Are You A "Spiritual Seeker" Who's Looking To Become A "Finder"?
Sharing the latest scientific advances around so-called “higher levels of consciousness” like spiritual enlightenment, nonduality, persistent mystical experience, spiritual awakening, unity consciousness, the peace that passeth understanding and so on much more accessible.
The Greek term hesychia (ἡσυχία) is a concept that can be translated as “stillness, rest, quiet, silence”.
In recent years scientific advances have provided roadmaps that make so-called "higher levels of consciousness" like spiritual enlightenment, non-duality, persistent mystical experience, spiritual awakening, unity consciousness, the peace that passeth understanding and so on much more accessible.
On this website, we refer to those who experience this way of life as "Finders"
The most important things to know as someone who is or may be seeking higher levels of consciousness
For example, did you know that a nearly 20 year old scientific project…
- Created and tested a scientific protocol on thousands of people over 8+ years that helped 65-100% of those who completed it transition to being Finders?
- Created the first mainstream, peer-reviewed map of the different types of higher levels of consciousness world wide?
- Discovered that many seekers are actually already Finders and don’t realize it because the general information available about spiritual awakening is confusing and outdated?
All of this is probably news to you.
That’s because no one really has a vested interest in sharing these findings with you – even though it is very helpful for seekers.
Scientists and academics mostly just communicate with themselves. In fact, their careers are often penalized if they spend too much time communicating with the public (instead of getting grants and publishing papers – which boost their universities coffers and prestige).
And, these research findings are just the tip of the iceberg.
There’s a lot of interesting work going on in the scientific community that can be of huge benefit to seekers who are looking to transition to higher levels of consciousness.
One of the primary projects of the Hesychia Foundation is to share scientific advances in this area with seekers.
On this webpage, we’ve collected some of the best information out there, in addition to links to leading projects, information sources, and much more. Enjoy, and please be in touch. We’d love to hear from you!
Part of Hesychia Foundation’s mission is research driven. We help with coordinating, advising on, and funding research projects in this area all over the world. This includes the largest project of its kind into understanding the psychology, cognitive science, and neuroscience behind higher levels of consciousness.
In order to collect data over the years on what changes when people transition to things like spiritual awakening and spiritual enlightenment, this scientific project had to invent protocols that successfully transitioned a majority of people who used them. Those protocols typically work at a 65% (6-week protocol) to 80% (12 to 14 week protocol) effectiveness level.
Over time that project has transitioned thousands of research participants to higher levels of consciousness all around the world, helped them deepen into it, and assisted them with optimally integrating it into an amazing life. This has given all of us involved a unique global perspective on what does and doesn’t really matter, or work, in terms of transitioning, deepening, and so on.
On this page we provide you with links to information about most important things you need to know based on this research, beginning with the 5 Keys. These are the same elements that are used in these highly successful protocols, and which you can use wherever you are to obtain the same results.
Over the years, researchers and scientists worldwide have also encountered some common ideas about the transition to higher levels of consciousness that do not seem to be supported by scientific research with people who have actually reached it. So, we’ve created a series of short information pages for each of these myths as well. Enjoy!
The 5 Keys to Reaching Higher Levels of Consciousness
This section covers how to use what the research uncovered to transition to higher levels of consciousness. In this section, we teach you the 5 most important lessons, or Keys, that emerged from the research on how to safely, rapidly, and reliably reach higher levels of consciousness. Some of these will sound familiar to you if you’ve already gone through the 10 myths, but here we’ll be helping you to put everything together into a usable and coherent whole that will speed you along on your path to higher levels of consciousness.
Key 1: Not all methods are equally effective
The first key emerged when it became clear that research participants, across practice methodologies and continents, seemed to only list a few types of practices as what assisted them with transitioning to higher levels of consciousness.
So, Key #1 is that not all methods are created equal. Some work much better than others, and for more people than others. You need to find, and use the very best methods available if you’re going to have a chance of transitioning to higher levels of consciousness.
