What Are The Four Stages of Enlightenment?By Tchiki Davis, M.A., Ph.D.
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Why I Like ‘The Four Stages of Enlightenment’My own awakening arose spontaneously, without spiritual training, knowledge, or a guide of any kind. Although I looked for support, my awakening progressed so quickly that many of the teachers I interacted with were only helpful for a short while—I quickly saw what they were pointing to and kept moving forward. As a result, I often felt quite lost, lonely, and disoriented.
It wasn’t until I found the Buddhist maps of enlightenment (e.g., Ingram, 2018; Sayadaw, 2016; Schanilec, n.d.) that I was able to understand why my awakening experience was different from other people’s—I was just in a different stage. By having a map, we can understand where we are and where we’re going, and this makes it easier to seek out the support we need to keep moving forward. Get The FREE Awakening eBook✓ Discover what awakening is like
✓ Learn about the four stages between awakening & enlightenment ✓ Get exercises to progress Sign up below to get our FREE eBook. Stage 1 of EnlightenmentPartial Identity Dissolution
For many, a difficult period of meaninglessness, grief, and disillusion precedes awakening (e.g., Tolle, 2004). Awakening is then triggered when some part of the self-concept is seen through. Because we are not one solid thing (Wilber, 2007), the self-concept actually consists of many different parts. So, any part of ourselves can realize its own lack of separate existence and begin to dissolve. Thus, awakening can be experienced in a near-infinite number of different ways. Of course, we have already experienced identity shifts many times prior to awakening. But, during these earlier shifts, we always expanded within the self-concept. In other words, we still felt like a self; the self just changed its characteristics. In the past, we may have added to our identity or let go of parts of our identity that no longer served us—for example, maybe we stopped seeing ourselves as weak, stupid, or unlovable. Once we awaken, however, we begin to move beyond the self-concept. Rather than changing individual parts of the self-concept, parts of the self-concept are seen to not exist at all. For example, maybe we see that we are not the body, the mind, or the doer of our actions. Although the dissolution of a part of the self-concept is a huge deal, and it changes the way we see everything, this is just the very first step in the very first stage of enlightenment. Disidentification As awakening takes hold, we zoom out and begin seeing our experiences from a wider perspective. Some people describe this as seeing reality from the perspective of ‘witnessing awareness’, the ‘higher self’, or the ‘I am’ sense. As a psychologist, I prefer the term ‘awareness’. This is a really important shift where, instead of viewing the world through our beliefs, thoughts, and emotions, we begin to witness our experiences from a more expanded or non-attached perspective. At this point, we begin to see that our awareness (or this more expanded part of us) observes all of our other psychological experiences—experiences such as concepts, beliefs, thoughts, emotions, behaviors, social experiences, and physical experiences. We then begin to disidentify from these experiences. It’s important to note that many of us will now re-identify with the expanded part of us. At this point, it is not at all uncommon to develop a spiritual ego or become attached to an identity as a higher being, soul, awake self, or spacious awareness. This new identity can be helpful, temporarily, but it often becomes a significant hurdle later on. So, it’s best to remain as humble as we can about any new identities that form at this point. We have indeed glimpsed true reality, but at this first stage of enlightenment, nothing is what it seems to be. Soon enough, if we keep moving through the stages of enlightenment, we’ll discover that what seemed to be real here was just another layer of illusions. The Fullness Phase Next, most of us enter ‘the fullness phase’. This phase is sort of like a honeymoon period. During this phase, life feels ‘full’—full of experiences of joy, bliss, connection, gratitude, completeness, unity, synchronicity, mystical experiences, and sometimes even ‘supernatural’ abilities. Often, we will feel experiences of rapture—goosebumps, exhilaration, and happiness, unlike anything we’ve ever known. We tend to feel both infinitely free and connected to everything, simultaneously. Overall, this phase can be characterized by a sense of moving ‘up and out’ (Adyashanti, 2009). It often feels expansive, and we may even have experiences where we feel like we are merged with everything. The ordinary problems of daily life are not currently affecting us, and we get a taste of true freedom. This phase may last minutes, days, weeks, months, or possibly years. Some of us may even begin to think we’re enlightened because we are truly