The Densities of Existence
Our cosmos is a wild place. When I had my cosmic awakening, I was blown out of my body and shown how incredibly vast reality is, and how reality itself is only a tiny part of a greater actuality. I saw how the universe we think of as stable and solid is actually an incredibly small and thin slice of actuality’s true vastness — an illusion created by our collective consensus. I came to understand how we are in a particular density of existence, and that there are modes of existence that are denser than ours.
I have come to realize that the evolution of consciousness is one in which more and more of what is actually happening around us in every moment is perceived in its true clarity — all of the unconscious movements that we make, not just in our social and mental actions, but in the way our consciousness unconsciously structures reality around us in every moment. As we become more aware of everything that is actually happening in our experience, as we gain more understanding, we move into an increasingly dense perception of our experience, both internal and external (and understanding with increasing clarity how they are the same thing). Eventually, if fully realized during a lifetime, that density of understanding allows us to leave the physical realm and ascend into the next density of existence.
My experience during my cosmic awakening and the understandings that have since arisen from that experience largely jibe with the 8-density model of reality discussed in the channeled books from the early 1980s known as the Ra Materials (and later recompiled in the two-volume Ra Contact). In that model, the evolution of consciousness is a movement through increasing density, into larger and larger groupings of being, until eventually reaching 8th density and becoming All That Is. We are currently in 3rd density, and the next evolution of consciousness is a movement into 4th density, in order to explore the lessons of love that it has to teach.
That is not to say that souls only move in one direction. Higher density beings frequently choose to incarnate as 3rd density beings in order to learn particular lessons or to aid the world at important times. Each such incarnation is individual and sovereign on its own terms, and like everyone else incarnating on Earth, has largely if not entirely forgotten its origins and the true unity of All That Is. It therefore has its own path of ascension before merging back with what it originally was, and eventually with All That Is.
Below are the densities of existence, as I understand them. To be clear, everything I describe to you below is my understanding, based on what I have learned thus far from the Ra Contact and from other channeling sessions of multiple entities by myself and others. As with all things, take what resonates and set aside the rest.
First Density: the density of elemental consciousness. Earth, air, wind, water, particles, molecules. The most basic consciousness. Beings in this density are aware, but not possessing a personality or any self-aware sense of self. The evolution of consciousness is a process of learning to let go of the overwhelm that arises when we confront our true omniscience and omnipotence — when we shatter at our true immensity. In many ways, we can think of a first density consciousness as the most overwhelmed in this manner, and therefore the simplest and least dense consciousness that can arise.
Second Density: the density of life. This is everything from prions and viruses up to animal life and beyond. Anything capable of replication and transferring information down generations is second density existence. Our bodies are second density beings, as are our cells, and our DNA, all created from an amalgamation of first density beings. Those cells largely pre-cognate, looking into potential futures and adjusting the body to move in the direction of the likely outcome. Each cell is individual and sovereign, but its mode of consciousness is such that it exists as part of the larger groupings (organ/organism), rather than as an individual, and thus the body responds as a collective. The hallmark of second density life is that the sense of individual self does not begin to form until very high second density. Until that begins to happen, the “being” is largely the group, the pack, the hive, etc., with almost no individuated sense of self. Second density beings largely move more directly with the perfection of all things, and therefore largely do not suffer in the way third density life does.
Third Density: the density of self-awareness, of choice. This is the lowest density where beings are aware of themselves as individual beings, in a self-referential way. This is the only density where (at least on Earth) a veil exists that prevents us from easily perceiving the unity of all things. This is where we are. First and second density beings don't have enough self-awareness to need to be veiled. And fourth density and higher densities are largely unveiled in this respect and aware of their position with respect to All That Is. Time exists in third density as a partially folded dimension, and the beings in densities above us participate in time only through their interaction with third density, through channelings, incarnation, and the ways in which they help to coordinate and structure our reality. In third density, we voluntarily choose to limit ourselves, to cut ourselves off from the knowledge of what is truly there, in order for us to make a series of choices. Do we want to seek towards truth, or would we prefer to hide, cling and shatter? Do we want to devote ourselves to service to others, or to service to self, or to an incoherent and unfocused mode of existence? Do we want to become more than we are? In the absence of definitive proof of what reality truly is, what do we choose to believe? With no clear grounding in some greater morality, who do we choose to become? Despite the illusion of separateness and fear that exists on our world, can we learn to love all beings unconditionally?
