Spirit Quest

Does Spiritual Knowledge Lead to Happiness?

2012-02-20T15:26:00.000-08:00

I often travel beyond the veil during meditation to meet my spirit friends. He-who-answers-my-questions is one of these friends.

During a recent meditation, I found myself sitting with he-who-answers on the rooftop terrace of his magnificent sandstone home, sipping a beverage tasting like lemonade.

As always, I wanted to discuss something with him. He waited patiently, glowing radiantly as the Being of Light he is.

“I’ve devoted years to spiritual study,” I began “I’ve crammed my head full of spiritual knowledge. But my efforts haven’t brought me permanent happiness.”

He-who-answers looked thoughtfully out at the green landscape dotted with scattered homes. Beyond lay the towers of a crystalline city in the distance. I saw no roads but knew I could travel to any destination at the speed of thought.

At last, he turned to me and said, “Dear friend, your experience is not unusual. Humans search endlessly for happiness. It is what they most desire. They believe doing certain things will bring them happiness. You, for instance, believe that acquiring spiritual knowledge will lead to happiness, just as others believe that acquiring money will lead to happiness.”

The exotic fragrance of potted red flowers growing nearby distracted me for a moment. The flowers seemed to glow from light within and even emitted a faint musical sound like chimes.

“It isn’t sufficient just to know stuff,” I pointed out. “How can I learn to feel it?” My question reminded me that the distance from my head to my heart is like a journey of a thousand miles.

He-who-answers smiled gently. “What is it you expect to experience from the knowledge you’re amassing?” he asked.

“Perhaps enlightenment,” I answered. Then I reconsidered and said, “I want to establish a closer relationship with Spirit while still in the physical world.”

“You’re already doing that,” he said. “You’re doing it right now. The spiritual knowledge you’re acquiring is helping you grow spiritually -- and helping you develop a closer relationship with us. How does that feel?”

“Wonderful!” I exclaimed.

“Then you already know the answer to your question,” he said. “You always thought you might experience happiness once you had attained enough spiritual knowledge at some time in your future. You thought you might even become enlightened, once you acquired enough spiritual knowledge. But know this: happiness is something you can experience right now, regardless of how much spiritual knowledge you have attained.”

Just then, two small, brightly-colored birds alighted on the terrace railing. They began to sing a joyous melody and fluttered happily about. I laughed in delight.

“You should spend more time in nature,” he-who-answers suggested, noticing my fascination with the birds. “Being in nature brings you closer to Spirit, and that closeness to Spirit leads to the happiness you are seeking.”

He selected a clump of luscious black grapes from a bowl on the small table between us and seemed to inhale them. Then he continued, “Do you remember when you were 10 years old? On a certain autumn day, you went walking along a tree line bordering a field of corn that had recently been picked. It was what you call Indian summer, when the temperature turns warmer for a week or two following a brief cold spell in Pennsylvania and there’s an enchanting haze in the air and the leaves turn crimson and orange and yellow. It was raining lightly. You were alone and a lingering state of bliss overcame you. Do you remember it?”

His description brought back a captivating memory and I nodded.

He continued, “You often experienced bliss and wonderment when you were young -- especially when you were alone in nature. On that autumn day, you were very close to Spirit. That’s why you felt the way you did then. I was with you that day. But soon you became a teenager and then an adult, and you got caught up in things of the physical world. Your life experience as an adult eventually turned into utter misery for you, and you began to anesthetize yourself with alcohol. You lost all contact with Spirit. Any remnants of your childhood bliss and wonderment vanished completely. After years of stress and chaos, your life began to implode, and we knew you wouldn’t survive much longer. That’s why we had to intervene in 1990 and again in 2000, in experiences that you refer to as spiritual awakenings.”

He paused to make sure I understood and then continued. “Your youthful feelings of bliss and wonderment are returning at long last. So is your sense of adventure in life. You are getting close to Spirit once again. The spiritual knowledge you are acquiring is helping provide a cure for your many years of misery.”

Yet again he paused and then said, “The veil that once seemed to separate us from you is becoming thinner now. Soon it will not exist for you at all. Soon you will not only know but will actually feel that you are not separate from us when you are in the physical world. Indeed, you will know for certain that you never have been separate from us. It has only seemed that way.”

My time with he-who-answers was drawing to a close. I thanked him and, in an instant, found myself back in the physical world. I now knew that my journeys beyond the veil would continue to bring me spiritual knowledge -- and happiness.

What Is My Life Purpose? -- An Encounter With the Spirit Being Who Answers My Questions

2012-02-04T18:56:00.000-08:00

I met the spirit being who-answers-my-questions for the first time during meditation in December 2011. That first encounter was unexpected, and I don’t recall what he and I discussed. But I have met him in meditation several times since. And each time we meet, he answers any questions I may have.

That’s precisely why I call him “he-who-answers-my questions.” I don’t know his actual name -- or if he even has a name. But it doesn’t really matter, you see, since we identify each other by vibration rather than by name in the spirit realms. He is a translucent being of radiant light whose facial features are difficult to distinguish.

At the outset of a recent meditation, I requested that he be present, along with my primary spirit guide, Max. No sooner did I make this request than both of them appeared.

I smiled, happy to see them. I then turned to he-who-answers-my-questions, and without hesitation, I said to him, “May I ask a question?”

He nodded. “Of course.”

“My question is this: What is my life purpose?”

He chuckled in response to my question. Then in a serious tone, he replied, “We know this question is important to you. We have observed you in search of an answer to it for some time. Your activities are helping you find an answer.”

He was referring, of course, to my spiritual studies, conference hopping, and Spirit Quest events.

The three of us were standing in a lounge with floor-to-ceiling windows on one side, looking out upon a resplendent valley to mountains beyond. For a moment, he, Max, and I gazed out at this spectacular vista.

Then he-who-answers-my-questions turned to me and said, “You have always seen yourself as weak and limited and thus incapable of accomplishing your life purpose. You don’t know what you really are. That has been your real problem -- not your lack of knowledge.”

I knew he was right and said, “Okay, that’s true, but how can I deal with it?”

“Well,” he responded, “you have already encountered some great spiritual teachings that seek to change the way you perceive yourself. And you have undertaken some helpful spiritual practices such as meditation and chi gong -- though sporadically, to be sure. But how you feel is far more important than what you do. When you think of something that might be your life purpose, how do you feel about it? Passionate? Or stressed?”

He briefly touched the center of my chest with his fingertips and for emphasis said, “When you think about it, how do you feel here?”

He paused, as if waiting for me to answer. When I didn’t answer immediately, he said, “You like to complicate things. It’s so easy. Just feel it.”

Finally, I said, “I guess my purpose is to evolve -- and to help others do the same.”

“Good. That’s very good,” he said. “But you have also forgotten that you’re supposed to be having fun in the physical world. It is not meant to be a place of never-ending pain and suffering. That’s what you made it into. You bought into the idea that life consists of work and responsibility, that there is no time for fun.”

He glanced out the window and then turned back to me. “Yes, that’s one of your biggest misconceptions. You feel there is much to do and little time in which to do it. You feel a sense of urgency. You feel constantly stressed. But relax! You are an eternal spiritual being -- you literally have as long as you need to accomplish your purpose. You’re already evolving at an accelerated pace, just as you asked to. We’re supporting you. But have fun! A sense of bliss -- that’s what you really want, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is,” I admitted, feeling a little overwhelmed by the intensity of his explanation. Then I said, “You know what: I’d love to go outside. I love being in nature.”

So he-who-answers-my-questions, Max, and I walked through an open, arched doorway, crossed a smooth, flagstone terrace, and from there, began to follow a tree-lined lane stretching out before us, with Max on my left and he-who-answers on my right.

Max had been unusually quiet during my discussion with he-who-answers.

“Capture the feeling you now have,” Max admonished at last. “Take it with you always.”

Suddenly I began to laugh in delight. They both joined in my merriment. This is how I was always meant to feel but never knew it.

