In the inner work, we use our consciousness to perform exercises that will lead to its temporary and permanent awakening. The consciousness, also referred to as the essence, is our true self. It is the intrinsic awareness of life, the observer; that which experiences life, a divine spark that is trapped in the energies of the ego states, such as anger, pride, lust, greed, gluttony, fear etc. Most of our consciousness is trapped inside them, approximately 95% of it. This means that our experience of life is coming from the free five percent of it. Within this small percentage of free consciousness lies our potential and hope to one day awaken it in the moment so that we can do the inner work, eliminate the egos, and incarnate and merge with the inner Being.

In the beginning, this goal is clear to us, at least on the intellectual level. We might also feel that there is something to it which has depth, and so we try out the work to see what will take place. If our efforts are good, if we do what is necessary for the work to succeed, we will begin to go through a type of experiences that are new to us, both in the physical waking state and in the fifth dimension when the physical body is sleeping. We begin to notice that our consciousness is expanding, not only in the sense of us being more aware than usual, but also in the sense that the physical (and often time the psychic) perception is increasing, parallel to the work on the dissolution of the egos. And in this gradual process of awakening, we notice the differences between various stages of the awakening of consciousness.

When we start out the inner work, we awaken the consciousness within the moment, by being in the state of self-remembrance. These are short periods of awakening, of being awoken from the psychological sleep. The latter is caused by the weight of the egos, which engulf the free consciousness almost continuously throughout the day. However, when we begin the process of the inner revolution seriously, we will have more and more moments of self-remembrance, helped by our interest in this study, by doing corresponding practices, prayer, by reading texts of genuine spiritual masters, by listening to spiritual music and watching spiritual movies or documentaries, and by being in contact with people who are also wishing to achieve the same inner goals. All these things can imbue the essence with the ingredients that are needed to remember to have the consciousness awake in the present moment.

Within such effort we notice the initial awakening of consciousness; we notice that it is a temporary awakening because we have to apply continuous effort to come back to the present moment, again and again. It is a continuous effort to break free from the mind and from the grip of the egos that incessantly emerge from the subconsciousness in order to push this tiny free essence back to sleep. However, the more this practice is done, and the more we die to our egos, the larger becomes our consciousness. This means that our ability to be conscious and awake in the moment increases, together with many virtues that come with the newly freed consciousness, such as love, compassion, will, and other high qualities. In this process we start to perceive ever more deeply who we truly are, and who we are not, so that the practice of self-remembrance becomes our natural state of being. Nonetheless, we are still thrown out of that state due to many situations in life that are chaotic or that pull us in, that make us identify with them and to forget about the work.

As this work continues, the consciousness is expanding, becoming stronger, wiser, and more apt to go through the process of the Path of Initiations. The temporary awakening of the consciousness is now becoming longer and steadier. Each percentage of consciousness that we free from the egos count a great deal towards the endeavour of awakening. Obviously, someone with 5% of free consciousness will have different understanding and ability to do the inner work than someone who has 20%, and again that one will have different ability to someone who has 50% of free essence.

It is when we reach about 20% that we notice that, despite the coming and going of the egos, we are more or less always present, always aware. This ability is strengthened greatly with the solar mental body that is built or activated at around this point, giving us the possibility to be detached from the mind in the way that we have never been before. This means that we are no longer bound to the prison of the mind. Instead of being trapped in it and being pulled into it easily by the egos in the intellectual center, we can now use it as a tool, and stay always outside it, even when we consciously use it to think, plan, write, calculate, etc. This is a substantial level in the awakening of the consciousness. However, even though there is a continuous awareness of oneself and being in the present moment, the egos are still strong and can still pull us in.

It is only when the Being enters within, that we could say that we have reached a permanent awakening of consciousness. This happens progressively at different stages, starting from the 30% of consciousness, which is the point of the incarnation of Manas (the human soul), going through the 40%, which is when Buddhi (the divine soul) enters, and then finally with 50% of consciousness when Atman (divine spirit) is incarnated; it is at this point that the consciousness becomes permanently awakened.
There are two reasons for that – one is that now there is the Being that supports the consciousness, giving it sufficient energy to be always present and active; and the second reason is that the consciousness itself is put to permanent activity. The latter one is interesting because, even though it happens by default to everyone approaching the 50%, it can also be the case when the amount of consciousness is much smaller.

One such example was Samael Aun Weor, who said that he was born with awakened consciousness, so that he could fulfil his spiritual mission of giving the teachings of the Path (and its keys) to humanity. In such cases, which are likely quite rare, it is the small amount of consciousness that can be put to permanent activity. However, despite being permanently awakened, the consciousness here is still quite small relative to the egos, and is easy for the person to choose pleasures and pain instead of proper inner work, whilst when one achieves the permanent awakening of consciousness at its corresponding stage, which is when one has the 50% of consciousness and the Being within, then we are more equipped to always choose that which is taking us towards our spiritual goals.

Having said all that, there is a big difference between someone who has his consciousness permanently awakened, and someone who is fully awakened. The former still has the conditioning factor of the egos within them, influencing them, whereas the latter is fully free of the egos. Such a person has reached 100% of consciousness, and has merged with their inner Being. Such a person is fully free, fully awake, despite their physical circumstances.

HDP, April 2021.