From Egoic Self To The Heart’s Core Essence: A Transformational Five-Stage Journey Leading To Full Awakening
Stage 1: Establishing Awareness Through Reference Points
At the beginning of the path, the mind needs anchors—points of stability that allow awareness to become clearer, more focused, and less distracted. The goal of this stage is not to become dependent on these reference points but to use them as stepping stones toward deeper, more stable presence.
1. Grounding The Body As The First Reference Point
• Sit comfortably, with the spine naturally aligned but not rigid.
• Feel the weight of your body resting on the earth or the surface beneath you.
• Instead of “watching” the body, simply be aware of being embodied—the presence of form, breath, and sensations.
• When thoughts arise, return to the bodily presence, not by suppressing thoughts, but by sinking deeper into direct experience.
Why?
The body is always present, while thoughts are fleeting. By anchoring awareness in the body, we begin to shift from conceptual engagement to direct presence.
2. Using Breath As A Natural Unfolding Reference
• Breathe naturally—no forced control, simply observing the rhythm.
• Feel the breath as it enters, expands the chest, and releases.
• Do not “focus” on the breath as an object—just notice the natural unfolding of sensation as the breath comes and goes.
• Instead of thinking about breathing, feel the experience of being breathed by the universe itself.
Why?
The breath is not “you,” yet it sustains you. Observing its flow loosens identification with the thinking mind and gradually allows awareness to open.
3. Centering Awareness In The Heart Space
• Shift focus to the center of your chest, not as a physical object but as an energetic presence.
• Do not try to “visualize” something—simply feel the sense of being alive in the heart space.
• If distractions arise, gently return to the awareness of presence in the heart, using it as the home of your being.
• Let awareness sink deeper, moving from thoughts toward silent presence.
Why?
The heart is the gateway to deeper perception. By making it the center of awareness, the mind gradually learns to rest there, opening to a more refined state of being.
Integration Into Daily Life
• Throughout the day, return to bodily presence, breath awareness, or the heart space whenever possible.
• Do not turn this into a rigid practice—just let presence arise naturally, wherever you are.
• The goal is to make awareness more familiar until it becomes a background presence rather than an effortful focus.
This first stage builds the foundation for stable presence using direct reference points. Once this foundation is strong, we can gradually refine awareness toward subtler levels, eventually transcending reference points altogether.
Refining Stage 1: Why Do We Practice?
At the core of this path is a simple but profound realization: we have lost ourselves in distractions, layers of conditioning, and mistaken identities. We are searching for something—happiness, meaning, fulfillment—but we search outwardly, chasing reflections instead of seeing the source within. This practice is about returning to what we already are, peeling away illusions and reconnecting with the radiant presence at our heart’s core.
The Unconscious Sidetrackings That Pull Us Away
1. Seeking Ourselves In Thoughts
• We believe that thinking will give us the answers.
• We analyze, plan, and build stories, but thoughts are impermanent—they are waves on the surface, not the ocean itself.
• No matter how much we think, we never find ourselves in concepts.
2. Being Trapped By External Goals
• We seek happiness in achievements, relationships, possessions.
• Each goal, once reached, leaves us unfulfilled, and the search begins again.
• We live as if something is always missing—because we look for completion outside ourselves.
3. Over-Identifying With Emotions
• When emotions arise, we feel consumed by them.
• We mistake temporary feelings for our true self, but all emotions pass.
• Clinging to them creates cycles of suffering rather than freedom.
4. Losing Ourselves in Sensory Experiences
• Sensory pleasures can be enjoyed, but they are fleeting.
• When we rely on external stimulation for fulfillment, we remain enslaved to impermanence.
• Instead of using the senses as tools, we become addicted to the search for pleasant experiences.
5. Turning The Spiritual Path Into Another Distraction
• We may replace material pursuits with spiritual ones, but if we only collect knowledge and techniques without deepening awareness, it remains an intellectual pursuit rather than true transformation.
Refining Stage 1: Why Do We Practice?