He-who-answers said, “You are now living your purpose. That’s why you feel so joyous.”

Walking between them, I threw my arms around both their shoulders in a way that would have seemed uncharacteristic of me not long ago. “I love you both,” I said to them. “I appreciate you both, and I’m grateful to both of you. You are such good friends.”

They smiled, knowing what I meant and felt.

We strolled along a while longer, until I had to acknowledge that it was time for me to leave this place of beauty and my two dear friends. “I need to return to the physical world and fulfill my purpose,” I told them.

“You are already doing it,” they both assured me.

Their words still echo in my mind.

Spirit Quest's Third Anniversary: Your Spiritual Growth

2012-01-30T17:13:00.000-08:00

Spirit Quest celebrated its third anniversary as a spiritual discussion group when we met on January 11, 2012.

At this meeting, we reviewed our activities during 2011. In addition, we discussed our spiritual progress as individuals during the year and how our participation in the group’s activities has contributed to our spiritual growth.

Since ancient times, like-minded people have gathered in groups to engage in spiritual practices and to discuss topics of a spiritual nature. In recent years, spiritual discussion groups have sprung up spontaneously all over the world, prompted by a global spiritual awakening. The emergence of Spirit Quest in November 2008 reflects this global spiritual awakening.

Why would people want to get together to engage in spiritual practices and discuss all things spiritual? Because they are awakening from the physical dream they have lived in for eons. They want to spend time with others like themselves to understand what is happening. They want to know where they are headed in this spiritual journey through the physical universe. Getting together helps them find answers to the great spiritual questions they have. It magnifies the bliss they feel at long last on this journey.

In Spirit Quest, we are seeking such an experience. We are seeking to accelerate our spiritual growth by sharing our knowledge and wisdom with each other. We are hoping to find the teacher who dwells within each of us. We know we can express our spiritual ideas and describe our spiritual experiences in Spirit Quest, safely and without fear of criticism, skepticism, or rebuke.

We discuss a wide-range of spiritual topics in our meetings. A complete list of the things we have discussed appears here: Discussion Topics. Each of us sought to answer these questions during our discussion on January 11:

Why is spirituality so important to me, given the many “practical” issues like family, career, and finances I have to deal with everyday?
How can participation in Spirit Quest possibly help me in my “real” life?
What, if anything, is required of me when I participate in Spirit Quest activities?
How can Spirit Quest meet my spiritual wants and needs more effectively?
What are the goals of Spirit Quest and how can the group best achieve its goals?
How does Spirit Quest contribute to the spiritual awakening going on here in Panama and globally?

To watch a 15-minute video which summarizes our topics and activities during 2011, be sure to click here: Spirit Quest Third Anniversary.

How a Spirit Guide Helped Me Deal With Depression

2012-01-23T11:26:00.000-08:00

I began to slip into a meditative state. At once, a spirit guide appeared in my presence, surprising me. I didn’t recognize him, but he seemed to be waiting for me.

“We know you don’t want to talk today,” he said to me, standing there in the light.

“I’m too depressed,” I responded.

“Well, why don’t we just talk about it?” he suggested.

I said nothing for a while. He waited patiently.

At last I said, “I’m having another one of my prolonged bouts of depression. That’s my life story -- chronic depression. I decided to meditate today. It might help.”

He seemed to radiate understanding and empathy.

“I know what to do when I feel this way,” I told him. “But I’ve been too depressed to do it.”

Again he didn’t respond, waiting instead for me to go on.

“I was listening to an audio recording of A Course in Miracles earlier today,” I continued. “A dear friend gave it to me. I’m sure it will help. In fact, it already has.”

At last he spoke. “We know you’re devoted to spiritual growth,” he said, “but you must remember you ventured into the physical world, in part to experience all the emotions that come with being in human form.”

He paused briefly and then continued. “Do this: Imagine what it would be like to be happy right now.”

I tried to do as he suggested, but it didn’t feel convincing.

“It’s okay,” he said. “Just tell me this: Where would you be and what would you be doing if you were completely happy right now?”

I struggled to find an answer but couldn’t, because I have seldom experienced genuine or long-lasting happiness in life.

Then I answered, “Alright, if I were a child again in Pennsylvania, I think I would be happy.”

“Perhaps you need to let the child in you come out and play, as they say,” he commented. “You’ve been too serious, too responsible, too dedicated all your adult life. You’ve forgotten how to have fun.”

“I might be happy if I were enlightened,” I hypothesized.

“Yes, you would,” he replied. “You would experience the perpetual state of bliss you’ve been seeking these past few years. But what can you do, right here, right now?”

“I can be here right now,” I answered.

He smiled. My answer seemed to please him. “Very good,” he said. “Right here, right now is the only time you can be happy. Let go of the nostalgia for your childhood. Let go of your desire for enlightenment in the future. Be happy right now, even if it feels contrived at first. Here’s what I’d like you to do now: Imagine yourself in a beautiful place, a garden or forest. You always do that so well, and you know it brings you happiness.”

I did as he suggested, and sure enough, I began to feel a glimmer of joy. Stressful thoughts of filing an income tax return and submitting medical insurance claims began to dissipate, as he and I found ourselves strolling through a garden of delightful beauty.

“You already know the origin of your unhappiness and depression, don’t you?” he asked. He leaned close to smell the exquisite fragrance of a large lavender flower growing by the pathway. Then he turned back to me for my response.

“No, I don’t,” I protested, looking directly at him. “I don’t know where it comes from. It just overwhelms me.”

“All right then, I’ll remind you. Your unhappiness and depression are caused by your belief that you are separate from Spirit. This belief leaves you feeling alone and weak. We’ve been waiting for you to awaken, to remember that you are not separate from us.”

In my mind I knew he was right. Yet as always, I had trouble feeling it in my heart. But as he spoke, that glimmer of joy began to spread throughout me.

I reached out my hand to him in a gesture of gratitude. He briefly took my hand, and then he gently touched the back of my hand with two of his fingers. A wave of remembrance swept through me when he did this. I had felt this touch on the back of my hand once before. I knew it was his way, Spirit’s way, of assuring me that I am not separate from Spirit.

“Nothing is stopping you from remembering,” he said. “Nothing is stopping you from being happy, if you choose to be.”

Then he and my vision of the garden slowly began to fade. Spirit always knows when it’s time for me to return to the physical world at the end of meditation.

For me, the transition back to the physical world can take a few minutes. This time was no exception. Even though I could no longer see him, I thanked him for the wisdom he shared with me.

The challenge for me now would be to apply this wisdom to my experience here in the physical world -- and to retain that feeling of happiness.

Now firmly back in the physical world, I suddenly realized who this spirit being was. He was my healing guide. I'm not sure how I knew this -- I just did. I also knew I would be spending a lot of time with him. I had a lot of healing work to do, and he would be helping me do it.

How I Experienced Divine Grace During Meditation

2011-10-25T14:56:00.000-07:00

For me, visualization meditation has become an essential spiritual practice.

Recently in such a meditation, I found myself standing on a hillside. Thousands of other souls stood there with me.

We were waiting, quietly, blissfully, in anticipation.

All of us were looking across a valley to the rolling hills beyond. We were watching what appeared to be a sunrise.

As I watched the sunrise, I began to hear the melodious sound of a heavenly choir, faintly at first and then louder. But I saw no choir. At once I realized this sound was, in fact, emanating from within the light bodies of the multitude of souls standing there on the hillside. What a joyous sound!

“So this is what joy sounds like!” I remember thinking to myself in amazement.

I then began to wonder what was going on. Why had we gathered here? What were we witnessing? Was this some sort of Biblical rapture? Was this the ascension? Would we be lifted up into the heavens?

I could see the “sunlight” glowing on the faces of those souls standing near me. I could feel its warmth on my own face. I had never before felt such deep humility and happiness as I did in that moment.

Then I realized it could not be a sunrise I was watching, because in Heaven there is no sun. Nor is there darkness of night. I continued to wait.

