IN THE EASTERN TRADITION, the fully developed consciousness of each body is symbolized by flowers of four, six, ten, twelve, sixteen, two, and a thousand petals. The blossoming process takes time and spiritual effort. With each lesson lived and learned, another petal of the flower of consciousness opens. With the blossoming of the flower in each chakra, consciousness roots in that chakra/body and begins to sprout and develop in the next. With each flowering and movement into a higher chakra and body, we transcend our fears in the lower chakras/bodies and open to the unknown reality of the higher chakras/bodies. This flowering cannot be forced. It happens naturally and in its own time. We only have the power to do our best to become more conscious and continue learning our lessons, while patiently and gracefully waiting for the flowers to open.

Although we always exist in all seven bodies simultaneously, we live most of our lives rarely becoming aware of them or experiencing them. This is because our awareness is focused mainly on the outside physical world and only very rarely moves into the body. Enlightenment, or transformation from unconsciousness into consciousness, is not possible unless awareness is fully present in the entire body. Understanding the purpose each body plays in the ascending journey makes it easier for us to become aware of and pass through them consciously. Below, the bodies and their functions are discussed in ascending order.

FIRST BODY:
Physical Body

The first body on our ascending journey is the physical or instinctual body. The physical body is the shelter where the seed of consciousness germinates and grows to eventually open into a one-thousand-petal flower. The physical body has the ability to reproduce and the instinct to temporarily sustain itself while the soul within it evolves into consciousness. Instinct tells us when the body needs water, food, or rest. Instinct also knows how to process and assimilate nutrition, regenerate cells, heal wounds, and lastly, kill to eat in order to survive. All memories and experiences of our soul's history, both in human and non-human forms, as well as the blueprint of our potential future, are imprinted in our body's cells.

As children, we first see and identify with the physical body before we see and identify with our thoughts and emotions. If our awareness remains focused on the physical body alone, our existence will not be very different from that of animals, and our life will primarily revolve around sex, food, and survival. Through physical pain and emotional suffering, our attention moves into the next body where our unconscious energy needs to be transformed into consciousness. By looking into the meaning and messages that pain, illness and suffering bring, we become aware that our existence extends beyond just the physical body. To ground and center our consciousness in the physical body, we must recognize and transcend our identification with the body's survival instinct.

SECOND BODY:
Intuitive Body

The second body that we pass through on our ascending journey is the intuitive or etheric body. The instinctual and intuitive bodies are closely interconnected and coexist within the same survival mechanism of the physical body. The intuitive body is inherent in both animals and humans, and we often refer to it as the "gut instinct." Through the intuitive body, we know how to adapt to our environment, relate to each other, distinguish between benevolent and harmful energies, and protect ourselves against potential harm.

If consciousness develops without the obstructions of social conditionings and interference from the ego-mind, we trust our intuition and easily make important life decisions. If we are used to following the mind instead of trusting our intuition, we remain preoccupied with our desires and survival fears and are unable to grow higher in consciousness. When we are fully conscious of and learn to trust our instinct, our consciousness is ready to move into and evolve in the next body.

THIRD BODY:
Freedom Body

With the blossoming of trust in the intuitive body, the center of consciousness moves into and begins developing in the freedom or astral body. Here we begin to awaken to a dimension beyond the physical. The freedom body has the power or free will to choose how and where to direct the life force. It is not tangible and can freely and easily pass through anything physical. Ghosts, for example, are seen in their freedom body and can therefore appear and disappear at will.

If we are in tune with the freedom body, we can see events and people in a different reality from how they normally appear and present themselves. We spontaneously experience the freedom body in dreams when we see ourselves fly, see past lives or future events, or receive messages from our guides. We often become conscious of the freedom body when people or circumstances infringe upon our free will. We experience this as inner discomfort and uneasiness. We can also experience the freedom body in meditation when we feel a sense of weightlessness and expansion (a feeling of moving out of the physical body's limits).

With the centering of consciousness in the freedom body, we become aware of our inner power and our ability to shape and influence the world around us.

FOURTH BODY:
Awareness Body

Once consciousness is centered in the freedom body, the energy moves to develop in the fourth body, the awareness or mental body. The awareness body is like a thread that connects the three lower with the three higher bodies. Ascending through it is the pivotal halfway mark between our animal-like existence in the lower chakras and godlike potential in the higher ones. This body, like thought or language, is unique to humans. The awareness body functions independently from all the other bodies and provides us with the ability to observe and witness. It can easily move into lower and higher bodies and everywhere within the physical body. The awareness body uses thought to communicate what it observes, and unlike the other bodies that can be seen clairvoyantly, the awareness body can only be heard clairaudiently.

It is impossible to become conscious of something without becoming aware of it first. The awareness body helps us see and transform our unconsciousness into consciousness in all the seven bodies and is closely related with the experience of love. Love, in its irrationality, takes us out of the set behavior patterns and conditionings of the egomind, and even if for just brief moments, breaks down the illusion of separation. Love helps us surrender and merge in oneness with other beings, ultimately giving us an opportunity of becoming aware of our inner longing to reunite with Existence. Through love and awareness of oneness, we develop acceptance, understanding, and caring for each other. Love takes us out of our mind's limiting beliefs and conditionings, and our perception of being separate from each other and existence begins to break down. Through awareness, we recognize that love is the very nature of existence and always rises from within us effortlessly and spontaneously. Awareness of love opens us to higher dimensions of consciousness and truth and shifts our focus away from need and towards giving.

