Thank you!
All the topics you mentioned are fabulously interesting and I know you’d do a stellar job of teaching on them.
I’ve been using Holysync for just over a year and I’m finishing up Awakening Level 2. I know you hear this all the time but your CDs and materials have made a huge impact on my life. I feel very different inside; I still have stuff that needs clearing up but generally I get alot more peace now. Things are actually moving forward outwardly too and as a result of recommendations that you’ve made, I see a bright financial future ahead.
It was a great post, but please, not so short next time! I was just getting into it then boom, over. I like your previous length; nice and thorough. As a unitive, I’m sure you’ll have no problem pleasing everyone.
love,
Terry
May 20th, 2008 at 6:59 am
I think what you’ve written is great i believe i attained the third stage a while ago. but I believe I talked about it and people sent me to a psychiatrist , I knew and i am not sure how but that he would prescribe a pill and the experience would be over. took the pill as y wife was afraid and i did not want to cause her any trouble. since this experience i’ve been trying to get back (as the beatles said). my question is what do you do after this experience, how do you chop wood and carry water in the taoist sense. or how do you go on. It would seem that you or i have something to give to others or some responsibility to fulfil
May 20th, 2008 at 7:01 am
I have doubted doubt.
FROM BILL: Excellent! Now doubt that.
May 20th, 2008 at 7:06 am
Hi Bill,
I’d much prefer that you help us explore what Eckhart Tolle is communicating.
Thank you,
Roy
May 20th, 2008 at 7:51 am
Bill — please write about this (from your blog)….
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. THX!
May 20th, 2008 at 7:57 am
Hi Bill,
In your request for comments about what we’d like to see:
My strong desire is to read 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); as you mentioned. It would help me and I’m sure many others who use this program faithfully.
Thanks
chuck
May 20th, 2008 at 8:29 am
Dear Bill:
I loved this post, thank you. Though I haven’t attended any seminars with Genpo Roshi, I was able to view a DVD of his Big Mind process and I was blown away! I can’t even imagine what it would have been like in person. I’d love to see a DVD of you and Genpo working together.
I also am very careful about what I read and who I’m learning from. It can be very confusing and frustrating hearing conflicting theories and analogies from so called “experts”. I purposefully have NOT participate in Oprah and Eckhart Tolle’s classes because I was afraid I would receive information that would not support my current studies through Centerpointe’s Accelerated Change Maximizer™ Online Classes. As a student, it’s hard to know who really is the “expert”. But I do know that Holosync Meditation & the Centerpointe Online Classes have remarkedly changed my life for the better. So you Bill, are my current expert!
You have mentioned Ken Wilber many times in the past and have recomended some of his books. I purchased one and I have had a difficult time getting through it. Purhaps you could simplify some of his theories for us.
Looking forward to what you have to share!
Most sincerely,
Kat
FROM BILL: I am actually launching a free online course in just a few days in which several awakened teachers and I will discuss Eckhardt Tolle and what he is saying. Stay tuned.
May 20th, 2008 at 9:03 am
Hello,
I enjoyed the five stages of enlightenment and think I’m going to like whatever You decide to do next for blog/podcast.
Now, “shadow work” is what is happening i my holosync process - and a topic, which I for one would really velcome.
May we all be well,
Eric
May 20th, 2008 at 9:17 am
I like your suggestion about a blog on Holosync and Eckart Tolle, actually I hope you do both. I always find you interesting and compelling.
Best Regards,
Haze Hammett
May 20th, 2008 at 9:19 am
Hi Bill - I just want to say — Don’t stop writing! Anything you write feels like a sane lifeline to me. I’m in that DOUBT EVERYTHING stage that you just wrote about — and it’s not fun. Nothing has meaning for me anymore and that barrel of kool-aid… I had to laugh but I know that a cup of that sweet stuff ain’t going get me to where I want to be any faster than where I am right now. Thanks for the humour. It feels like the back of my shirt is stuck on that 100 foot pole and I’m dangling. I can see where I want to go but the shirt I’m wearing — it seems to be made from some pretty tough fabric.
I sure hope you and Genpo Roshi do another west coast workshop within the next year — bring scissors because I’ll be coming!
Blessings to you,
PS — your wife is right — your blog does have transcendent qualities to it — mucho thanks.
May 20th, 2008 at 9:25 am
Bill, I would be very interested in knowing more about the Shadow Self from you, in your inimitable clear and concise style. Thanks!
May 20th, 2008 at 10:15 am
I always felt different and it wasn’t until I read your book when I purchased Holosync Bill, Thresholds of the Mind, that I finally got what made me different was that I was always more comfortable living my life as “the witness” rather then living up to someone else’s expectations of who I was supposed to be.
These same teachings come through in The Tao and in Eckhart Tolle’s teaching. Drop the ego and become the witness to life because when you let the ego go into death, you become the angel of witness and a feeling of peace of not being in charge, but surrending that to the powers of the Universe let you understand we are all connected as one huge power of life. By being the witness and making no judgement on what you are witnessing is still something to work on for myself, but I have come so far.
Life really does come full circle. I have been with Centrepointe/Holosync for over a year and have definitely read The Power of Now, A New Earth, Change Your Thoughts Change Your Life The Teaching of The Tao and was continually struck with the actual power of the now. Learning to change habits that have been instilled in me of what was appropriate living, like self-worth in yourself to want to be a better person, according to whomever made up the rules has been a part of who I was for a very long time was a relief for me to change the me I had become, who was not a very happy me.
Please do continue with your teachings and include how both Ken and Ekhart, which are only names to look at and no one more special then you or I, have come to be enlightened and both accept the fact that not everyone can get it and they do this without letting the ego control them by feeling pain from rejection of certain people.
