An Introduction to Unitive Consciousness

When you dig deeply enough, when you open your eyes and leave behind the preconceptions you have been taught about religion, you realize something extraordinary.  You realize that the goal of all of the major world religions is virtually identical!  Despite the vast differences in their theological understandings, each religion has created a path that results in the unification of the spiritual aspirant's consciousness with the Divine.  Given this information, it may be reasonable to say that there is only one religion, and this religion has a variety of pathways, each of which leads to the same ultimate goal.

This is a truly amazing finding.  When you consider the vast quantities of blood that have been spilled in the religious wars throughout the centuries, this finding is almost unbelievable.  Each of the major religions, in one way or another, has asserted its primacy.  Each has proclaimed that they are the only true religion; each has asserted that their path to God is the only true path.  Yet, when we compare the paths to God described by each of these religions, we find they are identical.

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Today, I thought it might be useful to explore the goal that our religious beliefs have in common – the notion of unitive consciousness.  Each of the major religions talks about the goal of a spiritual life as a process that unites our conscious awareness with the Divine.  What does this notion refer to?  How might we describe it?  The easiest way to explore this topic is to describe how each of the major religions understands the goal of spiritual striving.  From these data, we will be able to stand back and see what they actually have in common.  

To accomplish this, we must disregard the numerous schools of thought within each of the major religions.  The major religions have been around for thousands of years, and it is natural that there would be some variability of understanding about the spiritual path within each religion.  As a result, I have chosen one mystic from each of these religions – a mystic regarded as authoritative within their own religion.  (You can find a fuller exposition of this material in my recent book, Inside the Invisible:  The Universal Path to Spiritual Transformation.)

So, what does the goal of the spiritual path look like in each religion?

Hinduism

Hinduism describes a series of spiritual states that culminate in a state called Dharma-Megha-Samadhi.  In this state, the aspirant's mind has relinquished all attachments and, as a result, it has established itself in its real nature, which is pure Consciousness.  To attain this state, the spiritual aspirant has had to focus attention to such a degree that there is no longer any individual content left in awareness.  This process typically takes a very long time and is often described as spanning multiple lifetimes, as the individual is reincarnated over and over again.

Buddhism

The Theravadan school of Buddhism, the earliest in the historical record, describes the goal of the spiritual life as the attainment of Fruition Consciousness.  This is the final stage of Enlightenment, where the spiritual aspirant has finally relinquished all desires, and all grasping at the objects of desire.  To reach this state, the aspirant has progressed through a series of meditations that have developed one’s concentration to a very refined degree.  In the process, the aspirant perceives that all objects of awareness are impermanent and painful, and as a result, the aspirant disengages from all objects of awareness.  There is a unification of consciousness with itself, and the aspirant enters into Nirvana.

Daoism

In Daoism, the spiritual aspirant engages in a series of extended meditative exercises.  As a result, outward actions gradually diminish and the mind rests in a deeper and deeper peace.  All desires are relinquished, and the mind becomes utterly detached from them.  From this detached state, the aspirant is able to distinguish between what is real and what is not; the mind becomes utterly empty and reaches a stable state of serenity.  In this state, the aspirant reaches Dao within the mind, and insight into the true nature of reality emerges.  When the mind and Dao are fused into one, the body and spirit are also fused together in a unique way, and one is no longer limited by the usual constraints of space and time.

Judaism

Hasidic Judaism understands this unification to take place as the result of a series of ever-more refined states of concentration while contemplating the Divine.  The conclusion of these exercises is a full and open communion with God, such that the essence of the soul is attached to the essence of God.  Here, there is only one will – the will of God – and one’s whole being is absorbed into the Divine, so that nothing of the individual self-consciousness remains.  In this unitive state, one has no self-consciousness.  There is only the limitless love of God.

Christianity

In the Christian view, the spiritual aspirant progresses through a series of meditative exercises designed to focus and sharpen one’s concentration.  As this occurs, the soul experiences a union with God such that all faculties – the senses, will, imagination, and memory – are suspended and one no longer has awareness of anything but God.  At the end of the spiritual journey, the soul is fully united with God and experiences the immediate presence of the Trinity in every moment.  The spiritual aspirant no longer experiences intense raptures but a different kind of pleasure that is extreme and indescribable.  There is a sense of inner peace and a return to activity in the world.

