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The Metaphysical Consciousness

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posted on Jul, 6 2014 @ 08:03 PM
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There are three main 'usual' states of consciousness. Waking, dreaming, and deep dreamless sleep. In this thread, I would like to discuss the fourth state. The unusual state of the meta-physical. With your help, I'd like to understand it better.

There isn't much I have to say about the three main 'ususal' states. We all know them, and we all know we know. They are normal and easy to talk about, because we all have them all the time. Language can handle them easy.

The fourth state of consciousness, or metaphysical state, is harder to talk about. Not many people reach it so there is little frame of reference. But I'm going to try to talk about it, or perhaps only around it, because I've been there via meditation, yoga, and contemplative prayer. And maybe a little help from above. :p





I'll start with these visual aids. As you can see by the first, the fourth state of consciousness corresponds to the state of self-hood of 'Turiya', or absolute consciousness.

As you can see by the second illustration, there is a counterpart of 'Turiya' in all the other major religions. The Mandukya Upanishad says, "Turiya is not that which is conscious of the inner (subjective) world, nor that which is conscious of the outer (objective) world, nor that which is conscious of both, nor that which is a mass of consciousness. It is not simple consciousness nor is It unconsciousness. It is unperceived, unrelated, incomprehensible, uninferable, unthinkable and indescribable. The essence of the Consciousness manifesting as the self in the three states, It is the cessation of all phenomena; It is all peace, all bliss and non—dual. This is what is known as the Fourth (Turiya). This is Atman and this has to be realized."

That's pretty much what I experienced back in 2010. The Turiya state of self-hood corresponds to the buddha-nature; the spirit state of being, While in that state, I was aware of the incomprehensible void of silence beyond time and space. It was like reality was in suspended animation. It's the metaphysical reality that mystics of all religions come to know. That's why there are cross-cultural equivalents. It's a universal experience.

It was outside of time, thought, and yet I was more aware than I've ever been. It was much more real than the waking state of reality, and everything in it. And I'm saying that this fourth state of ecstatic, extraordinary consciousness is the core of world religion and myth. I have found what Rumi found:

'All religions
all this singing
is one song.

The differences are just
illusion and vanity.

The sun’s light looks a little different
on this wall than it does on that wall,
and a lot different on this other one,
but it’s still one light.

We have barrowed these clothes,
These time and place personalities
From a light, and when we praise,
we’re pouring them back in.'

Religions are divided for no fundamental reason, because they share a common core deep, deep down. Underneath the surface phenomenology of the world, there is a transcendent mystery source that shines through all things, all religions. We just argue about our names for it.

Anyway, I'll shut up now and open it up to the floor. Anyone else been there? Does anyone have anything to say about the fourth state, or any questions?


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posted on Jul, 6 2014 @ 09:11 PM
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All I can add is that it is there.
In times of deep devotion, or great need it can be experienced.
A total disconnect with all things material and superficial seems to be a factor; when you have no emotional connection/bond to this earth, you may reach this state.

Just my observation.....



posted on Jul, 6 2014 @ 10:57 PM
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Reminds me of the studies they did on tibetan monks. Their gama wave emissions while they were engaged in compassion meditation were off the charts. As for myself I would have to give it thought. I have been in extraordinary states not induced by drugs, but rather meditation.
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posted on Jul, 7 2014 @ 09:16 AM
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To say it in a simple way, The Metaphysical Consciousness is Love.

Love is Life. It is The Creator, The Maintainer and The Protector. It is The Warmth of Light.



posted on Jul, 7 2014 @ 10:08 AM
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originally posted by: nugget1
All I can add is that it is there.
In times of deep devotion, or great need it can be experienced.
A total disconnect with all things material and superficial seems to be a factor; when you have no emotional connection/bond to this earth, you may reach this state.

Just my observation.....


