As we have mentioned before, when we talk about levels we do not necessarily want you to think of them in relative higher and lower terms in which lower is equated with the lesser and higher with the greater. The young soul mindset, which so overpowers the collective belief system puts high value on win lose systems where being number one, or the top of the heap, or having your office on the top floor is desireable and the goal of life. Certainly when you climb mountains all levels of the climb have their purpose. You could not climb a mountain without a base, you cannot reach the peak without the sides and when you reach the peak, the only direction is down unless you master flying. We want to stress the cyclic nature of the Universe in all its planes. Your base desires have a purpose and base desires should not be thought of in negative terms. So we will again equate the word "order" to ordinal numbers. For those of you who may not be number oriented, ordinal numbers will signify a location, such as the 3rd floor, or in our terms 3rd level young etc.
So, what about desire? You may ask, "does desire always precede an action". We will say yes since thought always precedes an action and desire is thought driven. You form a thought (thought form) and usually a desire for the fufillment of the thought forms follows. To fufill the desire you must take an action and the action creates a behavior or an action set. Many of your behaviors are habitual, meaning you have programed a set of actions. You can then forget about the writing of the program and simply run it whenever the desire for chocolate comes up. For example, you think about Aunt Martha and her generosity with candy, you then form a picture of your favorite chocolate, then the thought of chocolate influences your body, you feel a desire then off you go to fufill the desire. You could look at desire as being the catalyst for action.
Desire is subject to duality and has negative and positive poles. The positive pole is "drive" as in, "she was driven to succeed" , and the negative pole is "possession" as in "that's mine and nobody is going to take it from me". In the positive pole you are motivated, in the negative pole you lack, you want, or you are needy, or you are in greed. The negative pole brings with it the fear of loss while the positive pole moves you in some direction. Also, the positive pole will most likely lead you to the negative pole and vice versa. For example: You want that new car and imagine it. The thought form becomes powerful and you act on it. You don't have enough money so you work extra hours and save enough for a down payment. The exciting day comes when you choose the new car, decide to buy it, and take possession of it. With possesion comes the fear of loss and the feeling of the new quickly fades.
Since desire is a subject of duality when your desire becomes a choice that you act upon it will have both a negative and positive consequence. You daily wiegh the imagined consequences before making a decision. If your choice appears that it will produce the desired consequence then you act upon it. At times, a strong negativly charged desire will take over your will and you are on the way to what you call trouble. We will at this time introduce an aphorism you may enjoy "There is no shame in failure, there is only the consequence of not taking action". Then again, at times no action can be the best course, although eventually an action will be demanded.
We introduce the orders or levels of desire to help you understand the duality in all your desires and lead you to a place where your decisions are truly free. We have been talking on the internet about True Choice, a state of mind where your choices are essence directed. Or in other words, you are in concert with essence and choose accordingly. All choices, whether positivly or negatively charged, are the right choices. At this level of choice there is no longer the idea of failure; you are simply on the best course of action and not attached to the consequences.
In our usual fashion we offer seven levels of desire from the most constrictive to the most expansive. Level one is the desire to feed and protect the body. This desire serves the individual human organism. You have bodily needs and you take care of them. An example of level one desires are "I want to eat", "I want to sleep" or "I want to protect my body from the cold". They relate to the role of server,the instinctive center, attitude of the pragmatist, mode of passion, goal of reevaluaton, chief feature of greed and the infant soul. You may call level 1, the desires of the body.
Level two is the desire be a part of a family, extended family or tribal unit. According to Desmond Morris, the optimum number of individuals in a healthy tribal unit is 150. Any desires associtated with mating, parenting, raising a family, having close friends, bonding with others, creating a self image, is a level two desire. Example of level two desire "I want to marry and have children", "I want to share my food with my friends" and the big one "I want to mate with that person" (level one merely wants to move the sexual energy without any consequences of relationship, level two is the desire for a mating relationship). These desires are associated with the Artisan, Emotional Center, attitude of stoic, mode of Caution, Goal of Acceptance, cheif feature of stubborness and the Baby Soul. Notice how level two desire, when strong enough, can easily overcomes level one desires. Without level two desires it would be impossible for an indivdual to be a successful part of a family unit.
