The 7th state of consciousness

I have written on the philosophy board about my experience at the Memphis Zoo where I had the perception that existence is simultaneously one, nothing, infinitely complex, serene at the fundamental level, and extremely beautiful. It was the perception that the Eastern philosphers call "Nirvana," "unity consciousness," or "the seventh state of consciousness." I have never fully explained what was happening in that situation. I had just learned transcendental meditation, I was in a short period where I had virtually no worries at all just after going through the worst period of my life, and I had done LSD for the first time not too long before then. Whatever it was, it was defintately my perception. My last lucid dream involved my sitting in a room at a cabin in the woods, a cabin that does not exist. I looked around the room and knew that it didn't exist, and that thought led me to percieving that nothing exists. It was as though I could clearly see that nothing exists and that all reality is an illusion just like the dream I was having. It might be the coolest lucid dream moment I have had yet. Then I woke up and had the perception that things actually do exist.

lol. ha ha. Cool.

How many states of conciousness are there though and what are they?

That's just plain cool.

If you ever feel like teaching anyone your meditation method, I'm all ears...

According to certain sects of Hinduism, there are seven states of consciousness...

1. dreamless sleep consciousness
2. dream consciousness
3. ordinary waking consciousness
4. transcendental consciousness (experienced during transcendental meditation)
5. cosmic consciousness (transcendental waking consciousness-- One percieves the unity of all things except does not percieve himself as part of it. The unity seems to have an impersonal nature. The perciever is not aware of the resolution to the paradox that the oneness is also an infinite number of individual things-- the "absolute-relative paradox.")
6. God consciousness (cosmic consciousness plus awareness that the perciever is part of the unity, and the oneness seems to have a personal nature. The absolute-relative paradox is partially resolved.)
7. Unity consciousness (God consciousness plus the simultaneous perception that the unity with personal nature also has impersonal nature. The absolute-relative paradox is resolved.)

I completely turned my back on this philosophy when I was 21 and I became a full blown atheist. However, now I have one foot back in the door. I am not really sure what to think. I am still an atheist, but I think there is something to the idea that everything is one and that existence and nonexistence might be two forms of the same "thing." Theoretical physics has been developing toward some of the major metaphysics theories that Eastern philosophy held thousands of years ago.

The seventh state of consciousness is what I seemed to be in at the Memphis Zoo. It was as though what I was percieving was not unconscious. It seemed to be on a level above consciousness, not below it. The lucid dream I had only involved the aspect of seeing that existence is actually nonexistence, which is a Taoist belief. When I fully believed in the stuff, I knew very little about lucid dreaming, and now I am not sure where it would fit on the list of states of consciousness.

I had my zoo experience two days after I learned transcendental meditation, the meditation taught by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the guru The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Donovan, Mia Farrow, and Marianne Faithful went with to India to study transcendental meditation. I ended up writing off Maharishi as a fraud, even though his meditation works. John Lennon and Paul McCartney turned on him with the same attitude. He is a business snake who takes a little bit of truth and stretches it as far as it will go. TM does alter consciousness and provide extreme relaxation, but I am very skeptical about the claim that one can eventually live permanently in unity consciousness. I also don't believe Maharishi's claims that one can learn how to fly and that his catalogues of holy oils, dosha balancing music tapes, and other items of purchase are for real. My experience of seeming enlightenment happened right away, but then I never went back to it until I had a partial experience of it after I did some mushrooms on the beach in 1999, six years after I denounced Maharishi and his gimmicks.