Western society has blindsided us for so long on how that to be a successful human being in this world you must be “the best” rather then teaching us that the best is only someone’s opinion and not what is really going on when it come to survival of the mind or lack of it.
My personal opinion, which would be my ego making an opinion, is that there are few people out there who are even willing to make an adjustment in their way of living due to fear of what others may think of them, so if you are compelled to write long blog posts let what is inside of you flow. Only those who are genuinely want to read what you have to say will read. The others want you to make what you have to say convenient for them and their ego. Do what the YOU, who I am a part of, inside of you, that is the real you, tells you is right at the particular time you are writing.
I can tell you that the me inside of the body that wears this living bunch of cells is living a life of babysteps learning all over again who me really is due to people who have shared their experiences and insights to let me know that I am not different. I am not even unique. I am a part of energy with a self created ego that I can control.
May 20th, 2008 at 10:21 am
Hi Bill!
I would like to know your perspective on Shadow. How holosync deals with this aspect of personality, how it is connected to phenomenology and non-judging witness. What are the best methods to deal with it (except creating non-judging witness) and so long…
Best wishes
May 20th, 2008 at 11:02 am
Basilia:
I know the book you need. It’s called “The Mood Cure” by Julia Ross. She explains methods using nutrition to overcome all those cravings. You personally don’t have any trouble with conceptually understanding the reasons you need to keep away from alcohol, drugs, ect. but your body has the cravings for various reasons. She explains in detail what natural amino acids you need to take to start overcoming the cravings. I’ve linked to it from my “book suggestions” section in the web site linked from my name.
Bill:
With an attitude of gratitude, I thank you for your commitment to this blog. May everyone who reads be positively changed.
FROM BILL: How about the craving to be alive? Will nutrition overcome that?
May 20th, 2008 at 11:03 am
Dear Bill,
Thanks for asking. I think I’d most like to hear more about Holosync. Have there been some ideas or insights about Holosync that you’ve been thinking of sharing? I’m not aware of discussions about this going on somewhere else so this topic is especially welcome.
OFF TOPIC: I appreciate the audio feed - thanks - Gail Rice
May 20th, 2008 at 11:46 am
Hi Bill,
The shadow aspect is very interesting. I would like you to talk about that because that is important in the process of growth using the Holosync technology. I believe coming to terms with the shadow aspect is a very important and integral part in getting the most out of life and personal change and growth. At the same time you can also write about the whole process of using holosync and what happens as one goes through the levels of deeper personal change.
Thanks
Visvas
May 20th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
Is this really material that most have not yet heard of????….. It certainly is very easy to understand just how exciting this would be if it was the first time one had ever heard about these states of consciousness!… (I suspect Bill that many on your e-mail list are likely far more advanced on their spiritual paths’ than you may have realized.)
By the very fact that we are here as unlimited consciusness, (temporarily very pointedly focused here in this dimension,) - makes us all, not just capable of grasping these concepts, but actually already in possession of them!! The idea that one requires a ‘guru’ of any sort is to deny the inherent power and wisdom that exists within each of us. You state that ‘westerners’ seem to have difficulty with the idea of ’surrendering’ to a guru or teacher…..I believe there’s a very good reason for this!..it’s a reflection of an inner knowing.
There is no doubt that receiving some guidance and insight from others along our path can be helpful, but to rely on any power source outside of oneself is looking for answers in the wrong place. All any of us truly needs to do is to look within, for therin lies all of the answers to any question that could ever be asked. There is really no ‘outer’ it is all ‘inner’, and once this is realized, the necessity to seek answers outside of ones own consciusness, will never again be necessary.
Reading about these stages is interesting, but it’s been my experience that these stages are not so cut and dried. Yes, “states” does in fact more aptly describe an experience that is for a short duration of time, However, when these ’states’ can go on for days at a time, only shifting back through a deliberate choice being made by the individual perceiver, to experience through a different level of consciousness, then the lines become a bit blurred between “state” and “stage”.
Ex: While in the back of one’s mind, she’s always conscious of the fact that she, her personality, beliefs, in fact everything within what she would call ‘her reality’ is in fact nothing more than a creation of her very own - there are still times where she chooses -for the sake of the exhilaration and sheer experience of it all, to temporarily overlook this fact, and just play her part in this grand charade to the fullest! This does not mean that one is longer at a particular ’stage’, just that she’s made a conscious choice to experience her reality in a different manner. In truth we all have all ’stages’ and ’states’ within our reach at any given time - it merely involves making a choice.
My advice to all who are seeking higher levels of consciousness as though their very life depended on it, possibly creating disharmony for themselves in the process due to the fact that they are feeling ‘less’ or ‘not at a high enough level’ etc….If your purpose in ‘being’ was to reside at the highest level of consciusness - a level where you no longer idenity with yourself as an individuated personality, where you no longer have the capacity to feel negative emotions, and where you merge completely and totally with the all…….you would not now be here inhabiting this physical body - having this temporary physical experience.
It’s actually quite hilarious when you think that we chose to temporarily separate ourselves from our experience of being one with all, to come into the physical realm, to play and mix it up!…and here we are so seriously and relentlessly, trying to get back to what we already are!!
What is the hurry? - when these bodies die - we’ll be there instantly!…and will no doubt have a great laugh about just how seriously we took this, and how much time we wasted when we could have just been enjoying the ride!
May 20th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
Hello Bill,
My name is Tunji Giwa (TJ), What I want to discuss today is about my recently started journey through Personal Growth. I have to say it’s been completely amazing while I have been effortlessly going through my Holosync CDs as it makes the process much simpler. I will like to share with you what my family background, my experiences and my thoughts.