At the core of this path is a fundamental truth: we have drifted away from our own essence, forgetting the simple and radiant presence that is always within us. We live entangled in distractions, identifying with passing thoughts and emotions, and mistaking fleeting experiences for our true self. The purpose of this practice is not to create something new, but to return to what has never been lost—the undistorted presence of our heart’s core essence.
The Unconscious Sidetrackings That Pull Us Away
1. Seeking Ourselves In Thoughts
• We believe that if we think enough, analyze deeply, or gather enough knowledge, we will finally understand ourselves.
• Yet thoughts are impermanent and fragmented—they appear and disappear, never providing lasting clarity.
• The more we identify with them, the further we drift from direct experience, mistaking the map for the territory.
2. Chasing External Fulfillment
• We search for meaning in success, relationships, possessions, experiences, hoping they will bring lasting wholeness.
• But all external conditions are unstable and fleeting—even the most fulfilling moments pass.
• True fulfillment is not in acquiring more but in recognizing what is already complete within us.
3. Emotional Reactions And Identity Traps
• We get swept away by emotions, believing them to be who we are.
• Instead of seeing emotions as movements within us, we become entangled in them, strengthening old patterns of attachment and aversion.
• Fear, anger, and longing arise from believing in separation—as if we lack something essential.
4. Spiritual Bypassing And Overcomplication
• Some seek higher states of consciousness while ignoring the foundation—presence in the body, breath, and heart.
• Others become obsessed with esoteric knowledge, rituals, or practices, mistaking complexity for depth.
• But awakening is not about adding layers—it is about stripping away everything unnecessary until only essence remains.
The Purpose Of This Practice
This first stage is about turning attention inward, away from distractions, toward the direct experience of being. By grounding awareness in the body, breath, and heart, we begin to reclaim what was never truly lost.
Instead of seeking outside or in concepts, we learn to rest in our natural presence. Instead of chasing temporary satisfaction, we reconnect with what is already whole. This is the foundation—the first step in a path that leads not to something new, but to what has always been here.
This refinement adds the deeper reasoning behind why we start with presence before progressing further.
Refining Stage 1: How The Ego Extends Its Hold On Each Chakra
A common mistake in spiritual pursuit is seeking something outside ourselves—a higher state, divine presence, or mystical vision—while unknowingly strengthening the very illusion that keeps us trapped. When we conceptualize enlightenment as an external goal or associate it with figures like the Virgin Mary, angels, or deities that we believe are separate from us, we create a false duality: the good vs. the bad, the higher vs. the lower, the sacred vs. the mundane.
This is not just a mental delusion; it is a complete entanglement of the ego in all our energy centers, making our illusion feel more real than reality itself. Here’s how the ego subtly embeds itself within each chakra, leading us further from direct realization:
1. Base Chakra (Survival And Fear Of The Unknown)
• The ego anchors itself in survival instincts, convincing us that without external guidance or protection, we are lost.
• It creates an attachment to religious institutions, dogmas, and external authorities—making us believe that safety and salvation come from obedience to a system.
• Fear of instability, suffering, or losing identity keeps us clinging to a spiritual “safety net”, unable to trust our own direct experience.
How it traps us:
• Seeking spiritual security in rituals, rules, and hierarchical structures.
• Fear of stepping beyond the familiar because the unknown threatens our constructed sense of self.
2. Sacral Chakra (Desire And Illusion Of Transcendence Through Pleasure)
• The ego exploits the longing for connection and fulfillment, turning spirituality into a pursuit of ecstatic experiences.
• People become addicted to blissful meditations, divine visions, and emotional highs, mistaking them for true awakening.
• Instead of deepening presence, they chase temporary states of rapture, believing that spiritual progress means feeling “elevated” all the time.
How it traps us:
• Attaching to visions of divine figures as external, instead of recognizing them as reflections of our own being.
• Becoming obsessed with mystical sensations, turning spiritual practice into a search for pleasure rather than liberation.
3. Solar Plexus Chakra (Control And Spiritual Identity)
• The ego shapes a new, more refined identity—“the spiritual seeker,” “the enlightened one,” “the chosen.”
• This identity feels superior to others who are still “asleep” or “unenlightened.”
