There are two planes of Consciousness, of which we feel it proper to speak, for we have obtained more or less information regarding them.  There are still higher planes, but they belong to higher phases of life than are dealt with here.

The first of these planes or states of Consciousness, above the “Self-Consciousness” of the psychologists (which we have called “Mental Consciousness”) may be called “Ego-consciousness,” for it brings an “awareness” of the Reality of the Ego.  This “awareness” is far above the Self-consciousness of the man who is able to distinguish “I” from “You,” and to give it a name.  And far above the consciousness that enables a man, as he rises in the scale, to distinguish the “I” from faculty after faculty of the mind, which he is able to recognize as “not—­I,” until he finds left a mental something that he cannot set aside, which he calls “I”—­although this stage alone is very much higher than that of the average of the race, and is a high degree of Attainment itself.  It is akin to this last stage, and yet still fuller and more complete.  In the dawning of Ego Consciousness the “I” recognizes itself still more clearly and, more than this, is fully imbued with a sense and “awareness” of its own Reality, unknown to it before.  This awareness is not a mere matter of reasoning—­it is a “consciousness,” just as is Physical Consciousness and Mental Consciousness something different from an “intellectual conviction.”  It is a Knowing, not a Thinking or Believing.  The “I” knows that it is Real—­that it has its roots in the Supreme Reality underlying all the Universe, and partakes of its Essence.  It does not know what this Reality is, but it knows that it is Real, and something different from anything in the world of name, form, number, time, space, cause and effect—­something Transcendental and surpassing all human experience.  And knowing this, it knows that it cannot be destroyed or hurt; cannot die, but is immortal; and that there is Something which is the very essence of Good behind of, underneath and even in itself.  And in this certainty and consciousness is there Peace, Understanding and Power.  When it fully bursts upon one, Doubt, Fear, Unrest and Dissatisfaction drop from him like wornout garments and he finds himself clothed in the Faith that Knows; Fearlessness; Restfulness; Satisfaction.  Then he is able to say understandingly and with meaning “I AM.”

This Ego Consciousness is coming to many as a dawning knowledge—­the light is just rising from behind the hills.  To others it has come gradually and slowly, but fully, and they now live in the full light of the consciousness.  Others it has burst upon like a flash, or vision—­like a light falling from the clear sky, almost blinding them at first, but leaving them changed men and women, possessed of that something that cannot be understood by or described to those who have not experienced it.  This last stage is called “Illumination” in one of its forms.