I come from Nigeria,Lagos and I am a Yoruba. I am the First born and growing up you are the person that your siblings look up too. Even though my parent also did their part by making sure we grew up to be good happy people.
I came to the United State in the Spring of 1999, went college and graduated in the Spring of 2004. My brother joined me in the U.S because he was getting into trouble back home and my parents thought my brother would be better here with me because we had a close relationship. I also have a Sister who resides with my parent till she gets married.
I graduated with a degree I did not have any interest in making a career. I think that was the first time I was lost in life and did not know what to do. A few of my friends went back Home but I choose to stay here and keep moving forward.
As Time went by I notice I developed a strong hold towards my family, and recently was aware of my Fear of Failing my family and how it had made me very impatient towards things/opportunities around me, hindering my progression in life, and also made me determined, driven, a what ever it takes attitude person. What holosync has help is to take away that Fear, Feeling of Impatience and so on. And Strengthened my Positives.
I believe it was not by coincident I came across Holosync. I had just learnt about meditation and was practicing it the traditional way. I was very determined to learn more about meditation and on my quest web surfing, I found your Free Demo CD.
I have being using it for a month including the week and a half I used the Demo. It was 4 days (05/04/08) into the Dive I experieced my first upheavel. It felt Horrible but what I experienced after that was quiet something. I think it was a Dream but I remember it like it happened in real. It felt like a bust of energy and I was in the same place but I could change anything I wanted. It happened for a very short time. I did not really put much thought on it till I started reading your blogs and recorded CDs.
Reading your Blog, I came across your ealier posted blogs that discussed on how we need to DOUBT everything. I understand that the mind has over years of experience being able to create who we are today. And who we really are is tainted by our Mind. I am begining to Master being a witness and it is amazing how I am able to connect situations/events to mean something, you said to watch everything about myself, and as I do they are feelings or situations I do not understand. How do I understand this feelings and thoughts? I guess I should let what ever happens be Okay.
I am Loving every minute of my experiences. They are still some thing that I am aware off and are from my past but I don’t know how to let go of it. I know if I am able to Doubt all this experience, It will be a new beginning. You talk about getting the Idea of who I am out of the way. How do you do that? where do you beginning?
I hope you can share with me what you think about all I have told you. Thank you.
May 20th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
Hello,
I have read Eckharts book A new earth, and watched the Oprah series, i must say it really has accelarated things, and now Oprah is doing a series with the stroke lady….extremly interesting….i would love to hear some stuff on all this, i am keen to find out what my right brain thinks but i cannot tell when it is thinking…hmm. But aside from that the unconcious attraction process would also be very good to hear about.
thanks
you are held in high regard
Take Care
Bob
May 20th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
Bill,
I’d love to hear more of your thoughts on Tolle and “A New Earth” as well as how to get most out of Holosync.
I did attend the Seattle workshop with my wife and we were both greatly entertained and blown away. I had no idea how hilarious you and Genpo would be, each morning was like a standup routine. Then in the afternoon things got very serious as I experienced things I certainly never had before. When Big Mind first started, Genpo spoke to just one woman and watching that I thought, this is all an act, a scam, I’m not going to get anything out of this. Then Genpo spoke to us all and I was immediately answering as the voice he asked for. I won’t even try to describe anything else for it truly is an experience that must happen first hand to be believed. I recall seeing Bill on Sunday afternoon standing at the side of the room looking at the crowd with his jaw hanging - that’s when I really knew this was something special.
Thanks for a great weekend. I’m knowing looking forward to the Centerpointe Retreat.
Andy
May 20th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
Well I too have been reading and Holysyncing. I’m just about thru Eckharts’ A New Earth book and I think it is changing me. I never looked at myself as someone with an ego, but oh me oh my I have this huge ego and deep seeded pain bodies. Not good for sure, but it leads me to how do you overcome all this without or letting go of the ego? We humans (some anyway) have these great big minds and what do these minds do, they think that is what they do. So what I have come to understand and have no idea how to do is QUIT THINKING. I mean what else? If you think then you are usually in the past or the present. So it does seem to me that are big minds or our being are now evolving by coming as far to realize we shouldnt think. At least I know I shouldnt think as all it is is a big ego or a pain body….. I say AAHHHHH.
I would absolutely love to see Genpo and learn from him. So far from the 3 stages you’ve mentioned, I’d have the least problem with stage 3. I need to read more on the 9 Principals of Conscous Living and letting whatever happens be ok as I am certainly having issues with this one.
Thank you Bill!
FROM BILL: When Tolle talks about ego he isn’t using it in the sense of being egotistical. He’s talking about the creation of a map of who you are, a representation of who you are, a conceptualization of who you are, an idea of who you are–and then mistaking that map, representation, conceptualization, or idea for the real thing. The ego chops the universe into separate things and separate events, when really all of it flows together as one thing. The main separate “thing” the ego makes up is the separate self. Once that happens, we feel estranged from life, we feel afraid, we feel anxious, we long for the future or for something else to save us–all from something we’ve made up. The truth is that the ego is a great tool, but it isn’t who you are. Your idea of “you” isn’t you. So killing the ego isn’t necessary. Ceasing to identify with it, however, creates huge relief, huge inner peace. I’ll write more about this at some point.
In the next few days I will be announcing a free online course featuring some of the top awakened teachers in the world discussing the work of Eckhardt Tolle.
May 20th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
Beautiful as always Bill:
I feel so fortunate to be a part of your blog readers,
I was wandering if you could write about the true and false teachers and how to learn to differentiate them, because it can be very tricky, and actually dangerous.