Positive graduation from third density involves opening one’s heart and learning to love. It means polarizing positively, by learning to seek with openness and flexibility, and learning to move with an orientation of service towards others. Beings can ascend from third density to fourth density either individually (by shedding certain key karmas around the ego and thereby their physical form) or as a group, after collectively forming a group mind, in which case each individual does not need to be totally clear to ultimately ascend (although in that case ascension would likely not happen during the living incarnation, and instead the individual would die and reincarnate as a fourth density being).
Fourth Density: the density of love and understanding. This is the density where beings learn the lessons of love in all its forms. As far as I have been able to learn and discern, the fourth density experience is broadly what we consider the astral plane, and the fourth density body is the astral body. By crafting thought-forms in the astral now, we are quite literally helping to construct the fourth density Earth. What is fourth density experience really like? As with all densities above third, the true nature of the experience is unknowable and beyond our current capacity for comprehension, although it is the most comprehensible of the higher densities, being the closest to our own. Time is present in early fourth density, and as beings become more comfortable with the density, the illusion of time is ultimately shed. In fourth density, communication is telepathic, unless words are desired, and all beings are aware of the thoughts and vibrations of other beings. As Ra put it, it is a plane of compassion and understanding of the sorrows of third density, a plane striving towards wisdom/light, where individual differences are pronounced although all beings automatically harmonize by group consensus. There is harmony with the self, and harmony among beings. There is still a strong sense of individuality; and at the same time, as the group mind becomes increasingly self aware, the experience of harmonious coordination and collective movement naturally becomes an increasing focus of each individual’s attention.
The work that is accomplished in positive fourth density is initially the work of the collective group mind coming into greater and greater awareness and integrity. Having harmoniously integrated, it then sets out to aid those of less positive orientation, to encourage the positive polarization of all beings. This type of work allows the accumulation of greater and greater intensities of understanding and compassion, eventually leading to sufficient understanding for graduation into fifth density.
Jesus, as he incarnated on this planet, was a high fourth density wanderer. And Yahweh, the Jewish god, is a fourth density being (at least, the part of Yahweh that presented as a god to the Jewish people).
Fifth Density: the density of light and wisdom. This is the density where beings learn the lessons of wisdom. The compassion gained in fourth density is tempered by wisdom, so that fewer errors in judgment are made. According to Ra, "the fourth density, as we have said, abounds in compassion. This compassion is folly when seen through the eyes of wisdom. It is the salvation of third density but creates a mismatch in the ultimate balance of the entity." The primary outcome of this mismatch is the tendency towards martyrdom, which is not viewed as desirable from the standpoint of the higher densities.
As far as I can discern, the fifth density experience is broadly what we consider the etheric plane, and the fifth density body is the etheric body. To achieve the graduation to fifth density, an entity must understand the actions, the movements, and the dance of reality. This is ultimately a measure of efficiency of perception, and involves the ability to love, to accept, and to use a certain intensity of light. Fifth density entities use sixth density teachers to study the more illuminated understandings of unity, thus becoming more and more wise. Fifth density positive service to others involves beaming light to creation and sending groups to be of aid as instruments of light to the lower densities. The god Ganesha, as he presents on this planet, is a fifth density being, as are Hanuman, Saraswati and Ammit.
Sixth Density: the density of unity. This is the density in which the lessons of compassion and wisdom become integrated, and in which most dualities collapse. Ra, in describing their experience in sixth density, stated “We seek the Creator upon a level of shared experience to which you are not privy and rather than surrounding ourselves in light we have become light. Our understanding is that there is no other material except light. Our rituals, as you may call them, are an infinitely subtle continuation of the balancing processes which you are now beginning to experience.”
At the halfway point of sixth density, the duality between positive and negative polarization collapses, as it becomes inescapably clear to negatively-oriented entities that all things are one, and thus the path of separation is a dead end. Thereafter, the movement is towards increasing unity with All That Is.
The latter part of sixth density is also when an entity takes on the role of higher self and connects with all of its lower-density incarnations, providing advice and guidance. When we listen to our heart and our intuition, we are listening to the advice of our higher self.
Seventh Density: the gateway density. This is the density when beings come into full awareness of themselves as a mind/body/spirit complex totality - a full awareness of themself as a mind/body/spirit throughout all of the densities of existence throughout time. As its understanding of unity becomes more and more refined, it turns towards All That Is and gains spiritual mass, eventually merging with All That Is as it reaches eighth density, becoming infinite in all respects.
Eighth Density: All That Is; the next octave. This is the density that encompasses all others, where all beings merge into All That Is, no longer experiencing any separation between themselves and anything else. It is also the beginning of an entirely new octave of experience that is unknowable from this octave. It is beyond everything and is everything. It is All That Is.