• The person believes they must battle negative energies, evil forces, or lower vibrations, reinforcing duality instead of transcending it.
How it traps us:
• Believing in a spiritual war between light and darkness, constantly trying to “purify” oneself.
• Creating an identity around being spiritually advanced, which is just another egoic mask.
4. Heart Chakra (Attachment To Sentimental Spirituality And Divine Figures)
• The ego turns love into attachment, making people feel dependent on external divine figures for grace, protection, or guidance.
• They believe enlightenment comes from worship, devotion, and surrender to something outside themselves.
• This sentimental spirituality prevents true openness, keeping the heart locked in neediness rather than deep, unconditional radiance.
How it traps us:
• Feeling emotionally dependent on religious figures, gurus, or deities instead of realizing one’s own inner radiance.
• Seeking divine love outside instead of recognizing that it arises from within.
5. Throat Chakra (Distorted Expression Of Truth And Power)
• The ego manifests in spiritual arrogance, using knowledge, teachings, and mantras as a way to control or prove superiority.
• People preach but do not live their teachings. They talk about surrender but remain clinging to their own spiritual concepts.
• The illusion of “being a messenger of truth” keeps the ego alive through the need to be recognized, respected, or followed.
How it traps us:
• Speaking profound words but lacking true embodiment of wisdom.
• Using spiritual language to justify one’s own illusions instead of dissolving them.
6. Third Eye Chakra (Illusion Of Higher States As The Ultimate Goal)
• Here, the ego seeks grand mystical experiences—visions, astral projections, out-of-body experiences—believing these are signs of ultimate truth.
• While such experiences can arise naturally, the ego turns them into distractions, keeping one chasing supernatural phenomena instead of deepening presence.
• The person mistakes seeing divine beings or lights for awakening, forgetting that true vision is seeing reality as it is, without distortion.
How it traps us:
• Chasing mystical experiences instead of stabilizing awareness in everyday life.
• Believing visions of deities or angels are separate from oneself, reinforcing duality.
7. Crown Chakra (Mistaking Conceptual Emptiness For True Liberation)
• At the highest level, the ego pretends to dissolve itself—but only as an idea, not as direct experience.
• It convinces the seeker that intellectual understanding of emptiness is enough, replacing real transcendence with conceptual knowledge.
• The person believes they have arrived but has only created a more sophisticated mental construct.
How it traps us:
• Mistaking deep conceptualization for direct realization. (which happens when we meditate in some transcendental concept like using the idea of “oneness” or “nothingness” as another identity to cling to).
Breaking Free: Returning To The Heart Core Essence
The way out of these egoic traps is not to fight against them, but to recognize them and let them dissolve in presence. Each chakra, when purified, becomes a channel of undistorted energy, converging in the heart’s core essence—the unconditioned radiance beyond all grasping.
Instead of seeking higher states, we return to what is already here. Instead of attaching to divine figures, we recognize that their essence is not separate from our own. Instead of battling good and evil, we step beyond duality into wholeness.
Conclusion: The Ego’s Final Trick
Even when we see through all these layers, the ego’s final strategy is to say, “Now I have transcended all of this.” This is why practice is not about claiming victory but about resting in direct presence, where there is no one to win or lose—only the effortless unfolding of what has always been.
This refinement lays bare how spiritual pursuit can itself be a trap when driven by the ego’s need for identity, power, or security.
Stage 2: Bridging The Insight Of Stage 1 Into Direct Practice
In Stage 1, we exposed the subtle ways in which the ego entangles itself in all aspects of our being, including spiritual pursuit. We saw how seeking higher states, battling opposites, or externalizing divinity only deepens separation from our true essence. The realization is clear: the heart’s core essence is not something to be found elsewhere but something to be uncovered within.
But knowing this is not enough—we must now experience it directly, not as an intellectual understanding, but as a lived reality.
Stage 2 is about bridging insight into direct experience. It is here that we shift from undoing illusions to stabilizing presence, allowing the heart’s radiance to naturally harmonize the energy centers. This stage is about purification through awareness—not through effort, struggle, or suppression, but through presence so deep that distortion dissolves on its own.
