The transition between Band 5 (level 3) and Band 6 (level 1) can be referred to as a bardo which resembles very closely indeed Buddhist notions of the transition as between death and rebirth. Now according to the Tibetan tradition this represents the state of existence as between two lives on Earth. Of course this presupposes the doctrine of reincarnation in its somewhat literal sense, to which I personally would not subscribe. However accepting the traditional accounts, the question arises as to how precisely this transition as between death and rebirth (in a new body) takes place. So on the one hand after death there is the clearest spiritual experience of reality of which one is capable which then gives way to terror arising from one’s previous sinful inclinations. So we have here in starkest form the battle as between the “higher” and “lower” aspects of the self. And the manner in which this is resolved then plays a key role in determining the nature of one’s next...