There is said to be an intellectual battle that goes on among adherents in enlightenment circles that see two schools: a “gradual” and a “sudden” school. Of course the debate is probably not a valid one because enlightenment is both gradual and sudden.

A monk might meditate gradually for twenty years before having a sudden experience of enlightenment. The only exceptions might be those seekers who did much work in previous lifetimes and suddenly awoke without preparation in this one and Sri Ramana Maharshi would be an excellent example of this type of individual.

While Adyashanti cannot be construed here as recognizing that all enlightenment has a gradual and a sudden component, he does recognize that some people awaken gradually and some suddenly.

“There are viewpoints that awakening is sudden and total, and there are schools of gradual awakening. In my experience, both occur. For some people the awakening out of their personal identity is going to happen all at once and instantly.

“For others, it sort of creeps up on them until at some point they notice they are no longer exclusively identified with their ‘me-ness,’ their personality. It can really run the gamut on how the awakening displays itself.” (1)

I say as an aside that Ascension experiences are also said to run the gamut.

Even Sri Ramana himself acknowledged that sahaja samadhi is gradually acquired as the result of long practice:

“By repeated practice one can become accustomed to turning inwards and finding the Self. One must always and constantly make an effort, until one has permanently realized. Once the effort ceases, the state becomes natural and the Supreme takes possession of the person with an unbroken current. Until it has become permanently natural and your habitual state, know that you have not realized the Self, only glimpsed it.” (2)

But the acquisition of sahaja samadhi itself is sudden. It occurs when the heart opens permanently, as Sri Ramana describes here:

“[The] Heart [hridayam] is the seat of Jnanam [wisdom] as well as of the granthi (knot of ignorance). It is represented in the physical body by a hole smaller than the smallest pin-point, which is always shut. When the mind drops down in Kevalya Nirvikalpa [Samadhi], it opens but shuts again after it. When Sahaja [Nirvikalpa Samadhi] is attained it opens for good.” (3)

I imported the notion into Ascension circles and characterized Matthew’s approach as gradual and Archangel Michael’s and SaLuSa’s as sudden. In doing so I acknowledge that Archangel Michael himself never acknowledged his approach as sudden. When I tried to pin him down he chided me:

Archangel Michael: But I can hear your anxiety and your fear and your desire to pin me down.

Now, have you ever really tried to pin down an archangel?

SB: No! Never! [laughing]

AAM: But I love to tease you. (4)

I chided him as well by appending Rainer Maria Rilke’s poem, The Man Watching, about wrestling with an angel to the bottom of that transcript. Rather than reproduce that here, I add it again to the end of this article, because I love it so much. (5)

I remember feeling chagrined that he did not want to be pinned down into a definite statement about 21/12/12. Why was he hedging? Well, of course, now I know. That date was never the end-all and be-all. And he even stated that at the time:

“There is an influx of supreme energy that will light and ignite your planet during this period. Now, it began on 12/12 and it is growing. So what you are saying is, ‘Will we get the full fireworks display on December 21st, 2012?’ And I say, yes, there will be fireworks, and they will continue through the rest of the year. This is a-building.” (6)

Yes, we got the full burst of light energy and, yes, many people did not feel a difference, and many did not, and, yes, it continues to build. And in fact now he has said that it will continue for a few more months so that many more humans, who need that amount of time, can ascend.

But Archangel Michael was espousing a gradual view even then, with sudden bursts of energy, and I was not seeing it. The final mass Ascension will be sudden, if I understand him correctly, but this part of the process is gradual.

Actually I vaguely saw it but could not understand it. I knew he was hedging but did not know why. And then again I don’t know if even now I fully understand it. I most probably don’t.

In the growth movement it’s said that being wrong is like death to the ego. But you also recall in the Light Stewards’ documents that we’ve asked for people to call themselves when they’re mistaken, rather than waiting for others to call them. Things work better when people call themselves rather than needing to be ferreted out.

I don’t mind being wrong. And I don’t mind calling myself. I was mistaken in my appraisal of Archangel Michael’s viewpoint. And I very well may be mistaken in the future. I see now that I undoubtedly don’t have the range of vision to appreciate the whole plan as he does.

Why would I? It would be utterly amazing if I did and utterly unrealistic of me to think that I would or could. My view was unnuanced. It wasn’t large enough to take in what the truth actually was, not like I know that that much of it now. Probably it will always remain unnuanced, viewed from an archangel’s vantage point.

