You should understand that the dynamic of the deconstruction of one’s being, the traversing of the Bardo Thodol at death, has one unifying principle: it is designed to bring you face to face with the clear light of reality in an ever-descending formula.

If at the first dawning of the great light, you recognize it at that moment for what it is, you are absorbed into its nature and become enlightened. If however, having lived a life of superstitious misunderstanding, you see in the clear light of reality a fearsome light of a billion suns that carries your certain destruction, you will reject it in fear. The price of this ignorance is that you go down a step; the conditions become more complicated, the mind is thrown into turmoil, and the level of confusion intensifies.

Thus the clear light of reality presents itself again and again, and each time you have the opportunity to recognize it for what it is. How you perceive the great light at the time of death is a mirror of the fabric of your life and all the conditioning that weighs on you.