There are Seven Possible Stages in that Ordeal of the Heart
Beezone – Adapted from The Dawn Horse Testament –Chaper 16 by Adi Da Samraj
The Way of the Heart is the way of transcendence of the self-contraction or more and more perfect inherence in the self-existing and self-radiant condition of divine being. It is the way of devotion of the conditional self, rather than any ego-based search for self-fulfillment and self-release.
The Way of the Heart is not a strategic and self-concerned path of self-development. The Way of the Heart is the way of inherent and heart-responsive devotion to the by Me revealed spiritual, transcendental, and divine reality. Practice of the Way of the Heart is a self-transcending ordeal that matures in the context of each of the first six stages of life. The full maturity of that ordeal is demonstrated in the ultimate context of the seventh stage of life. And the total ordeal of the heart evolves through a process of progressive acknowledgment and realization of me, and eventual and progressive acknowledgment and realization of the spiritual, transcendental, and divine forms of god, truth, or reality.
The first great ordeal of the Way of the Heart is the progressive process of listening and hearing. That ordeal is based on progressive acknowledgment and realization of me, through “consideration” of my word and my leelas, and through feeling-contemplation of, especially, my bodily human form. Thus, through effective practice of the Way of the Heart in the context of the first three stages of life, there is gradual and inevitable release of the stress of egoity in the context of the frontal personality and the binding patterns associated with the earliest stages of human adaptation and development. This process begins with listening, and it advances toward the realization of hearing. Each of the stages of life is associated with a unique form of human adaptation and growth. And each form of adaptation is associated with a specific human organ.
The first three stages of life occur within the context of the lower organ functions of human adaptation, and, in that context, human development is associated with individuation, socialization, and integration of the psycho-physical patterns of the frontal personality.
The first stage of life is the process of psycho-physical individuation, based on identification with the separate and personal gross physical body in the waking state. The first stage of life is also associated with the oral function. At birth, the infant is separated from the situation of unity with the human mother, and this begins a struggle with the fact of individual existence. This struggle is displayed in the context of oral dependence on the mother as a separate body. Whatever occurs in the drama of breast-feeding and the transition to food sources apart from the mother’s body, human beings tend to develop a fundamental reactive habit at this stage. Un-happy individuation tends to be associated with a feeling of separation and, thus, only a partial willingness to relinquish the feeling of dependency on the mother. This feeling of separation ultimately involves the sense of disconnection from the ultimate source of support and love, and it also becomes a general doubt or anxiety about other human beings on whom one depends for love. Sex-differentiation begins even at this stage, but all relationships are experienced from the viewpoint of dependency and reluctance to accept the situation of individuated existence.
The second stage of life is the process of socialization, based on the development of emotional sensitivity to the psycho-physical self to others, and to the natural world. The second stage of life is also associated with the anal function and the conflict between privacy and the search for social visibility. The anal function begins to develop coincident with the oral function, but socialization itself truly begins only after the basic struggle with individuation has reached a workable settlement. Character motivations that are rooted in the biology and psychology of sex-differentiation are, in the second stage of life, extended and developed in an expanded social context, and individuation, rather than ambiguously differentiated dependency, becomes a catalyst toward social exploration. When individuation has become a workable egoic settlement, the individual begins to struggle, as an individual, with relationships. The second stage individual tends to continue to function in the context of dependency, but with a more fully developed sense of separate self, independence, and mobility. Likewise, there is a gradual discovery that there are many kinds of relationships, and all of them carry a test, a demand, and an obstacle that offends the want to be dependent. The anal phase of development represents an early stage of self-awareness, in which the individual’s self-esteem is apparently at stake. Thus, doubt of the ego-self and doubt of the love in others appears. And so, the second stage of life tends to develop only to the degree of a tentative resolution of the relational and social character. Whereas the feeling of separation characterizes the first stage reaction, the feeling of being rejected characterizes the second stage reaction.
The third stage of life is the process of integration of the psycho-physical patterns of the frontal personality, by means of the development and application of the functions of mind, discriminative intelligence, and the will. And this process is also associated with the genital phase of human development. Genital development and sex-differentiation begin even in infancy, and the emotional trial of the second stage of life relates to the sexually defined character, but the great struggle of integration and self-presentation takes place only after puberty. The third stage of life tends to be wasted by indulgence in patterns that may be called adolescence. That is to say, the third stage of life does not tend toward full resolution, because the first two stages of life tend to be unresolved. As a result, the third stage of life becomes a fruitless drama of conflict between two alternating and contrary impulses, the one toward infantile and childish dependence, and the other toward willful and rebellious independence. The life-process is disturbed by this un-happy and irresponsible drama, and the mental faculties and the integrating function of the will are thus impaired or retarded in their ability to develop the true adult character, which character is characterized by basic human equanimity, discriminative intelligence, responsive heart-feeling, and the active impulse to always continue to grow. I have equipped the progressive culture of practitioners of the Way of the Heart with wisdom and means relative to every stage of life. Therefore, the responsive community of formally acknowledged practitioners of the Way of the Heart is empowered to serve the right, true, and free development of children and young persons in the first three stages of life.
In the context of the first three stages of life, children and young people should be helped to adapt to the requirements of growth in those stages, but in such a manner that the egoic tendencies do not inhibit and retard that growth through the introduction of infantile, childish, and adolescent patterns of un-happiness. To this end, the responsive community of true practitioners of the Way of the Heart must apply all its by Me given wisdom relative to the development of children and young persons in the context of the first three stages of life. And part of that wisdom is the consistent cultural introduction of the by Me given rudimentary propositions and practices associated with the fourth stage of life.
I have developed a wisdom-culture for the first three stages of life that includes the physical, psychological, and social processes of individuation, socialization, and integration. That wisdom-culture also goes beyond the limits of these obligatory early-life processes by founding them in the true religion of real truth. That true religion only serves and does not retard freedom, responsibility, and growth. That culture of devotion to truth really serves self-discipline, self-transcendence, the vision of unity, and the realization of freedom through god-sensitive prayer and meditation. And that culture of devotion to truth rightly and progressively includes exercises to develop emotional and physical sensitivity to and responsibility for the universal field of natural etheric energy associated with the body-mind, practices to develop emotional and physical sensitivity to and responsibility for the etheric energy-connection between psycho-physically living beings, and disciplines to develop sensitivity to and responsibility for the deep psychic aspect of mind. Without the humanizing benefits of real love in the context of the first three stages of life, and without the inspiring benefits of true spiritual, transcendental, and divine culture in the context of the first three stages of life, human beings inevitably tend to develop un-happy patterns in the context of the first three stages of life. Such failures of love, wisdom, and happiness define human existence subhumanly and limit human existence to the egoic model and destiny.
Therefore, relatively few adults advance to the fourth stage of life in the most common world of mankind, for the most common world of mankind tends to be limited to and by the egoic society of the first three stages of life. And religion in the most common world of mankind is likewise defined and limited by the conceptual and egoic tendencies of the first three stages of life.
……….. Adapted from The Dawn Horse Testament – Chapter 16 Adi Da Samraj