Yup, it was indeed a total disconnect. I left my body in the sands of time at the speed of light as I penetrated the 'usual' states of consciousness, as if they were a membrane, and found myself in the void of silence, a deep black beyond black. I could see the realm of the usual states recede into a tiny dot beyond me.


edit on 680MondayuAmerica/ChicagoJuluMondayAmerica/Chicago by BlueMule because: (no reason given)



posted on Jul, 7 2014 @ 10:16 AM
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originally posted by: arpgme
To say it in a simple way, The Metaphysical Consciousness is Love.

Love is Life. It is The Creator, The Maintainer and The Protector. It is The Warmth of Light.


Yes, there was light there. My body was made of light, and I could move in a kind of suspended animation. I marveled at my arm made of light as I moved it. There were other lights there communicating with me telepathically.

But the idea that God is Love did not prepare me for the experience of the Godhead, or the aftereffects I experienced when I came back to my body. I was still blown away.

So I wonder if the idea of Love doesn't give one a false sense of reference. We all experience love, and perhaps that can lure us into thinking that the Metaphysical consciousness is simply an extention of something we all know already. But it was beyond everything I knew or thought I knew.


edit on 712Monday000000America/ChicagoJul000000MondayAmerica/Chicago by BlueMule because: (no reason given)



posted on Jul, 7 2014 @ 10:59 AM
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originally posted by: XxRagingxPandaxX
Reminds me of the studies they did on tibetan monks. Their gama wave emissions while they were engaged in compassion meditation were off the charts. As for myself I would have to give it thought. I have been in extraordinary states not induced by drugs, but rather meditation.


Yes, I'm somewhat familar with those studies. Very exciting stuff. Science can really help out.


I am well aware, however, of the danger of tying spiritual belief to any scientific system. . . . This is not to say that I consider things like the oracle and the ability of monks to survive nights spent out in freezing condition to be evidence of magical powers. Yet I cannot agree with our Chinese Brothers and sisters, who hold that Tibetan acceptance of these phenomena is evidence of our backwardness and barbarity. Even from the most rigorous scientific viewpoint, this is not an objective attitude. At the same time, even if a principle is accepted, it does not mean that everything connected with it is valid. . . . . Great vigilance must be maintained at all times when dealing in areas about which we do not have great understanding. This, of course, is where science can help. After all, we consider things to be mysterious only when we do not understand them. . . . . Through mental training, we have developed techniques to do things which science cannot yet adequately explain. This, then, is the basis of the supposed ‘magic and mystery’ of Tibetan Buddhism. (Dalai Lama, 2002, pp. 230-243)


www.psi-researchcentre.co.uk...

But it's my understanding that the monks acheived a state of 'near-samahdi' during those studies. As you can see by the first illustration in my OP, the state of samahdi is a little short of Turiya. I wish I had electrodes hooked up to me back in 2010 on the solstice lunar eclipse.


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posted on Jul, 7 2014 @ 12:19 PM
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When I was in Turiya, I saw two blue disks. As I floated there, I gained lucidity and they became clearer. I saw that each disk was comprised of many blue shperes in concentric rings. They were flashing in patterns I could never have imagined. They were speaking to me through the patterns.

The disks came to me, and pulled me through the layers of usual consciousness and into the Godhead. It was like being born again. I have found similar references to the 'Blue Pearls' in world religion and myth. For example,


When the Hebrew Patriarch, Moses, gathered 70 elders from the tribes of Israel for a feast to celebrate the tribes' new Covenant with the God, Yahweh, Moses and the elders must have put themselves into a trance, because the Bible says they "saw the God of Israel. Under his feet there was something like a pavement of sapphire stone [sephir], like the very heaven for clearness [Exodus 24:9]." The word, "sephir," can be translated as "sapphire," referring to the clear, dark-blue mineral often used in jewelry, but an alternative translation, based on what is known about the trade routes of that time, is that sephir as used here must refer to another dark blue mineral, "lapis lazuli," widely available in the Middle East at that time. In either case, it is clear that Moses knew how to induce a meditative state in which visions of clear, blue, stone-shaped lights began to appear.
"FOG, SMOKE, WIND, FIRE"


www.religiousvisionsoflight.com...


