I plan to write about Julia’s state within the next few days because it seems wonderful and interesting to me. But before I do, as a sort of prequel, I’d like to give readers a chance to familiarize themselves with the following ideas. <\/p>\n
The first idea is that our sense of “me” or awareness is found in various physical locations in the body. The three main locations are usually said to be the head, heart, and belly.<\/p>\n
The second idea is that there are several kinds of enlightenment, each of which corresponds to some extent to one of those locations.<\/p>\n
The best introduction to these ideas that I know is this talk by Adyashanti:<\/p>\n
Awakening on the Level of Mind, Heart, and Gut<\/a><\/p>\n This book is also helpful:<\/p>\n The Little Book of Hara by Peter Wilberg<\/a><\/p>\n It’s free with Amazon Prime.<\/p>\n These ideas are reminiscent of some that we find in very old texts. For example, according to the Brahma Upanishad<\/i><\/a> (II, 9), purusha<\/i> (consciousness) inhabits the navel, heart, throat, and head. Each region corresponds to a state of consciousness: the navel to waking, the head to sleep, the heart to dreamless sleep, and the head to turiya<\/i>. (I am indebted to Yoga: Immortality and Freedom<\/i><\/a> by Mircea Eliade, a truly magnificent book, for drawing my attention to the facts in this paragraph.)<\/p>\n The author who has written most about these ideas, as far as I know, is Anadi (Aziz Kristof). I am mentioning his writings because I think they are interesting. I am not recommending him as a teacher or retreat leader. He has been accused by former students of sexual abuse. Anadi has incorporated these ideas into an extremely complex system that contains many details, but here is the basic idea in his own words:<\/p>\n In our [Anadi’s] teaching, the term \u2018I am\u2019 refers to the subjectivity of the beyond. \u2018Transcendent I am\u2019 refers to that subjectivity as a whole, which itself has three dimensions: universal I am (also called universal consciousness), absolute I am (or, the \u2018source\u2019), and primordial I am (the immanent and highest dimension of the divine). In the human body there are three portals that each lead to samadhi in one of these three dimensions. Samadhi in universal I am is realized through the portal at the back of the head; samadhi in absolute I am is realized through the portal of tan t\u2019ien in the lower belly; and primordial I am is realized through the immanent portal hidden within essence-me, at the bottom of the forehead.’<\/p><\/blockquote>\n