I don’t mind being defeated, decisively by greater and greater beings. But I do want to acknowledge my mistake. And I am chastened from my attempt to capture an archangel’s knowledge in simple terms.

Do I know why he waited till after 21/12/12 to give us more details of this process? No, I don’t. And I can’t just ring him up and ask him this additional question. So it’ll have to wait along with many other questions.

Instead Archangel Michael has said that we are at the midpoint. But before I reproduce that discussion please keep in mind that some people are not at the midpoint but at the endpoint. Ascension times vary for individuals. AAM is talking about the collective as a whole. Here is that conversation.

S: Has Ascension happened or are we working towards Ascension?

AAM: You are in the middle of Ascension.

S: Now how would you describe the beginning and how would you describe the middle and how would you describe the end?

AAM: I would describe the beginning over a year ago as we began these conversations, as people began the clearing, as they were riding the troughs and the waves. That was the beginning of this journey. The middle has been the opening of what you think of in human dates as 11/11/12 – 21/12/12. This is the middle. It is the opening of the floodgates.

And you are being flooded. That is why you are feeling so much. The end is the when the full restoration, the complete restoration and the jubilation, the full restoration of vision and the knowing of your interdimensional self is full there. Now it is already there for some of you. It is coming by degrees. (7)

(Continued in Part 2.)

(Continued from Part 1.)

Aisha North’s recent column implicitly recognizes the ongoingness or gradualness of the process that is underway:

“It has already started to become lighter, and we do not mean that just in the sense of the lengthening of the days in the northern hemisphere. The light quotient on your planet has increased manyfold these last few days, as the portal that you were all instrumental in opening on the days surrounding December 21. has already been successful in delivering enormous amounts of energy down to your little planet.

“It has been likened to an enormous waterfall, and rightly so, as this incessant stream of light is just like those gigantic waterfalls you can witness out in the nature on your beautiful little planet. And just like those waterfalls, so too will this stream of light continue to replenish you all incessantly and abundantly in the times ahead.

“For now, you have all been connected to this unending stream of light, and even if the information carried within all of this light cannot yet be detected clearly, it has already started to work its magic. Not only on you, but on your whole planet, and as such, it can be likened to a second coming to use a phrase many of you are familiar with. We do not refer to any single entity here, quite the opposite, as what has arrived on your shores is for all, no exclusions will be made. For this force is an indiscriminate one, for this is from the source of love, and love knows no boundaries.” (8)

And Gaia through Susanne Lie also relates to the process as gradual:

“Patience is normal for a planet but difficult for a human. Many humans feel that they have waited a lifetime for this change. However, please remember that I am waiting too. I am waiting for you! If I were to suddenly transmute into the fifth dimension, my third dimension would no longer be habitable. Therefore, I will be patient.

“I have the option to move slowly because many of my humans have directly confronted their own darkness and dis-allowed it to rule their lives. Therefore, they can hold the Light to guide those still finding their way up from the bottom of the well. Also, I can transmute at a safe pace for my inhabitants because my Galactic Family has contained those who would damage my form in order that they might have more things and more power over others.” (9)

Thus, we will move into our New Age of New Earth slowly and patiently. In this manner, some can rush ahead to clear the way for others. Some can stay behind to assist the Lost Ones, some can continue their work of sharing the truth that shall set humanity free, and some can initiate the worldwide social and governmental changes. (10)

Notice Gaia’s validation of the notion of containment.

And finally if I can add onto this discussion that of the pause that we are in which is referred to Archangel Michael but also by Susanne’s sources.

Here is Archangel Michael describing the pushing of the pause button.

AAM: The score is this. … Think of it as a family decision, saying, slow down, because we all want to come. The plan has still need to go forward with great rapidity, by the way. But we will slow down because we want to accommodate everybody [who wants to ascend, that is.]

S: OK.

AAM: So what you are doing is literally holding the door open. So that is exactly what has transpired.

So rather than [confidential info on number] ascending, many going to a holographic Earth, a few going to an alternate universe, think of it as pushing the pause button, but even as you know, that even as the pause button is pushed, there is still recording activity. It is not that you enter no time.

So what has taken place in this what you can think of as pause, is the old third has taken its form fully as a holograph, on the outer rim, rather than separate from Gaia, she has allowed this, many are still looking outward at that holograph. It is just that, although much of life is a holograph, as you have pointed out.