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posted on Jul, 7 2014 @ 03:08 PM
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a reply to: BlueMule

Whoever devised the ridiculous "pie chart" comparing different religions and their supposed four-fold division of reality does not have a clue. One only has to look at the incongruous categories grouped in several religions to see the absurdity of the diagram. It is like dividing an apple and an orange into the same number of segments and then claiming to see similarities. There are NOT four states of consciousness. Rather, there are four kinds of consciousness, each comprising many states. The Upanishad classification is misleading in that it treats the turiya state as an indivisible category, whereas it is in fact a set of MANY transpersonal levels of consciousness. It cannot be identified with any one known mystical level. What I am saying is that there are many levels of non-dualistic consciousness outside space-time. You touched for a while just one of them.

The subtle spiritual realities we are now speaking of do not have labels because they exist outside mind and all its categorizing. Be very wary of making interpretations of whatever altered states of consciousness you experience, labelling them according to some religion or religious book, for this can distort your understanding of them and lessen their power to accelerate your evolution. Move beyond labels, move beyond mind and don't stop until you find God. Anything less remains a mirage.



posted on Jul, 7 2014 @ 03:24 PM
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a reply to: micpsi

I have moved beyond mind, and I have found God. It took me a long time to get used to being in my body again. I was in a liminal state for many days, and meditation was very easy. I learned a lot. No doubt I have more to learn.

Oh and btw it was religious studies scholar Huston Smith who made the chart.


edit on 895MondayuAmerica/ChicagoJuluMondayAmerica/Chicago by BlueMule because: (no reason given)



posted on Jul, 7 2014 @ 06:26 PM
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There are many different 'States of Consciousness' that a person can experience (though I disagree that there are only 4), and they are all interesting. The issue though, is to become a 'Spiritual Materialist" - to cling to what is inside and confuse it with what is outside.

The state that you speak of I take to be the 'White Light'/'Pure Consciousness'/'Non-Duality' type? I think of that place as the base of a person's consciousness - everything is erased but a dim awareness. While this experience is ineffable (I have been lucky to get there on three different occasions), it is still all a product of your mind (in my experience). The explanation for my mind is as follows:

In a person's 'Relative Universe', there are many layers. At the outermost level, there is the exact internal copy (built by you, based on what you know) of the 'Absolute Universe' (Astral Projections initially happen here) - at the innermost there is this base platform level of your mind that you speak of (actually, waking consciousness would be the outermost layer since that also takes place only in a projection inside your own head but that's beside the point).

The 'Internal Universe' of a person is made up of 'Volitional Formations', or thought structures. You can think of these as channels inside your mind (most likely 'Neural Networks') that channel energy inside your mind for certain tasks. When you move from the Outer Level of your mind (the representation of the external world that is inside your head) to the Inner Level (the "Oneness" experience), you are effectively temporarily breaking up and dissolving these Volitional Formations inside yourself and releasing the energy that is being channeled through your neural circuits. The result of this is an ego that is increasingly fragmenting apart (the hallucinations and entities you see in this process are pieces of you that have broken off but are trying to stay intact) until all formations are gone. Once gone, you will just watch and be the base energy that makes up your mind. It's very peaceful and all only yourself.

Another fact of this place is its lack of any describable quality. This is due to the fact that to get there, you need to remove all perception of quality from your mind. This has lead Buddhist teachings to conclude that 'the world is empty' - when all your own created ideas are cleared, there are no ideas left. This leads one to conclude that there is no intrinsic meaning to the Universe.



posted on Jul, 7 2014 @ 09:02 PM
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a reply to: BlueMule

Yea there's nothing like 12,000 doors being opened at one time. I'm glad to have reached this state.



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