The value of the hierarchical view of realization is that it exposes more and more delusions, expanding our experience of freedom and making us more open to various conditions of realization. Thus the dancing Shiva, Nataraja, spins and reveals different faces of reality. And each one of these faces is true realization. There is no need to be troubled by the variety of realizations if we are not fixed on there being only one final condition of reality.
As we realize any condition of being, the condition itself gives rise to nonattachment. That is to say, the more complete the realization is, the less attachment there will be. When that happens, when we are not attached to realization, then the dynamism of true nature is liberated and naturally moves on to something else, revealing possibilities other than even the primordial condition of emptiness and awareness and presence. The dynamism of reality can reveal other kinds of realizations that don’t need to be viewed from the perspective of what is deeper or what is more primordial. – The Alchemy of Freedom: The Philosophers’ Stone and the Secrets of Existence, Ch. 10
The teaching stream from which this book is written, the Diamond Approach, contains both this kind of hierarchical view of the spiritual journey, with progressive stages of experience and realization, and also a nonhierarchical view of reality, which expresses the singleness of true nature. The progressive view, employed by many teachings and sometimes referred to as the journeys of ascent and descent, encompasses experiences and understandings that are instrumental to waking up. But at some point, regardless of what path we follow, we can begin to recognize that there is more to reality, that the secrets of the universe cannot be enclosed in any one view, no matter how consistent or vast that view is. – The Alchemy of Freedom: The Philosophers’ Stone and the Secrets of Existence, Introduction