“I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,” writes the Evangelist John in the Book of Revelations.
Who does not long for such a life-changing transcendental experience?
Higher Centers
Stepping along, I feel a special energy moving inside me. My vision becomes sharp, peripheral vision clear, impressions vivid. Each impression reflects back the higher world temporarily embodied in me. I hear all the sounds around me and behind them a greater silence encompassing all. The constant inner chatter is noticeably absent. I am distinctly aware of myself and my surroundings. As when the sun suddenly breaks through a thick layer of dark clouds, all is illuminated and golden. The state stays for a good number of long, timeless moments. Then gradually the colors fade, vision blurs, hearing becomes dull. One by one, the many ‘I’s come back.
Higher centers are part of the hardware of the human machine and are receptors for experiences of higher worlds. Experiences of them leave behind vivid, photographic traces in our memory. While such exceptional states may give a direction for our spiritual life, in a way they do not belong to us—because we cannot directly control them. What is more under our control is the number of moments in a day that we are present.
Creating and Extending Presence
There is an intermediate state between ordinary waking state and the full experience of higher centers. This is simple self-awareness in the present moment—so simple that we easily overlook it. It requires a return to essence.
Have you ever experienced, when it is raining, that you suddenly become aware of the sound of the rain falling on the roof, or on the leaves of trees, or hitting the sidewalk? The present moment rises to become everything. It is a strangely familiar experience. Very soon, the flow of thoughts resumes, and you forget the experience. In such a seemingly insignificant moment, our essence comes forth.
Essence is who we were as an infant and has a natural interest in its immediate environment. In the course of life, growth of personality covers up essence. A whole series of inner disciplines, such as not expressing negative emotions, keeping small aims and personal exercises, are necessary to loosen the hold of personality, and allow essence to come forward. Once we combine self-remembering with this state of essence, presence becomes deep.
To be able to develop self-remembering, we also need to find and hold a certain emotional element. This is a new kind of emotion, developed through the work of being present. It is a gentle emotional fire that feeds on the experience of being present. This new emotion is the result of all our inner work.
Conscious Influence
In my experience, there is another way to create extended periods of presence. This is being together with the teacher and other students in school meetings. Consciousness somehow multiplies when we assemble in an intentional and focused environment. These moments contribute to our invisible store of moments outside of time.
We also cannot leave out the role of some kind of divine help in developing higher consciousness. Man cannot develop himself by himself, but only with help from a higher order of beings, known as Influence C. Practically all the great spiritual traditions speak of this. Without this help, no permanent development of consciousness is possible. In the context of a school, one gains personal experience of the nature of this conscious influence.
If we are looking for life-changing experiences, for connecting with the hidden higher centers, we must remember that everything begins with bringing our native awareness to the present moment.
About David Tuttle
David Tuttle, with over forty years in the work, has contributed various articles for the FourthWayToday.org, including School Traditions and the Ideal State, Lost to the World, What is it Then Between Us, An Apollo Walk and The Cascade Fire. He is also a co-founder of a new discussion group for Fourth Way students: A Question of Presence – Discussion.
See his most recent article in FourthWayToday.org here: