Heightening Consciousness

"Be aware that the difference between heaven and earth is not so much altitude but attitude."

Ken Keyes Jr.

It is interesting to consider different "paths" to heightening consciousness. I think one good model is from spiritual teacher Ken Keys' - that he called the Twelve Pathways. He recommended that each pathway should be memorized so that it starts to work more deeply behind the scenes of your life.

Consider the following twelve pathways to heightened consciousness. What pathways feel strongest in your being right now?

Freeing Myself 

The First Pathway
“I am freeing myself from security, sensation, and power addictions that make me try to forcefully control situations in my life, and thus destroy my serenity and keep me from loving myself and others.“

The Second Pathway
“I am discovering how my consciousness-dominating addictions create my illusory version of the changing world of people and situations around me.”

The Third Pathway
“I welcome the opportunity (even if painful) that my minute to minute experience offers me to become aware of the addictions I must reprogram to be liberated from my robot-like emotional patterns.”

Being Here Now

The Fourth Pathway
“I always remember that I have everything I need to enjoy my here and now — unless I am letting my consciousness be dominated by demands and expectations based on the dead past or the imagined future.”

The Fifth Pathway
“I take full responsibility here and now for everything I experience, for it is my own programming that creates my actions and also influences the reactions of people around me.”

The Sixth Pathway
“I accept myself completely here and now and consciously experience everything I feel, think, say, and do (including my emotion-backed addictions) as a necessary part of my growth into higher consciousness.”

Interacting with Others

The Seventh Pathway
“I open myself genuinely to all people by being willing to fully communicate my deepest feelings, since hiding in any degree keeps me stuck in my illusion of separateness from other people.”

The Eighth Pathway
“I feel with loving compassion the problems of others without getting caught up emotionally in their predicaments that are offering them messages they need for their growth.”

The Ninth Pathway
“I act freely when I am tuned in, centered, and loving, but if possible I avoid acting when I am emotionally upset and depriving myself of the wisdom that flows from love and expanded consciousness.”

Discovering My Conscious Awareness

The Tenth Pathway
“I am continually calming the restless scanning of my rational mind in order to perceive the finer energies that enable me to unitively merge with everything around me.”

The Eleventh Pathway
“I am constantly aware of which of the Seven Centers of Consciousness I am using, and I feel my energy, perceptiveness, love, and inner peace growing as I open all of the Centers of Consciousness.”

The Twelfth Pathway
“I am perceiving everyone, including myself, as an awakened being who is here to claim his or her birthright to the higher conscious planes of unconditional love and oneness.”