The ascended masters have given numerous and very complex teachings about the spiritual path. You can find them in several of the books and in the dictations on the Ascended Master Light website. You can also find answers to questions about the spiritual path on the Ascended Master Answers website. This article is meant to give a basic overview of how to get started on the path offered by the ascended masters.
The outer versus the inner path
In today’s world, the Internet has made it easier than ever to find out that there is a spiritual path. This means that many people may come across some outer teaching that talks about the path, but they are not necessarily ready to grasp what the spiritual path really is about. In that respect, it is important to explain that the path offered by the ascended masters today is very different from the way most religions in the world talk about salvation.
Most religions say that we humans are in a lower state that will not give us access to eternal life in a higher realm (however they portray it). In order to be let into this heaven world, we need to meet certain requirements, and they are often portrayed as outer requirements. In other words, if you become a member of an outer religion, follow all of its requirements and obey its hierarchy of officials, then you are guaranteed to go to heaven, even if you don’t change your state of consciousness.
Most of us grew up being affected by this view, and we might think that salvation is about pleasing some remote, wish-fulfilling God in the sky, who will then let us into his kingdom without requiring us to look into our own psychology. You might remember that Jesus talked about those who were looking at the splinter in the eyes of other people while ignoring the beam in their own eyes. For thousands of years many religions have perpetuated the belief that you can enter heaven by living up to outer requirements, meaning you can be saved without actually changing yourself, your psychology and state of mind. As Jesus explains on his website, this is an entirely false idea.
You probably always had certain doubts about this outer path to salvation, which is why you became open to spiritual teachings. The outer path implies that people can enter heaven without changing their psychological make-up, meaning heaven must be populated with beings who are selfish, jealous and small-minded. This obviously makes no sense, and it leads to a profound conclusion.
Entering a higher realm is NOT about meeting a set of outer requirements. Qualifying to enter a higher realm is an INNER process that requires us to refine our psychology so we overcome the selfish tendencies that make life on this planet so filled with conflict and abuse. The spiritual path is all about raising our level of consciousness so we rise above and transcend all of the petty, selfish tendencies that many people see as part of human nature. The ascended masters teach that this is not part of our true nature. God did not create us as selfish beings, we became so by descending into lower states of consciousness. The ONLY way out is therefore to reverse the process and rise to higher levels of consciousness.
Naturally, it might take some time for people to adjust to this reality. Many people have found the spiritual path in a form that presents an outer path to higher levels of consciousness. Many spiritual teachings and gurus present a gradual path instead of instant salvation, but they still say this path can be followed by studying teachings and practicing techniques—meaning you don’t have to look too deeply into your psychology.
There is nothing wrong with people following the spiritual path at the level they can grasp it. However, this outer path is not what is presented by the ascended masters on the Ascended Master Resources network. The teachings presented here are for people who are ready to embrace the inner path and who are willing to look at their psychology and acknowledge that: “I need to change—not other people, not the world and not God. No, I am the one who needs to change.” Then, how do we get started on this inner path?
The spiritual path is about reaching higher levels of consciousness
As explained in the article about the 144 levels of consciousness, there is a vast distance between the lowest and the highest levels of consciousness possible on this planet. No one can cross that distance in one giant leap, meaning that instant enlightenment simply isn’t possible. That is why the ascended masters say that we all have to follow a gradual path from lower to higher levels of consciousness.
One way to explain this (not the only way) is to say that if you started at the highest level of consciousness (the 144th level) and descended towards lower levels, then for each step you took down, you would accept a particular illusion about yourself, about the world and how you interact with the world. This means that the lower you go, the more clouded your mind becomes. Your conscious mind cannot see clearly but sees everything through layer upon layer of illusions.
If you were suddenly stripped of all these illusions, you would suffer a severe identity crises because you have incorporated the illusions into your sense of identity. We all need a sense of identity in order to function on this very difficult and dense planet. We also need a sense of continuity, so if we were suddenly stripped of all illusions, we would no longer know who we are and would likely go insane (as has happened to some people).
That is why the ascended masters give us a gradual path whereby we start at our present level of consciousness (the level we are at when we recognize that there is a path towards higher levels). We take one step at a time, and for each step we overcome a particular illusion. As we are free of this illusion, we need some time to adjust our sense of identity and we can then take the next step.
So if we say a person discovers the spiritual path at the 48th level of consciousness, that person doesn’t need teachings that expose all of the illusions above that level. The person really needs to overcome the illusion associated with the 48th level of consciousness. And then it can move on to the 49th level.
The two aspects of growth
The central aspect of spiritual growth is to overcome our illusions, but where do these illusions reside? As explained in another article, we have four levels of our minds, or four lower bodies. These are made from energy of various vibratory levels, the most dense being the physical body (and the mind associated with the body), then comes the emotional, then the mental and finally the identity body as the highest. We have illusions in all four bodies.
This is important because what sustains us is a stream of energy from our higher selves, and it first flows into the identity body and then down through the others. This means that the illusions we have in the identity body are at a higher level than the mental body, meaning they cannot be questioned by the analytical or rational mind. Likewise, the illusions in the mental body cannot be questioned from the emotional level.