Key Shift From Stage 1 To Stage 2
From identifying and dissolving distortion → to stabilizing direct presence in the heart essence.
Instead of being caught in mental analysis, emotional attachment, or energetic entanglement, we now focus on what has always been effortlessly present beneath all distractions—our unconditioned heart essence.
Purification Through Presence (Not Effort)
Purification is often misunderstood as removing impurities, but this idea is another illusion. If we try to “get rid” of something, we only strengthen the duality of purity vs. impurity, keeping us caught in struggle. Instead, purification happens naturally when distortions are met with unwavering presence.
This is like clouds dissolving in the sky—not because they are pushed away, but because they are no longer reinforced. When presence deepens, distortion has no foundation to sustain itself.
How This Translates Into Practice
1. Resting In Direct Awareness (Letting Go Of Mental Analysis)
• Instead of analyzing, we shift to direct sensing of presence in the heart.
• The moment we try to “grasp” the heart essence, we step away from it. It is known by being rested in, not sought after.
2. Allowing The Chakras To Harmonize Naturally
• The more we rest in the heart’s radiance, the more the energy centers align without force.
• Instead of trying to “open” chakras, we allow the heart’s natural radiance to unfold through them effortlessly.
3. Releasing The Habit Of Seeking Higher States
• We no longer look for special experiences or altered states.
• True realization is not an “event” but an ever-present reality that is simply uncovered.
4. The Key Principle: Presence Is Self-Purifying
• Every emotion, thought, or tension is met with deep presence instead of resistance.
• When there is no resistance, there is nothing for distortion to hold onto, and it dissolves naturally.
A Simple Yet Profound Practice To Stabilize This Stage
• Sit comfortably, relax completely.
• Let all effort drop away—nothing needs to be done.
• Shift attention to the heart space—not as an object to focus on, but as a field of openness.
• Feel what is already here without adding anything to it.
• If thoughts or emotions arise, don’t fight them, don’t analyze them—just let them be held in the openness of the heart.
• Notice how, without struggle, everything begins to settle into clarity on its own.
Bridging To The Next Stage
As we stabilize presence in the heart, we move toward the next stage of deepening into radiance—where the heart’s natural luminosity not only harmonizes the chakras but begins to dissolve the boundary between self and reality altogether.
Refining Stage 2: How The Heart’s Radiance Dissolves The Egoic Hold On Each Chakra
In this stage, we deepen our understanding of how the heart’s radiance naturally dissolves the ego’s grip on each energy center. The key is not forcing change but allowing the heart’s presence to permeate and harmonize all aspects of our being.
Each chakra represents a localized expression of life energy, but when disconnected from the heart, it becomes distorted—creating an identity, tension, or blockage that reinforces separation. When we rest in the heart’s radiance, these distortions unravel—not through suppression, but through direct integration.
The Heart’s Radiance As The Harmonizing Principle
Instead of forcing the lower or upper chakras to change, we allow the heart’s effortless radiance to flow through them. Each center begins to release its egoic contraction in its own way, not by “fixing” it, but by dissolving what is unnecessary.
Let’s examine how the heart’s radiance influences each energy center and how the ego’s grip dissolves as a result.
Base Chakra: Letting Go Of Fear And Survival Attachment
• Egoic Hold: Fear, insecurity, attachment to material stability, fight-or-flight survival instinct.
• Heart’s Influence: The heart radiates deep trust into the base chakra, dissolving fear and replacing it with a sense of being held by existence itself.
• How It Happens: As we rest in the heart’s openness, we feel a growing groundedness that is not based on control but on an unshakable presence that supports life. The need for external security loses its urgency because a deeper security is revealed within.
Belly Chakra: Releasing The Need For Control And Emotional Grasping
• Egoic Hold: Power struggles, emotional manipulation, desire to control experiences, suppressed emotions.
• Heart’s Influence: The heart’s warmth melts the grasping nature of desire, revealing spontaneous flow instead of forced control.