Key 2: Very few methods will work for you at any given time, you have to find your fit
The most important thing to remember about the second Key is that even the most ‘gold standard’ methods are not applicable to everyone. You have to find the method or methods within them that will work for you.
Researchers found that many Finders had tried several of the gold-standard forms of meditation our research uncovered, while at the same time often saying that only one or two worked for them. The interesting thing was that it was never the same one or two from person to person.
Key 3: Methods don’t work forever, when they stop what you do next is very important
What should you do when your favorite method or methods stop working? This often concerns people, because they think something has gone wrong. Actually, it is usually a good sign.
The science shows that most typically it means you’ve made progress and outgrown your current method. It has changed you, and as a result you’re no longer aligned with the method that produced the changes. It’s very important to know when this is the case, so that you can just move one.
Key 4: It’s important to mix the best positive psychology practices with your main practice
Meditation and related practices are widely praised as a near “miracle cure” for increasing wellbeing, reducing depression, and so on. The reality is that “gold-standard” meditation practices act powerfully on the brain, and not always in the direction of increasing wellbeing. There is quite a bit of research into this, from Ivy League universities to mediation halls.
As you experiment with methods following the advice here, even the ones that don’t work for you might still produce a negative emotional reaction in you. Methods that do work for you will act on your system in a way that might also trigger negative emotion at times, and maybe even old traumas and similar things that are stored from the past.
Key 5: The greatest Key of all, “sinking in”
As you meditate, and even just as you go through life, it’s very likely that you are going to have experiences that seem like they are in the direction of higher levels of consciousness, and maybe even glimpses of higher levels of consciousness itself.
One way to think about the transition to higher levels of consciousness is as a battle for resources between competing parts of your brain. Up to this point in your life, you’ve developed habits that have created and supported your current sense of self. These habits are enshrined in your brain in many ways, for example in the form of thicker versus thinner regions, more or fewer connections within and between areas, and so on.
Summary of the 5 Keys to Reaching Higher Levels of Consciousness
There was an enormous amount of content here, so here we summarize it bring it all together. We looked that the key findings from the longest-term and largest-scale global research project to date as it relates to best practices for transitioning to higher levels of consciousness. We covered all of the key background information you need to know, including…
10 Myths About Reaching Higher Levels of Consciousness
In this section, we share the 10 of the most damaging myths that are pervasive in the field of personal growth and spiritual development. The myths that are sabotaging your chances of experiencing a high-functioning and persistent experience of awakening. You’re going to learn the truth about accessing heightened states of consciousness, discarding the dogma, and understand exactly how you can achieve an extraordinary level of wellbeing as your moment-to-moment baseline in life.
Myth #1: There are very few people in higher levels of consciousness
The first myth for us to tackle is the idea that there are very few people in higher levels of consciousness. That it even might be something that only happens to someone once in a thousand years, and so on.
Well, it wasn’t easy. Researchers initially had to invest considerable resources to find the first 1,000 or so research subjects. Along the way, they learned something fascinating. There are probably millions of people around the world who experience higher levels of consciousness, if not tens of millions.
Myth #2: When you’re in higher levels of consciousness, you know it
Something extraordinary happened in 2020. One of the leading research organizations in the area of higher levels of consciousness began a new experiment involving seekers. But, when we measured the people who came into the experiment, nearly half of them were ALREADY in higher levels of consciousness – many just didn’t know it! The education they provided as part of the experiment made these people realize it. Most were absolutely stunned!
Many of these individuals had been long term seekers. They had practiced many different techniques, often off and on for years. At some point, they had transitioned — but not noticed.
Myth #3: Higher levels of consciousness are Spiritual
We owe our base knowledge about higher levels of consciousness primarily to religions and spiritual systems that took an interest in it. As empires rose and fell, they lasted through the ages – and along with them their knowledge of higher levels of consciousness.