happy. But this phase is simply a part of the awakening process. Even though we are now awake to some extent, we are still quite far away from full enlightenment and the end of suffering. Still, this glimpse shows us what is possible and that we are on the right track. It also serves as a carrot at the end of a stick that can help us keep moving forward through the challenges that are up ahead. The Emptiness Phase If we continue moving forward, the fullness phase is generally followed by an emptiness phase. All the joyful, connected experiences vanish, and we often experience the deep suffering of separateness. It’s as if the peaceful, beautiful stream that we were joyfully floating in turns into a rocky, raging river. Instead of feeling completely full and connected with life, we now feel completely empty and disconnected from life. We may, at some point, have the realization that “I am nothing”. In other words, we see that the “I” that we thought we were doesn’t exist. This may evoke considerable sadness, depression, or nihilism, and we may grieve the loss of our former self. This phase begins a process of moving ‘down and in’ (Adyashanti, 2009). Now that we’ve gotten a taste of freedom, we have to go back into our mind and resolve all of our old issues. If we’re willing to allow this ‘down and in’ process to do its work, it will take us all the way through the awakening journey. But if we resist or cling to the blissful experiences of the ‘up and out’ process, we’re likely to get stuck. Emotional Processing Throughout awakening, the psychological material that we have spent our lives avoiding, suppressing, and repressing starts to come into awareness. Because we can no longer hide from ourselves, our old traumas, repressed emotions, and unhealed emotional issues can no longer be avoided. In the first purge of this trauma, we may sob heavily for months as we finally acknowledge, experience, and accept the strongest and deepest pains that we have been carrying. Although we will likely feel depressed at times, it is ultimately a release—a catharsis that often feels like a huge relief once it's over. It’s important to note that some people experience this purge before awakening and some experience it after. Getting Stuck Some of us will stay in this first stage of enlightenment. We’re somewhat awake—and that generally makes life a lot more enjoyable. We do get to enjoy the freedom that has come from letting some of the self-concept go. But, our ‘awakeness’ comes and goes in daily life, and we still suffer. In fact, realizing that we are still suffering may help us let go of this stage and continue moving forward. Stage 2 of EnlightenmentAwareness of Attraction & Aversion
Prior to awakening, it looked like suffering was caused by particular experiences. Bad circumstances seemed to create suffering. But now, awareness focuses its attention on attraction and aversion. As a result, we begin to see, in real time, that it is not experiences that cause suffering. From this perspective, it looks like suffering is created when the mind attaches to or pushes away experiences. We can clearly see that ‘bad’ experiences aren’t actually bothersome—what’s bothersome is that our mind is constantly trying to push and pull on these experiences. For example, something happens in our life, then the mind uses its concepts to label the situation as ‘good’ or ‘bad’. If the situation is labeled as ‘bad’, then the mind tries to push it away. This resistance or pushing away is what actually feels bad. If the situation is labeled as ‘good’, then the mind attaches or clings to it and tries to pull it closer. Because no experience is permanent, the ‘good’ situation eventually ends. So the clinging, attachment, or pulling in of something that can never last also feels bad. As we witness this parade of horribles, we slowly gain insight into attachment and aversion. Letting Go of Outcomes As we continue to observe attachment and aversion, we begin to let go of these processes, a little bit at a time. Every time the mind tricks us into ‘wanting’ or ‘not wanting’, we witness ourselves suffer. This experience is often so painful that at a certain point, it just becomes totally obvious that it’s not worth it. Although our minds will try to keep pushing and pulling for a while—usually out of habit—we slowly learn how to stop attaching and avoiding. Practically speaking, this might mean we stop caring about outcomes. For example, if we miss our flight, it’s okay because we are not attached to things going as planned. If someone yells at us about something, it’s okay because we weren’t expecting them to react differently. We still feel emotions and have expectations about life, but we don’t blame others for our own experiences. Instead, we use our upsets as opportunities to look inward and find the mental processes that are still causing our suffering. Staying Vigilant By this point, the self has weakened significantly. Rather than throwing massive temper tantrums all