Lately I was watching some videos of U.G. Krishnamurti and was some how disappointed on his apparent bitterness when he talked ( I saw no calm in his words ) and about the way he said that enlightenment is just a purely physical process in which the mind is liberated from the senses, (no mysticism).
I guess I just have to doubt that right ? If any fellow blog readers have opinions about U.G. Krishnamurti I would love to hear them.
Again thanks so much for you wisdom bill, just one more practical question:
What’s the final advice for everyday attitude ?….. should I watch ? or doubt ? should I watch myself doubting ? or should I doubt that I am watching ?
May 20th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
“FROM BILL: How about the craving to be alive? Will nutrition overcome that?”
I understand that Holosync induces the production of serotonin and inhibits the production of cortisol. In this way, Holosync can help lift a person out of the dark depths of depression. Since Holosync works with brain chemistry, doesn’t it also make sense that an additional method to increase serotonin and reduce cortisol like Holosync is through the foods we put into our bodies?
Julia Ross, the author of the book, says that she would have patients in her care (psychology) who would make no progress while others would improve. She found that for those who couldn’t progress with talk therapy alone, the addition of amino acids to the diet made all the difference in the world to their emotional breakthroughs.
So, although nutrition cannot solve every physical or mental problem we have, it certainly holds hands with technologies like Holosync very well.
I hope that’s what you meant by your comment! Best Regards, Jessica
May 20th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
Hi Bill ,It would be nice if you would address soul travel to different planes, this is never mention here.
May 20th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Bill,
If you think the Oneness Movement is a valid approach to this “enlightenment thing” I appreciate you writing on the aspects of similarity between it and what you and others are doing. If you are not acquainted with it, just google it or read “Awakening Into Oneness” by Arjuna Ardagh. Thanks
May 20th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
Great post.
My votes are for posts on shadow work and Eckhart Tolle. I’ve already heard the other stuff.
May 20th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
How can you describe what can’t be described? I’m unqualified to ask as I’ve not experienced what you’re writing about. My limited understanding is that personal, intimate experience of the “transcendent” or GOD is beyond human conception or language. So what’s left is the “new” person, dramatically changed to the perception of everyone else; but quixoticly still the same.
Surrender - yes. Submission - yes. (Easier said than done). Doubt, or ego destruction - yes. (requires faith based upon a belief that the universe, or GOD, loves us & has our best interests at heart). Enlightment an “accident”? Grace, perhaps? Can’t earn it. Can’t make yourself “worthy” or entitleted to it. But seems as though sincere desire & persistent effort draws the infinite to you?
Thanks, Bill, for Holosync (in my second year). Thanks for the posts. For my own personal growth, I’d like to receive more about “shadow” work.
P.S. What is the unmoving & unmoved mover?
May 20th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
To Basilia, I recommend The Work of Byron Katie and also to connect with Marshall Rosenberg. Reading is not enough. In addition some of Gempo Roshi’s Big Mind work emerges out of Voice Therapy - finding someone to work with in that could have results for you.
And so, I would appreciate less words.
May 20th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
Perhaps it is because I was in Seattle and experienced the 5 Stages (at a state level) along with the group. Or perhaps it is because of your particular ability to use words. For whatever reason, I found your description of what we went through to be transformative. Maybe it was a sense memory but the verbal cues of GREAT DOUBT and GREAT DEATH took me back to those places and in reading your description of them I got them in a new and different way. I thank you for this.
It is indeed an amazing way to spend a weekend. May we do it again. Or not.
“sitnamananda” might be a good blog subject.
Also, I wanted to share a breakthrough moment for me at the Seattle BIG MIND weekend. You were facilitating and I was the voice of DAMAGE. And was in such pain. And yet, it was a sweet pain because for the first time since that moment in Landmark Forum where everything is empty and meaningless, I realized and experienced me outside of that pain. I realized and experienced me outside of “my story.” What a gift. And now, my voice of DAMAGE resides in me but is not me. And as a result, I have my life back. I am not looking for my wife and my job and my kids and my bank account and my accomplishments and my diet and my shape to make the pain stop, to heal the damage. It is not something that can be healed any more than the sun can be not hot. Its job is to be DAMAGE and I found myself in gratitude for the part of me that helped me survive…called Damage. And more grateful that I don’t have to live from that voice as me. I can have it and not be it.
I am going to Salt Lake to experience Genpo Roshi present the 10 drawings of the path — the last of which is “re-entering the market” — on July 1, 2, 3. Looking forward to being again at his feet and drinking from the well.
Thank you, Bill. What great integral work you guys are doing.
Ben
May 20th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
I’ve been using ‘the dive’ & ‘immersion’ since 2004.
I’m interested in generating more money .
May 20th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Bill - Thanks for all your efforts to make this process of awakening more comfortable and understandable for us all.
I’ve been studying Esther Veltheim (she’s written the book, “Who Am I?” and some articles found at: http://www.parama.com/html/articles.html). At first, reading that we have no free will really upset me, but in the past 14 months, I’ve really studied her materials and feel I have gained a lot of perspective, released a lot of old beliefs and grown a great deal from that study. I was wondering what your ‘take’ on her materials might be, your interpretation, your perspective.
I’ve also studied a number of satsangs by Adyashanti, from his website and from YouTube or one of those video cast sites, as well as his book, True Meditation. His big thing is to let everything be OK as it is, which I know you agree with…
Anyway, addressing those materials and perhaps writing about bringing the shadow side out would be really great topics from my perspective.
I feel that I’m on the cusp of really ‘getting’/embodying some of this enlightenment/awakening stuff but could use all the guidance and support possible. I KNOW Holosync has helped me a great deal, I’ve been listening daily for almost 3 1/2 years and it has done all that you say it will in your lectures. Thanks for that!!!
