The 8 States of Consciousness

Every day we normally experience three states of consciousness: Waking, dreaming and sleeping. But only by spending time in silence, stillness, or meditation do we experience a fourth state of consciousness where we start to glimpse our soul. When we glimpse our soul, we become a little more intuitive. We start to feel that things are not just what they seem to be; there is something more behind the scenes.

The physical world we normally experience is a shadow of the real world. The real world, the world of spirit, exists behind a veil, and the veil is our own conditioning. In truth, we are not bound by the world of space, time, matter, and causation, but the veil prevents us from seeing this truth. It also prevents us from living in power, freedom, and grace.
In the fourth state of consciousness, we begin to sense the deeper reality that is orchestrating the physical world, and there is a tearing in the veil that separates the physical and spiritual realms. Just as we have to wake up from the dream state to experience waking consciousness, we have to wake up from what we call waking consciousness to glimpse our spirit, our inner self. This is called glimpsing the soul, and it’s the fourth state of consciousness. It’s simply to be in touch with our soul.

This leads to the fifth state of consciousness, or cosmic consciousness, when our soul fully wakes up in waking, dreaming, and sleeping. Our body can be fast asleep, but our soul, the silent witness, is watching the body in deep sleep. Our body can be walking, and the silent witness is watching the body walk. Our awareness is localized in space time, and it’s non-local, or transcendent, at the same time.

If we don’t interfere with nature’s intelligence, then we start to awaken into the sixth state of consciousness, divine consciousness. In divine consciousness, we see and feel the presence of spirit in everything. When we wake up in divine consciousness, we don’t just see a leaf, or a table, or a cloud, or a rainbow; we see the whole universe being all these things.

Next, we waken to the seventh state of consciousness, which is unity consciousness. This is when the spirit inside us, which is now fully awake, merges with the spirit inside objects, which are also now fully awake.
The universe is conscious, and because it is conscious, it is conscious of itself. So the eighth state of consciousness, infinite consciousness, is its own observer. The observer is the discontinuity, the gap, the off.

Adapted from Power, Freedom, and Grace, by Deepak Chopra (Amber Allen, 2006).

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Aud N.

5:58AM PDT on Apr 11, 2013

April 11
send a green star

aj E.

2:26PM PDT on Jun 19, 2012

interesting.

June 19
send a green star

Brenda Marie C. C.

1:41AM PDT on Aug 29, 2010

Interesting I have heard of Deepak Chopra before so glad you brought him back to mind. Thank you.

August 29
send a green star

Gabe B.

4:03PM PDT on Aug 27, 2010

to Hein B. It's rather audatious to request Dr Chopra to "mention his sources". Are you doing a term paper that you need annotated resource references? I know from having read and listened to severeal of Deepak's works that he is a student of many, esp. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

August 27
send a green star

Lori P.

10:45AM PDT on Aug 27, 2010

very interesting. I often ponder the concept of self awareness in living beings and the randomness of which we are who we are in this world. I think the key to everything is in nature, as Frank Lloyd Wright said...'it never dissapoints'. thanks for the posting.

Dianne D.

1:27PM PDT on Aug 23, 2010

I believe this or something similar has been written before by Deepak. I remember it had a great impatk on me then as it does now.

August 23
send a green star

Justin R.

7:15AM PDT on Aug 23, 2010

Nothing is written in stone; all are tools and guides and each person will find (or not/never) their own way.

To the ones who don't get it at all, I would like to forward a quote (re-quoted by many) by French philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin:

“When a monkey looks in, no philosopher will look back”.

.... don't shoot the messenger....

Jan Carlo T.

4:24AM PDT on Aug 23, 2010

Interesting.. Reminds me of the movie 'Inception'.

Lynn C.

7:00AM PDT on Aug 21, 2010

To Hein B. With love I must ask you this: Who would Dr Chopra cite in this list of sources you ask him for? Every real teacher has received from many souls who have come here to awaken mankind. And those realized beings would never claim themselves to be the author of their knowledge, nor would any true teacher want the student to make such a claim. It all comes from one source - God. Bess you, and may you go in peace and love.