What is the function of such an illusion? It is that it acts like a filter that colors the energy coming from our higher selves. For example, many people have an illusion in the emotional body that says anger is acceptable in certain situations, or even that it is the only possible response. When energy flows through this illusion as we react to outer situations, the energy is lowered in vibration so it cannot flow back up to our higher selves. This means the energy must accumulate in the emotional body. This has two effects:
- As the energy accumulates, it pull on our minds, meaning we become more prone to react according to the energy. The more anger energy we have in our emotional bodies, the more prone we are to respond with anger to many situations. Some people respond with anger to any and all situations and are generally angry with life.
- The accumulated energy forms a blockage that prevents our conscious minds from seeing the illusion behind the energy, and also prevents us from looking into the higher bodies.
Let us now say that you become aware that there is a spiritual path and you decide that you want to grow. The core of your growth is that you see through and dismiss or transcend certain illusions. But if you have fear-based energy in your four lower bodies (as we all have on this very turbulent planet), the energy will prevent you from seeing the illusions. Emotional energy will also prevent you from seeing beyond the illusions at the physical or emotional level.
Most spiritual people desire growth partly because we want to overcome the turbulence in our own minds. We want peace of mind and we want to have greater control over our minds and reactions. How can we accomplish this?
For most of us, the primary problem we face when we first find the spiritual path is the fear-based energy in our emotional bodies. And while this may sound abstract and mysterious, there is nothing mystical about it. Energy is simply waves that have a certain level of vibration. Yet all energy can be changed into a higher or lower vibration. How can we change anger energy into a higher vibration? We have to get energy waves of a higher vibration and direct them into the anger energy. This is a scientific process and when two energy waves meet, they produce what scientists call an interference pattern, meaning they two waves combine to a new form of energy with a different vibratory level.
In order to help us perform this transformation of the energy in our four lower bodies, the ascended masters have given us a variety of tools whereby we can unlock a stream of energy from the ascended masters and direct it into specific energy blockages in our four lower bodies. By doing this on a systematic basis, we can gradually transform the fear-based energy that we have accumulated over many lifetimes, and this can have several effects:
- We reduce the turmoil and chaos in our energy fields or minds.
- We begin to feel that we have more control over our lives.
- We feel lighter and happier.
- It becomes much less painful for us to look into our psychology and discover our wounds and hang-ups (because the energy is less intense).
- We become able to see certain reactionary patterns and the beliefs behind them. This means we can overcome an illusion and take a step higher on the path.
- As our minds become less clouded, we can see beyond our emotional minds to the higher levels of our minds and begin to resolve illusions there. This means we become able to fathom higher spiritual teachings than we could grasp in the beginning.
The ascended masters have release such tools for invoking spiritual light since the 1930s and millions of people have proven that they work for transforming energy. However, while the transformation of energy is the motor that drives our growth, it will only have the best results if we know how to steer our growth in the most constructive direction. And this is where guidance from the ascended masters is invaluable because they have walked the path themselves and can guide us through the different stages.
The beginning stage of the inner path
The ascended masters say that when a being first takes embodiment on earth, it descends to the 48th level of consciousness. Such a being then has a choice to follow the upward path towards the 144th level or to take a downward path towards lower levels. Because of the turbulent conditions on this planet, most of us have descended below the 48th level of consciousness in past lives. There is no need to feel guilty about this, as planet earth is simply a reality simulator in which we need a certain amount of experiences. So most of us needed to go below the 48th level in order to experience what it is like.
When we go below the 48th level, we lose conscious contact with our I AM Presences and with the ascended masters. We may be open to receiving certain directions from the masters, but this usually only happens in extreme situations. Because we have lost this direct contact, we have entered what the masters call the School of Hard Knocks. This means we will learn from physical events that happen to us. We learn from making choices and experiencing the physical consequences of them. We learn by repeating certain patterns until we have had enough of it and decide to abandon the corresponding level of consciousness.
It is possible to make progress on this path and move our way back up to the 48th level of consciousness, which is the level where we are ready to find the inner path. This is the path where we become open to learning from spiritual teachers (including observing what happens to other people). In other words, we become open to learning from the experiences of others instead of having to make every possible mistake ourselves.
This is also the stage where we become open to the pivotal realization that separates those on the outer path from those on the inner path. The realization is that what happens inside our minds (our experience of life or LIFE Experience) is not the automatic result of what happens outside of our minds. Spiritual growth towards self-mastery is really about taking command over our inner or psychological circumstances so we can choose our state of mind regardless of outer conditions. This is what was demonstrated by Jesus, the Buddha and other spiritual maters.
There is a cosmic law which states: When the student is ready, the teacher appears. This means that when we reach the 48th level, we must find some kind of spiritual teaching that helps us walk the inner path. Take note that this does not necessarily mean that you were at the 48th level when you found a spiritual teaching in this lifetime. Many spiritual people have risen beyond the 48th level in past lives and may start at a higher level in this lifetime.
