Stage 10–Ascent

Being the Light/Being the Love

Receiving Your Gifts

Merging Past the Illusion of a Separate Soul

Of the Twelve Stages of Healing, the tenth stage is known as the “ascent” stage.  This is the experience of the mystical that many religions and spiritual traditions seek as the highest experience of being.  You can compare it to “Christ Consciousness,” “Nirvana,” “transpersonal integration,” etc.

In this stage you lose your sense of self in the experience of absolutes.  In Stage 9, you experienced yourself as connected and full of light.  In Stage 10, the clear boundary of your own light dissolves and begins to merge with the Universe.  Donald Epstein compares this to having the light you experienced in Stage 9 represent a candle burning brightly.  As you move through Stage 9, you become aware that there is a bright light outside, and it is coming into the room.  You realize your candle does not seem as bright as it did before compared to this light.  If you were to walk outside into the bright noontime sun with your candle, it appears that the candle is no longer lit, but you know that is just an illusion.  This is what the loss of your sense of self is like.  Your own light has not diminished but merged with the greater intensity of the Light of the Universe.

We experience our union with the creative force of the universe.  We transcend the limits, boundaries, language, and judgments of our existing sense of self.  We gain the wisdom of knowing the oneness of all of creation during this stage.  We feel as follows:  “I have had moments where I have merged past the illusion that I am separate from the spirit of all life, the essence of love, and my experience of the most Divine.  I had had the experience that I am within all, and all of life is connected to me.  I have experienced the grace of love as a physical and spiritual phenomenon through light, vibration, or touch.  I know that I know and am humbled by this experience of the infinite element of life.  I am grateful to witness this Greatness.

—SomatoRespiratory Integration Workbook

There is no fear in experiencing the chaos in Stage 10 because you know that the Divine is fully supporting you throughout the experience.  In Stage 10 you merge with the unrecognized wholeness of your being.

In Stage 9 you experienced energy or consciousness expressing THROUGH you; in Stage 10, you BECOME consciousness.  You BECOME energy.  You BECOME love.  The concept of boundaries is blurred, and you lose your sense of time, space, meaning, and self only to fully surrender to Oneness.

Next Week:  Stage 11–Descent