Levels

Here comes a couple of quotes by Assagioli about the inner levels or worlds, which we are in connection with on psycho-spiritual levels. See also the Great Chain of Being and The Inner Life ….

“Then there are all the “vertical” transmissions; that is, which come vertically, so to speak —these are metaphors that are used to make our point — from the subtle, psycho-spiritual levels; from the emotional or astral plane, and these are very strong and very disturbing; from the mental level; and from the spiritual levels, especially from the intuitive level.” (From Inner and Outer Communications)

“There are a series of inner worlds, each with its own special characteristics, and within each of them there are higher levels and lower levels. Thus in the first of these, the world of passions and feelings, there is a great distance, a marked disparity of level, between blind passion and the highest feelings. Then there is the world of intelligence, or the mind. Here too are different levels: the level of the concrete analytical mind, and the level of higher, philosophical reason (nous). There is also the world of the imagination, a lower variety and a higher variety, the world of intuition, the world of the will, and higher still, those indescribable worlds which can only be referred to by the term ‘worlds of transcendence’.” (From Transpersonal Development, 2007, p. 84)

The fundamental fact with which we are concerned is the fact of spiritual experience and of spiritual consciousness, and it can be expressed as follows: from the most distant times till today there have been human beings who have claimed to have experienced states of consciousness that differed greatly in quality, intensity and effect from those which normally cast their lights or shadows on the screens of human awareness.

“…But they also make another and broader statement: they argue that the states of consciousness they experience are the result of reaching, or involuntarily being brought into contact with, a plane or sphere of Reality that is “above”, or “Beyond” those generally considered to be “real”. This reality has often been called transcendental, but we will not be using this term to mean something abstract, or remote. Those who have had fleeting perceptions of it, in fact, attest that it is perceived as something more real, lasting and substantial than the everyday world. It is in fact felt as the true root and essence of being, as “life more abundant”. The grandeur of the “cloud of witness” of such experiences and such contacts with a higher, a higher and fuller Reality can take your breath away. We find these beings at all times and in every country, and among their ranks is the flower of humanity (1). Therefore the attempts that have been made to deny these experiences, the assertions that they are mere illusions, or at most sublimations of sexual instincts, are completely arbitrary and demonstrate the lack of true scientific spirit.” (The Awakening and Development of Spiritual Consciousness)