A book that explains this stuff in great detail, and is very pro-Maharishi, is The Seven States of Consciousness by Anthony Campbell. I think you can order it on Amazon.com. Transcendental meditation is just sitting straight up in a chair with your eyes closed and thinking a mantra (nonsense word) in your head over and over for 20 minutes. You should sit quietly for about a minute before you start the mantra. After 20 minutes (Look at your watch or clock some during the meditation.) of repeating the mantra (gently... Don't strain at all to concentrate on it. When your mind wanders, don't fight it too hard. Just go back to the mantra in a relaxed manner. Your mind is supposed to wander.), slowly open your eyes and then just sit there for a few minutes. For me, this works best when I open my eyes and look at the sky over open land or water. Maharishi and his people claim that only they can tell you what "your mantra" is and that only they can observe your meditation to make sure you are doing it correctly. They also say that it is bad for you to use the "wrong mantra," so do this at your own supposed risk. I think Maharishi is a charlatan who knows how to get obscenely rich, which he is, but I thought I should let you know what the claim is. People meditated on the mantra "aum" (the ultimate mantra, according to many Hindus) and other ones for thousands of years before Maharishi came to the United States and used The Beatles' extreme popularity to get himself rich and famous.

That is some cool stuff universal mind.

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Originally posted by Universal Mind
It was as though I could clearly see that nothing exists and that all reality is an illusion just like the dream I was having. It might be the coolest lucid dream moment I have had yet. Then I woke up and had the perception that things actually do exist.

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Lucid dreaming, as you pointed out can give you a perspective that only Lding can. Or maybe deep meditation.
What is existance? The Now?
The past is gone and the future isn't here yet. So the minute I look ahead that minute will be behind.
So you at some point you reached a liberated state of consciousness?
One at which you were in the now and nowhere else.

I have found my dreams to be more real then my waking life.

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Originally posted by NickKanieval
I have found my dreams to be more real then my waking life.

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I (kind of) know what you mean.

so if i sit for 20minutes chanting aum, then look at my watch to check its being 20minutes, ill feel some kinda a freedom of the mind?

no... and I hope your joking

we are talking about years of practice and meditation

This is my second year meditating. I think it just crams my thoughts into the back of my mind until later, when I get a headache and they all come back. I live by a materialistic philosophy (all things come from the earth/universe and thats where they shall return) , which i guess is a form of aithieism (pardon my spelling) However I have done a lot of research and work spiritually, and a door to that will always be within my reach.

I'm not sure if I was the first to make the following theory, but what I do know was that I thought of it while riding the bus:

I think that 'God' if in existance, is the spirit of the first child ever, and since no human's existed, he wasnt able to be born, and thus remained in the heaves, now it's to late for him to have life of his own. (if you're into that God is a girl deal, he...she no one knows so just work it out for yourself) That would explain a lot of those myths and fairy tales about children having different abilities than adults, (Only children can go to neverland typ situations etc.)

I've found meditation before sleep however, shortens my dreams, not as many thoughts are flowing through my head as they usually do.


Anywho .....Back on the topic express. I like that Idea of a new stage of conciousness, theres probably a lot more where that came from too. sorry for typing a lot and/or potentially wasting a lot of time.

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Originally posted by bmx-life™
so if i sit for 20minutes chanting aum, then look at my watch to check its being 20minutes, ill feel some kinda a freedom of the mind?

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Yes, except don't chant it. Think it. Just think the word over and over without straining at all to concentrate on it, but tend to pay attention to it. Your mind will wander any way. I started out chanting, concentrating on my breathing, focussing on objects, concentrating on the sounds of air conditioners, getting completely absorbed into songs, and stuff like that. It was when I tried transcendental meditation in 1991 that I found the best way to meditate, for me at least. You will feel relaxation and mind expansion on some level. It is much stronger sometimes than it is other times. The "gurus" and such teach that it takes years, even decades of doing that every day (Some even say twice a day-- at least six hours apart and no more than 12 hours apart.) to reach permanent higher states of consciousness. I experienced my wild moment two days after learning TM and never experienced it in full effect again, although I could see that it made my every day consciousness a bit more relaxed and raised. I stayed with meditating on a regular basis for almost three years, but maybe (????) I gave up too soon. I am hoping I can learn how to experience unity consciousness in lucid dreams and somehow carry it into my waking life. Pay close attention to how I described what to do in my previous post. If you try it, you will see immediately that it is definately worth something. Just don't start thinking Maharishi Mahesh Yogi is a prophet who can teach you how to fly. I got pretty close to seeing it that way and then flipped out and dismissed him and everything he represented. After a few months, I got into occasional meditation because it obviously has some value.