The pitfalls along the upper path leading to the realization of the immortal Self are well marked by the aspiring souls who have gone before us. Their legacy of spiritual insights and revelations serves as signposts along the way for all who wish to awaken their sleeping divinity.<\/p>\n
In this instance, all traditions in the East and West point out three distinct stages of realization through which the aspirant must pass. Each stage is unique in its character, and none may be skipped; much like a seed gives rise to a flower and from that flower is born its fruit, all three stages are required or nothing real can grow.<\/p>\n
Stage one: When first stumbling upon the true upper path, most aspiring souls are highly motivated; they share a single positive sentiment: \u201cWatch out, world, I\u2019m coming through! Nothing is impossible for me.\u201d This stage is called false certainty. The newly fledged seeker cannot yet see that his or her budding confidence is the byproduct of self-flattering images and their attending pleasures; the aspirant is fully identified with the promise of imagined powers just ahead. Filled with the sensation of standing in this false light, success feels certain. It only seems logical to think, \u201cVery soon now, whatever I wish to manifest shall come to pass; money, power, and people will be mine to use as I please. And, as soon as God acknowledges my greatness, everyone else will, as well. No one and nothing will ever stand in my way again.\u201d This is the first stage.<\/p>\n
Stage two is marked by an ever-increasing sense of doubt. This is the stage of uncertainty. Many of the earlier illusions have been crushed, and even small successes have proven themselves to be painfully incomplete. What was once believed to be strength or resilience\u2014their best qualities\u2014show themselves as being either unavailable when needed most or, worse, nonexistent. The aspirant enters into a dark place; none of his or her imagined powers have any real light to offer. It seems like there is no way out of the darkness. So the aspirant now thinks, \u201cThis path\u2014my life\u2014is impossible! Virtually nothing I\u2019ve done to awaken has changed anything, save for showing me how asleep I am!\u201d Now the aspirant feels lost, like a ship adrift at sea with holes in its hull! Slowly a conviction grows that either the Divine has abandoned him or that her whole journey was never anything but a spiritual pipe dream; it\u2019s at this point that the aspirant enters into the \u201cdark night of the soul\u201d\u2009\u2026\u2009which, if walked through, brings them to the third stage of their journey.<\/p>\n
Stage three: If we go through the first stage of ego-induced dreams born of what amounts to an imagined divinity\u2014where all seems possible\u2014and then stay the course through the next necessary stage of ego-shattering shocks\u2014where all seems impossible because we now imagine ourselves to be the lowest creature on earth\u2014then we reach the third stage. Here we gradually come to realize that both our former \u201cgreat\u201d self and our \u201cterrible\u201d self are secretly one nature, a level of consciousness that sleeps in a world of its own dreams. In the light of this revelation\u2014that these two seemingly separate selves are secretly one\u2014we come to a divine realization:<\/p>\n
Who we really are, our true self, is neither one of these false identities. The whole illusion collapses before our interior eyes. We are moved effortlessly from a world of dreams\u2014ruled by illusions\u2014into the reality of a conscious relationship with our immortal Self. The three stages are complete. We realize their culmination and receive their divine gift of real certainty.<\/p>\n