Gradual Evolution of Spiritual Perception

Our path leading to the Creator goes from complete concealment to full revelation.

Starting from the initial point at which we find ourselves in accordance with our present desires (“our world”) until the final destination at which we must arrive even against our will (“the world to come”), our path is divided into four stages or states:

1. Absolute lack of perception (the absolute concealment) of the Creator.

The consequences of this state are: absence of belief in the Creator and in Divine Supervision from Above; belief in one’s own power, in the power of nature, of circumstances; and of chance.

All of humanity is at this stage (at this spiritual level). When we are at this stage, our lives become a process of accumulating experiences in our souls through various sufferings sent to us.

The soul accumulates experiences through repeated returns of the same soul into this world in different bodies.

Once the soul acquires a sufficient amount of experience, the person is able to perceive the first spiritual level.

2. Unclear perception of the Creator.

The consequences of this state are a belief in punishment and reward, and a belief that suffering is a result of distance from the Creator. Pleasure is seen as the result of closeness to the Creator.

Under the influence of these great hardships, we might return to a previous stage. However, as we accumulate experience, unaware of this process, we continue to learn until we realize that only our complete awareness of the Creator’s Management will give us strength to progress.

In these two situations, we have the ability to believe in the Upper Supervision. If we attempt, despite all the disturbances sent from Above, to strengthen our faith and work to perceive the Creator’s Management in His world, then after a specific number and intensity of efforts, the Creator will help us by revealing both Himself and the picture of existence.

3. Partial Revelation of His Management in the world.

Here, we are able to see the reward for good actions and the punishment for bad deeds. Therefore, we are incapable of doing other than good and refraining from bad, just as each one of us is unable to refrain from doing good or harming ourselves.

However, this stage of spiritual development is not the final one, since at this stage all our actions are involuntary, as a result of our awareness of reward and punishment. Thus, there is one more stage of spiritual development—gaining the perception that all that is done by the Creator is done with absolute and eternal love for His created beings.

4. The Revelation of the complete picture of the Creator’s Management of the world.

This offers a clear perception that the management of the world by the Creator is based not on reward and punishment for a person’s deeds, but is instead based on His unbounded love for His creations. We attain this stage of spiritual development when we see clearly that in all circumstances, with all the creations in general and with each in particular, without judging whether their actions are good or bad, the Creator always manages and supervises them only with absolute and unbounded love.

Reaching the 4th Level of Perception

When we sense this Upper Spiritual Level, we already perceive everyone’s future state. We can perceive the situation of those who have not yet reached this state, along with those in the past and in the present who have already reached it; we also apprehend the knowledge to experience the same stage, both as individuals and as a whole.

This apprehension is a result of the Creator revealing the entire design of creation and His relation to every soul in every generation, for the entire duration of the existence of all the worlds. These worlds were created for a single purpose— to give pleasure to His created beings. It is the sole purpose that determines all the actions of the Creator towards His created beings.

This continues from the beginning to the end of creation, so that all of them together, and each one separately, may experience an unbounded pleasure from their attachment to Him. As a result, when we can clearly see that the Creator’s actions are only to do good and benefit His created beings, there becomes formed within us the deeds of the Creator towards His creations.

We are consequently imbued with a feeling of boundless love for the Creator, and as a result of similarity of feelings, the Creator and the person merge into one entity. Since that stage represents the end goal of creation, the first three stages comprise preliminary steps necessary to attain the fourth one.

Credits: Photo "Blue Sunset On The Lake",  Freepix.eu

“The 4 Stages of Spiritual Perception” is based on the book, Attaining the Worlds Beyond by Dr. Michael Laitman.