How to check your spiritual level?

First of all, "the spiritual level” implies some sort of a scale. Different people may use different conceptual dimensions as a scale. Keep that in mind. The scale I will use here is the degree of freedom from delusions, as in mistaking something for what it is not. For example, taking a piece of ordinary glass for a diamond. On this scale, your level is defined by what you believe in, including a set of concepts that you accept as real. Beliefs manifest as thoughts. Thoughts are associated with feelings. Feelings are followed by actions. Actions bring consequences. Thus, all your life is shaped by what you believe in.

Ordinary people believe in a lot of nonsense. Masters systemically look through their false beliefs, or cut through all of them at once, until no false beliefs are left. That's their final level. Your relationship with a particular belief can be on different levels too, from coarser to finer: You believe into something to such degree that you don't even realize that. It never comes to your mind to know that this belief exists, let alone question it or imagine any other possible way for things to be. It's like living in gravity without knowing about gravity.

You know that you believe in it, and you support it with all you heart. It feels right, it feels true, this is who you are, this is what “good” means. You are a patriot of your belief. You are proudly identified with it. You support your belief but you do realize that there could be other opinions, and you are somewhat open and tolerant against them. To each their own. You know that you have this belief, but you ask and can't explain to yourself why. Still you can notice how this belief guides your actions. You start feeling how it limits your freedom. You are getting uncomfortable. You actively fight against the belief, trying to break free from it, often by adopting a belief that is the opposite of it. You are a rebel. You still believe in the reality of your belief (and its opposite) though - it still feels real, relevant and important as a concept. You take a stance.

You see through the belief. In an instant, you realize that this belief is and always was only imaginary, your own idea projected onto reality, not the reality itself. Yet, in the daily life your automatic actions are still guided by it, however stupid it looks in a retrospect. WTF! It should not be there, you've seen through it, yet it still happens. More fighting with the non-existent belief ensues, now to make it go away. You come to accept it. The belief is not real; yet acting out of it still happens sometimes. That's OK. It's not your fight anymore. When it happens, you simply register it without choosing a side. What happens, happens.

The belief-induced thoughts and actions become increasingly rare. The former belief begins to fade even as a memory. There is no longer any emotional response to thoughts about it. It's no longer an interesting or important topic. You start to forget that you even had that belief, and you feel genuinely flabbergasted when someone talks and acts as if it was a reality. People are so crazy sometimes! But don't be surprised when they think the same about you, especially those who are still at the most coarse level of relationship with it.

Now, before you latch onto the above explanation, be warned: “you”, “belief”, “level” and so on are all beliefs. And so are their opposites. These are only concepts, one possible way to describe what is going on. You may remember how many beliefs you've seen through, but you have no idea how many and which ones are left. But look at your thoughts and try noticing how many of them you buy without question. That may give you some idea.

First we need a frame of reference describing different levels of spiritual development. Quite a simple but insightful one is the 4 stages of spiritual growth described by Michael B Beckwith [https://uplift.love/the-four-stages-of-spiritual-growth/]. In this sequence, what evolves is our sense of self in relation to how life unfolds:

Stage 1 — TO ME :

We can have temporary experiences in all of these different levels at different times. But we will tend to ‘reside’ in one and gradually move towards residing in the next. Note that moving from one to the next always requires a letting go — of blame, of control, of belief in separation. The first stage of spiritual development is what Beckwith calls the ‘To Me’ stage. It’s also referred to as the victim stage as it is an early level of awareness where our primary perception is that life is happening ‘to us’.?

Like a child new to the world, or someone who has not yet claimed full responsibility for his/her life, in the ‘To Me’ stage we experience ourselves at the effect of the people and circumstances of our life. There are times in each of our lives when we feel like we are on the receiving end of challenges, opportunities, relationships, job assignments, etc. and while we may have desires for a different circumstance, at the time it really feels as though ‘life is happening to us’.

