In many religious paths, there are different levels of knowledge. Some people require the rod of literalism, but this is never the heart of the faith. Others dig deeper into the universal understanding. In completion, one finds the unity of heart-based understanding. These are the levels of understanding.

Base Level: Literal Understanding

Rigid and explicit understanding is the most basic starting point of any faith. It is where the seeker, the student, the worshiper reads what is written as literal truth. Words are explicitly understood and often the truest meaning is lost.

I used to judge many Abrahamic faiths, because their doctrines were so harsh. What I’ve come to realize is that faiths of Abraham based religions are to be ingested and understood with the Heart of Love. The mind can not comprehend the totality of the truth, so it ingests the words and creates explicit meaning. We can see this in the abuses of religions of the past, and present. Pastors that lead congregations into hating others because of their identification, or religions that burned women alive because they were considered “witches.” These are actions of people who take the letter of the law, and touch not the spirit of it.

Mid Level: Universal Understanding

Understanding that God, as source, is the energy behind all understandings of Source. Whether we call this Source, Allah, Adonai, Elohim, Jehovah, or Tao, it is the origin point and from it came the creative power of spiritual Light. When the understanding of explicit meaning gives way to the more expansive universal understanding. From this perspective one isn’t judging others for not believing the same. From their religious passages the harsher verses are ignored, and they focus on the positive aspects.

An example of this behavior is the Christian mystic who reads the red letters of Jesus, and bypasses the harshness of the Old Testament. Or the Muslim who focuses on passages like Quran 2:285, “…We make no distinction between one and another of His Messengers…” rather than passages that may appear divisive.

The mid level of understanding is seeking something special, direct communion with the Divine Source.

Highest Level: Union with Source

The Highest level of understanding is the saint, who achieves a love of Allah, of God, of Source that is so pure it transforms all that is written, read and spoken. All information flows through this living field of Love so that everything is understood as the compassionate outpouring of the Divine Source.

Rumi is but one example of this union and love. He writes about his relationship with Allah as one would write about their purest love towards a partner. For this person, there is nothing bug God. All is his Light, all is an expression of his Love.

Levels Between

The spiritual seeker is looking for the Divine God – the Source of all true Love. They may call this expression by different names, but the intention of the seeker is always the same: Union. The true seeker, like you, like me, is not stuck in a level but we sit between the mid-and highest levels. We are not perfected (at the highest level of understanding), but we are choosing to find the best message in the doctrines. We further aspire to the gates of Highest Understanding. As such we sit in a place between. Between the Mid level and the Highest there is the spiritual seeker that is opening their hearts and seeking to interpret all messages through this field of life.

The seeker is focusing on the positive, but also allowing the difficult passages to be understood through the Spiritual Heart. From the spiritual heart comes the truest of understanding which interprets the difficult passages, as well as life itself.