No one was speaking, but like the others, I began to experience a gentle “knowing.” Thoughts were coming into my head. I couldn’t be sure where these thoughts were coming from.

All at once, I knew we were observing the divine energy of God. I could feel this energy flowing into me in wave after joyous wave. It wasn’t blasting me -- it was just flowing into me like gentle waves on a beach. I could feel the heavy crust of my negative emotions -- fear, judgmentalism, and greed -- breaking apart and falling away. I was experiencing the grace of God. I was experiencing salvation from the false belief in separation from God. Freely and unconditionally, God was removing the illusions of physicality I had always believed were real.

“Thank you. Thank you, God,” I murmured.

My joy must have been greater than I imagined. Someone standing nearby glanced at me. I could hear his thoughts. “This is it!” he was thinking. “This is what we’ve been waiting such a long time for. Isn’t it wonderful?!”

I knew in that moment that a new Earth was coming. Heaven and Earth would soon be merging. Earth would be beautiful again, as pristine as it had once been. And to dwell in this new Earth, my physical body was being transformed into a light body. How I welcomed this event!

I could hear someone else thinking, “We’re home at last!”

I smiled in quiet gratitude.

And then I knew I could not remain in this beautiful place much longer. I had to return to the physical world. I still had work to do in the physical world. I still had a mission to complete.

As the scene on the hillside gradually faded, I struggled to remember what I had learned there. Ordinary thoughts of things I had to do throughout the day were seeping into my meditative state, pulling me back into the physical world. I could hear the intrusive sound of my meditation timer.

Now back in the physical world, I had many things to think about -- among them the energy and grace of God and how these were transforming me. I was glad to have spiritual friends here in the physical world to help me understand these things. I knew I would soon experience God’s grace again.

An Encounter With Two New Spirit Friends On "The Other Side"

2011-10-11T08:58:00.000-07:00

Lately I’ve been wondering why Spirit would wish to speak to me.

So I decided to go to “the other side” to ask about this in a recent meditation.

As I sank into a meditative state, I found myself deep in a forest. The leaves sparkled on on the trees that formed a canopy high above me. I was struck by the luminescence of the green vegetation surrounding me.

I waited, alone, wondering what might happen. I could hear only the sounds of birds and rustling leaves. The air smelled faintly of lilac, like a sweet mix of roses and vanilla, reminding me of my childhood during springtime in Pennsylvania. After a while, I began to think no one would show up.

Suddenly, two spirit beings appeared in my presence. One, seemingly male, stood to my left, the other, female, to my right.

“You thought you were all alone, didn’t you?” the male asked, smiling.

I could only nod, awestruck by the radiant beauty of these two translucent beings.

“That’s what you’ve always thought,” the female commented. “But you’re never alone.”

They emitted a love and gentleness like none I had ever before felt.

“Where’s Max?” I asked, somewhat dumbfounded and not knowing what else to say. I had grown accustomed to encountering Max, my primary spirit guide, during my journeys to “the other side.”

“He will join us later,” the male assured me. “He’s finishing up some other duties. He delegated this time to us. You see, Roy, we’re learning, too, just like you are. That’s why Max asked us to meet you.”

Hmm, I thought to myself, don’t spirit entities already know everything? They knew my thoughts and laughed. “We’re eternally evolving, just like you,” the female informed me. “Now, then,” she continued, “we know you have a question you’d like to ask.”

“Well, yes,” I said. “It’s simply this: Why does Spirit wish to communicate with me?”

The male placed a hand gently on my shoulder. “You have forgotten what you really are,” he said. “You believe you are separate from us. We want to help you remember what you have forgotten. We want to work with you. It’s our job.”

In my spiritual studies, I had heard words like these before. I had packed my head full of knowledge. But I wanted to know what Oneness felt like in my heart. Now I could feel their energy reaching out to me, enveloping me. I felt energized, exhilarated. I felt like I was glowing, just like my two new friends.

For a while, none of us spoke. Suddenly, I realized I didn’t know the names of these two glorious beings. Just as suddenly, I knew their names weren’t important. I knew that, in Spirit, we identify each other by vibration, not by names.

“Our evolution is closely tied to yours,” the male said. “When you make progress, so do we. We have a vested interest in your progress.”

“You thought we’ve been ignoring you,” the female interjected. “The fact is: we couldn’t get through to you. Now, at long last, you’re making it possible for us to communicate with you.”

The male continued, “We have much to tell you. But because of your self-imposed limitations, we have to do it little by little. You couldn’t absorb it all at once.”

This exasperated me. I wanted to know everything -- right now! I always do.

“Just walk. And listen,” the male said.

As we walked, I could hear birds singing in the tree tops. But it seemed as if all of naturing was singing, like a celestial choir. What a joyous sound! Within me, I could feel the stirrings of “divine knowing.”

At last, the female spoke. “We have been communicating with you for a long time -- in what you have been reading, in what others have been saying to you. We have put others in your path. You call them friends, but you could also call them teachers.”

In that moment, I knew that the physical world and spirit realms are not really separate, as I had always believed. I knew that there has always been a constant flow of communication between us in the physical world and those in the spirit realms, even though we have not been able to hear it. I knew that, like my two new spirit friends, I was a spiritual being, too.

It was difficult to tell from which of them this knowledge was coming, because neither one of them was speaking aloud. Instead, their thoughts were flowing into me. But it didn’t matter. Perhaps they had only taken on their two forms so that I could relate to them during our encounter in the forest.

Suddenly and to my surprise, Max appeared before me “out of nowhere” there in the forest. He chuckled at my surprise. “Have these two been answering your questions?” he asked me.

I assured him that they had.

“Well, don’t keep this wisdom to yourself,” he instructed. “It’s meant to be shared with others.”

I could sense at that moment that it was nearly time for me to go, but I didn’t want to. I wanted to stay with Max and my two new friends. We lingered there a while longer. I felt as if I was absorbing knowledge from them.

At last, I felt myself slipping away. I tried to stop the inevitable return to my physical body, but I could not.

“We are always here, waiting for you,” one of them said. Then they were gone. And I was back in my physical body.

Why in Heaven's Name Would Spirit Want to Talk to Us?

2011-10-11T08:51:00.000-07:00

Why, you may wonder, would Spirit have any reason or desire to talk to us? After all, we are mere mortals, aren’t we?

Recently, I have been wondering about this. So I have discussed it with my spirit guides in my journeys to “the other side” during meditation. Here is what I have learned...

Before we incarnate, each of us draws up “contracts” with our spirit guides who will accompany us when we come to the physical world. These guides agree to assist us throughout our stay here. Normally, we are not aware of their presence, despite the important role they play in our lives.

We also make contracts with souls who will incarnate at about the same time as we do and who will meet up with us here in the physical world. Perhaps they will become our loved ones, friends, co-workers, acquaintances, or even enemies. In making these contracts, we decide what we will do together when we meet up here.

Upon incarnating, we forget all about these contracts. But our friends remaining behind in Spirit do not forget. They continue to work with us, whether we know it or not. They even try to communicate with us.

Our spirit guides want to advise and encourage us during our sojourns in the physical world. That’s their job. They try to arrange the kinds of experiences we need for personal and spiritual growth while we are here. They help us find the materials we need, such as A Course in Miracles and other great spiritual teachings. They often work through gifted channelers to help us. They know how difficult life can be for us here. They know how difficult it is for us to believe this physical world is just an illusion. They want to help us remember that we are really spiritual beings, just like them.

At the same time, loved ones who have already returned to the spirit realms may want to contact us. They want to assure us that they are all right, and they want us to stop grieving for them. They may want to apologize for their behavior when they were here in the physical world. They may want to help us in some way. Not wishing to frighten or alarm us, they may appear to us only in dreams.

