Journey of Descent from the Absolute
To know ourselves as the Absolute and Emptiness is a journey of intense self-discovery. We come to know ourselves deeply and to feel deeply. We see how our soul has been guided home and how unique our journey is. We understand how every twist, turn, and curveball were all necessary to the development of our potentials and the refinements of our gifts and talents. Knowing ourselves, we become ourselves authentically and discover our unique contribution to the world.
To be real and authentic means to let go and to surrender to the flow of the universe in each new instantaneous moment. The universe keeps changing. Change is the nature of things, and we are to change with it. It is like a surfer who can recognise the changing tides and catch and ride each new wave. We cannot direct the currents of the oceans to suit ourselves; we can only allow the currents to rise and to stay with whatever comes our way. The flow of the universe will lead you exactly where you need to be in each new moment, and the ride will take you all the way home if you get your ‘mind’ out of the way. The more you fight with what unfolds before you in your life, the more you miss the deeper lesson and the more the same things keep happening.“We learn to flow with whatever the logos of our true nature manifests in our experience… we become content with whatever state into which the logos manifests our experience.”*
We cannot remain at the peak of transcendence enlightenment forever for there is another journey to take. The actualisation of reality occurs in the journey of descent, of coming back down to earth and back into the abundance, richness and fullness of manifestation. But this time with the knowledge of our true identity as the Absolute & Emptiness as our depth.
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Core Dimension
Our identity has now been changed forever. We no longer perceive ourselves as humans, or even as souls; for now, we know that, in our depths, we are the universe itself. We are the mystery of the Absolute and Emptiness.
As we descend back down through the dimensions, we take this wisdom with us. The first dimension to integrate into our newfound identity as the Absolute is the Logos. The world and all its forms and manifestations at each descending dimension are seen anew with perfect clarity; for this time, we see Reality for what it is. Manifestations are not seen with the inner light at its depth but as the black Absolute and Emptiness as its true inner nature, depth and core. This awareness is experienced as “full and rich, at the same time empty and light”*.
In times of personal challenge, we may forget that we are the Absolute at our depth. Fully integrating the Core Dimension allows us always to remember that our Souls are instruments to serve and express the Divine and to trust that our journeys shall unfold in perfect order and harmony.
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Ground Dimension
As we continue the journey of descent, the next dimension to integrate is the Awareness & the Non-conceptual into our newfound identity as the Absolute.
At the previous Core Dimension, we recognise that the core of all manifestations is the blackness of the Absolute. In this dimension, we go another step further. Not only do we understand that at the core of all manifestations is the blackness of the Absolute, but so is all of manifestation. In Reality, all manifestations are grounded in complete emptiness. If you use a powerful microscope to look at what makes up a table, chair or our bodies, there is nothing to find. Beyond the flashes of light, there is absolutely nothing: nothing but the mysterious black vast emptiness as the true ground of all beings and manifestations.
Fully integrating the consciousness of the Ground Dimension allows the soul to live in the world and appreciate beauty without attachment. For now, the soul knows that ultimately nothing exists. This is true freedom and liberation. This is experienced as feeling “both emptiness and presence, but the two dimensions are not mixed all the way”* through….just yet.
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Integrated Dimension
As the Absolute continues to descend, we integrate the final dimensions of true nature.“This dimension of the journey of descent reveals the fundamental truth that Reality is composed of many dimensions, all necessary for manifest forms and our experience of them.”*
At the Integrated Dimension, we experience the universe as multi-layered. We can experience each dimension on its own, in any order and any combination, and continue to do so until the wisdom of each and all dimensions are fully integrated.
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Quintessential Dimension
A natural pearl is formed when an irritant enters the shell of an oyster, and the oyster secretes a product that covers the irritant. In time, after many layers, a precious pearl is formed. Almaas describes how the forming of a natural pearl is like the journey of the soul.
It is due to the direct result of life’s ‘irritations’, of challenges, frustrations, sufferings and struggles that we are forced to wake up and to develop all of our potentials. The journey of ascent and the journey of descent together culminate in the final synthesis, of not only the five dimensions of true nature and essential aspects but also the physical dimension and vital energy dimension (prana and Shakti).
In the Quintessential Dimension, our soul’s have been so thoroughly tumbled and polished that we no longer experience the universe as multi-layered but as one perfectly merged, fused and integrated whole experience. This experience is beyond nonduality, for this is not only the realisation of all the dimensions of true nature but the full personal integration of all of existence. To differentiate from nonduality, Almaas calls this co-emergent nonduality.
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Impersonal Universal Logos
The dimension of the logos then reveals the ‘universal’ or ‘cosmic functioning’ beyond the individual.
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