STAGES OF
INNER WORK

Stages of Inner Work

By George A. Boyd © 1999

Excerpted from The Satsang Program

Our initial work in the Satsang program has been to direct attention into the inner vehicles to clarify their location, content and function. This initial passive contemplation, however, progresses into more active forms as inner visioning and intentional abilities improve with more meditation practice. These stages of inner work are described below:

(1) The meditator focuses attention into the inner vehicle, allowing awareness to awaken, and contemplating the content of the inner vehicle. This yields initial, vague phenomenal impressions of the vehicle.

(2) The meditator explores the vehicle in a detailed, methodical way to identify exact landmarks and to gain a clearer picture of content and function. This permits visualization of its inner energy vortices and gives a glimpse of its inner structures.

(3) Through repeated meditations on the vehicle, the meditator gains a thorough knowledge of its inner vortices, its function, and how it is controlled or directed by volition.

(4) The meditator isolates the volitional channel within the vehicle and introduces suggestion to activate and direct the vehicle. This suggestion may take the form of asking questions for understanding (inquiry), directing function (autosuggestion or affirmation), soliciting information from memory (process meditation).

(5) The meditator progresses to more complex interaction with the content of the vehicle, using dialog with personifications of the creative intelligence of the vehicle (the Dialog Method), and structured process combined with visualization (e.g., the Rainbow Method or Synthesis Method). This produces primary, active change within the vehicle, and may secondarily alter cognition, beliefs, attitudes and behavior. These changes effected are usually temporary, but in some cases, they may persist.

(6) The meditator achieves a state of attunement with an Initiate through whom the Light emanates. The meditator channels this Light through attunement with the vehicle to purify, heal, sublimate and transmute its content.

(7) The meditator gains the ability to channel the Light to translate the vehicle into a new state of alignment during initiation. This ability allows the meditator to ultimately liberate the vehicle from its causal-mental matrix and to merge it back into its origin. This ability confers Mastery over the vehicle.

Discipleship, called in some traditions chela or sikshya, begins where a meditator can establish a stable connection, attunement and communion with a Master teacher of any tradition. To advance to this level where he or she can establish a working relationship with a Master teacher on the inner Planes, the aspirant must move from passive contemplation of the vehicles to the ability to actively work on them. In the model presented here, the aspirant must first master steps one through five, gaining a thorough familiarity with content and function, and with the mechanisms of transformation and change.

The next stage begins with establishing a stable attunement with a Master teacher, so the meditator can begin to channel and direct the Light. This attunement meditation permits the ministerial work of step six and the initiatory work of step seven.

Initiates, who are advanced disciples established in attunement to the Universal Spirit, and who demonstrate Mastery over an entire Band of the GCC, have the ability to empower disciples to minister the Light. Initiates typically supervise groups of disciples in ministry. While they may on rare occasions entrust certain advanced disciples to channel the energies of initiation, usually Initiates reserve this sacred transformative ministry for themselves…