One of the most astounding discoveries I’ve made so far in my travels to “the other side” is that spirit entities may wish to contact us in order to facilitate their own evolution. We are impelled by a never-ending desire to evolve, whether we are here or in the spirit realms. For that reason, we reincarnate again and again. Many souls fail to achieve the kind of growth they had hoped for in their last incarnation. Now they are back in the spirit realms, but perhaps in partnership with us, they can work on their unfinished lessons.

Others who are about to incarnate for the first time may wish to know what to expect of life here in the physical world once they arrive. During my trips to “the other side” in meditation, I have learned that one of my functions there is to help such young souls prepare for incarnation by giving them a better understanding of what life is like here, based on my own experience.

Still others who have not incarnated in a long “time” may have forgotten what life is really like in the physical world -- especially its intensity and difficulty -- and they may wish to be reminded of what it’s like before returning again. Each time we incarnate, we draw the “veil of forgetfulness” over us. We deliberately cut off contact with Spirit in order to enhance the realism and spontaneity of our experiences here. These souls who are about to reincarnate after a long hiatus know they will draw “the veil of forgetfulness” over themselves once again and they may wish to prepare for this.

When trying to communicate with us, Spirit frequently has trouble getting our attention because of our disbelief, skepticism, and fear. They may have to push and cajole us, create synchronicities in our lives, or even let life deliver us a few hard knocks before we become willing to wake up. Sometimes they may need to communicate with us urgently, such as when we face imminent danger. They may want to help us awaken before we self-destruct in alcoholism and drug abuse, depression, or suicide.

Spirit can communicate with anyone -- including you. But Spirit will never violate your free will. Your willingness is required before they can open a channel of communication with you.

The Veil That Separates Us From the Spirit Realms

2011-09-27T10:00:00.000-07:00

The Bible is packed full of marvelous metaphors. One such metaphor is the story of the tabernacle and temple in the Old Testament. In this story, the Israelites wandered in the wilderness for 40 years after leaving Egypt, taking with them a portable, tented tabernacle. Later, following their conquest of Canaan, they built a permanent temple in Jerusalem.

The tabernacle and temple both served as houses of God and both were of similar design, essentially consisting of outer and inner rooms. The outer room, or Holy Place, represented sanctified ground where priests could gather. Beyond it, the inner room, or Holy of Holies, represented the dwelling place of God Himself. The high priest alone could enter the inner room once a year to perform his duties.

A massive veil, or curtain, separated the outer and inner rooms. It was embroidered with cherubim, who protected the holiness of God within.

This veil between the outer and inner rooms represented the separation of man and God.

The Veil of Separation

Today a veil still separates us from the spirit realms. To most of us, this veil seems impenetrable. It seems to block us from direct, conscious contact with Spirit. So we often refer to it as “the veil of separation.”

In fact, no actual curtain, wall, door, or mist exists between us and Spirit. The veil is a metaphor representing our belief that we are separate from Spirit. It is an illusion we created for various reasons. But even though it is an illusion, it holds our perception of physical reality in place. Most of us still believe the physical “reality” is the only reality that exists, because the veil blocks our view of the spirit realms that lie beyond it.

The veil also blocks our memories of previous incarnations. That is why we sometimes call it "the veil of forgetfulness." Because of the veil, we can't remember our past lives after incarnating. We can't remember what life is like for us in between physical incarnations when we dwell in the spirit realms. We can’t remember who or what we really are. We can't remember the real reason we came to the physical world. Since we can't remember these things, we are lost and don't have a map.

Some people believe the veil must be preserved. They say that access to Spirit might be dangerous for us, and any bleed-through from “the other side” could expose us to the threat of evil spirits, black magic, and witchcraft. Others claim that the veil keeps duality fixed firmly in place and we need duality for spiritual growth here in the physical world. The separation of physical and spiritual realities is just one example of duality. The veil, they say, keeps us from being distracted by the beauty that lies beyond it and helps us stay focused instead on the work we came to do here in the physical world.

The veil’s penetrability varies from person to person and for each of us over time. This is so because each of us has achieved and continues to achieve different levels of spiritual growth. This is why some people have been able to gain greater access to the spirit realms than others.

How to Penetrate the Veil

Few of us believe that penetrating the veil is an easy undertaking. But it is possible to do so.

Indeed, we can walk in both the physical world and the spirit realms. We can maintain a viable relationship with our guides, friends, and loved ones who dwell in Spirit. We can relate to them just as we do with friends and family here in the physical world. It is not only possible -- it is normal and natural to do so because we ourselves are spiritual beings, even if we are temporarily encased in physical bodies.

There are various ways to penetrate the veil. For example, millions of people have had near-death experiences in which they died temporarily but were revived and returned to tell us about their experiences. But we do not have to die physically to make contact with “the other side.” There are other less drastic means such as out-of-body experiences, meditation, visualization, hypnosis, mediumship or channeling, after-death communications with loved ones, and automatic writing. Many people are surprised to learn that we leave our physical bodies every night and travel beyond the veil to the spirit realms when we are dreaming.

The veil seems to have become thinner now, and gaining access to “the other side” seems to be easier than before. I believe this is a result of our accelerated spiritual growth in recent years -- along with our desire to create a closer relationship with Spirit and our faithful adherence to spiritual practices such as meditation. As the veil has thinned, our feeling of separation from Spirit has diminished. Meanwhile, our ability to see beyond the veil and even travel beyond it has grown.

Do you remember the New Testament story in which the temple veil was rent, or torn from top to bottom, in that moment when Jesus died on the cross? This story symbolizes an end to our belief in separation from Spirit. We can now enter into the presence of God. We are now free to enter the heavenly realms, if we so choose.

How We Can Benefit from Penetrating the Veil

We can benefit enormously when we are able to penetrate the veil separating us from Spirit. Here are some of the specific ways we can benefit:

We can remember our past lives and the lessons we learned during our past lives. We can then apply these lessons to improve our current life.

We can re-discover the lessons we pre-planned for our current life while still in Spirit before incarnating this time. For example, I have learned why I came to live in Panama in this lifetime, thanks to a friend who channels ascended masters. Our experiences in this lifetime begin to make more sense when we are able to penetrate the veil.

We can contact loved ones who have already transitioned back to “the other side.” We find we are not really separated from them after all. They are happy. Our grieving can end. During meditation, I have often journeyed beyond the veil and encountered my father who transitioned back to the spirit realms in the year 2000.

We can meet our spirit guides to receive their advice and encouragement. I often spend time conversing with my primary spirit guide "Max" in a garden of resplendent beauty, where I go during meditation.

We can learn there is no real reason to fear anything here in the physical world, including misfortune, accidents, illness, or even death of our physical bodies. We ourselves create every experience we have here in the physical world. Our physical bodies turn out to be illusions we created for the duration of our stay here.

We can re-discover that life on “the other side” is just as real, if not more real, than life here in the physical world. And it is vastly more beautiful.

We can discover that we are, in fact, spiritual beings and that our real home lies in the spirit realms. We come repeatedly to the physical world for brief lifetimes that amount to little more than a flash in the pan.

We can achieve enlightenment by discovering the truth that lies beyond the veil. Once we achieve enlightenment, we may no longer need to reincarnate again and again into this “vale of tears” -- this physical world with its pain and sorrows.

We can finally know for certain that this physical world is an illusion, just as the veil itself is an illusion, because we are not, and never have been, genuinely separated from Spirit.

The veil is lifting because we no longer need it. Our belief in separation from Spirit is ending. The physical world and spirit realms are once again merging. We may no longer need to maintain the illusion of a physical world.

How I Learned About My Job in Heaven

2011-09-05T08:39:00.000-07:00

Today I did workbook lesson 199 of A Course in Miracles. This lesson says: “I am not a body. I am free.”

Inspired by the lesson, I decided to take it with me into meditation in order to discuss it with my spirit guide.

Little did I know what I would learn...

I entered a meditative state and at once found myself at the large wooden doors which, for me, separate the physical world from the spiritual realms. I pushed and the doors opened easily. Beyond, I entered a beautiful garden, where I have gone so many times before. I have become very fond of this place. For me, it is Heaven!