Hugs, Kim
May 20th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
Exploring the fine art of co-creating with the divine. There is only the eye of the needle to discover and journey through, for there we discover where we always were. (or is it the ‘I’ of the ‘I AM’)
I do enjoy to read these posts it is reassuring that folks seem to be committed to waking up all over now (makes it easier to avoid being committed for waking up eh!!).
Many ways up the mountain; but the view from the top is always the same, just exactly what you choose to focus on!!
Surrender, submission, awakening to the NOW, embracing the ego and befriending it from another perspective (intend focus and know that there is a heart space ‘knowing’ >calm, ease, joy, peace, bliss) are IMHO all the same thing. (different facets of the diamond light of the Creator)
Choice is to be hu man and to experience this amazing journey of return. The key is in decree (ask, allow and align then speak into being) and the fact of our prexisting connection to the unity field of the oneness.
Have fun playing within the holo gram, its all good (even the current leaders have their place and role to play in the awakening of this day.)
Blessings from Downunder.
May 20th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
Dear Bill,
As someone who came to spirituality and meditation through the Rave culture of the 90’s I am very interested in the researching the similarities and differences between trance states induced by Holosync and those produced by percussive sound and trance-signatures. They seem to be working in different but similar and maybe synergistic ways. I have achieved some of the highest states of meditation and release via ecstatic dance with very loud beats and trance music. (I mean loud, literally vibrating the crap out of my brain) This is a completely different approach than the “stillness” model of eastern meditation. I have experimented with listening to Holosync and trance music at the same time, with some interesting results. I think a Holosync Sacred Dance Track would be a hot product. I would love to discuss this with you further.
Warmest Regards,
Wayne
wacciacca@yahoo.com
May 20th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Ha ha “that big barrel of kool-aid”. Well put.
In the future, I’d love to see more written about fear and anxiety. These conditions are so prevalent these days. I know so many people taking SSRIs and benzos for anxiety and panic attacks. I think fear reveals itself on the spiritual path, and the medication dulls that forward motion.
May 20th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
Bill,
Thanks for another great post! I plan on taking in a Big Mind seminar as soon as I finish my professional exams in June. I’m at what would be described as the third stage here, so I think Big Mind would be helpful. Why don’t you people ever come to Canada? LOL
I’ve not read Eckhardt Tolle as I am “read out” and am concentrating on the application of all of the principles I have learned through your materials, another program to which I belong, Dyer, Wilber and a few others. I actually feel like when a book or program comes out it’s the re-invention of the enlightenment wheel. While I’m certain that each has valid points or provides certain “aha” moments to people, I turn to the Universe for points in the right direction.
Therefore for future blogs I’d like to see some discussion on the shadow aspects and how Holoync can be used for identifiying and dealing with those aspects. I already have my own strategies for this, but I’d be curious to see what you have to say on the matter Bill.
Thanks again for all of your hard work and diligence for the masses. I know this chick appreciates it!
Namaste,
Tina
May 20th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
Hi Bill,
Your “podcast subscribe” link works only with iTunes!
This way you are forcing me to use iTunes if I want to hear your voice…
… I, and a lot of power users, don’t use iTunes — as it keeps several processes running on Windows at all times, wasting memory and CPU cycles.
More info at:
http://lifehacker.com/384545/superior-alternatives-to-crappy-windows-software
We prefer having only a standard feed reader running at all times, alerting us of any new post.
So, my request is simple:
Could you link directly to the podcast feed? So that people can subscribe with a regular feed reader?
Thank you very much.
FROM BILL:
We have added a non-itunes link on the right side under ‘Subscribe to Bill’s Podcast’. Its the first link under this heading, ‘Subscribe now’.
May 20th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
Ah, and regarding future articles my votes go for:
- Shadow work
- Money and Success
May 20th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
Awesome stuff Bill. Thank you. It is my intention to get to one of your workshops with Genpo Roshi from Down Under.
Also, I would love to hear about what what you have to say about the Shadow
Cheers
Bertram
May 20th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
I would love to hear how the changes that Holosync cause relate to David Hawkins consciousness calibration levels or what level of consciousness Holosync calabrates at.
May 20th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
Thank you
Eckhart Tolle please
more of.
The series with O was really interesting. But more Eckhart please
May 20th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
You should enable people to share your blog posts on Facebook.
May 20th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
Hi Bill
First to Basilia who posted the comment about wanting answers to why she feels the need to turn to alcohol and tablets - there is a book by Jost Sauer (AUSSIE) called Higher and Higher - it goes much deeper into the world of drugs and alcohol and how he became a heroin addict and deserter but his story is amazing and he is now one of the best Chinese Medicine practitioners we have - he really understands why we as humans turn to substances for answers - brilliant and insightful.
I myself understand how the draw to substances can almost give you a feeling that you are drawing closer to those stages of enlightenment that bill talks about but Jost breaks down all the reasons why this is not really happening even when it appears that it is!!! brilliant ! try it - you will see yourself the world alcohol and drugs incl pharma in a totally different light.
be inspired
May 20th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
Thanks for your explorations Bill, they are very enlightening!
I’d definitely like to see what you have to say regarding Eckhardt Tolle’s A New Earth. I’m also interested in your take on Spiral Dynamics, particularly in relation to your recent posts regarding the Five Ranks and Susanne Cook-Greuter’s work.
Again, many thnaks for all that you do.
Lorna
FROM BILL: I actually gave a 3-hour talk about Spiral Dynamics at the United Nations in 2003, and later wrote a series of three articles about it. They used to be available on our website, but now are not. Soon, however, we will launch a new service which will include access to these articles, and over 200 others I;ve written.
