Steps And States Of Consciousness – Sri Harold Klemp

 

   Soul Travel is simply Soul's movement to God. This is the same thing they have been looking for in their own religion. The difference is that Soul Travel is an active method of going home to God and a dynamic way of describing it. With all the television commercials and advertisements in the mail bombarding us each day, a less dynamic presentation wouldn't catch anyone's attention.

 

   The ECK teachings must come out and be heard, because they fill a real need. Most of the advertisements that come in the mail fill an artificial need. They work on your self-image—own a new car, buy a new suit, or improve your life using a certain product.

   Some of the ECK initiates have never had a conscious experience with the Light and Sound, and they feel unable to help the newer initiates who are starting to have some experience. The Eckankar Journal is published to share with you the experiences other people are having in the Light and Sound of God. It's a matter of gaining confidence in and awareness of the experiences you are having on the inner planes. The key is having an open heart.

 

 

   Soul Travel, which is restricted to the lower worlds, occurs in two ways. One form is experienced in the apparent movement of the Soul body through the planes of time and space. It is not really movement, because Soul already exists on all planes. What seems to be movement, or travel, is simply Soul coming into agreement with fixed states and conditions that already exist in the lower worlds.

 

   If you can imagine a scene, then you can be there in the Soul body. This is called the imaginitive technique. It may feel as though you are moving along very quickly, and this is why it is perceived as travel. Actually it's the process of changing the setting around you.

 

   In Soul Travel, as you begin the Spiritual Exercises of ECK in the physical setting, you may experience a rushing sound, like wind in a tunnel, and the sensation of moving incredibly fast. But really, Soul doesn't move; Soul is. Time and space adjust to Soul's state of consciousness, and it is this adjustment of time and space that gives the sensation of movement or speed.

 

   This is one aspect of Soul Travel that frightens people. They fear if they go travelling somewhere, they might get lost and be unable to return to the body. But remember, since you don't actually travel anywhere, you can't get lost. Keep this in mind when you do the spiritual exercises; it will help to give you the confidence to open your heart and accept the experience that comes to you.

 

   The other form of Soul Travel is known as the expansion of consciousness. This is closer to the true state of personal revelation or enlightenment that we are looking for in ECK.

 

 

   A higher state of expansion of consciousness comes on the Fifth Plane. This is the ECKshar, the state of seeing, knowing, and being. It may not sound as adventurous as Soul Travel, but Soul Travel is an intermediate step that gets us to the state of seeing, knowing and being

 

   The ECKshar cannot be spoken about. Only the briefest mention can be made of what occurs during the experience. This is because the ECKshar consciousness is Self-Realization, and there is simply no way to describe it in words. But once you have the experience, you recognize it again and again. You feel refreshed and happy. In God, in ECK, you're a new creature, and now you must come to grips with it.

 

   When a person becomes a Fifth Initiate, certain duties may be assigned to him by the Living ECK Master. These include the position of ECK Initiator and ECK Spiritual Aide, as well as other duties which are quieter and less known.

 

   It's best to let a person become established in the Fifth Plane for a year or two before he is approached to become an ECK Initiator. After he has spent some time as an initiator, I may then ask him to serve as an ECK Spiritual Aide.

 

   You need time to absorb the experiences that come to you as a new Higher Initiate. If you take on too much too quickly, many valuable experiences of spiritual unfoldment can be lost.

 

   A Higher Initiate told me he had once recommended someone near and dear to him for a higher initiation. I didn't approve the initiation. The Higher Initiate later realized that when you truly care for someone else, you let that person his experiences in a natural way, rather than push him ahead before he has had the chance to benefit from where he is now. It's much like depriving someone of the joy of being a child by making him become an adult too fast. 

 

   Many of the Soul Travel experiences on the Astral, Causal, Mental, and Etheric planes are highly enjoyable. They represent certain levels of unfoldment that the chela in ECK goes through, and you ought to get the most that you can get out of them.

 

 

   Never feel bored with your present initiation or be in a hurry to go further. The planes are so broad that for most people it can be a lifelong endeavor to learn about any one of them. In ECK, of course, we move faster. Before the end of this lifetime, a number of you will reach beyond Self-Realization into the higher stages of God-Realization.

   It is important that you know and understand that it is possible to become a God-Realized individual in this lifetime. Otherwise, why try? And the first step is Soul Travel.

 

 

   In the braodest sense, Soul Travel can be used in every aspect of your daily life. It encompasses much more than merely travelling out of the body. It is the expansion of consciousness which allows you to get along every day with more awareness of the greater wisdom and understanding that is coming to you from the ECK.

 

   Soul Travel is the movement of consciousness. That means in any situation in your daily life, you ought to be able to put yourself into a higher state of consciousness, get above the trouble zone, and not panic. Now you're in a position to stop and think: What is the next logical step to take? And then you take that one next step. You don't try to do it all at once, because you'll just end up stumbling around in all directions.

 

 

   Rather than expect you to get an overview of the philosophy behind Soul Travel, I try to convey the concepts through stories and examples. You may not remember everything I've said when you go home. The words are imbedded in the Soul body, but in the physical body, you forget.

 

   This is why stories are important. They paint a picture. They're like seeds or little time capsules. When you need to remember a certain spiritual point, these stories come to mind. They can take care of your spiritual headaches in a way that straight philosophy does not.

 

   As we expand our consciousness, we are required to conduct ourselves in a different way in the world around us. This includes our interaction with our families and people at work. In ECK you are a new creature, but this doesn't mean instant transformation. You find a lot of Fifth Initiates do not seem very different from when they were Fourth Initiates.