My spirit guide Max quietly appeared, approaching from my left. I smiled at him.

I'm always happy to see Max. I recall the first time I met him. At that first meeting, he looked just like the Swedish actor Max von Sydow, who played the role of "the tracker" in the movie What Dreams May Come. I decided to call him "Max" from that moment on.

As he often does, Max said, “Let’s walk for a while.” Max seems to enjoy our walks in the garden as much as I do.

“I just did ACIM lesson 199,” I told him. “It reminds me that a physical body is not what I am.”

He laughed. He seemed to know my thoughts. “Look at yourself,” he said. “You most certainly are not a physical body.”

I glanced down at myself. I did not see a physical body. Instead, I saw myself as a light body. I have often seen myself as a being of light when I travel beyond the veil in meditation.

“Isn’t it wonderful!” Max exclaimed.

“Oh, yes!” I responded joyously. As always, it felt so peaceful to be here.

“Why do you think you took on a physical body in the first place?” he asked.

“That’s easy,” I responded. “I needed a physical body to get around in the physical world.”

“True,” he agreed. “But there’s much more to it than that. Come. I want you to meet some friends.”

We continued to follow the garden path in this place of exquisite colors, smells and sounds.

Then we came upon a garden pool of sparking clear water. There we encountered a small group of light beings, sitting on a low stone wall at the water’s edge. They looked up at us, smiling as we approached. They had been waiting for us there.

Max said to me, “Our friends here will soon incarnate for the first time. They want to know from you what to expect.”

I remember some of what I said to them. I told them they were in for a challenging experience -- some more than others, depending on their life plan, what they hoped to learn and accomplish during their upcoming physical incarnation, and how much they wished to accelerate their spiritual growth.

They listened eagerly. I wondered how they could not have already known these things.

Max stood off to one side listening, neither approving nor disapproving of my words.

“The physical world is very sensual. You’re in for a real adventure,” I told them.

I was happy to be with them. My confidence grew as I continued to describe to them my experience in the physical world. I glanced at Max again, remembering how on a previous occasion he also stood at my side when I addressed a large assembly of souls who wanted to know all about life in the physical world. That large assembly of souls had come to listen to me speak in what appeared to be a very tall, crystal cathedral. I remember how I had been infused with confidence for the first time while speaking to that assembly.

But the small group I was talking to now seemed especially eager to learn more.

As I spoke to them, I experienced a sudden and spontaneous epiphany: It was my “job” here in the spiritual realms to help young souls prepare for physical incarnation! Max knew my thoughts and nodded. This discovery filled me with bliss.

After a while, Max suggested we move on.

We came to a bench under the canopy of a large tree along the garden path. Max suggested we sit for a while. Water in the garden fountains before us danced like crystals. The luminous plants around us emitted soft sounds reminding me of an angelic choir.

As we sat there, Max turned to me and said, “You will become a teacher here. You will teach in a school for souls who are preparing to incarnate.”

This prospect sounded daunting to me. I wondered if I was right for that kind of job, because I had always believed that the physical world was a place where we learned our spiritual lessons through pain and suffering. I had often described “Earth school” as a difficult place to come to. I had only recently begun to learn that life in the physical world was supposed to be a joyous, creative experience.

Max assured me that I could do it.

“When can I see this school?” I asked him.

“You’ve been there many times,” he responded. “In fact, you were there not long ago.”

Then I remembered: I had indeed gone to such a place recently in meditation. At first, I thought what I saw during that meditation was a monastery perched on the slopes of a mountain, but it turned out to be a spiritual school with breath-taking views of the alpine valley below.

“Many will come to learn from you,” Max informed me.

I had just learned of my function here in the spiritual realms! Now I was overcome by feelings of contentment. I wondered how this discovery of my purpose here in the spiritual realms might relate to my purpose in the physical world.

Max smiled. “You’re already doing it,” he said.

I understood what he meant: I needed to experience the physical world myself before I could teach others in the spiritual realms about it.

Then I heard my meditation chimes gently ringing. It was time to return to the physical world. Only 20 minutes of physical time had passed, but it seemed much longer. Reluctantly, I said farewell to Max and this beautiful place.

Now back in the physical world, I reflected on what I had learned during this meditation. In my head I could hear Max say, “Many are now listening. Tell them what you are learning.”

The Spiritual Significance of Panama

2011-08-11T13:18:00.000-07:00

Panama’s most basic human need is spiritual development, according to Raymond Hermenet. With this in mind, we discussed “The Spiritual Significance of Panama” at our Spirit Quest meeting on August 10, 2011. Raymond facilitated the meeting.

Panama has always been a financial and commercial vortex -- and we have always known this. But within the past five or six years, it has become a spiritual vortex as well. During this time, it has begun to attract spiritually-minded people from all over the world. Many of them have come thousands of miles to be here. Many have come suddenly, without knowing what to expect -- or the real reason why they have come. Many have not known about the spiritual awakening underway here. But they have come nonetheless at this time as if by compulsion to be a part of that spiritual awakening.

To be sure, a spiritual awakening is occurring globally, but it is especially intense here in the Panamanian vortex. That intensity is attracting people from all over the world.

I myself used to think I came to Panama because the U.S. Army brought me here in 1990. And I thought I stayed after retiring because I married a Panamanian in 1994. Throughout the 1990s, I was unhappy and habitually complained about life here. I couldn’t understand why I had to be here or why I had to live in spiritual isolation for so many years.

Then, one day, a dear friend explained it to me. She said that a profound spiritual process had brought me here and kept me here. She said I had arrived early on as a torch bearer for those who would be arriving later. I had important spiritual lessons to learn, and this was a good place in which to learn them. Perhaps I had some karmic debts to pay off here. I certainly had a role to play in the spiritual awakening occurring here. Learning the things she told me profoundly affected my life here in Panama.

Raymond says that Panama is “the Mother Holy Land.” In our meeting on August 10th, we learned why this name is so appropriate as we looked at Panama’s spiritual history, indigenous peoples, natural environment, and medicinal plant life.

History helps us understand why we have become what we are today. Some say that Panama emerged from the ocean as Atlantis sank, creating a bridge between North and South America. Christopher Columbus arrived here in 1501, and today we still suffer from the consequences of the European invasion that followed. In the early 1900s, the construction of the Panama Canal broke the back of the intercontinental divide, disrupting the natural flow of energy between North and South America, a disruption that must now be healed, says Raymond.

Within Panama’s borders live seven groups of indigenous peoples. They include the Emberá, for example, who migrated here from Colombia back in the mists of time. The indigenous peoples of Panama live much as they did before Columbus arrived. They have assiduously preserved their spiritual beliefs and practices. But they feel a profound sadness for what has happened to the Mother Holy Land.

Peace and Dignity Journeys occur every four years. In these spiritual journeys, indigenous runners leave Alaska and Argentina and link up here in Panama. The runs embody the prophecy of the eagle and the condor in which the indigenous peoples of the north and south will be reunited in a spiritual way. The linkup of runners here in Panama reflects Panama’s spiritual significance. The next such run will occur in 2012, and we certainly know the spiritual significance of 2012.

Panama’s natural environment allows us to reconnect with spirit. Its beautiful mountains, forests, rivers, and oceans teem with tropical plant and animal life that contribute so much to the country’s spiritual energy. The songs of birds and the fragrance of flowers provide us joy and serenity during our spiritual awakening here. More than 30 species of dolphins and whales -- keepers of the Earth’s spiritual frequency -- flourish in Panama’s coastal waters. The indigenous peoples believe these natural resources cannot be owned by anyone because they are imbued with the spirit of God.

Raymond says Panama’s greatest spiritual significance is the hidden science of the country’s indigenous people -- that is, their traditional medicine. He assures us that even so-called “incurable” diseases like cancer, diabetes and AIDS can in fact be cured using medicinal plants gathered from nature by the indigenous peoples here in Panama. It has been said that more than 70 percent of the plants found in Panama have medicinal value and can be used to treat every form of dis-ease in the body, mind and spirit.

