In his audio course ‘Life Visioning’ Michael Bernard Beckwith identifies four stages of Awakening. He leads you along a pathway to expanded and evolving consciousness. Beckwith is the founder and director of the transdenominational Agape International Spiritual Center and his ability to inspire a congregation comes through clearly on audio.

Who is this program for? In Beckwith’s own words, “Anyone who is truly interested in releasing greatness and excellence...Anyone who is willing to break their agreement with mediocrity, to break their agreement with business as usual, to break their agreement with anything less than excellence.” Stirring stuff!

Although Beckwith speaks of God when he teaches he transcends the boundaries of any one faith. You might call the energy Universal Intelligence, or the Divine. Beckwith emphasises that Awakening is not a linear progression, nor is there a finite destination. We fluctuate between the stages as we grow, however our consciousness can open to ever higher states of being if we are prepared to do our inner work. The Life Visioning course introduces us to four stages that we move through as we mature spiritually.

Stage One: ‘To Us’ Victim Consciousness.
This is the stage most of humanity is living in right now. In this level of consciousness things happen to us. Other people have done things to us and that is why our lives are as they are. There is a lack of power to create any change for yourself in Victim Consciousness, but you can always find others to blame! The good news is if you were living your life wholly from Victim Consciousness then you probably wouldn’t be reading this article right now. Something in you is already Awakening. The bad news is Victimhood is a hard habit to kick and long after we stop playing Victim as our main way of thinking, we may still find ourselves falling into ‘poor me’ mentality.

Stage Two: ‘To It, By Us’ Manifester Consciousness
This level is being reached by far more people today owing to movies like The Secret, which is where you may have come across Michael before, and books on the Law of Attraction. We realise we can make things happen in our lives with our intent. We are more able to steer our lives and we start aiming for some goals. Manifester Consciousness is much more empowering than Victim consciousness; it is a big leap forward. Remember though that this is only Stage Two as our lives are still being run by our egos, so our creative processes may be limited to the manifestation of material goods and worldly success. After a while you'll realise you have greater potential and a larger purpose.

Stage Three: ‘Through us’ Channel Consciousness
This is a stage that many healers, spiritual teachers, artists, dancers and musicians access. When we do so we enter into a flow of energy and allow something through us that is more beautiful and profound than we could create from our limited ego minds. When this happens our work is indeed inspired and inspiring. In Channel Consciousness we know that there is a power that we can bring through us. As our egos have to take a step back to let that happen we are likely to vacillate between Stage Two and Stage Three for a long time. The Ego doesn’t step down gracefully!

Stage Four: ‘As Us’ Being Consciousness
At this stage you are at One with the Divine and you manifest your Divine potential on Earth. This is Unity consciousness where there is no separation between us and the Divine. This is where humanity is evolving to and we can get glimpses of this level of Being in our own lives, for example when we enter into an expanded sense of awareness in meditation. We can consciously invite this level of consciousness into our lives by aligning ourselves with our highest potential.

What do your feel your life purpose is? Michael Bernard Beckwith prompts you to ask,
What is seeking to emerge through me as my highest potential?
What must I become in order to manifest that which is seeking to emerge through me?
What qualities need to be birthed in me?
What is it that I need to let go of?
Your purpose is always there wanting to be acknowledged and to emerge. You need to let go of the things that hold you back from expressing your highest potential.

The Life Visioning process provides us with a pathway to a more expanded Awareness. It isn’t the only route and it isn’t a promise of overnight transformation. Don’t expect instant results. Beckwith is not peddling a magic pill to make you into an instantly Awakened Being. You have to release the blocks that keep you from realising your Divine potential, he can't do it for you.

Like all teachings the concepts are filtered by your consciousness, so you comprehend the concepts you are ready to receive and filter out the rest. If you are willing to work on releasing ‘your stuff’ then wider vistas open out for you and your understanding expands. I requested this audio course as a review copy from publishers Sounds True several years ago and I'm hearing more on it now than I did when I listened back then. I didn't 'get' Stage Four when I first received it, I heard the words but they didn't really register in my consciousness. Something has shifted within me and now the course has become a true inspiration, especially the concept of Stage Four consciousness!

I've reviewed the full length 6 CD Audio course. I notice the publishers have also brought out a cheaper abridged version if you prefer: The Life Visioning Process: An Evolutionary Journey to Live as Divine Love.