Different States Of Consciousness

This information is based on my own understanding, as well as my own personal experience over thirty-five years or more of transcendental deep meditation and my present method called Conscious Mental Rest¹. It is based on my own state of consciousness. And, as stated in the previous pages, knowledge is different in different states of consciousness. So read it, consider it, and take from it what feels right for you.

Awareness with no object of awareness

Whereas the first three different states of consciousness² - waking, dreaming and deep sleep - have different experiences of reality, the fourth state can be described as being the basis of all those other three states.

When you are in the fourth state you do not experience a particular kind of reality, as such. One might say that the fourth state is reality itself. It is a state of being to which most aspirant seekers of reality aspire. Yet it is devoid of conscious experience as such. As soon as we describe what it feels like, we are actually describing what it feels like to be out of it ... or close to it. The fourth state is simply isness... a state of being. It is neither a state of thinking nor of perceiving, as we generally understand those terms.

What about the term 'bliss consciousness'?

You may have read about 'stilling the mind' and gaining 'bliss consciousness' during certain types of meditation³, or of being in the Now, in Presence, and other such terms. And the gurus tell us that transcendental consciousness is the source of bliss: the happiness within, which we can unlock. It is said to be being here now. Yet, to experience that bliss, joy, peace and happiness, we need to be in one of the other three different states of consciousness - the waking state - in which we can indeed experience, feel, recognise and appreciate that which we are experiencing.

Such a state is not the fourth state of consciousness, because that state transcends - it goes beyond - a state in which feeling and experiencing occur. The fourth state is simply consciousness, without anything to be conscious of. When bliss is experienced, it is therefore on the threshold between the waking state and the transcendental state. Some describe this as the gap between different states of consciousness. It is simply Being - without being anything: not being blissful, not being happy, not being universal. It is just Being.

If this is such a 'non-event' state of consciousness, then why would we be interested in it anyway? What's the big deal? Why do 'seekers' want to reach this state?

Next: >> Why bother about a fourth state of consciousness?

Referenced links:
1. Conscious Mental Rest
2. The First Three States Of Consciousness
3. Methods That Lead To The Fourth State Of Consciousness
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