May 20th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
Thanks Bill,
I really enjoyed the blog and must say that it is really great to hear these stages clarified and itemized, even tho they have to be experienced in order to really make them real to the individual seeking. Most of this defies language to describe and explain. How do you speak when there is no one there? Much light and love, Midge
May 20th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
Bill you blog is awesome, i am on Holosync I, after a while i did experience i think i am not sure but somewhat of a special feeling like a chosen one, thats it and then nothing more. I like your clinical analysis of all the research, it saved me the trouble of reading through reams of stuff, i have done more than my share. I believe i am now slowing down on reading all this, it doesn’t do it that much as before and i feel like an observer many times and i do find i can change the outcome sometimes based on how i choose to label or not label things thats something i am sometimes now aware of this process and try to stop it and let it be neutral. I was leaning towards spirtuality not anymore and i find after reading and listening to all your stuff and Genpo Roshi i find its all BS and only label’s applied by my mind and mean nothing. I try Ekhart Tolle way of trying to be in the moment, guess like ZEn, when tired sleep when hungry eat. Oh well you do write well and helped me understand a lot and helped me piece it together and i have seen Genpo Roshi’s video on YouTube and followed it, even though they were short clips of 5 min or 8 min i did feel his guidance and saw a glimpse of what he wanted me to see. I wish i can one day attend his course but not really driven or the want is not that strong that i have to do it one day
Wish you all the best.
May 20th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
I did post above i had one more thing to share i find, everything Western isn’t bad and everything Eastern isn’t great, yes the evolved thought process is great and Eastern contribution is great i acknowlege that being from the east india. The western thought also has schools of this thought but more hidden and not as exposed, i personally like the Western thinking or logical reasoning and deep research and validation of everything in our physical dimension and reality. Even if it seems like of little value when compared to the estoric teachings, i find the reality based thinking and contribuition has what has made living in dimension more stable, yes there have been growing pains but it has evolved too and is now open and welcomes Eastern ideas and has validated quiet a few strange and unexplainable things by way of Physics espcially Quantum physics, Chaos Theory and E=MC square. I think we as a species are about to do a quatum jump and evolve and acknoweldge we are one, there is no east or west or directions or race but only human experiences. The Western contribution especially Internet, Google, Blogs, Youtube have accelerated this process hugley, I would like to end this by saying special thanks to every soul that contributed to us being here, and enjoying now all the work that went before us so we can stand and enjoy the view. East or West = Together we are the Best.
May 20th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
I think the levels of enlightenment, like the levels of development are interesting. I also see them as limiting, especially if they are taken too literally. It becomes a more or less subtle version of allowing someone else’s view, no matter enlightened or well researched, to define you.
After years and years of meditation, including about five years of using Holosynch, I can enter transcendant states pretty much at will — I just checked in to make sure it is true right now - and even though I’m at work, listening to my iPod playing Thin Lizzy (of all things), its still true.
On the other hand, I often forget that I can experience transcendance at will, and might go several days or a week, without a conscious thought at all–just droning along playing out this skeptical Mark person that I do so well.
And, I don’t know if that is a stage of enlightenment or not. I have extreme doubts about such things. I even doubt doubt itself. I find myself really enjoying songs by Insane Clown Posse — just for their irreverent and vicious commentary on all things human. I doubt my spirituality and I doubt my humanness. I doubt trusting enlightenment (whatever that is), or that some so-called embodiment of enlightement is going to help anything. If you meet the Buddha on the road, and all that.
I even doubt transcedence itself. I am doubtful of everything, because all seems an infinite regress…strange really.
I doubt the correlation between the five levels of enlightenment and the Cook-Greuter development model, at least as they are currently being presented. Mainly because I can see that whatever it is that I am, appears to exist across a spectrum that isn’t really contained in either of these models separately or together. That said, it appears to be a good way to intellectualize the human experience in order to explain things.
Anyway, just a thought from a doubting Thomas — now listening to louie, Louie, Louie.
Mark
May 20th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
This was popular in Germany in the 1930s.
It was also the vehicle used in a sci-fi novel by which an alien race demobilized a planet prior to attacking them.
May 20th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
Hi Bill,
A blog on Holosync wouldbe beneficial since most of the blog readers are Holosync meditators.
I’ve heard from your retreat CD’s that Holosync will enable meditators to become ‘one’ or become one with the universe. In other words when the brain synchronises the two hemispheres, the non-duality will cease to exist. I have always been wondering how this alters the mind because I believe that mind exists independant of the brain. Does it mean that the mind uses the brian as a tool to see the world (through the five senses and mind consciousness itself) and as long as the brain is non-syncronised the mind experiences the world in dulaity. Then when you meditate with Holosync, as a result of brain syncrony, the mind realises ‘Oneness’ with the universe. This is my understanding. Am I right? If it is the case then we can conclude that Holosync has the capacity to take one from the pre-stage through to the first stage (getting there when you like but it’s not permanent). Is Holosync able to establish this and push the meditator into the permanent transcendant stage (second stage)? Would love to know your thoughts.
Also in terms of your on “fully surrender to what is” is quite acceptable. In fact this is very well described in Buddhism as Anicca (recognition that all phenomena in existence are impermanent), dukkha (recognition that all phenomena in existene creates suffering - which in turn is created by desire, attachment, clinging - law of cause and effect or Karma), and anatta (not-self - recognition that there is no “I”). And it is said that one needs to accept the aforementioned - or surrender or doubt everything - to facilitate oneself to attain Enlightenment. The reason is such doubting facilatetes letting go of many things we clong on to. Many westerners find it difficult to accept these and yes, to surrender themselves to a teacher. Do you think that if one meditates with Holosync with this sort of understanding that one would be able to reach higher stages of Enlightenment?