• How It Happens: As the heart’s presence spreads into the belly, we begin to feel instead of manipulate—allowing emotions to flow freely without needing to own or control them. We no longer seek power over others because the heart’s radiance fulfills the deepest emotional needs naturally.
Solar Plexus Chakra: Dissolving The False Self-Image And Personal Importance
• Egoic Hold: Identity based on success, failure, reputation, self-worth tied to external validation.
• Heart’s Influence: The heart’s radiance dissolves the illusion of self-importance and replaces it with natural dignity that does not depend on external factors.
• How It Happens: The solar plexus begins to relax as we no longer need to be seen as special or successful. Instead, a quiet confidence emerges—one that is not based on image but on authentic presence.
Throat Chakra: Releasing Distorted Speech And The Need To Be Heard
• Egoic Hold: Compulsion to express, fear of silence, distortion of truth, over-explaining, or withholding speech.
• Heart’s Influence: The heart’s openness dissolves the compulsion to prove or defend oneself, allowing speech to arise naturally from deep truth.
• How It Happens: The throat chakra relaxes because the need to be “right” or “understood” fades. Instead of speaking from self-defense or self-promotion, we begin to speak only when necessary, and with clarity, simplicity, and truth.
Third Eye Chakra: Clearing Mental Obsession And Over-Identification With Thought
• Egoic Hold: Mental overactivity, attachment to concepts, need for higher knowledge, delusion of special insight.
• Heart’s Influence: The heart’s radiance releases the grasp on concepts and mental constructs, allowing direct clarity beyond thought.
• How It Happens: Instead of trying to attain spiritual knowledge, we begin to see that clarity is already present when we stop grasping for it. The heart’s openness allows the mind to rest instead of constantly analyzing.
Crown Chakra: Dissolving The Illusion Of Separation From The Divine
• Egoic Hold: Seeking external enlightenment, attachment to spiritual highs, belief in a distant divinity.
• Heart’s Influence: The heart dissolves the idea of enlightenment as something to be attained and reveals it as already present within.
• How It Happens: Instead of reaching for a transcendent state, we realize that divinity and presence are here, now, in the heart’s radiance. The need for separation between self and the divine collapses.
How This Process Feels In Direct Experience
As we rest in the heart’s essence, the entire system begins to synchronize effortlessly. There is no need to “open” chakras by force—instead, they align naturally as the distortions dissolve.
This is not an instant process but a gradual unfolding:
1. At first, the distortions feel strong because they have been reinforced for a lifetime.
2. As we deepen in heart-presence, we notice that the struggles of each chakra are not as solid as they seemed.
3. Eventually, they become transparent, and the heart’s radiance flows through them unhindered.
Bridging To The Next Stage
At this point, we have cleared the blockages and stabilized presence in the heart’s radiance. The next stage is about deepening into the luminosity of the heart—where the heart’s radiance is no longer just personal but reveals itself as the light of reality itself.
Stage 3: Entering The Luminous Radiance Of The Heart
Now that we have cleared the distortions in each chakra and stabilized presence in the heart’s radiance, we move deeper. This stage shifts our experience from merely feeling the heart’s warmth to directly realizing that the heart’s radiance is not just personal but the fundamental light of reality itself.
The previous stage removed the layers of egoic grasping, but now we must go further—beyond even the sense of self as a being experiencing the heart’s light.
This Is Where The Shift Happens:
• In the earlier stages, the heart was felt as “my heart” radiating warmth, love, and openness.
• Now, we begin to see that this radiance is not “mine” but the very fabric of existence itself.
• The separation between the one who experiences and the radiance itself dissolves.
The Three Layers Of Heart Radiance
To enter this stage fully, we refine our perception of the three layers of the heart’s radiance:
1. Personal Warmth (Compassionate Light) – The initial feeling of openness, love, and deep acceptance. This is where most stop, mistaking it for the ultimate.
2. Impersonal Luminosity (Pure Awareness) – The realization that the radiance is not “mine” but an open, boundless light pervading all experience.
3. Self-Liberating Radiance (Effortless Presence) – The collapse of any distinction between self and the radiance itself. There is no longer someone experiencing it—it simply is.
