The esoteric view of God as accessible while alive via esoteric means

In the esoteric view, God or the Greater Reality is inherently accessible while we are alive. What is more, we are inherently inseparable from the Divine and the Greater Reality, arising as a psycho-physical being within a psycho-physical “Nature”, as a “spirit” that is a “part” of the Divine Spirit, as a being that is identical to the Transcendental Consciousness – or as all three, simultaneously – depending on which esoteric tradition we examine.

Such esoteric views stand the materialist view on its head: In the materialistic view, reality is fundamentally objective in nature; anything that is “subjective” must be explainable in objective terms, or else it isn’t “real”. In the esoteric view, we arise in God (or Nature, or Divine Spirit, or Transcendental Consciousness), and therefore every “thing” and every “self” is fundamentally subjective in nature. “Objective reality” is simply a relatively stable portion of the dream (which is held in place by the rigidity of its inhabitants, who are also its co-creators). Our freedom lies not primarily in gaining greater control over objective reality (though this is of secondary importance), but in gaining greater direct feeling-awareness of God and the Greater Reality, and in gaining greater recognition of our already present connection to (and ultimately, identification with) the Divine. Because God is Spirit (and, in some traditions, Consciousness), God can be communed with (and in some traditions, ultimately identified with). As we have mentioned, the reason we don’t see God now is simply our own Spiritual immaturity, not something inherent in the way things have been organized by a “Creator God” with a complex and mysterious Plan. Thus the emphasis within the esoteric view is on the consistent application of esoteric practice for re-ligio, for re-linking up with God.

Origin. The esoteric views that God and the Greater Reality are directly accessible originates in the Spiritual Masters, yogis, shamans, and other etherically and psychically sensitive types, and are based on their direct experience of the Greater Reality, and of what works to connect with It and to deepen one’s connection to It. These views are then naturally supported by the disciples, devotees, or apprentices of these esoteric masters, who practice the Spiritual means given by their master, and who can therefore corroborate the master’s word through their own firsthand experience.

View on human potential. From the esoteric Spiritual view, our common sense of being a limited physical self does not have the status of fundamental reality (any more than our own dreams do, though they are certainly real). The sense of identification with a merely physical body is understood to be merely another artifact of psychic and Spiritual immaturity. The greatest human potential is to Awaken from the dream (the conventional view and experience of being a limited, merely material being), to either Spiritual communion with the Divine Spirit, or (in other traditions) to identity with one’s True Self: the Divine Being, the Only Being or Consciousness. (And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM’ has sent me to you.” – Exodus 3:14 [2].) It is understood that human suffering is the result of mis-identification with the limited physical body (exclusively), and Awakening from this restricted identity, even while alive, through self-transcendence (rather than devoting one’s life to self-fulfillment as the mistaken limited identity, which only reinforces that identity) brings relief from suffering (either to the degree of Spiritual Communion with God, or to the even greater degree of Identification with God).

Key limits. Of the three views – materialism, exoteric religion, and esoteric spirituality – the esoteric view (in which God can be experienced, communed with, and, in some traditions, even identified with) offers the greatest potential Realization for human beings. The key limit here has to do with the notion of God and Awakening. There are different degrees of Awakening – corresponding to different States and Realizations. Different traditions declare each of these Realizations to be the ultimate Realization. Comparing and rightly understanding how these Realizations relate to each other is a key to understanding what Most Perfect God-Realization actually is, and that comparison will be the primary subject of this book and the next two.

NEXT: The fundamentally Subjective nature of Reality