day long, like it used to, it simply broods quietly in the corner of awareness. However, it still has a few tricks up its sleeve, and it builds up strength to pounce whenever we let our guard down. Just when we feel settled, thoughts will swoop in and try to convince us that we still need them—that we will DIE without them. This can happen many, many times. In fact, most of us will have to witness and experience all of our old triggers, allowing them into awareness fully so that we can prove to ourselves that, no, they won’t kill us. Meaninglessness & Low Motivation As this process gains momentum, we may experience a pronounced dip in motivation. It turns out that ‘wanting’ and ‘not wanting’ drove the majority of our behavior. At this point, life can feel meaningless. It can be difficult to work, hard to engage in social interactions, and even boring to do many of the things that we used to enjoy. Although it’s common to experience a sense of meaninglessness earlier, prior to awakening and entering stage 1 of enlightenment, this current phase of meaninglessness goes a bit deeper. We realize that meaning, itself, is just a collection of thoughts and not actually real. This realization begins to erode the mental mechanisms that are involved in the meaning-making process. So, it’s not so much that we’re not finding meaning; meaning is no longer available. During this stage, I stopped exercising, seeing friends, and even going on vacations. My mind could no longer find a reason to do anything. Luckily, this phase passed, and everything continued on as normal. Belief In The Self-Concept At this stage, we will still feel like we are a separate self—we still have a few sticky aspects of self-concept that we are attached to—but the belief that we are a separate self is gone. As we continue to progress, this belief will work its way into our thoughts, emotions, actions, social experiences, and finally, at the end of the third stage of enlightenment, the physical sensation of me. Although letting go of attrachement, aversion, and the idea of self is often difficult, everything begins to change for the better. If there is no self, then we don’t have to feel guilty for our actions. We don’t have to worry about the future. We don’t even have to make the “right” decisions. If we can make it through this stage, we find that things are much easier and we are much freer than ever before. Stage 3 of EnlightenmentTuring Towards Experience
In this stage, attachment and aversion rarely pull our attention away from the present moment, so it gets a lot easier to stay with whatever arises in awareness. This makes the rest of the awakening process a bit easier. Our painful moments may be just as painful as before, but without attachment and aversion pulling our attention away from our suffering, we can finally turn towards it to face it fully. As we sit with each instance of suffering, it finally reveals its true nature and begins to dissolve. The Roller Coaster Phase As we begin to be with our experiences more fully, we’ll start to notice how we bounce back and forth between opposites. For example, we begin teeter-tottering between emptiness and fullness, one day feeling deep suffering and the next day feeling ecstatic bliss. Life is now trying to help us resolve duality by showing us that all dualities—like fullness and emptiness—are two sides of the same coin. At times, we will experience the highest highs, and at other times, we will experience the lowest lows. We do this for as long as it takes for us to realize that they are the same thing. By this point, all of our experiences seem to be happening on their own, outside of our control. Although we continue to observe whatever comes up, we no longer need to exert effort to engage in practices like meditation or self-inquiry—we no longer believe that there is a self that could choose to do so anyway. Whatever happens, happens on its own. We’re simply strapped into the roller coaster of life, and we go wherever it takes us. Paradoxical Reality We’ve now passively experienced both fullness and emptiness. We then teeter-tottered back and forth between these experiences until we saw that they are the same thing. This may sound paradoxical, and it is, but at this point, opposing poles of experience begin to merge. ‘Good’ experiences and ‘bad’ experiences begin to look the same. ‘Pleasant’ and ‘unpleasant’ emotions start to feel the same. Internal (sensations) and external (perceptions) feel the same. Without the mind constantly labeling, conceptualizing, and trying to control everything, we begin to experience oneness, nonduality, or the interpenetration of everythingness. Nonduality Eventually, we can clearly see that our mind splits reality into many parts, creating innumerable dualities out of one thing and labeling it as many different sets of two things. It is only when the mind labels, categorizes, and conceptualizes things that they seem dual. In reality, everything is nondual. As we see through