Higher States
Folks on the spiritual path are interested in hearing about higher states or levels of consciousness . What is meant by "higher states"? Not altered states of consciousness, but states that are profoundly more expansive than the usual "view" or frame of reference held by consciousness. To go from an intellectual perspective, for instance, to one where love is the motivator over reason is to go into a "higher state". A higher state is relative to what one is used too.
The Presence of God is profound. To experience the Presence of God is to feel the absolute completeness of love. The Presence "cures" all dis-ease, all fears are eased, all desire satiated to the point of oblivion. The Presence comes from within, it's an inner state that has consequences for the phsyical brain, not an outer additive. The Presence of God turns on endorphins and stills the fight or flight response. Fear is of the ego, there is no God to judge. The Presence doesn't judge, it heals by the recognition that one was never sick.
To experience higher states of consciousness, for me, is to fall into the Presence. It is like a falling sensation, one of great letting go and easing of tension, but a gentle one. When I was a child I had a recurring dream about falling off of a cliff. Every night would end in terror as I clung in desperation to the edge. Then one night I voluntarily stopped fighting. I let go and fell into the ocean below. The letting go of the lower state of fear, and trusting in the fall brought about a change in the brain. I fell into a warmth like a womb. It was sheer bliss. I was maybe eight years old, and I was enveloped by the Presence of God. I never forgot it, I never dreampt of falling again. And all fear of heights are gone forever.
As I grew I had more experiences where the Presence of God would overwhelm me when I was in the darkest hour of the night. I fell and got a concussion when I was twelve. Angels in the form of God's Love came and stood by my bed. I was awash with peace in the midst of awful pain.
A few years ago my family survived a house fire. In the middle of leaving the smoke filling house, there was a voice, my voice that spoke. It said, "you don't have to be here for this". So without hesitation I left, voluntarily, into the arms of the Presence. All form disappeared. There was no body. No light, only a million tiny stars. What was "I" became the entire universe. And the essence was Love so deep, so all consuming, so omniscient that I was melted into a tiny speck of light that was part of this tremendous love. I was a piece of it still, yet, I was all of it.
When the state in the fire left I was sitting in the van watching the house burn. I had helped my child and dogs and husband get out. I had screamed orders and the body moved and did what it had to do. "I" was not there for the trauma, so I was unaffected by it.
