This page is an overview of the three stages of spirituality: asleep, awakening, and enlightenment. And, as a bonus, how the stages affect the feeling of free will.
3 Stages of Spirituality: Asleep, Awakening, & Enlightenment
Spiritual Stages Overview
Stage 1: Asleep (Duality)
One thinks they are the dancer dancing the dance.
- When you think you are your mind/self.
Stage 2: Awakening (Still Duality, but “Enlightened Duality”)
The dancer is no longer dancing the dance, the dance is now dancing the dancer.
- When you realize you are not the mind/self you thought you were your entire life up to this point. Instead, you (as subject) are now aware of and able to watch/witness the mind/self (as object)—this is why spirituality often calls it “the witness” or “witness consciousness.”
Stage 3: Enlightenment (Nonduality)
Ultimately, there’s just dancing (the dancer and dance are one in the dancing).
- When subject and object merge in abiding nondual awareness—dissolving duality including the sense of separate self and even a witness.
How the Spiritual Stages affect Free Will
Your sense of self/identity is primary, and your sense of free will is a byproduct of that. With deeper realizations, your self/identity shifts, so your sense of free will shifts along with it. Below is a short explanation, but pair with this post for more detail: 3 Stages of Seeing Free Will from Sri Ramakrishna (Ayon Maharaj Summary)
Stage 1: Asleep (Duality)
You are the body-mind (so, you are the doer)
- Due to your ignorant identity as body and/or mind, you have the illusion of free will. You cannot help but mistakenly believe and feel that you are free, and therefore, morally responsible for your actions.
Stage 2: Awakening (Still Duality, but “Enlightened Duality”)
You are aware of (or the witness of) the body-mind (so, God is the Doer)
- You realize all are under the will of God, and your identity shifts to awareness (or witness) of the body-mind. You are one with God’s will and act as a conscious instrument of God, so you have no individual free will or moral responsibility.
Stage 3: Enlightenment (Nonduality)
You are God (so, You as God are the Doer)
- You realize that God alone exists and has become all this. In other words, you realize nothing less than your identity with God. Since you are not different from God, God’s freedom becomes your own—so you are, in fact, free and morally responsible for your actions (not as an individual but as God).
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