Sooner or later, we who live in Panama are affected by the spiritual processes now underway here. We can apply the spiritual knowledge and wisdom we gain just by being here to change our lives and indeed the whole world.

Raymond Hermenet, who facilitated the Spirit Quest meeting on August 10th, is a spokesman for Panama’s indigenous Emberá people and their traditional medicine. To read his blogs, click here and also here.

How A Course in Miracles Changed My Spiritual View of the World

2011-08-08T07:08:00.000-07:00

I don’t know when I first heard of A Course in Miracles. I do know that I purchased the book in March 2009 because I wrote the date inside the cover.

When I tried to read it, however, I simply could not understand it. The style of writing was perplexing. The ideas it contained baffled me. I had never before encountered such teachings. I wasn’t ready for it and quickly set it aside.

Then one day, a dear friend suggested that we form a study group to work on the Course. I believe he was just as bewildered by it as I was. But his suggestion was wise. He knew we could do together what we had not been able to do alone.

So a handful of us met for the first time in July 2009. At that meeting, we tried to read a few pages of the Text -- which forms the Course along with the Workbook for Students and the Manual for Teachers. What we read in that first meeting made little sense to us. It left us frustrated.

Somehow -- and I don’t remember how -- we decided to turn instead to the Workbook for Students, with its 365 daily lessons. We must have been divinely inspired in this decision, because it worked for us and has continued to work ever since.

Now, more than two years later, we are well into the Workbook for a second time. The daily lessons and even the Text now make perfect sense. I now look forward to doing the lessons each morning after getting my first cup of coffee. I look forward to taking the teachings contained in the lessons into meditation where I can discuss them with my spirit guides. I look forward to the weekly study group meetings where we review and discuss the lessons that we worked on individually throughout the week.

ACIM has totally changed my perception of the world, and I have become devoted to it. The study group meetings normally leave me in a state of bliss, because ACIM is helping me remember all the things I knew when still in spirit but forgot when I drew the veil of forgetfulness over me and incarnated into this physical world.

Here’s one example of how the Course has changed my perception of the world: I used to believe that this physical world is real and that it was created by God, nature, and other forces external to me. I now know that I have been tricked by my five senses into believing this world is real. I now know that it was I who created the kind of world I see around me and all of my experiences in it. What I see “out there” is really just a projection of what is going on in my own mind. This physical world is an illusion, a hologram in which I can play and learn. None of it is real -- I made it all up!

Thus, I am responsible for the kind of world I see around me and all my experiences in it. I am not a victim of life’s circumstances after all. Other people are not abusing me. God is not punishing me. I see what I see, I experience what I experience, and I feel what I feel because I choose to do so in my own mind.

There is no point in going “out there” to change what you see in the world. You cannot control, manipulate, or fix it. This would be like going to a movie theater and stomping up to tear down the screen because you don’t like the movie you’re watching.

The only way to change what you see on the screen is to find the projector in the back of the theater and change the film. The way to change what you see “out there” in the world is to change what’s “in here” in your own mind. Change your beliefs. Stop judging and condemning. Begin to practice unconditional love and acceptance. When you do that, the world you see “out there” will begin to change. You no longer will be trapped in unhappiness, pain, and suffering.

ACIM is quite simple and unequivocal about this: You can remain asleep in this physical illusion, dreaming that it is real, for as long as you like. Or you can awaken spiritually and discover that you have been asleep in Heaven all along. Jesus Himself said that Heaven is here now, all around us, but we have not been able to see it. As we awaken from the dream of this physical illusion, we will be able to experience Heaven right here on Earth.

As always, the ego doesn’t want you to know any of this. It wants you to continue to believe that this physical world is real. It wants you to continue to believe that your physical body is what you are. The ego knows that it will be out of business if you discover the truth. A Course in Miracles is one among many spiritual teachings, but for me, it provides a map out of this illusion.

You can remain trapped in the illusion. Or you can remember what you really are: a divine spiritual being who came into this physical illusion to evolve and eventually find your way back out of it.

How to Overcome the Ego's Demands and Achieve Spiritual Growth

2011-07-12T09:29:00.000-07:00

Dr. David R. Hawkins

Wouldn't you like to overcome the ego's grip on you in order to accelerate your spiritual growth in this lifetime?

You can, according to Dr. David R. Hawkins.

At a recent meeting, we in the Hawkins study group had an opportunity to watch Dr. Hawkins’ video “Emotions and Sensations” (2004). In this video, Dr. Hawkins discusses the human ego and and explains how it blocks our spiritual progress.

Dr. Hawkins tells us in the video that we may wish to follow a direct path to God, but it is difficult to do this because we need to transcend the ego along the way. Confronted by the ego, our journey can become painful or even catastrophic at times. It can become a journey of solitude because most of humanity remains dedicated to the ego.

The human ego always wants something. It demands material possessions, approval, and status incessantly. It has convinced us that what we want is scarce, and to make matters worse, others deliberately seek to deny us what we want. We believe the ego’s lie when it tells us that we can’t get what we want, or that we can’t get enough of what we want. To get it, we begin to complain. And when we still can’t get it, we lash out in anger, resentment, grief, disappointment, or fear. Ego-driven behavior dominates the constantly-negative-news we watch. Colonialism sweeps the globe. Wars break out everywhere. “Convert or die” becomes the prevailing religious philosophy. We have created a “hell on earth.” There is never enough to satisfy the ego.

So, for now, we remain a victim of our ego. We continue to be enslaved to its cravings. The ego still rules the world, as it has done since the beginning of history. Statistically, chances of overcoming the ego’s stranglehold and achieving enlightenment in this lifetime are slim for most of humanity.

But we don’t have to continue to live the way we always have, do we? After all, we did come from the spirit realms to the physical world for the very purpose of learning how to overcome the grip which the ego has on us every time we come here and all the ego's negative emotions. Must we waste yet another lifetime under the ego’s never-ending tyranny?

According to Dr. Hawkins, the solution to the ego’s incessant demands is to give up wantingness. When you let go of wanting, you no longer are dominated by desire, anger, or fear.

Dr. Hawkins reminds us that we are creating everything we experience in life, including our belief in need and scarcity. He invites us to accept the world as being the way it’s supposed to be at this time: a place in which we can pay off our karmic debts from previous lifetimes and maximize our opportunities for spiritual growth in this lifetime. He also says that your negative feelings are not you. You are a divine spiritual being. Your negative feelings belong to the ego.

Of course, the ego feels threatened by your new-found interest in spiritual growth. It kicks and screams harder and harder as you actively pursue such growth in a conscious way. That’s why a spiritually-committed life is not necessarily peaceful or serene. It may become a turbulent ride as the ego does everything it can to hold you within its grip. But surely this turbulence can be no more unbearable than the suffering you feel when you choose to remain at lower levels of consciousness where shame, guilt, apathy, grief, fear, and anger prevail.

In his fifth book Transcending the Levels of Consciousness (2006), Dr. Hawkins explores in far greater detail the grip which the ego continues to have on us and how to overcome it. He says that we cannot defeat the ego by attacking it head-on as an enemy. Rather, we can loosen its tenacious grip by focusing on the welfare and happiness of others. He encourages us to practice “random acts of kindness” without expectation of recognition or reward.

Remember this: your intention sets your compass. Whatever you intend is what you experience. As Dr. Hawkins says, “Through intention, potentiality becomes actuality.” You can achieve real spiritual progress in this lifetime if that is your intention, despite your ego’s resistance.

That is certainly my intention. I intend to maximize my spiritual growth in the lifetime. I don’t intend to waste yet another lifetime, as I have done so many times before.

How about you? Would you like to overcome the ego’s grip in order to attain lasting spiritual growth in this lifetime?