The point is that there is a very important stage of the spiritual path that begins at the 48th level and takes us to the 96th level. Although several things characterize this path, the most important is that this is the stage where we pull ourselves above the magnetic pull from the collective consciousness. The ascended masters say that people below the 48th level are heavily affected by the mass consciousness and some people are mindlessly pulled in various directions by the collective. This can be seen in everything from the religion people believe in to how they follow fashion trends. Most spiritual people have been beyond this stage all of our lives, which is why we have often been ostracized for not doing what everybody else around us did.
In order to become free of the pull from the collective, we have to free our four lower bodies from each of the illusions from the 48th to the 96th level and we have to also transform the fear-based energies in our four bodies. It is these energies that the energies in the mass consciousness can pull on. And it is the illusions that make us feel a pressure to conform to the mass consciousness and its norms. This combination of a belief and the accumulated energy is what creates a reactionary pattern (or internal spirit or self) that makes us prone to respond automatically to certain situations instead of consciously choosing our response. We can also say that spiritual growth is about capturing the freedom to respond to outer situations according to a free choice and not some predefined pattern.
Because this is such an important stage, the ascended masters have given a unique series of books that are designed to take us one step at a time from the 48th to the 96th level of consciousness (see below). This Course in Self-mastery represents the most direct and easy-to-follow spiritual guidance yet released on this planet. It is an amazing help for all spiritual seekers, even if they are at higher levels of consciousness because it helps us pass all of the initiations without having anything left undone.
A crucial turning point
When we reach the 96th level of consciousness, we face a crucial initiation. In order to rise from the 48th to the 96th level, we need to build a strong sense of self so we are not pulled down by the mass consciousness. This is perfectly in order as it is this self that carries us to the 96th level. However, the crucial realization (which you will not find in many spiritual teachings) is that the self that takes us to the 96th level cannot take us beyond that level.
The reason is that this self is focused on being special compared to the mass consciousness. In other words, this self sees it as important to be more advanced than others, meaning it is focused on raising itself compared to others. This is why many spiritual students dream of one day acquiring special or supernatural abilities and why even some spiritual gurus claim to have them.
At the 96th level we face the initiation of whether we will continue to build on this self and seek to make it increasingly special or whether we will be willing to follow the call of Jesus to lose our lives in order to follow him. The question is whether we are willing to let go of this separate self bit by bit in order to put on the higher state of consciousness that is beyond all focus on self. Will we continue to walk the path based on a self-centered motivation, or will we shift into walking the path in order to serve either other people or the ascended masters (who serve all people).
The ascended masters have given many teachings on this path to personal Christhood. Some are found on the Ascended Master Light website and some in the following books:
Master Keys to Personal Christhood
Master Keys to Spiritual Freedom
The higher stages of the path
There is a very strong dream among spiritual people that we will one day reach some ultimate state of consciousness and be free of all ego and have special or supernatural abilities. In many spiritual movements it is believed that the founder or guru has reached such a state of consciousness. The ascended masters teach that while we will indeed rise to successively higher states of consciousness, we will not reach an ultimate state as long as we are still in embodiment. The reason is that the earth is a very dense planet, and if we reached a higher state of consciousness, we could no longer hold on to the physical body but would ascend.
The ascended masters teach that we will continue to walk a gradual path of seeing through exceedingly more subtle illusions until we reach the 144th level of consciousness. This is the point where we can ascend. Again, the ascended masters have given many teachings on how to rise towards the 144th level of consciousness, both on the websites and in books.
The final stage from the 96th to the 144th level requires us to go very deeply into our psychology, going all the way back to our first embodiment on this planet, perhaps even earlier. This is far beyond what is found in mainstream psychology and even most spiritual teachings. The masters have given many teaching to help us navigate the final stage, but the most profound tool yet is found in a series of books that describe how many spiritual people have come to earth as avatars from natural planets (without conflict and warfare). These are the first two books in the series:
My Lives with Lucifer, Satan, Hitler and Jesus
Healing Your Spiritual Traumas
A unique course in self-mastery
The ascended masters constantly work to make it easier for as many people as possible to discover and follow the spiritual path. They do this partly by giving more, and more advanced, teachings but also by making their teachings easier to grasp and apply for a larger number of people. As part of this latter effort, the ascended masters have released a series of books that are designed to take people through the initiations that can raise our consciousness from the 48th to the 144th level.
This series is called The Path to Self-Mastery and consists of an introductory book and then one book for each of the seven spiritual rays. These books each contain seven chapters dictated by the Chohan of the respective ray and then a series of practical exercises to help you integrate the lessons.
This is an unprecedented opportunity for spiritual seekers to have a systematic course for passing all of the initiations from the 48th to the 96th level. The course can be taken by any spiritual seeker, even if your level of consciousness is already above the 48th level. You can still benefit from these initiations because they give you an opportunity to revisit steps that you might have missed or not integrated fully. Thus, you can make sure that there is nothing that pulls you below the 96th level of consciousness.
The books are:
The Mystical Initiations of Power
The Mystical Initiations of Wisdom
The Mystical Initiations of Love
The Mystical Initiations of Intention
The Mystical Initiations of Vision