Our Heavenly Interlude, or Conscious Experience

Aristotle defined quality as the most "distinctive mark of substance." The more qualities that something has, the more "substantially it is." "What differentiates this substance from that is its essential quality." From The Tibetan, "Soul is the Quality that any form manifests; the subtle something which distinguishes one element from another; the intangible essential nature of the form."

The Processes of Qualification work through a set of Systems in order to create consciousness or Existence at this level. The Systems at this level are Entities. Webster's defines system as a "set or arrangement of things so related or connected as to form a unity or organic whole." Philosophically, "Entity is one and immovable, in contrast to the plurality and changeability of things perceived by the senses." The multiplicity of things does not affect the "oneness of the Entity," which is a homogeneous and "indivisible oneness."

Take a Journey through our

Spirit/Matter Universe

Our Heavenly Interlude,

or Conscious Experience

by Jef Bartow

In our last article, we discussed the most familiar realm of the Subjective we visit nightly. The next higher realm that we all visit periodically is the Heaven Realm. For extended periods, we experience the Heaven Realm after death until we’re born again in a new life experience. We also visit the Heaven Realm during our lifetime, with many of us bringing back these experiences into our daily waking consciousness. But before getting into that, let's start with the makeup of the pivotal subjective Heaven Realm.

As previously discussed, the outer subjective Realms are formed by a triplicity of Processes, Systems and Existence. What Molding is in the Dream Realm, Qualification is in the Heaven Realm. Qualification is defined as "qualifying or being qualified, a modification or restriction; limiting condition." To qualify is "to describe by giving qualities and characteristics to" and "to adapt to meet requirements." Synonyms for quality are property, character and trait.

The Processes of Qualification include the endowing of characteristics or properties that make something what it is. Qualification circumscribes and adapts in order to produce a suitable prerequisite for form manifestation. These prerequisite characteristics adapt and empower life to become suitable for manifestation to the living conditions of Matter.

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H. P. Blavatsky provides a distinct metaphysical picture of entity. Entity distinguishes existences from imaginaries. She describes the emanations of spiritual qualities as "such entities." Regarding these entities: "having their potential being in a higher group, they now become distinct and separate entities" at a lower level. "The invisible Entity may be bodily present on earth without abandoning, however, its status and functions in the super sensuous regions."

So what is the entity related to humans and the other kingdoms of nature? The objective bodily entity present on earth for humans is our Personality. The subjective counterpart to this entity is our "mold of man," taken from the teachings of don Juan Matus.

Don Juan describes the mold of Man as a "radiant, luminous being." It is "an entity which could be seen by some of us at certain times when we are imbued with power, and by all of us for sure at the moment of our death." He also describes the "mold as being the source, the origin of man, since, without the mold to group together the force of life, there is no way for that force to assemble itself into the shape of man." Don Juan further states that "every species has a mold of its own." This is how every species demonstrates "characteristics particular to its own kind."

If our objective entity is our Personality with our objective existence as our personal self, then it is only natural that our subjective existence at this level is our soul. I use a small s here to distinguish this lower soul from the self-conscious Soul that is individualized at higher Realms within the Subjective. This individual soul is re-created each life from the totality of Soul (Being) in higher Realms.

Until one makes progress on the Spiritual Path, there is no individualized part of Soul for humans. The soul created in the Heaven Realm in each embodiment comes from the "spark of Soul" extended from the wholeness of Being. Once we develop an individualized Soul that resides in the next higher Realm, we then unfold a part in each embodiment as the soul in the Heaven Realm. If this sounds hard to believe or something out of a myth, hold your thoughts until we've completed the next couple of articles.

The Tibetan helps us link our soul to the Heaven Realm. The soul is the "quality which every form has, the essential nature of the form." He adds, "It exists as an entity apart from the body nature." The soul is the sum total of the psychic nature, a spiritual entity. This soul is one of three that in unison create a human being.

At this point, I'm sure many of you are thinking that much of this is just theoretical, without much evidence of its reality. So let's get real, as they say. From various studies, about "5% of the adult American population, or 30 to 40% of individuals who came close to death" experienced a near-death experience (NDE).

The most common NDE includes experiences such as the following: a feeling of peace, 60%; "entering the darkness," 53%; an experience of leaving one's body, 37%; a "perception of light," 33%; an experience of making a choice or willing to go back to life, 33%; a review of highlights of one's own life, 25%. Other studies of out-of-body experiences indicate that many involve "encounters in telepathic communication with deceased relatives and friends" and "contacts with discarnate entities in general."

In Eastern mysticism, the bardo of becoming equates to the subjective Heaven Realm. In The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, Sogyal Rinpoche provides the following insights into the similarities of near-death experiences and the bardos. First, the Bardo of dying includes a "black experience of ‘full attainment’" including a moment of bliss and joy. A main feature of many near-death experiences includes traveling "through a black space, ‘a total, peaceful, wonderful blackness,’ down a ‘long, dark, tunnel.’"

Coinciding with the element of a bright light in many NDEs is the "Clear Light" which dawns in all its splendor at the moment of death. In the bardo of becoming, we many times "meet other beings in the same bardo." This corresponds to many being "able to converse with others who have died" during near-death travels. Further, many near-death reports include "visions of inner worlds, of paradises, cities of light, with transcendental music." "In the bardo of becoming, as well as many other kinds of visions, the mental body will see visions and signs of different realms."

By learning to lucid dream (conscious dreaming), we can consciously visit the Heaven Realm at will. Lucid dreaming has been defined by Robert Wagoner in his book Lucid Dreaming to include five stages. The first two stages are similar to normal dreaming in the Dream Realm. Stage III dreaming is characterized by "power, purpose, and primacy." The keys to the stage are intent and will. With the use of intent and will, the dreamer begins to "show his or her mastery over the dream realm." Also, "the appearance of apparent ‘independent agents’ or dream figures acting in purposeful and volitional ways may cause anxiety and concern."

Simply, using intent and will, we begin to qualify our dreams consciously. This is the transition in dreaming into the Heaven Realm. Stage IV is defined as "re-reflection, reaching out, and wonder." "The Lucid dreamer may also begin to reflect that the dream realm represents a new type of reality with common principles and structure... Lucid dreamers may be forced to consider what is beyond this realm of lucid dreaming." According to Malcolm Godwin, another expert on Lucid dreaming, the dreamer enters the "Way of the Will." "Will is what sends the sorcerer through the barriers, up through the trap door of his or her own internal oubliette. It is what can send the dreamer into the other worlds of the dreaming self."

What we have been conditioned to believe is a ethereal place that we go after death to live eternally with our family and friends is really just another level within the Subjective that we can visit periodically or at will. This pivotal subjective level is very important for all spiritual life and Being to manifest in an organized and structured way within our material universe. At the same time, it also provides the essential nature, characteristics and qualities that make us what we are and what we can become.