Wilber (2000a) believes that our current level of consciousness development is firmly entrenched in the personal level, but we have the potential to grow into transpersonal states. Through growing beyond the personal and into the transpersonal, we can live fuller, more meaningful, and more authentic lives. The great yogis, religious figures, and avatars have shown us the way to higher levels. Each great sage or mystic leader has left behind the perennial teachings that tell us how to follow into transpersonal realms. Each religious figure has described the benefits and rewards of following in his or her footsteps. We all possess that capacity, and it is up to each of us to participate in the evolutionary history of humankind.

As Wilber (2000a) claims, "the higher levels in the Great Nest are potentials, not absolute givens. The lower levels – matter, body, mind – have already emerged on a large scale, so they already exist full-fledged in the manifest world" (p. 12). The higher realms – psychic, subtle, and causal – represent fields of potential. As more humans rise into these states and learn to maintain and stabilize these states of consciousness, they make it easier for all of us to follow in their path. Wilber believes that "they are still plastic, still open to being formed as more and more people coevolve into them" (p. 12).

Wilber’s model gives us reason to believe that the mind transcends and thus is located outside the body. This concurs with Dossey’s (1993) conclusion that mind is nonlocal and not fixed inside the brain. Since the mind develops after the body, the mind transcends and includes the body in developmental sequence. If we use our intuitive sense, we recognize that the mind must be separate from brain function even though materialists try to convince us otherwise. This is an important issue to ponder, because if the mind is not located inside the brain, then it gives proof for nonlocal events produced by the mind, such as the power of prayer to affect the body.

Welwood (Wellings and McCormick, 2000) provides a slightly different understanding of Wilber’s developmental levels of consciousness. Welwood’s understanding helps us see how Wilber’s stages develop in therapeutic terms.

1. Prereflective identification, or being asleep (Wilber’s Preconventional or prepersonal level):

   As the ego is formed, it begins to contribute to the contents of consciousness, which it identifies as self, or identity. It is a part of the child’s development of becoming, and it occupies the first part of life. Erikson’s stage one through five are about adding contents to the identity. One becomes separate from others and solidifies the duality of self and other, self and the world, self and not self. We also become self aware and able to reflect on self as self. We are able to observe ourselves objectively. The first part of therapy or spiritual counseling aimed at facilitating the process of duality making – to clarify the identity, to strengthen the self. The fragile ego must become healthy and strong. The issues from the past that keep it fragile must be resolved. The unconscious acts of our lives must be brought to self-reflective awareness (Wellings and McCormick, 2000).

    

2. Reflective attention, waking (Wilber’s conventional or personal level): This level has two sub-levels

   • Conceptual reflection – we develop the ability to be self-aware and we thus bring the Witness into being. We can reflect on the contents of consciousness, on actions, thoughts, and feelings we possess. We find the pattern and meaning in our lives. We meet our repressed unconscious aspects, feel our way through them, and integrate them into our understanding and appreciation of our self. We begin to see that our dual consciousness is the cause of suffering.

   • Phenomenological reflection – instead of dwelling in the past, we begin to reflect on the immediate experience. How do I feel right now, in this moment? We close the gap between life history issues and immediacy in the moment. Rather than reciting memories of experience, we reflect on experience of the present moment. This stage is reflected in Gendlin’s Focusing process (Wellings and McCormick, 2000).

    

3. Naked Presence, awake (Wilber’s postconventional or transpersonal level):

   This is movement into spiritual practice. Instead of reflecting upon, we now witness. It is a neutral process of witnessing rather than identifying with what is witnessed. We observe without any intention of changing that which is observed. In other words, the Witness part of ourselves takes center stage, and the contents of consciousness begin to drop away or fall into the background. We realize our true ‘Self’ through three levels of Naked Presence:

   • Concentration and development of a calm state – object meditation works well at this stage. We let go of our identity that is attached to our thoughts and perceptions.

   • Insight – the transpersonal witness emerges. We lose identification with our thoughts; they are simply observed. We let go of identifying ourselves with the contents of consciousness, and move into an observational state of consciousness.

   • Transreflective presence – emptiness and form are one – unity. Fully present and awake. A state of awareness. There is nothing to do, nowhere to go. Welwood calls it Unconditional Presence (Wellings and McCormick, 2000).

This Unconditional Presence is the best state for the spiritual counselor to use in the counseling process. It is the most powerful transmuting power there is (Wellings and McCormick, 2000). We will discuss Unconditional Presence in a later section.

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