more and more of our mental constructs and processes, we begin to experience reality as it truly is. In other words, we start to see how pairs of opposites—like good and bad, right and wrong, here and there, now and then—are actually made of the same neutral, nondual “stuff”. With continued observation, we see through even more subtle concepts—like time and space—that seem to make our reality. Because we are now experiencing our 5 senses—sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell—without the mental labels that we are used to, reality can actually start to look different. For example, the thoughts that label things as ‘here’ or ‘there’ may suddenly vanish and, as a result, things that used to appear far away look incredibly close. Although nonduality can be intense at times, it is generally fun, interesting, and beautiful. Observing The Sensation of “Me” As we continue to stay fully present with our experiences, they will get more and more subtle. What we used to call ‘negative emotions’ don’t arise much anymore, but underneath, we discover the even more subtle sensations that still seem to create suffering. We are now like The Princess and The Pea, an old tale about a princess who could feel a single pea under 20 mattresses. We can feel absolutely everything. At some point, we will notice the sensations that seem to provide proof that we are a separate self. In the body, it may feel like a contraction, a feeling of holding the self together, a clenched fist in the gut (Adyashanti, 2009), or even a taste (Michelberger, 2022). To keep moving forward, we just have to stay present and move towards these uncomfortable sensations—that is, we acknowledge, experience, and accept them over and over again until they reveal what they really are. Existential Fear
As the final bits of the self dissolve, many of us will come face-to-face with existential fear, or the fear of death, annihilation, or oblivion. As we approach existential fear, it might almost feel like we’re being sucked into nothingness. Indeed, the self-concept is now facing its own death. Most of us will resist and back away—perhaps a few times—terrified that if we allow this fear in, we will literally vanish. But once we fully surrender to our own existential fear—once we acknowledge it and experience it fully—we will have experiential knowing that it was all in our minds. What we once thought to be the great and powerful Oz was nothing more than a little old man pulling strings. As a result, fear can never trick us the way it used to. This realization creates a previously unimaginable level of openness and acceptance. Now, we no longer want to turn away from any experiences; we want to turn towards them. If we can simply get the courage to look at the monsters under our bed, POOF, they disappear. Core Suffering If we keep digging deeper, we will finally find core suffering, restlessness, resistance, and ignorance (Schanilec, n.d.). This “core suffering” is held together by whatever concepts we still believe to be real. Ultimately, no concept is true and therefore, nothing can ever be known. Anything we seek can not be found. Everything that appears to be real is also unreal. As we sit with this insight, and it extends itself to our remaining concepts, our misunderstanding of reality fades, and the entire illusion dissolves permanently. There is nothing left, and suffering stops. Game over. Stage 4 of EnlightenmentThe Pathless Path
From the perspective of the self, we followed a path all the way to the end of suffering. From the perspective of enlightenment, there is no us and there is no path. From the perspective of the self, we spent decades suffering. From the perspective of enlightenment, we were always free. So, a weird thing occurs after full enlightenment. The self that we thought we were is never enlightened; it is just seen to have never existed in the first place. Full Enlightenment The truth is that we were never actually separate from the unshakable peace of reality; we only thought we were. So there are no big celebrations or mystical experiences at the gate to full enlightenment. The only difference now is that the self, and the mind that created it, are no longer clouding our view of reality as it really is. Four Stages of Enlightenment WorksheetDownload the following worksheet HERE to explore your experiences and move deeper into awakening.
Four Stages of Enlightenment — Reflection Worksheet
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Final Thoughts on The Four Stages of EnlightenmentHopefully, you now have a better understanding of the four stages of enlightenment. As you can probably guess, there are lots of places to get stuck along the path. So, not everyone makes it to the end. In the subsequent chapters, we’ll explore the path to and through awakening in more depth so that you can get an idea of where you are, where you’re going, and how to find your way to the end of suffering.
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