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268 SPIRIT AND THE MIND
ing Swami to bring things. His sankalpa, his divine will, brings the object in a moment. Swami is everywhere. His creations belong to the natural unlimited power of God and are in no sense the product of yogic powers as with yogis or of magic as with magicians. The creative power is in no way contrived or developed but is completely natural. . . . Remember there is nothing that divine power cannot accomplish. It can transmute earth into sky and sky into earth. To doubt this is to prove that you are too weak to grasp great things—the grandeur of the universe.
7) Higher mental (psyche) consciousness—consciousness predomi- nantly oriented toward expressing man’s higher needs as defined by Maslow (see Ch. 2). Behavior is more selfless and motivated by em- pathy, compassion and love.
8) Intelligent (buddhi) consciousness—higher reasoning and abstract thinking characteristic of more highly evolved intelligence. Judgment and perceptive choice are employed.
9) Wisdom (vijnana) consciousness—higher knowledge: the capacity to envision spiritual goals and the ultimate purpose and meaning of life, the capacity for higher-order discernment between right and wrong, good and bad, real and unreal, eternal and temporal. This aspect of higher mind directs one’s intelligence and thoughts in the proper way of inquiry and determines the focus of an individual’s life. It is the comprehensive spiritual perception, which envisions things in their essence and totality.
10) Conscience—an aspect of wisdom: the capacity to know right from wrong and the higher-order promptings by supramental con- sciousness toward righteousness. It is the capacity to experience the absolute goodness of creation and to choose to be in harmony with it even at the expense of sacrificing lower desires.
11) Supramental (transcendental) consciousness—impressions, intui- tions and visions of a higher order, beyond words and concepts, representing awareness of dimensions beyond mind. These percep- tions can be frightening as with the mortal fear that comes with sens- ing our mortality, the humbling mystery of death and the possibility of non-existence. Or, they can be exhilarating, such as when really seeing the awesome grandeur of creation; being shaken with the humbling sense of God’s presence; feeling the miraculousness and