As the boundaries of the self become subtler and more fundamental, space becomes deeper and more powerful in its annihilating influence. This process continues until one is able to experience reality with no boundaries at all, with no sense of separate identity whatsoever, with no sense of individual experience. Although this might sound fantastic, undesirable, or even frightening, it remains nonetheless the objective of spiritual (essential) development. This development is reached by some individuals, and it is experienced as the freest and most positive condition possible. It is equated with liberation and enlightenment.

Objectivity takes the seven factors to another dimension, another level. The seven factors are called the lataif, the seven elements of subtle consciousness. The energy is the red latifa, the determination is the white latifa, the joy is the yellow latifa, the kindness or compassion is the green latifa, peacefulness is the black latifa, the absorption is the blue latifa, the awakeness that can free us from desires is what we call the clear latifa. The lataif are a very subtle kind of Presence; some people say it's like air, a subtle air that produces those qualities in you.

First of all, you need energy, energy to work on yourself and work through the personality and its patterns. Energy is the sense that you have the capacity, the strength, the courage to do something about it, about yourself, about your life... Another factor is determination. Without determination, the energy will be meaningless. You need steadfast determination and an unwavering will to go on, to continue in the face of discouragement and disappointment. The determination is what pushes you, what makes you persist. It is important to understand the personality issues around will and determination: what the issues are that make you feel frustrated, that stop your determination, that block your will, that stop you from feeling, "yes, I will do it"... Another factor that comes into the picture is a sense of lightness about the whole thing, a sense of joyousness. It is a specific kind of joyousness, a specific kind of lightness, a specific kind of the light. The delight and the joyfulness are the actual work itself. It is a delight in the truth, delight in seeing and experiencing the truth. It is a little like curiosity -- a joyful curiosity about things... The next factor needed to prepare ourselves for the perception of the experience of liberation is that of compassionate kindness. It is a very important necessary quality. You need kindness for yourself because the process is difficult. Since you're not liberated, it is natural that you will suffer, so why push yourself in a way that you'll suffer more? Why beat yourself up if you make a mistake? The factor of kindness also brings a quality of trust in yourself, trust in the process, a kind of trust in your mind, in your Essence... Another factor necessary in this work is peacefulness: the ability to be silent, the capacity to be still, not always in activity and noise. Stillness of the mind. In order to recognize true liberation you must have this capacity for stillness or peacefulness because liberation is so fleeting... The next factor which is needed is the capacity to be absorbed in something, to be totally absorbed with whatever you are doing, in whatever state happens to be there. You become so one-pointed in your experience that you become completely involved in it, and so involved that you are dissolved in it. This is a certain kind of relationship to experience, a certain capacity, a certain freedom from the personality... The seventh and last factor of liberation is awakening, the capacity to be awake in your experience. We talked about the capacity to be absorbed in your experience; there is also the capacity to actually be awake, to be aware. You are so aware that you feel as if you have just awakened. There is a feeling of light all around you.

The combination of all these factors brings about objectivity. The seven factors -- the energy, the determination, the joyfulness, the kindness, the absorption, the peacefulness, and the awakeness -- come together in perfect proportion, and exist as one phenomenon, whose quality is objectivity. The objectivity is exactly what is needed to deal with the personality, its basic patterns and its basic tendencies toward grasping and attachment. With objectivity you are not influenced by your superego or your unconscious; what you see is what is there.

It is this objective consciousness that can perceive the state of liberation, because it doesn't have any of the clinging attitudes or obscurations that block the perception. These factors are called factors of enlightenment not only because they will lead you to objectivity and liberation, but also because they are present in the state of liberation itself. You are joyful, you are a kind, you are energetic, you are determined, you're clear, you're awake, you're completely absorbed in your experience, you're peaceful. All these qualities are present together in the objective level, as the Diamond Consciousness, or the objective consciousness. When this Diamond Consciousness finally perceives the state of liberation, it just melts, becomes softer, delicate, liquid, relaxed, and flowing.