The transpersonal realm offers countless methods from different traditions how to transform, from a human being, bound by the density of the 3-dimensional physical plane into a magical, joyful and creative energy being. According to Einstein, there are primarily three states in the universe: energy, mass and light. Experiencing oneself as an energy and/or light being is considered the highest liberation in almost all spiritual traditions. Duality is overcome as soon as one understands oneself as an energy being, because this energy is eternal and indivisible, it is one in its sum, even if it is immeasurable in its myriads of forms. We are physical beings (mass), and at the same time energy and light beings. In the following I briefly outline the phases I went through in my journey into the worlds of energy.
Step 1: The discovery of subtle energy
First you realize that you have an energy body. It is subtle and most check it off as “Ok, this is what relaxation feels like”. They don’t realize that this relaxation has a depth dimension and hides something significant: the Self. The Self is an energy being that activates as soon as you give that energy the appropriate attention. This is what is originally meant by mindfulness. Those who turn mindfulness inward, not to the mind or moods, but into the subtle bodily sensation, need only wait for the Self to come into consciousness in its original energetic quality, i.e., to awaken. Most do not even know that under the surface of the adapted ego there is an authentic self waiting to be discovered.
Step 2: The subtle energy body reveals itself as your Higher Self.
When energy-consciousness reveals itself as your Higher Self, the character of any meditation changes in a decisive way. You realize that this Self cannot be organized or controlled, but that it is a spontaneous being with its own spontaneous intelligence and, above all, that you are this being. There is a being within you that is many times older than your body. You also discover that in many cultures this being is called soul, essence, divine being, atman or presence. Now you have arrived in the world of energy beings. Mass is the exception in the universe and everything is space and energy. In this dimension, intelligence does not necessarily have to have a physical body. You realize that you are connected to an super-intelligent, highly energetic universe.
Step 3: Cultivating the energy body
Once you cultivate this energy body, which often is accompanied by a wonderful bath of endorphins, you work continuously to free yourself from the straitjacket of purely physical, 3D-existence. Being aware in your energy body becomes your first priority in life. Neurologically, this corresponds to a harmonious state of the autonomic nervous system, an activated anterior Vagus nerve, while flight and fight mechanisms are shut down. Over time, you realize that this energy body can expand endlessly, and you want to anchor your life more and more into its joy of just being fully alive and present.
Step 4: The energy body becomes the primary focus
At a certain point in the practice of inner cultivation of the energy body, there is a “shift”. Presumably, the usual left-brain dominance then permanently jumps to the right hemisphere. This is accompanied by the realization that you are primarily this energy being. Now a new stage in life begins, because you now perceive reality and people much more “energetically”. The decisive advantage of this kind of perception lies in the greater range and reliability of intuitive insights and your fresh and new perceptions, which are no longer colored by your conditioning, preferences and thought patterns. Premonitions about people, projects and decisions come from the energy field to which one is now connected. You are guided by your Higher Self through energetic evidence.
Step 5: Anchoring in the energy body
Through a deep anchoring in the energy body emerges a fundamental liberation from the inner dialogue, to which the “little me” is mostly hopelessly at the mercy of. As long as the left-hemispheric dominance cultivated by rigid school systems, education and society dominates, you live in the foreign domination of the subconscious mind. With the stabilization of the energetic body as the primary identity, you attain “fluid consciousness” and freedom from all “beliefs”. Every experience is experienced as an energetic happening. Here, after some practice, one realizes that the energetic, i.e. mental, emotional and physical holding is the real cause of suffering, and not the event itself. Anything that blocks the energetic body, i.e. the free flow of chi, subtle energy, is perceived as an unpleasant contraction, i.e. the flow of energy stops.
Problems are now primarily recognized as blockages in the energy system of the subtle body. As soon as one has “liquefied” these blockages in one’s own body and the energy flows again, the so-called problems in the outer reality usually also dissolve much more easily or simply disappear. Many techniques of manifesting inner intentions, self-healing or achieving life goals, etc. depend primarily on having the subtle power of the energy body at one’s back like a supportive wind.
Step 6: The energy body is perceived as the source of reality.
You recognize yourself as a transcendent energy being that can pour its energy into any form. You recognize yourself in every form, in every human being, as a plant, as an animal, as an element, as cosmic consciousness, which is formless in its origin, and creates worlds with its immeasurable energy and intelligence. In this state you look at your physical body, your mind, your conditioning, your personality, as a precious avatar, a vehicle, that enables you to incarnate as an energy being in a three-dimensional density, to experience this highly intensive school of life. You understand and experience that this energy, which in many traditions is associated with the soul, has already flowed into many bodies. You experience yourself as a reincarnated being, and you understand that the current incarnation is “just” another milestone in development of your soul.
Step 7: You become a cosmic, multi-dimensional being
If you expand even further out, you realize that there are different energy dimensions. There are cosmic beings that encompass whole galaxies, stars or planets. Earth is a living being, like all the other planets too. The sun is a deity, the solar system is its field of action, embedded in billions of solar systems, in an even larger cosmic being, called galaxy. From this perspective, humanity is one of billions of species that reside in the third dimension and are just about to shift to the next level, into the more expanded, more subtle, 5th dimension.
Psychoactive shortcut, advantages and disadvantages
One shortcut is the sacred use of psychoactive substances. Entheogens are experiencing a great renaissance not only today. Transpersonal psychology would not exist without the use of psychedelic substances in the 60s and 70s. Only they catapult the users from the density of the physical 3D reality into the dimensions of higher planes, as they have been explored by shamans for thousands of years. Psychoactive substances like LSD, mescaline or DMT, which is active in magic mushrooms and ayahuasca, dissolve the narrow, physical boundaries of the 3D body and bring the user into the subtle dimension of expanded states of consciousness. Here one experiences the energetic unity of all phenomena, a dissolution of time, the timeless depth dimension of the now or the out-of-body space of the astral plane.
Almost every user experiences in the first encounter with these psychoactive catalysts an overwhelming experience with the flowing, ecstatic dimension of “Pure Being”. These experiences represent for most something unique, a direct encounter with a divine intelligence, an entity or dimension that people usually experience only in near-death states. Having been to “the other side” and come back, one automatically loses the fear of death, having experienced oneself as an immortal energy being. If one has already visited one’s next, cosmic address during one’s lifetime, the transition is easier. Psychoactive substances are a legitimate shortcut under experienced supervision. They give the psychonaut a first taste of the cosmic oneness experience, so that the perspective on one’s own life and the world undergoes a fundamental broadening of horizons. The awareness of the limitations of a pure 3D existence becomes the driving force to free oneself from its narrowness. However, the gates of these subtle levels close again, when the “psychoactive fuel” is broken down by the organism. The user then falls back into the old closed 3D-mode. He cannot stay on this high vibrational energetic level unless he had practiced effective “meditation and purification techniques” to prepare the body for these intense energies.