Ten Things I Learned at the Spiritual Awakening Conference

2011-06-17T18:28:00.000-07:00

I recently attended the 2011 Spiritual Awakening Conference in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

I have attended many similar conferences. As always, I learned a lot during this weekend event. But I also had more fun than ever! It was an experience that was both uplifting and joyous.

The conference featured speakers such as Gary Renard, Mary Morrissey, Michael Mirdad, Sheila and Marcus Gillette, Dee Wallace and others, along with musical performers such as Jonn Serrie. I would like to share with you a few of the things I learned from these luminaries...

1. We who are seeking to accelerate our spiritual growth tend to take our spirituality too seriously. I was astounded to learn that I have been doing this all along without knowing it. Like anything else in life, spiritual growth should not only be meaningful but also enjoyable. This physical world seems real to us because we take it so seriously.

2. The ego is the "you" that you believe yourself to be. You identify yourself as a physical body and personality. The ego wants you to continue to believe this to ensure its own survival. In reality, you are an unlimited and eternal spiritual being. If you could undo your false beliefs about what you are, you would be left with the real you. Then, at last, you would be genuinely happy.

3. We are here in the physical world having an experience that is not real. This experience is like watching a movie. Even though it isn't real, we can still enjoy it, just as we enjoy watching movies. But we should respect the experience in order to avoid needless pain and suffering.

4. As A Course in Miracles tells us, our experience here in the physical world is merely a dream. Enlightenment is the process whereby we can awaken from the dream while still here. Spirit is gently trying to awaken us from the dream.

5. What we are now experiencing is not the end of the world. It is a great cosmic awakening. Many are choosing to awaken at this time. 2012 symbolizes our awakening. 2012 is about ending our belief in limitation and choosing instead to accelerate to a higher level of vibration. 2012 implies an end to the ego's stranglehold on us, allowing us to make a gigantic leap forward in our spiritual evolution. The earth itself is returning to the level of vibration it once held as the Garden of Eden. There will be a 2013, but we could be changed forever by the transformation we are now undergoing.

6. Our thoughts and beliefs create the kind of experiences we have here in the physical world. This is difficult to understand and accept because, from birth, we have been taught that things happen to us, and our five senses seem to confirm this. No one ever taught us that we are creating our life experience -- or that we can change it, if we wish.

7. You incarnate in order to learn in slow motion the power of your thoughts and beliefs. When you have a clear idea about what you want in life, you then begin to resonate at that frequency and all kinds of things begin to happen to make it become your life experience. Anything that you can conceive is a potential reality for you. So stop focusing on all the crap in your life and start focusing on what you do want.

8. Miracles are not only possible -- they are probable. They occur when we change our beliefs.

9. We are on a journey without distance to a place we never really left. We perceive ourselves as being someplace other than Heaven, and we are seeing the effects of a make-believe world we created. We are, in fact, still in Heaven, dreaming that we are in exile in a physical world. It takes incredible effort to sustain the physical illusion we created. That explains why we need to sleep every night. That may also explain my compelling need for afternoon naps. On one hand, we are trying to sustain the illusion we created. On the other, we are undergoing a profound transformation that will lead to our awakening. These two contradictory processes leave us exhausted and disoriented.

10. We conjured up the illusion that we are separate from God. "Returning to God" should now be our first priority. At long last, we may be ready.

I plan to attend the Spiritual Awakening Conference again next year as part of my on-going journey through this physical universe. I highly recommend it to you. Perhaps I will see you there.

Do You Want to Change the World and Your Life?

2011-04-23T09:43:00.000-07:00

Negative thinking produces negative results.

--Norman Vincent Peale

Politics. War. Conspiracy theories. Terrorism. Global catastrophes. Collapsing financial systems. Crime. Disease. Environmental destruction. Violence in every form... Isn’t it astounding how many people still enjoy thinking and talking about these kinds of negative things?!

Like most people, I used to think I could solve the world’s problems by dwelling on them, reading about them, and talking about them at length. I became what the U.S. Army calls a soldier-statesman-scholar. I earned a Master’s degree in Middle East studies and world human needs. I thought I could change the world by doing battle head-on with the prevailing forces of darkness. I was naive.

Now I know that I only attract more of these negative things into my life when I continue to focus on them -- and especially when I focus on them with passion.

Focusing on negative things lowers my spiritual vibration and that of everyone around me. Hanging out with people who enjoy talking about negative things also lowers my vibration.

We come to this physical world in order to have experiences that will raise our level of vibration and accelerate our spiritual growth. But we cannot do this by focusing on negative things. We certainly cannot have a life that is happy and serene if we continue to focus on negative things.

So I’ve made a conscious decision to change my way of thinking.

The turbulence of this world may continue to swirl around me, but I don’t have to let it affect me. I can remain calmly in the eye of the hurricane, unaffected by it. I don’t have to watch TV news or violent movies. I don’t have to continue to listen “attentively and courteously” to people who insist in talking about all the bad things going on in the world. I don’t have to accept the argument that it’s “important” or “realistic” to analyze these things. It’s neither important nor realistic. And it will solve nothing.

The world we see, or think we see, around us is a projection of our own minds. What is going on in our own minds will show up in the kind of world we see. We create our individual and collective experiences with our thoughts and beliefs. We are literally creating and sustaining this physical illusion surrounding us with our thoughts -- that’s how powerful we are! But it’s difficult to see the connection between our thoughts and the manifestation of those thoughts, because the process of creation is so slow here in the physical realm.

Yes, I know we created this world collectively for a purpose. And I know we return to it over and over again for karmic reasons. But if we could raise our spiritual vibration to a high enough level, we would no longer need a world for karmic purposes. We could transform it into heaven-on-earth and would no longer need to sustain the hell we’ve created.

So, if you don’t like the world you see around you or if you are unhappy with your life experiences, then you need to change your way of thinking. You need to shift from negative to positive thinking. Then your experiences in life will begin to change. The world will become a better place to live in.

No, most definitely, this shift to positive thinking isn’t easy, especially in a world that seems so dangerous and frightening. It isn’t easy because the ego wants you to stay bogged down in the swamp of negativity. That’s how it maintains its stranglehold on you.

Do you want to continue to be angry and depressed about what you see in the world? Or about what’s going on in your life? No? Me either.

The world was once a pristine and beautiful place, a Garden of Eden. Do you remember what it was like, many eons ago? I do. But we have nearly devastated it with our negative way of thinking, our greed, fear and ignorance. We can save the world, and our experience here can once again become joyous. But first we have to change our way of thinking.

You may think you can’t influence your way of thinking, but in fact you can. You have an immense number of tools at your disposal to help you. A Course in Miracles is one way. So are positive affirmations and a regular practice of meditation. You can learn about the Law of Attraction and begin to apply it in your life. You can visualize what you do want and be passionate about it, thus manifesting it much more quickly. You can notice the positive qualities in others, rather than judging or criticizing them. You can be optimistic. Using these kinds of spiritual tools, your way of thinking will gradually but effectively change over time. You will begin to feel better, and so will everyone around you.

Negative thinking blocks your spiritual growth. I know because that’s how I lived most of my life. But I noticed that others have changed their way of thinking. If they can do it, so can I. If I am successful, my life experience will change. The world I see around me will change. I will experience the kind of spiritual growth I am seeking. I will experience heaven-on-earth. It is already happening.

What Am I? What Are We?

2011-04-06T11:09:00.000-07:00

I am on a spiritual journey through the physical universe. So are you. On this journey of many lifetimes, I have finally discovered what I really am.

This discovery of what I really am ranks as the most important discovery of my life. A Course in Miracles has helped me make this discovery. In fact, teaching me what I am is the very purpose of ACIM.

Like most everyone, I have always believed myself to be a physical body, with a distinct personality and a chosen career. That's what I believed.

Since I held that belief, I spent most of my time taking care of the physical body and responding to its needs, from the moment I awoke each morning until going back to bed at night. I believed what my eyesight and other senses seemed to be telling me. The ever-present threat of sickness, injury and even death seemed to confirm my existence as a physical body.