Islam

The spiritual aspirant goes through a long progression of concentrative exercises, which result in the abandonment of sin, a renunciation of the world, and the abstention from blameworthy acts.  Out of this arises a remembrance of God and finding Him.  Ultimately, this results in a union with God and an expansion of wisdom.  One is liberated from all needs and attachments, and there is a peace which God pours into the heart so that the spiritual aspirant tastes freedom.  This is an acceptance of God’s guardianship.  One becomes free from all attachments and finds intimacy and love in the Divine rather than in oneself.  One becomes free from the self and returns to God.

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As you can see by this aggregation, the major world religions have much in common when they describe the path to God.  In every case, there is a series of meditative exercises designed to sharpen the focus of one’s concentration.  It’s important I think to ask, why is this necessary.  Only by probing these data will we come to understand the rationale behind them.

I have come to understand the rationale for this emphasis on concentration through a strange and peculiar parallel.  (This is probably because I’m a strange and peculiar guy.  After all, how many priest/psychologist folk do you know?)  The parallel that came to mind as I struggled with understanding this has to do with women in stilettos.  If you have ever had your foot stepped on by a woman wearing high heels, you immediately experience excruciating pain.  All of her weight is focused on a point about ¼ of an inch square.  If this same woman happens to step on your foot while wearing flats, there is no pain at all.  

Here’s the parallel.  When her weight is focused, it has the ability to punch through things – namely, your foot!  In the same way, when your attention is highly focused and concentrated, it has the ability to “punch through” the observable reality in front of us so that we are able to see the Ultimate Reality which lies behind it.

As we draw closer to the Divine by developing our concentrative abilities, we begin to experience some unusual phenomena.  We find ourselves relinquishing our grasping at things, and ultimately, we relinquish our desire for those things altogether.  Instead, by focusing our desire on God, we find ourselves drawing closer and closer to the Divine.

Ultimately, as we find ourselves standing next to the Divine, we even relinquish our self, our ego identity.  Instead, we find a deeper and truer identity in God.  This is the pathway that the saints from all religions have followed.  As they have gotten closer and closer to the Divine, their self-consciousness has disappeared, and the limitless love of God flows through them and into the world.  It is from this spiritual place that the miracles, apparent in all of the religions, have occurred.

We have a clear example of this process in the Christian Scriptures.  As St. Paul said in his letter to the Galatians, “I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”

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I hope that you have found this newsletter interesting and helpful in your spiritual journey.  While each religion covers up the actual process for spiritual growth with its own doctrinal understandings, I believe we can learn a great deal when we aggregate this information.  

Historically, each religion has presented itself as the only true path.  Rationally, we know that this can’t be.  If one is true, then the others must be false.  But what if we simply accept that they all are true?  What if we accepted the hypothesis that each religion, to the best of its ability, is speaking the truth?  

For example, if six different people saw the same tree, each from different vantage points, we would expect six different descriptions, wouldn’t we?  Why would we not expect the same about six different descriptions of something far more complex – the path to God?  When we remove the conceptual blinders we have been taught by our various religious authorities and examine the data on its own merits, we start to see the things they have in common.  This, I believe, enhances our understanding of this most complex of human processes – that of walking the spiritual path, that of entering into a life wholly devoted to God.

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That’s all for now.  I hope I have disturbed you a little and shaken up your view of what constitutes the Truth.  I hope today’s newsletter has given you a glimpse of the path in front of you.  Typically, we who tread the spiritual path have had little knowledge of what lies ahead.  We have had to travel on faith.  I hope these newsletters provide you with solid knowledge.  Knowledge that you can verify for yourself through your own experience as you engage in these concentrative exercises we call ‘meditation.’

Next week, we will start to tackle something even more fascinating, so stay tuned.  And may our Lord continue to bless you as we walk the Way together!

With love,

P.S.  Several of you have expressed the desire for an online meditation class.  If there is enough interest, I will try to figure out how to hold a group class on the web.  If you have an interest, please write me at [email protected]. 

Humility as a Tool  → Letting go → Fear → Openness →  Acceptance & Growth

If you are finding this newsletter course helpful, you may want to consider Dr. Kaisch's latest book, Inside the Invisible:  The Universal Path to Spiritual Transcendence.👇

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