One last question: I heard from a consistent meditator that listening to soundtracks would be good for beginners but if you want to reach adavanced states/stages of meditation you need to stop listening to soundtracks after a while because otherwise it becomes too much of a stimulus to the mind (and hence too much of a distraction) when you want to reach states like “Samadhi” - one pointedness of the mind. Any comments?
Many thanks.
FROM BILL: In my experience (which includes many years of traditional meditation, many hours a day), Holosync is one of the most advanced forms of meditation anywhere. I’ve seen many people who had been meditating for 20 years who had trouble handling the levels just a few levels into the program, and were transformed beyond anything they had done in the traditional meditation world, BTW, I gave Genpo Roshi one of the deepest levels when we first met, and though he loves it, he also easily handles it–zero upheaval, no matter how long he listens.
May 20th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
Hi Bill,
After 6 years using Holosync, I’m excited to be graduating to Flowering on my birthday, Aug 1. I can remember desperately wanting to be in the Purification levels (when i first started Holosync). I can’t begin to tell you how much I appreciate Holosync, “Thresholds of the Mind” and Life Principles course. Holosync is like a secret weapon for winning at living!
Anyway my vote for your next topics is: 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); AND a series on the shadow aspects we all have and why dealing with these shadow parts dramatically accelerates your growth.
Cheers,
Merrill Noreen
May 20th, 2008 at 6:02 pm
I’m at Flowering 3 and really am more concerned with whats next after I reach the end of this journey with Holosync. Is that all there is? Aside from that, shadow work sounds like a good post…and where you mentioned that there’s also a lot you could say about success, how to create what you want in the world, how to make more money, and other related topics. You said “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.” That and the other other two referenced topics above sound like good posts.
I’ve changed immensly since the beginning, but from where I am now, it all seems like “yeah, but, so what” to me…I’m still looking for something more….some kind of fulfillment that I haven’t found yet. I guess I’ve come to the point where I’ve realized that the things that I ‘thought’ would bring happiness in life don’t really…I’ve attained everything I’ve ever wanted over the course of using the cd’s…they really are that good…but once you attain everything you’ve ever wanted…you come to this point that you ask your self, “Is that all there is to life?” Isn’t there something more? I’ve come to a point that I don’t feel like anything really gives that satisfaction that I’m after…its all a big illusion. The things that you think bring happiness, once attained, really don’t. They too get to be old hat and meaningless after a while. So what is it that I’m after? What is it that will bring fulfillment?
I hope you create more after Holosync, Bill. I’m more than sure that I will be lead to whatever is next for me.
FROM BILL:
It seems that you are very close to taking that step off the 100-foot pole. It’s when you really doubt that any of the stuff you’ve been chasing–including enlightenment, spiritual growth, God, etc.–isn’t going to help, and you really let go of it (why keep it–it isn’t going to help)–that’s when you discover who you really are.
May 20th, 2008 at 6:32 pm
Hi Bill,
Regarding your request for what topic to cover next, I would love for you to cover our shadow aspects, and any additional commentary about Holosync with respect to that. I remember an amazing conversation with one of the support staff (and we were talking about the shadow) when he said, “One way to look at Holosync is that it’s a shadow tool, driving up different elements of it so that we become aware of it.”
In your 6-disc Centerpointe Retreat set that comes a few weeks after receiving Awakening Prologue, you mention on disc 2 (paraphrasing) that anywhere between Purification Levels 1, 2 or 3 participants experience every situation and every person in their life as okay just the way it is.
Aside from the above comment (and I would love to hear more about THAT), does Centerpointe have any data regarding what generally happens to participants as they move through the entire Holosync Solution program, all the way from Awakening Prologue through Flowering Level 4?
—–
As a participant of this program for 21 months now, I am blown away at how different life occurs to me now due to this program; and its become very obvious for the majority of the people in my life. Thanks, Bill.
Gratefully,
Curtis
May 20th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
Thanks Bill! Very interesting :O) I’ve collected all your blog mp3’s and find them groundbreaking for me. I vote Eckhart Tolle, Shadow and holosync etc. I await future posts :O)
You rock the blog world ha,
David :O)
May 20th, 2008 at 6:49 pm
Hi Bill-
This is my first time responding to a post. You do such a wonderful job. I really enjoy them and get so much out of them. I am in Awakening Prologue (6 weeks); I’ve read “Thresholds of the Mind” (wonderful, wonderful); Lesson 2 in Course 1; I listen to your CD’s every day to and from work (and I’m not kidding). I love all of it! During my holosync meditation tonight I experienced for a few seconds what felt like I was entering a place where I have never been before. It felt light, yet whole; ever present; total;everything yet nothing;peaceful. But I want to say mostly oneness; All this in just 5 to 6 seconds. Because it was “very new territory” I became a little apprehensive and lost it (poor choice of words probably). It was however VERY APPEALING. I thought about it afterwards and wondererd if that was what I’ve heard you describe as spacing out (one of the many things that can happen while meditating).Then I just read your latest post and though it would be cool if it was even just a glimpse of what is called a state experience. As far as future posts; I know I will enjoy all of them.
May 20th, 2008 at 8:25 pm
Thanks Bill!
What a refreshing gift to be able to listen to your post. Reading from the computer screen hurts my eyes after a while..:)
“I am not of this world” comes to mind. And also the futility of frozen intellectualized concepts that aim at placing human nature in the realm of something can be understood and put into words. Jung once wrote: “and what was the intellect? not a mirror but an infinitesimal fragment of a mirror, such as a child might hold up to the sun, expecting the sun to be dazzled by it.”