Level three desires go beyond the family and reach out into the larger community. Level three desires seek to enlarge the natural boundaries of the individual. Career choices are level three, teaching in a shcool or University, operating a store or business, or leading an army into enemy territory. Anything that interacts with a community that is larger than the natural coping ability of the individual. These desires bring the individual to a place where she must modify her natural behaviors in order to interact. They force the individual into artificial behaviors. For example, making a child sit in a classroom, or for that matter, sitting in front of a computer terminal for any length of time. From here formal, civilizing, social structures are developed. An example of level three desires are "I want to be a (doctor, artist, teacher, scientist, soldier, teacher, politician)". These desires are associated with the Warrior, Intellectual Center, attitude of the idealist, mode of perseverance, goal of discrimination and the Young Soul. These are the desires that create civilization. Without level three desires it would be impossible for an individual to leave the safety of a very small community.
Levels one through three are most associated with the needs of navigating the physical plane. Level four is the desire to know. When you come to a place where you question the validity of the level 1-3 desires you are experiencing level four. Also, level four is also experienced within all other levels. At some time a fragment who experiences mainly level one desire will begin to question her isolation and want to reach out to other fragments. It is quite common for a villager, contained within a network of level two desires, to strike out on her own and move to the big city. All of you have experienced the feeling of meaninglessness which the pursuit of level three desires can bring, it is the level four desire which uncovers the meaninglessness . Level four is associated with the scholar, the moving center, the attitude of the skeptic, goal of growth, mode of observation, and the chief feature of self destruction.
Level 5 is the desire for individual transcendence. This is the development of beliefs that say "the soul is eternal but how does this affect me as an individual." Level 5 is the desire for soul evolution and is an essence desire. This is the desire to know the self or the desire to experience the wholeness of identity. Level 5 desire is concerned with finding past lives, spirit guides, calling angels, using intuition. Saying, "I want to be a (psychic, astrologer, shaman, yogi, mystic etc.)" is level 5. Level 5 is associated with the sage, the higher intellectual center, attitude of cynic, mode of reservation, goal of reevaluation, chief feature of self deprecation and the old soul.
Level 6 is the desire for group transcendence or the desire of the entity, cadre and contingent. This manifests itself as true or selfless service. Level 6 is rarely heard in statement such as I want, it comes through as "we" statement. Level 5 still retains a strong "I" consciousness but level 6 has little individuality to it. After all, your needs are included in the needs of your entity. All individual needs go out the door here and whatever action is needed to evolve the collective spirit is taken. the level six statement reads something like this, "How can I direct my energy to benefit the greater self" (entity). Level 6 knows that her needs are well taken care of and she has no doubt or question of it. Level 6 is associated with the Priest, the Higher emotional center, attitude of Spiritualist, mode of power, goal of submission, chief feature of martyrdom and the transcendental soul.
Level 7 is the desire to remember the Tao. Level 7 is always incipient in all other levels - since you had at one time forgotten the Tao then the memory lies within you. It is the goal of the game. When the Self is remembered the Tao is remembered and you are complete. This transcendence can happen within any level but is more common in levels 4-7 old souls. Hindu call it samadhi and Buddists call it nirvana. The fulfillment of level 7 desire dissolves all previous desires and any karma attached to them. We want to stress that at the fulfillment of this desire you realize the cyclical nature of all things and merrily go about your business on whatever plane you are on. It is a one desire that is fulfilled infinitely. Often an individual will reach this desire then return to fulfilling level 6 desires without negative level 3 consequences. Any "I" statement will bring the desire back to a lower level. This desire is associated with the King, the higher moving center, attitude of realist, mode of aggression, and goal of dominance, chief feature of arrogance, and the infinite soul.
The pursuit of level 5-7 desires will carry consequences in the 1-3 levels, meaning, whatever you do for your spiritual enlightenment will effect the world. You could call levels 1-3 the worldly desires and level 5-7 the spiritual desires. We will call levels 1-3, mundane desires and levels 5-7 transcendent. Level four is the neutral desire, it performs somewhat like a doorway. Also, holding level 7 as a single desire will bring you through all the transcendent desires. Level 7, the king desire, takes care of its subjects.