27.7.03

 
Here is a working description of, The Seven Stages of the Self, and The Manifest Faculties. The Seven Stages may be described in this way:

The Commanding Self: The layer of a person which may be thought of as a conglomeration of emotional highs and lows, desires, hopes, fears, beliefs, opinions, and general attitudes based usually in unexamined social conditioning.

The Accusing Self: Related to a constituent which sometimes checks our behavior, and keeps watch over us. It is the action of conscience, which most of us experience occasionally.

The Inspired Self: A relatively evolved level of ourselves. An internal awareness, although creative, basically good, and often happy, however not usually developed enough in a so-called normal person, to the point where it can consistently generate wholesome energy most of the time.

The Tranquil Self: This level of the Self is often present internally after considerable experience in meditation practice has been accomplished.

The Satisfied Self: Based in a meassure of contentment and secure feeling about the inherent correctness of one's knowledge and understanding, derived from learning, action and experience on the Path.

The Satisfying Self: Begins to manifest itself when a person finds that other people start to seek them out for help. This is a sense of trust that others feel about this level of the Self, when it is active in a person.

The Completed Self: Sometimes known as the Purified Self, the Perfect Person. This may be understood as the culmination of ongoing development any human can attain and maintain for life.

The Manifest Faculties: The inherent faculties, or energy matrices, out of which flow learning experiences for contemplation whenever they arise within one's Self.

The Faculty of the Self in terms of the Body.
The Faculty of the Heart in terms of Emotional Energy.
The Faculty of the Intellect in terms of Perceptive Range.

One must be able to recognize the Stages and the Faculties as they arise to conscious levels within one's Mindfield at anytime! This is a form of Meditation.

Keep in mind that we are presenting a process structured as an internal meditation matrix. The Stages and the Faculties are not 'things', but rather working descriptions of specific internal energy flow. Remember. The process includes trying to observe your internal experience as it happens, while noting whenever possible, without emotional attachment, the Stages and Faculties as they occur within the stream of your everyday internal experience. This is a form of Self Observation.

Keep this in mind also: The works of classical and contemporary Sufis explore the Sufi Model in depth. An excellent example can be found by studying the publications of the Sufi Teacher, Sayed Idries Shah, and other exemplars of similar Nature, across spiritual traditions. Regardless of culture, the Teachings of Enlightenment are very similar, whether we are talking about Zen, Hindu Vedanta, Sufism, Christian Mysticism, Tibetan Buddhism, or Taoist Philosophy, and so on. The Heart of the matter is in many Sources. It is your heritage. Use it wisely. Study, practice, regardless of whatever else you may be doing.
posted by Ronn 22:14