Some of the foundations of our modern scientific paradigm pose great obstacles to perceiving and therefore accepting astral and celestial realities. Cartesian dogmas have long confined scientific progress to the materialistic framework, and we are only at the beginning of a broadening of the scientific perspective to include subtle realities in research. I agree when the Rinpoche formulates in the Dewatchen teaching: “It (Dewachen) is so far and vast, so beyond our ability to measure. We can see the stars and travel to the moon but we can never appropriate it by the reach of our (material) senses, the reality of the Pure Land of Great Bliss. So is our ordinary thought and perception. In this sense, it cannot be reached by material means. However, our own minds, a once purified, once stripped of their errors, once returned to the primordial condition, can directly experience the reality of the Pure Land of great bliss.The way to perceive the Pure Land is through the mind and not through the senses. “
Our western scientific establishment has reached a magnificent level of measuring in great detail and with extreme precision physical, chemical, physiological, thermodynamic, biological, nuclear, quantum, neurological, etc. realities. but all these devices have no access to the dimensions of experience, subtle energy, consciousness, light, love and subtle worlds: “…it cannot be reached by material means.” It is the same for our physical body and the first 3 subtle bodies: “So it is with our ordinary thought and perception.” The senses of our physical body perceive part of the electromagnetic spectrum (visual), thermodynamic spectrum (temperature), air pressure wave spectrum (audio), olphacto chemical spectrum (smell), gravity direction spectrum (balance), physical pressure ( touched), chemical aromatic spectrum (taste) and the homeostasis spectrum (pain/health), all grounded in material reality.Then the first subtle body offers us perceptions about our personal vitality, health, strength and willpower.Then there is our 2nd subtle body which contains our personal emotions that we can perceive directly through the sensitivity of our 2nd subtle body. And then after we have our “ordinary thoughts” which circulate in the 3rd subtle body. The physical body and the 3 first subtle bodies all operate in the ordinary space-time dimension and in this sense they remain coherent and limited in the material dimension.
It is from our 4th subtle body that we begin to transcend the ordinary space-time dimension and achieve access to astral realities and worlds. And then then from our 5th, 6th and 7th subtle bodies we gain entry into the spiritual (light) realities and worlds: “The way to perceive the Pure Land is through the mind, not the senses. ” How to get there? This is exactly what we do in training in the double movement of 1) shaping our subtle abilities and 2) removing obstacles.Through initiation and regular practice of Integral Presence we develop our ‘muscles’. ‘subtle senses that form our subtle senses. After a certain threshold, our subtle senses will be strong enough to give us a lucid opening to the subtle worlds. The development of our 4th body will provide us with insightful access to the astral realities named above and growth of our 5th, 6th and 7th bodies will make us conscious travelers of the worlds of lights. “The way to perceive the Pure Land is by the spirit and not by the senses.” The perceptibility and access to certain subtle worlds corresponds exactly with the position of our chakra membrane. The higher it is on the surface, the more our sensitivity is focused on the linear world of space-time, the physical world. The closer the chakra membrane brings the pearl to the chakra, the more our sensitivity includes the more subtle worlds. I explain this mechanism in chapter 5 of my book The integral transformation in the paragraph the membrane of the chakra and the paragraph the pearl of chakra and the membrane of the chakra in chapter 5.
Removing obstacles is nothing but our path of transformation where we confront our masks, confront our lower selves, heal our wounds and replace our mistaken beliefs with the clear and sharp vision of our neutral observer. “However, our own minds, once purified, once stripped of their errors, once returned to the primordial condition, can directly experience the Pure Land reality of great Bliss.” For me conscious access to the astral and celestial worlds is not a goal in itself and even less an escape from materiality, it is simply a side effect of psycho-energetic development and is part, for me, of the desire to live Life in its entirety.