And the collection is being made so that all may shift into the new form and this is being made possible not only by us who have pushed the pause button, but by each of you. You say but we are not conscious of this. But your soul is most certainly conscious of this and that is why you are so anxious. (11)

And here is Gaia through Susanne describing “active waiting” in the pause and the reason for it.

“Fortunately, the erratic progress of time will assist you during this period of active waiting.

“I say active waiting, as I must call upon your assistance. Your Unity Consciousness is a vital component of our safe transition into a higher frequency of resonance. If you, my humans, can slowly and steadily expand your perceptual field to include the higher frequencies of my planet, you can adhere your essence to that higher frequency of reality with your High Heart.

“I ask you to perceive the vision that you are climbing out of a deep well. See the ladder that travels up the inside of the well and be aware that the well is collapsing beneath you. The well is collapsing from its depths because I, Gaia, need to allow the lower dimensional frequencies to collapse into oblivion. However, I want everyone to move beyond that resonance before I close that frequency of the Matrix.

“Therefore, as you climb each rung of the ladder, you feel the collapse below you. However, I will wait as long as I can to collapse that lower frequency of Matrix. In this manner, those who wish to join our new frequency can still be adhered to my Earth body/reality. I realize that many of you have been ‘climbing this ladder’ for many years, and taking as many with you as you can. To all of you I say, Thank You!” (12)

So I was mistaken in representing Archangel Michael’s view as sudden. It is sudden and gradual. The streaming of energy on 21/12/12 was sudden but the slow ascent of all of us – or most of us – is gradual. And in the course of that ascent, we pause or enter a period of active waiting so that all can ascend together who are in the process and others who are just waking up can join the process.

And both Archangel Michael and Gaia have described a part of that gradual process, one calling it a pause and the other calling it active waiting.

I know. I know. I said I would take a vacation. But do you see how hard it is to sit still? But I amgoing. I am trying.

Footnotes

(1) Adyashanti, “Spontaneous Awakening, an Interview,” downloaded fromhttp://store.yahoo.com/soundstruestore/interview-adyashanti.html, 12 March 2006.

(2) Ramana Maharshi in Paul Brunton and Munagala Venkataramaiah. Conscious Immortality. Conversations with Sri Ramana Maharshi. Rev. ed. 1996, n.p.

(3) Ramana Maharshi in S.S. Cohen, Guru Ramana. Memories and Notes. 6th edition. Tiruvannamalai: Sri Ramanasramam, 1993, 96.

(4) “Archangel Michael: Let Us Ease This Flight to Freedom,” Dec. 19, 2012, athttp://the2012scenario.com/2012/12/archangel-michael-let-us-ease-this-flight-to-freedom/

(5) Rainer Maria Rilke, The Man Watching

http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/R/RilkeRainerM/ManWatching.htm

What we choose to fight is so tiny!
What fights with us is so great!
If only we would let ourselves be dominated
as things do by some immense storm,
we would become strong too, and not need names.

When we win it’s with small things,
and the triumph itself makes us small.
What is extraordinary and eternal
does not want to be bent by us.
I mean the Angel who appeared
to the wrestlers of the Old Testament:
when the wrestler’s sinews
grew long like metal strings,
he felt them under his fingers
like chords of deep music.

Whoever was beaten by this Angel
(who often simply declined the fight)
went away proud and strengthened
and great from that harsh hand,
that kneaded him as if to change his shape.
Winning does not tempt that man.
This is how he grows: by being defeated, decisively,
by constantly greater beings.

(6) Loc. cit.

(7) “Archangel Michael on 21/12/12 and Other Ascension-Related Matters – Part 2/2,” Dec. 26, 2012, at http://the2012scenario.com/2012/12/archangel-michael-on-211212-and-other-ascension-related-matters-part-22/

(8) Aisha North: The Manuscript of Survival – Part 243,” as channeled by Aisha North, December 26, 2012, at http://aishanorth.wordpress.com.)<P>

(9) Gaia in Suzanne Lie, “The Fourth Day – Gaia and the Arcturians,” December 26, 2012, athttp://suzanneliephd.blogspot.co.uk/.

(10) Loc. cit.

(11) “Archangel Michael on 21/12/12,” ibid.

(12) Gaia, ibid.

SaLuSa 12-28-12…”The Way Ahead is Now Virtually Clear”

• by ThinkProgress
• December 28, 2012

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