7.2.3. LEARNING, LESSONS and JUDGEMENT
This stage is extremely important. It is preparation for the subsequent and more demanding experiences and how best to make the most of what happens next. A large amount of learning is needed at this stage and it can take a huge amount of time. There are two basic ways in which learning takes place – one is via spiritual experience itself and the other is straightforward ‘book learning’
Learning via Spiritual experience
This process consists of a period of extensive tuition via spiritual experience – allegorical or simply straightforward information designed to teach.
- Dreams, visions and hallucinations - may be used to provide lessons that the composer devises
- Out of body - alternatively once the candidate has actually managed to obtain an out of body state, he or she may go flying round the spiritual world learning about it directly. For many, the out of body state is somehow the culmination of what they perceive to be the ultimate spiritual state, but it is quite a long way down the list spiritually. We are only allowed access in order to learn.
- Out of time - One very special experience may occur at this stage and that is the expansion of the self into the area of no time – this provides a taster for what true nirvana is all about
- Invisible inputs – Invisible inputs – inspiration, wisdom, prophecy, conscience etc also are there to help in learning and provide a hugely beneficial but invisible addition to the visible input.
Learning via lessons and books
Many shamanic societies and the religions of the east have elaborate and very complex education stages, often being started when a child is quite young and continuing throughout life. In the Hindu stages of the Ashram system, the first stage is ‘initiation’, but many other societies have an almost identical stage, for example the Native American Indians and the South American shamanic societies.
Because the rebirth process can be so mentally taxing, there are also some societies and cultures that have embodied in their practises techniques that enable the person to imagine and thus cope with what might happen.
It is important to realise that there are people who are ‘called’ but never go beyond this stage. It would seem that the progress made is ‘monitored’ by the spiritual world and a trainee unable to grasp the essentials or unable to meet the requirements goes no further.
 |
Weighing ceremony
|