States of consciousness are ever-present possibilities, the five most common being gross (waking), subtle (dreaming), causal (deep sleep), witnessing (turiya), and nondual (turiyatita). Each state can be penetrated with full wakefulness and clarity, whereupon, the great traditions say, one can contact deeper and deeper dimensions of reality, and ultimately awaken to the nondual Ground of All Being. Stages of consciousness refer to the developmental structures in consciousness through which each of these profound states will necessarily be interpreted. Using Gebser’s terms, these stages run from archaic to magic to mythic to rational to pluralistic to integral and super-integral—everyone starts at square one at birth, and stages can’t be skipped (that’s what makes them stages). But here’s the fascinating thing: all five major states of consciousness can be experienced at nearly any stage of development! Using five states and the seven stages mentioned here, that’s at least 35 distinct spiritual experiences, and the fact is, they are all real. Without a framework that can take into account just how wide (states of consciousness), and how deep (structures of consciousness), the spiritual-religious terrain really is, any conversation about spirituality in today’s world is going to be sorely lacking. (+watch now)