Life is what happens to me

I am always on the receiving end

I am not responsible for what happens

Somebody should take the blame

Stage two: ‘BY ME’

Even if we are fully justified to blame others for our current situation, there comes a time when we must realise that as long as we are making others responsible for our circumstance, we are giving away our power and limiting our ability to make the necessary changes. As we let go of the need to blame anyone (including ourselves!) for where we are, we open ourselves to shift into our next stage of development, becoming active manifestors of the path we truly want/need to be on.

During stage two, the ‘By Me’ phase of our journey, we may initially feel stretched or challenged by our circumstance, but this challenge is often what is needed for us to dig deeper and become a causative agent in our experience. This is the stage of the journey where we get to discover that we are far more capable than we realised. We are not victims of circumstance but rather creators of it.

My life is determined by me

I am the cause of my own life

No one is to blame; I am responsible for myself

I have the power to fulfil my dreams

Stage three: ‘THROUGH ME’

When we have worked hard at developing skills in any activity or endeavor (from music to sports to mathematics), there is a moment when we cross over from pure focused effort to a feeling of grace and flow with what we are doing. We may have been building skills and trying the same thing over and over for quite some time, when suddenly, we go from playing the music to feeling as though the music is actually playing through us. We go from being the surfer using our skills to surf the wave, to feeling the energy of the ocean guiding our flow upon it. From being the writer of the story, to feeling as though the creative essence of the story itself is expressing through our pen onto the page.

When we enter ‘Through Me’ consciousness we go from a sense of personal significance grounded in our own achievements, to feeling a sense of humility about being part of something greater than ourselves. In order to move from the ‘By Me’ stage into stage three, what we must be willing to let go of is our need for control. As we let go of having to be the soul generator and controller of each outcome, we open ourselves up to discover a new sense of trust and connectedness to the bigger story/currents/song ready to flow through us.

Life is co-created through me

I don't need to be in control

I surrender to a greater power in life; I am its conduit and instrument

I trust and allow our higher purpose to unfold

Stage four: ‘AS ME’

When we let go of blame and move from our perception of life as something that happens ‘To Me’, we begin to discover our true power in life happens ‘By Me’. When we let go of the need to control, we move from our experience of life happening ‘By Me’, to discovering our connection to the greater powers of life moving ‘Through Me’. As we allow our individual expression to merge completely with the energy we are experiencing or creating in the world, we realise we are actually part of the infinite creative force of the universe, which is expressing and experiencing itself individualised ‘As Me’.I am God/spirit/universe/nature/consciousness.

As we travel through the third stage of our development and experience a sense of the greater flow moving ‘Through Me’ consistently in life or endeavour, we begin to reach this fourth leaping-off point and the simple but profound realisation that whatever is moving ‘Through Me’ is also inside of me. That this greater energetic force and I are actually made of the same source material. Like a ray of the sun or a wave in the ocean, I am actually an individualised expression of this greater force, which is now moving, breathing and acting in the world ‘As Me’.

Life’s purpose is being expressed as me

I let go of all thoughts of separation

I am infinite creative intelligence itself

Self and divine are one and the same

As with each of the four stages, in order to move from one stage to the next, Beckwith tells us we must be willing to let go of something en route to claiming a new aspect of who we really are. In order to move from the ‘To Me’ stage of our development into stage two, what we must be willing to let go of… is blame. After reacting, resisting and blaming others (or life itself) for our circumstance, eventually we come to a place where we are ready to claim more of a sense of personal responsibility and become more of a generative force in our life. Through choice or necessity we make a shift and begin to experience ourselves taking matters of our life into our own hands.

To move beyond the experience of life occurring ‘Through Me’ and into the ‘As Me’ stage of spiritual development, what we must be willing to let go of is our sense of separation. As we do this (or rather ‘be’ this), we open ourselves to discover the experience of genuine unity or oneness in life and endeavor. We release our perception of the infinite nature of the universe as a causative energy that exists outside of us, and we open ourselves to experience this infinite nature in and ‘as’ our very being. The music, the ocean, the story are not only moving ‘Through Me’… they are the living expression of who I am. This is flow in its greatest sense and many would say it is our ultimate reason for being here. Through our actions, experiences, relationships and being, to remember and experience ourselves as unique expressions of the absolute. Cheers!