How To Transition Into This Stage
This transition cannot be forced but happens naturally as we deepen our trust in the heart’s radiance. Instead of focusing on an “object” of meditation, we rest in the source itself.
The Key Approach:
• Shift from projecting radiance outward (as warmth, love, compassion) to allowing radiance to reveal itself as the very space in which everything arises.
• Let go of the idea that you are the one radiating.
• Notice that everything appears within the light of the heart, including thoughts, sensations, and emotions.
• Instead of focusing on a single-pointed awareness, relax into the spacious awareness that holds all experience effortlessly.
The Ego’s Final Resistance At This Stage
At this point, the subtle ego will try to claim ownership over the radiance. This manifests as:
• Feeling special or unique for experiencing deep states of luminosity.
• Seeking validation from others or trying to explain the experience in conceptual terms.
• Holding onto subtle distinctions between self and radiance instead of letting the boundaries dissolve.
• Becoming attached to the “bliss” of heart radiance rather than allowing it to be self-liberating.
The way through these resistances is complete relaxation into the experience:
• Whenever the ego tries to grasp the experience, instead of suppressing it, simply see through the grasping.
• Instead of trying to stabilize the radiance, let it reveal itself effortlessly.
How This Stage Transforms Our Daily Life
As this shift deepens, we no longer need to “return” to the heart’s radiance—it becomes the background of all experience.
• Interactions with others feel lighter because we no longer see them as separate entities but as expressions of the same radiance.
• Fear dissolves completely because we see that nothing is ever truly lost.
• Desires and aversions lose their force because they are seen as temporary movements within a greater light.
At this point, we are no longer cultivating the heart’s radiance—we are resting as it.
Bridging To The Next Stage
Now that we have entered the full radiance of the heart, the next stage will focus on how this self-liberating radiance begins to dissolve even the sense of an individual observer, leading into non-referential awareness.
Stage 4: Entering the Infinite Radiance of the Heart in Union
In Stage 3, we dissolved the sense of an individual “self” experiencing the heart’s radiance. The light of the heart was revealed as the very fabric of experience—impersonal, boundless, and self-liberating.
Now, in Stage 4, we expand this realization beyond the individual into sacred union with a partner. This is not merely about relationship or intimacy; it is the final bridge where the absolute and relative, the unconditioned and conditioned, male and female, merge into one undivided reality.
The Necessity of Union at the Final Stage
In the Tibetan teachings, it is said that to move from the 10th Bodhisattva level to full enlightenment, one must engage in union with a consort. This is because:
• The heart’s radiance must be fully embodied in the dynamic flow of life, not just as an internal realization.
• The deepest layers of egoic clinging—including the subtlest separation between self and other—are dissolved through sacred union.
• The masculine and feminine aspects of being must be fully integrated to awaken the ultimate state of blissful awareness that transcends both.
This final stage mirrors the process of death where the vital energies dissolve, revealing the pure light of being. However, rather than experiencing this at the moment of death, we use sexual union as a gateway to this realization while fully alive.
The Differences in Male & Female Approaches to This Practice
Because of their different energetic structures, men and women approach this path of sacred union in complementary ways:
The Male Approach (Expanding Consciousness into Form)
• The male principle represents pure awareness, space, and clarity.
• His natural tendency is to seek transcendence, to expand beyond limitations.
• His challenge is to fully enter the present moment without trying to escape into the formless.
• Through union, he learns to embody presence, anchoring awareness into the depth of being through the body and the flow of energy.
The Female Approach (Dissolving Form into Awareness)
• The female principle represents embodied energy, wisdom, and life force.
• Her natural tendency is to be deeply present in the flow of energy and sensation.
• Her challenge is to not get lost in emotional or energetic intensity but to allow it to dissolve into pure awareness.
• Through union, she learns to expand beyond the personal self, merging completely into the infinite space of awareness.
Together, these two approaches complete each other—the masculine brings spacious clarity into the depths of experience, while the feminine dissolves all experience into boundless awareness.