Keep up the great work!
Mike
May 20th, 2008 at 9:50 pm
Many thanks to Bill and everyone !
I would like to see a discussion about the relationship between our personal energy and money energy. I know I am clinging to some kind of suffering drama/map of reality, that allows me to excel in creating terrific interpersonal energy and the polar opposite in creating terrific money.
It seems the harder I try the more elusive this becomes. When I give up trying and just allow and be, then things come to me. Like in a manifesting intending kind of way. I still take action and everything, but the doing seems to be mostly busy work, and the abundance comes out of left field in a way I would not have thought of or could have predicted.
In a related (in my mind anyway) concept — I would love to hear your thoughts about intention and creating your day. It seems to me that this is not at all magical, but through using HOLOSYNCH, one “sees” things that were always there — like solutions to problems, etc. I have noticed using HOLOSYNCH that it helps me get out of my own way. In the sense that I relaz enough to allow the creative/god force/universe/all that is energy to manifest and EUREKA I see the solution. Much like the great minds describe. (Best ideas come in the shower, or driving in the car etc.) I know you described this in one of your books or writings. Anyway, Matthew Ferry (Creating Sales Velocity) talks about a technique he called SEGMENT INTENDING. (I hope I attributed correctly!) This is a technique where you visualize or describe how you want the next piece or segment of your day to go. And then go live it. And then before you move to the next segment of your day visulize or describe how you want the next to go and so forth throughout your day.
An example: I am going to the store to pick something up, but I don’t have much time, so I SEGMENT INTEND that the traffic goes smoothly and I easily find a parking space close to the door, I am able to find my item easily and efficiently (and on sale so less expensive) and I have no wait time to check out. I am able to leave and get home quite quickly.
I have tried this with pretty amazing results. First of all it forces you to consciously be aware of youself, the world around you and to be specific about what it is you do want. And since the pieces are smaller it is fairly managable to do.
What I am wondering Bill, is do you think this works because I am looking for the specific details to happen / manifest ? Do you think this is Quantum Physics at work, because I CHOSE an outcome and that is what manifested.
So, in writing this, it occurs to me that I should try this on the money things in my life. Try it on a smaller scale, money segment intending and see what happens.
Also, while I find your writings extremely interesting, at this point I hunger for connection with the HOLOSYNCH fundamentals. I feel isolated some times, because the people around me right now do not meditate - regular or supercharged! and look at me like I am from Mars! LOL
But I have evolved SO much since using HOLOSYNCH that I am almost daily blown away by how far I have come in such a short time. My life and my health have improved and I am very much happier and a peace!
Thanks for listening and sharing! Hope to meet you some day. Jeannine
PS As the Klingons say … and because of HOLOSYNCH, I can truthfully say “Today is a good day to die.” I am at peace.
HUGS!
May 20th, 2008 at 10:03 pm
Hi Bill!
Thanks for the lengthy posts you put on your site. I really enjoyed the last ones about developmental stages as I am very interested in the integral stuff. You asked about suggestions on what your audienve would like you to write about. Well, here’s my preference: the shadow, because that theme is easily overlooked and a really essential part of how we grow or inhibit growth and success in any area.
Greetings from Austria
Christian
May 20th, 2008 at 10:32 pm
I have been doing holoysnc since 2002 and am an inner circle member. I have done all your courses and read all your blogs. It has changed my life profoundly.
I no longer see things as good or bad I make choices and am not attached to the outcome. I feel very content in this life.
I thankyou for your transfomational work. You are a great teacher. I look forward to any material you chose to share.
Blessings to you and the Centerpointe family
Deb
May 20th, 2008 at 10:45 pm
Wow. I feel so different listening to this. As if I’m in a trance. It’s very weird ! I’m surprised no one felt that way.
May 20th, 2008 at 11:20 pm
Bill,
I’d love to hear more of your thoughts on Eckhart Tolle and “A New Earth” ,”The Power Of Now” and have you heard of dr. Jill Bolte Taylor.. A brain scientist who experienced a stroke in her left brain. video on ted.com
my stroke of insight she has also been on Oprah’s soul series which is in Oprah.com 4 1/2 interview with Oprah and Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor,, absolutely amazing stuff. please check it out. worth your while.
take care, Lori
May 21st, 2008 at 12:23 am
Hi Bill,
It is difficult for us to choose yr next topics;
you are so enthusiastically talk abt Genpo all the time; Ken’s Life Principles contain one DVD with big mind/big heart - which is revealing a glimpse for us, europeans, who cannot participate right now directly, unfortunatelly.
Bill, why don’t you explain to us ABOUT GENPO’s states he is bringing up for participants;
2 things will most probably happen if you Bill do that :
one is that We will learn ABOUT , at least;
2nd thing will most probably happen, is that YOU BILL will figure out to yourself how to bring us to this state, to BE in this state, at distance; you sould be able to make a ‘HOLOSINC-BIG MIND/BIG HEART’ , once you focus on it … because if you cannot do it, nobody can… and looks like this is a too important matter, to be experienced only for limited nbr of people…
All the other topics would be very interesting; in fact, they are all chunks-up or down on things we heard before… but big mind could be different. And I believe each of us is using one voice or another in different decisions we take, in different strategies we produce daily ( I’m in Life principles, lesson 8 -strategies : great staff , Bill ..).
Thanks for existing Bill,
Emilia
May 21st, 2008 at 12:44 am
Hi Bill,
All your suggestions are just fine; there is alsways something useful in what you write. Becoming more aware seems to be the key with the added flexibility to adjust thoughts according to what I want. Is identlty connected to who I am and i