The Seven Stages of Soul Advancement

Everything said so far is well-known to seekers and teachers of truth. Now we begin to look at new insights into the topic at hand.

The Soul Emotions

There are seven states of being that are experienced at the level of the soul. These might be called "Soul Emotions". They form a progression of experience. They may be identified in brief as:

1 - Newness, Aliveness, Security
2 - Freedom, Independence, Joy
3 - Self-realization
4 - Compassion
5 - Appreciation of Beauty in Form
6 - Appreciation of Beauty without Form
7 - Home

A few things to note here. There is a continuous refinement, and an ever-increasing awareness in the steps from one to seven. Awareness of what? Of the nature of existence, perhaps. Of existence itself. Of truth. Notice that "awareness of God" or "spiritual awareness" is not one of them, for the soul always has that knowledge. It might not be possible to name exactly what is being refined, along the progression. We are at the level of mystery here, in our feeble attempts to understand the greater existence.

Associating the Soul Emotions with the seven rainbow colors of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet gives us a convenient shorthand, a quick way of labeling and talking about them. But the correspondence is more meaningful than that. The association also goes the other way: the colors often seem to imply those modes of experience. Red is a universal symbol of danger. Orange often brings forth feelings of happiness. Blue and purple are associated with insightfulness and refinement. So the connection between the emotions and the colors is not an arbitrary one.

It might seem to some that appreciation of beauty in form would only be a human experience, since "form" seems to imply physicality. I am not currently in the higher realms, but I have it on good authority that indeed, what we think of as physical form does not exist there, but nevertheless form does exist as abstract ideas. I am not able to get answers any more detailed than that.

There are of course counterparts to the Soul Emotions in human 3D experience. Almost every human experiences at least the first two stages, with the possible exception of those cultures that do not value freedom. Many reach the third stage of self-realization. Some of those go on in the same lifetime, or a later one, to achieve Compassion. Some attain appreciation of beauty in form. A few enter into the essence of beauty without form. Only a very few find the energy of "home" in the ultimate sense of the word, in a physical lifetime; but finding it while in human form is not really the purpose of 3D existence. "Home" is pretty much a soul experience only. As shown later, some of us can come close to experiencing it briefly by listening to certain musical works, but it takes you out of what you need to be doing here, and coming back from it is too much of a letdown, so going there is not recommended for any length of time. Especially while driving your car!

The Soul Emotions and Soul Evolution

The system of reincarnating over and over in the 3D plane was designed as a way of helping the soul advance through the seven Soul Emotions. It is a sequential progression. Human experience quickens the learning. Realizing any of the "higher" states usually, but not always, requires having obtained the one before it in a previous existence or lifetime. I put "higher" in quotes to emphasize that all the stages are equally important and equally valuable. And whatever stage your soul is at, you can go back and experience any of the earlier stages at any time, and it is healthy and enjoyable to do that.

Each stage of the progression is large and may be interpreted in more than one way. Also, just as visible light divides naturally into seven colors yet the transitions are blended, not sudden, so are these seven stages plainly identifiable, yet each one transitions smoothly into the next one; it is not a sudden leap.

There are states of being that do not relate to particular steps of the progression, but are valuable and even necessary. Gratitude is such an emotion. It is a necessary attribute in the completion of each stage. But the experience of it increases along the progression.

Living a life on Earth (or any other physical planet in the Universe) means encountering a vast variety of emotions - envy, love, desire, fear, depression, the feeling of accomplishment, teenage angst, and all the others. The Soul Emotions are special. They are the states of being that are felt at the the soul level, the place of eternal existence. Later, we will delve a little deeper into the meaning of each one.

We are now ready to connect soul evolution with energies in music. The evolutionary state of your soul has a direct bearing on accessing power in music, and that is the primary teaching of this dissertation. At this point, if learning about the connection to music is not why you are reading this presentation, skip ahead to Part II, where the archetypal energies will be discussed in more detail. Otherwise, stay here and learn about how the best music can influence and move us so profoundly.

Next:  Emotional Energy in Music

Notes:
1 Diogenes Laërtius, Life of Heraclides, translated by Robert Drew Hicks (1925).