What’s the difference/significance of spiritual transcendence versus transformation?
Spiritual transcendence is the experience of one’s consciousness moving beyond the normal sense of self and the body boundary into an experience of the divine, the sacred, or true nature. This experience often manifests as a sense of unity, boundlessness, vastness, or an oceanic experience.
Spiritual transcendence is more than a heightened emotional, mental, or physical experience. These are often moments of awakening or enlightenment that peel back the veil on ordinary experiences and give us a glimpse into a deeper reality.
Spiritual transformation is often referred to as a process of integration or embodiment. Spiritual transformation involves a radical shift in identity from the normal, historical sense of self to knowing and experiencing oneself as true nature.
We can look at the process of realization from the perspective of transcendence or from the perspective of embodiment. When people talk about getting rid of the ego, they’re talking about a transcendent experience. It is possible to transcend the personality or the ego, or even physical existence. However, there is a more difficult process which leads to the state of embodiment of reality. Rather than simply transcending the personality or physical existence, this state involves actually embodying essential existence in one’s life. – A. H. Almaas, Diamond Heart Book Four: Indestructible Innocence, ch. 1
Spiritual transformation and embodiment most often involve psychological work (inquiry and processing) to assist the process of disidentification with one’s past, history, and conditioning.
Spiritual transcendence is often referred to as the journey of ascent as the experience often feels like one is moving into higher and higher, more rarefied states of being or expansion of consciousness.
Spiritual transformation, integration, and embodiment are often referred to as the journey of descent, reflecting the now awakened consciousness descending into human form and living in this world, but not of it.
Comparing spiritual transcendence and transformation:
- Spiritual transcendence involves going beyond the normal sense of self and experiencing the sacred, divine, or true nature. It is often a peak experience of awakening, enlightenment, or unity.
- Spiritual transformation involves embodying and integrating that awakened state into one’s daily life and identity. It requires psychological work to disidentify from conditioning and live from the true self.
- Transcendence is the inner journey of shedding the ego and moving into higher states of being. It is a process of ascent and moving inward.
- Transformation is a descent back into the world while retaining spiritual awareness. It is integrating and embodying the divine into one’s humanity.
- Transcendence leads to the simplicity of singlehood, whereas transformation leads to the richness of wholeness. The peak experience of transcendence and the embodiment of transformation are important aspects of the spiritual path.
In the journey of ascent, the individual soul penetrates the various dimensions of creation and manifestation, which are the garments in which the absolute (absolute reality) was hidden. The journey of descent, however, is the conscious donning of these garments by the absolute. The ascent is like a movement inward, while the descent is a movement outward; in the first the absolute regains its conscious awareness, and in the second it retains this awareness within manifestation. Hence, the descent is into manifestation, but not into exile and alienation. Therefore, just as the journey of ascent is that of shedding and separation leading to the simplicity of singlehood, the journey of descent is that of integration and union leading to the richness of wholeness. – A . H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality , ch. 22