As unsatisfying as this answer may sound, I've found it helpful to always set the intention within to seek truth and state that you wish to serve others. Opinionated viewpoints will continue to be molded as you encounter various understandings and catalyst.
A more specific answer would be that the most reliable way of measuring where you're at is your state of being. Pure being is what we seek, which is happiness. The discomfort you feel is a signal that there is, as often seems to be the case, much work to be done. So-called adepts that want to go home because the world is a terrible place have yet to fully integrate the exterior world. Things bother us when we are still consciously choosing to not identify with the catalyst (separation). There are many that develop a certain level of consciousness where there is great understanding, yet the outer reality is still very bothersome because it doesn't fit into their mold of how people and the world should be..even if they understand unity. This seems to be what defines self-service described in 80.15. In other words, with most adepts there is a certain level of understanding ("grasping the light of day"), but the adept will continue to use catalyst to reinforce separation ("preferring the darkness").
All catalyst should be used to see yourself or other necessary insights into blockage. When you can get to a place where you're able to do that, each moment brings peace and happiness. Be open and most importantly be humble. To me, enlightenment means that when you gaze outwardly, there is no such thing as asleep or awake, as that would be contrary to the state of enlightenment. Others don't have to be anything other than themselves, as their flaws are your flaws. To feel and experience the other as yourself produces a feeling of radiating pure love ("Service-to-others is automatic at the released energy generated by this state of consciousness"). This puts you in a state of being where you simply allow your total self to express itself to you, and help in ways that the other asks of you, rather than taking it upon yourself to guide.
A more specific answer would be that the most reliable way of measuring where you're at is your state of being. Pure being is what we seek, which is happiness. The discomfort you feel is a signal that there is, as often seems to be the case, much work to be done. So-called adepts that want to go home because the world is a terrible place have yet to fully integrate the exterior world. Things bother us when we are still consciously choosing to not identify with the catalyst (separation). There are many that develop a certain level of consciousness where there is great understanding, yet the outer reality is still very bothersome because it doesn't fit into their mold of how people and the world should be..even if they understand unity. This seems to be what defines self-service described in 80.15. In other words, with most adepts there is a certain level of understanding ("grasping the light of day"), but the adept will continue to use catalyst to reinforce separation ("preferring the darkness").
All catalyst should be used to see yourself or other necessary insights into blockage. When you can get to a place where you're able to do that, each moment brings peace and happiness. Be open and most importantly be humble. To me, enlightenment means that when you gaze outwardly, there is no such thing as asleep or awake, as that would be contrary to the state of enlightenment. Others don't have to be anything other than themselves, as their flaws are your flaws. To feel and experience the other as yourself produces a feeling of radiating pure love ("Service-to-others is automatic at the released energy generated by this state of consciousness"). This puts you in a state of being where you simply allow your total self to express itself to you, and help in ways that the other asks of you, rather than taking it upon yourself to guide.
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