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140
Hermann Kuhn
APPLICATION
these insights may be very short, they offer us a taste how higher levels feel like. The insights - however brief they might be - prove vividly that we are capable of experiencing these higher stages. They tell us that it is well within our ability to reach these stages and that we - with corresponding understanding - are capable to develop them into a permanent foundation of our life.
Once we become familiar with the characteristics and mechanisms of the different gunasthanas, it becomes far easier to identify which of the levels open up to us when we experience insights into higher stages.
In contrast to other systems of development the 14 gunasthanas are not 'climbed' sequentially one after the other. We do not have to 'complete' one level first before we may progress to a higher one. The Tattvarthasutra describes an interconnected, complex structure that makes dynamic moves between distant stages an essential part of our development. The insights obtained this way provide an immense incentive to wind up the themes of the lower levels so we may turn our attention towards exploring higher and more fascinating stages.
We nevertheless should not judge higher stages as fundamentally 'better than lower ones. In the end it is the experience of all stages that makes up the fabric of our character we are building during our bodily manifestations. While on a higher stage we might well decide that the - temporary - experience of a lower stage would be essential for our development and then consciously immerse ourselves into the greater emotional density and lesser comprehension of the lower stage for that very purpose.
Once we fundamentally understand the processes that unfold our consciousness, we never discount someone who
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