FIFTH BODY:
Individuality Body

The individuality body, commonly referred to as the spiritual body, is the closest to the two highest bodies. The function of the individuality body is to pull the frequencies of the lower bodies up and bring our energy inwards. The quality of the individuality body is self-sufficiency. The individuality body counterbalances the gravitational force of the survival instinct, fears, and outside influences and helps consciousness to move into and operate in the higher realms. Through experiencing the individuality body, awareness of our spirit and unique essence begins to grow, and our longing to create and manifest our dreams and visions into physical reality intensifies.

In the individuality body, we are able to face our fears and the egomind with more courage and take more responsibility for our actions. The individuality body helps to move our thoughts and emotions from negative to positive and to direct our energy towards creation instead of destruction.

The development of consciousness in the individuality body will stagnate if we follow our social and religious conditionings or become too concerned about other people's opinions. When we fully realize that we alone are responsible for how we live and create our lives, consciousness is free to move into the wisdom body where we begin to explore the realm of the mysterious.

SIXTH BODY:
Wisdom Body

The wisdom body, which is also known as the cosmic body, is the doorway between the known physical reality and the unknown cosmic reality. The wisdom body holds the mystical and esoteric knowledge of cosmic truth and of the divine unity of everything in existence. In the wisdom body we don't think about truth, we know the truth. The wisdom body enables us to experience bliss and divinity. Through experiencing bliss and divinity, our identification with the material world, thoughts, and emotions breaks down and we recognize our immortality.

In the wisdom body, we transcend the dualities of the positive-negative mind and the male-female polarities, and for the first time experience the oneness of our being with existence. Before consciousness begins to function in this body, we only intellectually understand that we are not our physical body, thoughts, or emotions. But with the experience of the am-ness of our being, we truly come to know it. In the wisdom body, we realize that the same being or am-ness also exists within everyone and everything, here on Earth and in the rest of the universe.

As consciousness develops in the wisdom body, we also begin to experience our psychic abilities. If we become attached to these abilities or misuse them to manipulate others and the world around us, we are thrown back into the lower bodies and delay our enlightenment and liberation from the ego-mind.

SEVENTH BODY:
Enlightenment Body

In the enlightenment body, we lose our identity as a separate soul and experience true oneness with boundless existence. We melt into it and merge with it. In the process of moving into the seventh body our fear of death and the unknown intensifies. If we are able to witness our mind and its fear of disappearing into the unknown, we can easily move into the seventh body and surrender our will to the Will of the Absolute.

During the "Big Bang" moment of enlightenment, our life force rushes from the root chakra to the crown, blasting it open and completely transforming every cell in the body from darkness into light. I like to describe this experience as an explosion of Cosmic Joy. In the East this experience has been illustrated as the blossoming of a one-thousand-petaled lotus. With enlightenment the fear of death and the unknown evaporate, and only celebration of the soul's final liberation remains.

In the process of our spiritual work we glimpse moments of mini-enlightenments, known as satoris in the Zen tradition. These moments happen when our witnessing awareness is fully present in the gaps between thoughts. The ultimate experience of enlightenment is a gift from existence, and it cannot be willed. After this experience, the soul can either leave the body or continue its existence within it. As a result of enlightenment, the soul not only becomes a light unto itself but is also able to help others in their evolution and liberation from pain and suffering. The last step of the soul's dissolution into the nothingness of the Absolute happens with the death of the physical body.

Beyond Enlightenment
If enlightenment is the lighting of the individual flame, then returning to the Absolute - beyond enlightenment - extinguishes the still separate flame and merges it back into the vast sea of the Absolute. Before the candle is lit we are in an empty space, but unconscious of it; after it is lit, we are still in the same empty space, but conscious of it. Buddha used the word nirvana to describe this state. This has also been described as the state of super-super consciousness. This is also the state of omniscient presence.

This final liberation into the state of beyond enlightenment happens at the time of physical death when the fully conscious life force is freed from the limitations of the physical body, empty of all thoughts, emotions, and the perception of being a separate soul or a being.

The extinguishing of the flame symbolizes the individual soul's reunification with the Absolute. In this state, the being completely surrenders itself into the Absolute and only a pure consciousness remains. At this point, consciousness has a choice to exist as light or be in a state of invisible empty presence.

Just like appearing and disappearing stars, planets, and suns, consciousness can be lit again at will, when the Absolute needs its light. The now fully conscious omniscient presence has the power to create and manifest new stars or planets, new species or even a new galaxy, so that consciousness can continue to evolve and expand further into infinity. Such creation and manifestation is not much different from how we create and manifest our visions and dreams here on Earth. The play between consciousness and unconsciousness, creation and destruction, life and death, goes on eternally within the infinite emptiness of the Absolute.

This article was excerpted with permission from Chapter Four of Eliza Mada Dalian's book, In Search of the Miraculous: Healing into Consciousness. The full chapter within the book walks the reader through Stumbling Blocks, Purifying the Bodies, Completing our Physical Journey at Death, and addresses several frequently asked questions. To purchase this book, visitwww.amazon.com or www.barnesandnoble.com.

In Search of the Miraculous was ALSO chosen as a Nautilus Award winner!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Eliza Mada Dalian is a visionary, mystic, medical intuitive, spiritual guide, and the founder of a groundbreaking new healing method – DHM (Dalian Healing Method), which can quickly identify the root cause(s) of energetic blocks, physical, mental and emotional problems, and effortlessly and miraculously heal the body and transform energetic blocks into health and consciousness. After her awakening experience at age 33, Mada has dedicated her life to helping others towards healing and spiritual awakening.

For more information visit, www.madadalian.com.
To see when Eliza Mada Dalian might be in your area please see her calendar of events.