Higher levels of consciousness are one of the few things about human psychology that hasn’t been comprehensively explored by science. The famous psychologist Abraham Maslow was hard at work on it when he passed away in June, 1970. In fact, he’d established yet another new branch of psychology to study it just prior to his death. Unfortunately, the rigorous study of it died with him, and wasn’t resumed until the last 20 years or so.
Myth #4: Achieving Higher Levels of Consciousness requires you to give up normal life, and maybe even go to the extreme of living like a monk
Every day, all around the world, ordinary people transition to higher levels of consciousness. There are literally thousands of them who have interfaced with researchers over the years.
Despite this, for some reason it’s still common for to believe that the opposite is the case. They seem caught in the archaic dogma that the only way to achieve inner peace is to forego some, or even all, of the comforts of the modern world, even meaningful relationships.
Myth #5: Higher Levels of Consciousness will mess up your life
Many people, even the most ardent and sincere seekers, are secretly or overtly terrified of transitioning to higher levels of consciousness, mostly because of the stories some Finders have told, like having to sit on a park bench for a couple of years after transitioning, or being unable to hold a job, or wanting to isolate from everyone and everything – including their family, and so on.
The reality is that these are very rare exceptions to what’s normal. The vast majority of people transition from seeking to higher levels of consciousness and simply go on about their life with a newly enhanced sense of extraordinary wellbeing.
Myth #6: Transitioning to Higher Levels of Consciousness takes a long time and involves torturous practices
If you’ve been interested in higher levels of consciousness for any length of time, you’ve no doubt noticed that most seekers don’t expect to reach higher levels of consciousness any time soon. It’s most often spoken about in terms of years, decades, and even lifetimes!
Regardless of what you’ve heard or may believe about this, the truth is that you can experience a shift to persistent inner peace moments from now, if you have the right technique. During most successful research project in this area about 1% of the participants even transitioned on the very first day, with the very first method they tried.
Myth #7: Peak and mystical type experiences point the way to higher levels of consciousness
Have you had a peak or mystical experience? Is part of your quest to reach higher levels of consciousness about getting back to the way it made you feel?
There are many different ways that these incredible moments can appear in people’s lives. The famous psychologist, Dr. Abraham Maslow, described them as “the moments of the highest happiness and fulfillment”, and noted that they seem to be able to happen to anyone at any time, even during the most mundane moments of life.
Myth #8: There’s one true path to higher levels of consciousness
The myth that there is only one true path to higher levels of consciousness is a highly limiting belief that is perhaps the single biggest cause of frustration and failure for people seeking higher levels of consciousness. As we’ve seen, access to and knowledge of these practices has traditionally been held in the realm of religion and spirituality, and over the years, a tremendous amount of dogma has been introduced into something that’s actually incredibly simple.
One of the things this lead to was a restriction of what people practiced and used. Ultimately, this means that Christians only did practices from within the Christian tradition. Sufi’s from within the Sufi tradition. Buddhist’s from within the Buddhist tradition, and so on.
Myth #9: There is only one type, or one correct type, of higher levels of consciousness
It’s not uncommon to hear people advocating their perspective as the “only” or “only correct” type of higher levels of consciousness. This has led to a lot of conflict over the years between religious and spiritual systems, sub-sects within them, and even individuals.
Scientific research has uncovered many different types of higher levels of consciousness that people experience, which are generally shared across the many religious, spiritual, and philosophical traditions that have an interest in this area. Some, such as Christianity, generally prefer one type. Others such as Buddhism or Hindusim are more complicated and generally consider a range of different types as desirable, with some sub-sects preferring some types over others.
Myth #10: Learning about higher levels of consciousness is the best way to get there
It may seem counterintuitive, but research has revealed that one of the most important keys to transitioning to higher levels of consciousness is to not intellectualize or study it too much as a topic. The more you do that, the more something becomes an idea in your mind. And, if you’ve never experienced higher levels of consciousness, you can’t have an idea that’s so accurate about it that it helps you to actually get there. In fact, the exact opposite happens.
