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APPLICATION
14 STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT
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or think it irrelevant and will certainly not attempt to regain the higher state.
When - at the end of this phase - all obstructing karma (i.e. all preoccupations that attached our consciousness to the hypnotic envelope of level one) dissolves, we enter phase three. - In the third and stable phase of stage four no karmic bonds are able to totally impede the clarity of our understanding any more. To what extent we can put our new insights into action depends on the amount of energy we invest in our further growth. To raise sufficient energy for reaching the next gunasthana is the basic challenge we face in this third phase.
The transition from phase two to three is so gradual that we become hardly aware of it. Since in phase two we already experienced long stretches of inner clarity, we barely notice that we do not fall back to level one any more. No special experience marks this particular transition other then that the silver lining of awareness of ourselves never disappears again. We might e.g. still feel intense anger, but in contrast to level one now a detached observer in our head always judges our actions and emotions with impartiality, distance and clarity. We now know without fail when we do something detrimental to our growth (and still keep on doing it). But we also recognize clearly the activities and attitudes that enhance our growth. The more we listen to this impartial part of us that became aware of itself on this level, and the more we dare to transform our insights into action, the faster higher stages open up.
Though at this point we may feel unsure which activities will further our growth, this insight comes to us the faster the more we desire further progress.
Once we reach this stable phase of stage four, we never fall down to any of the lower gunasthanas any more. The far more
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