When I rebuilt my website a few years ago, I wanted the home page to read “Accelerating the evolution of human consciousness.” My trusted friends advised me this was too grandiose, and I settled for something less ambitious. And yet, that phrase authentically captures my soul’s purpose.
It has evolved a bit since that time. I recognize that consciousness extends beyond humans, and ultimately, the business we’re about is elevating planetary consciousness. But that journey begins at home, focusing on our own consciousness, knowing that as we elevate personal consciousness, we also contribute to the collective elevation of the planet’s consciousness.
A friend recently directed me to ION’s Consciousness Transformation Model. The model has been on my mind all week, particularly the potential off-ramps we encounter on our journey. Today, I’ll offer my personal reflections on this model in hopes you find some wisdom to support the elevation of your consciousness.
Noetic Experience
IONS offers this definition of noetic:
no•et•ic: From the Greek noēsis/ noētikos, meaning inner wisdom, direct knowing, intuition, or implicit understanding.
I view a noetic experience as a spiritual experience, coupled with a direct knowing or intuition of the significance of that experience. This can be as simple as being moved by the beauty of a flower or as profound as having the perceived boundaries of separation melting away, leaving you experiencing oneness with everything.
When you have a noetic experience, the off-ramp is to deny the experience. I took that off-ramp every time for the first fifty years of my life. My love of science led me to deny an experience I couldn’t explain scientifically.
I can vividly remember my first noetic experience which I did not deny. It was September 2021, and I had just completed my first week of coaching education. Over the weekend, I sat outside in our swing and meditated, appreciating the native plant habitat my then-wife had so lovingly created and nurtured over the years.
My eyes fell on a particular tree. When we planted this tree, probably eight years ago, she told me this was “my tree,” because it would be outside my office and I could look out the window and see it whenever I wanted.
For the next eight years, I completely forgot about this tree. I never really noticed it. But on this day, as I meditated, I saw this tree with fresh eyes. It was six or eight feet tall when we planted it. Now, it reached our roof, twenty feet tall or more. I experienced eight years of that tree’s growth in a single moment, and it shook me. For fifteen minutes, I sat in our swing, sobbing uncontrollably. Body-wracking sobs. Something about realizing how that tree had grown had a profound impact on me.
This time, I did not take the off-ramp. That experience primed me to begin opening up to what the Universe had to offer.
I encourage you to watch for the noetic experiences in your life. The emergence of synchronicities, be they big or small. If you find yourself denying the experience, engage your sense of wonder.
Exploration
The fall of 2021 began a period of exploration for me. I deliberately dabbled in different practices, not wanting to dive deep into anything, just seeing what was out there. I explored chanting. I tried pranayama yogic practices. I experimented with Dr. Joe Dispenza’s meditations. This was a period of exploration and openness for me.
The off-ramp here is continual seeking. Continuing to search for a practice that resonates and never settling on anything. This would have been an easy off-ramp for me to take, because I love learning so much. It was tempting to stay in student mode, learning as much as possible about as many different practices as I could find. The more I learned, the less I was willing to embrace any single practice. Doing so felt limiting. But somehow, my inner compass moved me forward.
If you don’t have a spiritual or consciousness practice that resonates with you, I encourage you to explore. Dabble consciously. Listen to your inner knowing, and when it feels right, select a practice.
Find a Practice
In The Science of Enlightenment, Shinzen Young provides a rigorous account of meditation as a path to enlightenment (or raising your consciousness). At one point, he uses the metaphor of drilling into the earth’s surface, moving towards the core. The earth’s core represents enlightenment.
Exploration would involve making a series of small drills in various locations and looking for a good spot to drill deeper. Eventually, you need to find a practice if you want to drill below the surface.
My practices are organic, not following anything prescriptive. I’m borrowing from various traditions and creating rituals and practices that serve my journey. I think, in part, this is a subconscious defense against the next off-ramp – practice becomes end rather than means. I have seen too many people follow a religion or other spiritual practice mindlessly – performing the rituals but losing sight of the meaning behind those rituals.
In hindsight, I only now appreciate one time when I did take this off-ramp. It was my pursuit of a sub-three-hour marathon. My practice of running devolved into a pursuit of excellence that became the center of my way of being. I loved the practice, and it brought me immense joy, but eventually I broke down spiritually, mentally, and physically. I lost sight of my original reason for running.
Life As Practice
There are hundreds, perhaps thousands of practices out there that can support the elevation of our consciousness. Whatever practice we adopt, over time, becomes ingrained in our way of being. We move from following a specific practice to experiencing life as practice. If you practice meditation, that practice may begin with a daily ritual of sitting in meditation. Over time, you learn to be in meditation throughout the day. Washing the dishes becomes a meditative practice. Eating an orange becomes a meditative practice. Our mindfulness increases, and we become more fully present in the moment.
Shinzen Young points out that some people begin to experience supernatural abilities at this point. The Universe begins to align with their wishes and manifest what they want to come to pass. Their intuition becomes remarkably accurate as they open up to their sense of knowing. Some people become exceptionally charismatic, as people are drawn to their rising consciousness.
This leads to the next off-ramp, becomes all about me. People become caught up in these newfound abilities and begin to pursue them rather than pursuing elevated consciousness. Young describes this as moving from drilling to the earth’s core, to turning the drill bit ninety degrees. We’re still drilling, we just aren’t making any more progress. He says that many people settle for drilling at an angle.
I to We
As we gradually elevate our consciousness, I hope we all reach the point where we shift from I to We. Our elevation of our consciousness becomes in service of others, supporting a collective transformation.
I experience brief glimpses of this in coaching. In supporting the growth of others, I believe I’m supporting the elevation of their consciousness. They are baby steps, but I recognize that each step is like a drop in a pond, creating ripples that widen out over time.
I expected that settling in Santa Fe would be a time for me to make this shift more significantly. I expected to embark on some project that would allow me to expand my impact beyond individual coaching. I recently consulted with a guide and learned it’s not the time for that. The next few months will continue to be Life as Practice for me. I suspect this is to help me avoid the next off-ramp, forget “we” to “me.” If we get too caught up in trying to have a greater impact, we can lose sight of the “we” and become focused on “me.”
Putting It Into Practice
In my own experience, I wander back and forth along this curve, from Exploration to I to We and everywhere in between. I’m more keenly aware of the off-ramps and will watch for when I’ve made a turn that takes me off the path.
Consider your journey – how can you elevate your consciousness?
- Be open to noetic experiences, and resist the urge to deny them when they arise.
- Explore practices that interest you. Embrace wonder. When you find something that resonates, go deeper with it.
- Consider Life as Practice. Practice openness. Be fully present. Trust your intuition.
- Let your consciousness journey reflect back into the world in support of collective transformation.
“You are not here to ‘fix’ the world, but to be the truth of yourself so profoundly that others find themselves in your reflection.” – Seraphina.
I am an executive coach and life coach with software executive roots in higher education and EdTech. I coach because I love to help others accelerate their growth as leaders and humans. I frequently write about #management, #leadership, #coaching, #neuroscience, and #arete. For an AI-powered search of the blog archives, please visit The Aretist.
If you would like to learn more, schedule time with me.
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