This essay is a short meditation on Colin Wilson’s Superconsciousness (Watkins, 2015), and how it can perhaps offer a method of explaining and understanding theosis: that is, the Christian theological concept that describes the process of human nature being transformed through divine grace, the spirit of God, or the atonement of Christ.

In the thirteen and final chapter of Superconsciousness, entitled Achieving Power Consciousness, he distinguishes seven basic levels of consciousness, beginning with deep sleep and ending with mystical consciousness, described by Ouspensky (see p205–6).

Now, elsewhere in my essay entitled: The Seamless Garment: Towards an Eastern Orthodox Process Theology, I used to William James’ concept of pure experience to describe the being of God as a communion in love between the three hypostases of the Holy Trinity. The ground of Creation then, as a spatial and temporal medium, is an extension of the communion in love beyond the confines of the divine life. As such, the created universe is a finite spatial-temporal reality confined within the infinite and eternal reality of God.

With the Eastern Orthodox Christian theological and spiritual tradition, there is the concept of theosis, referring to the process by which human beings are transformed to achieve union with God, participating in His divine nature.

Biblical foundations for this include 2 Peter 1:4: “by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.” Another is John 17:21–23, where Christ asks in prayer “that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us.”

Theosis doesn’t imply that humans become gods in essence or being, rather that they can participate in the energies and operations of God. God’s energies are providential intentions which inform and sustain the created universe, representing the divine ideas of God outside His mind. His energies are complex and multifaceted abstract forms which can be actualised concretely within experiential events. The distinction between God’s essence and energies is integral to Eastern Orthodox theology, as it ensures the Creator/creature distinction.

Theosis is made possible through the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. By becoming man, Christ made it possible for humanity to partake in God’s nature. St. Athanasius famously stated: “God became man so that man might become god.” The sacraments, especially baptism and the Eucharist, play a crucial role in this process. Through them, believers participate in the life of Christ and, by extension, in the divine life of the Holy Trinity.

Theosis is both a gift from God and a process of moral and spiritual ascent. It requires human cooperation through prayer, ascetic practices, and virtuous living. However, it’s not solely a human effort; divine grace is indispensable. The image and likeness of God in humanity represent static and dynamic parts; all are created in the image, but not all attain the likeness. The likeness is something that must be kindled and cultivated through one’s life, enabling deeper communion with God.

What I wondered is if Wilson’s basic levels of consciousness could represent the stages in the acquisition of theosis and the dynamism of the likeness.

Levels one and two, from deep sleep to instinctual animal consciousness are the lowest stages. Then come three and four, which represent everyday consciousness, Satre’s nausea. Wilson then identifies a spark-gap to level five, which he calls spring morning consciousness. This is when one’s soul is kindled and attentiveness to one’s surroundings is expanded and intensified, perhaps by a poem or piece of music. Level six is magic consciousness, imbued with child-like sense of curiosity and wonderment, even naivety. Then comes Factor X at level seven, which represents a kind of energised relaxation, absolute presentness in the moment. Finally, is mystical consciousness, which dances along the tightrope of the subject-object dichotomy from which one slumberously emerges at levels one and two.

William James’ described consciousness as an operative function of selectivity within experience that it is enacted from the dynamic sensorimotor interaction of mind, body, and lived environment. What this means is that consciousness is less a stable or transcendental property standing over and above experience but is instead a spectrum of intensity and range of possibility for structuring the formative medium of experience constituting reality. By cultivating one’s consciousness through prayer, ascetic practise, and virtuous living, a Christian then, can ascend through Wilson’s basic levels of consciousness until they arrive at the mystical stage of theosis which enables communion with God through His divine energies.