How Sexual Potential is Transformed into Blissful Awareness
The key to sacred union is to redirect sexual energy upward, rather than allowing it to be lost through external release. This is done through:
• Slowing down and extending union beyond physical movement—allowing energy to circulate naturally.
• Breathing deeply into the heart, rather than focusing on the lower centers—guiding energy upward.
• Synchronizing breath and awareness with the partner, dissolving the sense of separation.
• Holding awareness at the moment of climax, not seeking release but allowing the energy to expand into pure blissful presence.
When done correctly, the experience shifts from physical pleasure to an overwhelming sense of boundless luminous consciousness.
The Dissolution of Vital Energies & the Moment of Death
Just as at the moment of death, when the body’s energies dissolve and the clear light of being is revealed, in sacred union, when all energy is gathered and refined, the same light arises powerfully.
• The lower energies, rather than being expelled outward, are absorbed into the heart’s radiance.
• The sense of separation dissolves, revealing an unbroken expanse of awareness and bliss.
• The vital winds (prana), which normally sustain our ordinary sense of self, dissolve into the pure light of being.
• The ego, which clings to individual existence, disappears in the intensity of blissful awareness.
At this stage, no effort is needed—the heart’s infinite radiance is fully embodied as the natural state.
Bridging to Stage 5: Beyond Union, the Collapse of All Duality
At this point, even the concept of male and female dissolves. The path of energy (feminine) and the path of awareness (masculine) merge into one single reality beyond any duality.
Stage 5: Beyond All Division – The Collapse Into Pure Being
In Stage 4, the experience of heart-radiance in sacred union dissolved the final barriers between self and other. The last vestiges of egoic identification—even the subtlest sense of separation between masculine and feminine—were absorbed into the pure, blissful, all-encompassing presence revealed in union.
Now, in Stage 5, even the experience of union itself dissolves. No longer is there an experiencer and an experience, a subject and an object.
The Final Shift: Moving Beyond Any Reference Point
At this stage, all dualities collapse:
• Male and female no longer exist as separate forces.
• Inner and outer disappear, leaving only boundless awareness.
• Form and formlessness merge—there is only pure presence.
This is not a state to be maintained or an experience to be had. It is the complete surrender of all effort into the natural flow of reality as it is.
There is no longer a need to cultivate anything—whether it be bliss, wisdom, or compassion. All of these arise spontaneously as expressions of the ever-present radiance of being.
The Subtle Danger of Clinging to the Experience of Bliss
One of the final sidetrackings at this stage is the temptation to cling to blissful states, believing that they are the realization itself.
• In Stage 4, bliss arose naturally from the transmutation of sexual energy.
• In Stage 5, even this bliss dissolves into something beyond experience—the vast, ungraspable openness of pure being.
If one holds onto bliss, it becomes an attachment, creating a subtle separation from the totality of reality. True fulfillment lies beyond even bliss.
The Great Letting Go: Surrendering to the Flow of Reality
At this final stage, the very notion of a “path” disappears. There is no longer a seeker or something to attain.
What remains is:
• The uninterrupted flow of life, experienced without resistance.
• A radiant openness, in which all thoughts, emotions, and sensations arise and dissolve without fixation.
• A spontaneous wisdom and compassion, no longer based on effort but flowing naturally from the heart’s boundless presence.
This is not a peak experience but the unshakeable realization of what has always been present.
It is nothing special and yet everything is illuminated—completely ordinary, yet completely free.
This is not a state that can be held onto—it is simply the way things are when all illusion has been released.
Conclusion: Returning to the World, Living from the Heart
At this stage, there is no more seeking. There is only being.
• Whether alone or in union, the heart’s radiance flows effortlessly.
• Whether in meditation or daily life, nothing is separate from the essence.
• Whether facing joy or suffering, everything is embraced as the unfolding of reality itself.
There is no longer a need to retreat from the world or escape into spiritual experiences. Life itself is the sacred space. The human body, with all its energies, is the temple of the heart’s radiance.
This is the ultimate merging of heaven and earth—where the infinite light of being is lived fully, completely, and freely in the human experience