U
Very good
I want you to go back and look at your answers for 1 and 2. I think there is some confusion with the origins of the Ethiopians and Egyptians so correct that issue and append your post with the correction.
I think your statement in the final paragraph was right on with the meaning and intent of the teaching.
“I, a beginning spiritual aspirant, perceives the levels to be a guide/measuring stick to place myself in front of to evaluate myself while on this journey. I also view it as a level of understanding myself and what I should strive for at each level. It provides me with an idea of where I am and where I need to go next. It also helps to improve my thoughts about myself in this process because it brings more light to that notion, it is a process and one cannot simply go from aspiring to being more spiritual to being spiritually enlightened. It takes hard work and discipline. So, knowing the levels helps me to know if growth is being made.”
If the intent of the nomenclature and hierarchy were understood correctly and taken as you have stated it it would help an aspirant to understand that it is not a race against time or against other aspirants but a process in which the teaching outlined by the scriptures and temple practices is dedicated to assisting by placing goals and benchmarks by which one may gauge their status and progress on the spiritual path. Another point is that while you have stated it correctly it is possible for less mature aspirants to take such things and mixed with their egoistic notions, think of this as an external process separate from their ego and character and externalize the process and thus appear to do spiritual things and rituals and practices while not progressing because the internal process is not being engaged properly.
Very good
HTP