But I was mistaken! A physical body is not what I am.

What, then, am I? Indeed, what are we?

I am a divine spiritual being. That's what I am. That's my true identity. I am that which we normally call the soul or higher self, with none of the limitations we experience in a physical body. As ACIM teaches, I am a Son of God. We are all collectively the Son of God. All things created by God are divine.

It turns out that the physical body is nothing more than an illusion. The ego created this illusion in an attempt to separate us from God and each other. The ego wants us to continue to believe that we are physical bodies, weak and frail and condemned to die.

Yes, I know this idea is hard to believe. The idea that we are physical bodies is deeply ingrained in us. The five senses have always told us so. But the truth is: We created this physical illusion and then forgot we created it. To be without a physical body is our normal state.

Just as the physical body is an illusion, so too is this world we live in and, indeed, the entire physical universe. A central teaching of ACIM is that this world is not real. We created this universe in an attempt to separate ourselves from God, in an act which the Bible calls "the fall of man." The entire physical universe is nothing more than a projection of our collective mind.

Our consciousness is currently focused here in this physical world, but we are not really here. Earth is not our real home. As ACIM says, we are "somewhere else." We are actually still in Heaven, dreaming we are having this physical experience. We are not, and never have been, separate from God or each other.

Even though this physical illusion is not real, it nonetheless serves a purpose. Believing I am here in a physical body and a physical world affords me unique learning opportunities that help me evolve as a spiritual being.

But I have been deceiving myself long enough. I have been lost in a physical illusion for too many lifetimes. At long last, I am awakening to the truth of what I really am. As a result, I can now experience genuine peace and joy for the first time here in physicality.

The Nine Insights -- A Path to Spiritual Awakening

2011-03-09T15:32:00.000-08:00

At a recent Spirit Quest meeting, we discussed the nine insights presented to us in The Celestine Prophecy. This best-selling book by James Redfield tells us that we will soon experience a global spiritual awakening. The nine insights explain how this awakening will happen.

First Insight

The first insight occurs when you begin to notice frequent synchronicities in your life. A synchronicity is a “meaningful coincidence.”

For example, in The Celestine Prophecy, the protagonist begins to consistently meet the right people at the right time. He soon realizes that these are not just accidental encounters. Rather, they are meaningful events.

Every synchronicity that occurs in life contains a message for you. So, you need recognize the synchronicities when they occur.

Once you begin to notice that frequent synchronicities are occurring in your life, then the remaining insights will soon be revealed to you, one after another. Synchronicities will launch you on a path of spiritual awakening.

Second Insight

Religion and science have been around for a long time. But now they are being replaced by spirituality. At the same time, humanity’s preoccupation with material and economic concerns is being replaced by a desire to discover life's real purpose.

This second insight puts the other eight insights in larger historical context. It says the celestine prophecies are not just plausible, they are inevitable.

Third Insight

Everything is made of energy. We are energy. The universe is energy. This energy surrounds us and penetrates us. Our physical survival depends on a continued flow of this energy into us.

We already know this. But here’s what’s new:

Until now, this energy has been invisible to us. The third insight says we will be able to see it. Our ability to see it starts with an increased awareness of beauty, especially in nature.

Not only will we be able to see the energy, but we will come to understand how it responds to our thoughts. This energy is actually malleable to our intentions and expectations.

Fourth Insight

The fourth insight reveals that we humans have always competed with each other for energy.

In fact, this competition for energy underlies most human interactions: we seek to draw the energy we need from other people. We try to dominate, control, or manipulate them to get the energy we need. Most of the time, we do this unconsciously.

We always thought the only way to get the energy we need is by taking it from others. This competition for energy explains why we come away from every interaction with other people feeling strong or feeling weak. It is the cause of drama in relationships and -- indeed -- the cause of conflict in the world.

When we are able to observe the energy surrounding us, we will finally see how we gain or lose energy in every interaction.

Fifth Insight

This insight tells us that we will learn how to tap into the unlimited supply of universal energy. We can absorb all of the energy that we need directly from the universe. We will no longer need to take it from other people.

You can tap into universal energy by appreciating things around you, like a flower, for instance. When you do this, you receive energy from the flower and you can return energy to it.

You feel euphoric when you connect to universal energy. You feel connected to everyone and everything. However, negative emotions, especially fear, can cut off the flow of universal energy into you.

Sixth Insight

The sixth insight helps us begin to discover our life purpose -- the reason we came to Earth.

But, to fully discover our life purpose, we need to let go of our old patterns of behavior. We have to stop taking energy from others. We have to become aware of our "control dramas" that we learned when young and have used throughout life to get energy flowing in our direction.

The sixth insight shows how you’ve actually been working on your life purpose all along, without knowing it but bringing you to where you are right now. Every event in your life, every experience, every relationship has been leading you to where you are right now. You are here because this is where you need to be to continue your spiritual evolution.

Seventh Insight

Do you sometimes find yourself just knowing things and wondering where those thoughts or ideas came from?

This is called intuition, and it’s what the seventh insight is all about. The seventh insight tells us we will get the answers we need through intuition.

But, in order to get the answers, you first need to know the questions. When you know the questions to ask, you will get the answers you need. You will get the guidance you need. You will know how to proceed. Most of the time, the answers come to us through other people.

Eight Insight

The eighth insight gives us a new way of relating to other people -- a way in which we will seek to uplift others.

To begin with, the eighth insight reminds us that everyone who crosses our path has a message for us. If we just listen, we will receive the message.

How we respond to other people will determine whether or not we receive the message they have for us. That’s why we sometimes run into the same people over and over unexpectedly -- we haven’t yet received the message they have for us.

In order to better receive the message, the eighth insight says we should try to uplift everyone who crosses our path. We uplift others by giving them energy.

Ninth Insight

The ninth insight explains where we humans are going in our collective spiritual evolution. It also describes how human society will change as a result of this spiritual evolution.

This insight says that, as our level of spiritual vibration continues to rise, we will become invisible to those of a lower vibration. We will dwell in spiritual bodies rather than physical bodies. We will become beings of light.

Here are some of the changes that will occur in human society as we evolve spiritually:

The population explosion will end voluntarily.
Technology will do most of our work for us. Production will be fully automated and all products will be readily available to everyone.
Harmony will prevail and conflict will end because of our new way of interrelating with each other.
We will no longer be materialistic. Instead, we will pursue our life purpose.
We will appreciate the natural beauty of the world and not continue to destroy it through greed and pollution.

This is how we will achieve Heaven on earth.

The Celestine Prophecy is available at the Quest store.

It’s Time to Awaken From Our Spiritual Sleep!

2011-02-18T13:32:00.000-08:00

How long have we been spiritually asleep? Probably since the so-called “fall of man.” That’s when we first descended from the spiritual realms into physical form.

We’ve been asleep ever since. But a shift in consciousness is now underway. It’s time to awaken!

I distinctly remember when I first began to feel the shift. It was in the year 2000. My father was dying of cancer. Suddenly and for the first time ever, I became interested in near-death-experiences and the afterlife. I began to meditate every day. I began to receive “divine downloads” -- suddenly knowing things I didn’t know before. And I discovered the Internet, which became my window to the universe, allowing me to study all things spiritual.

From that time on, my consciousness began to shift from the physical world to the spiritual realms. Now I often feel like I have one foot in this physical world and one foot in a higher dimension. And along the way, I have learned incredible things.

For example, I have learned that we created this physical universe, believing we could separate ourselves from God by coming here. I have learned that we created these physical bodies, believing we could separate ourselves from each other in these bodies. We created this physical illusion in its entirety and then forgot we created it. We began to believe that we are the physical bodies we created. We began to believe that the physical illusion we created is real.

But the shift in consciousness now underway will take us to a new understanding of reality. We are about to remember the truth -- the truth about what we really are, the truth about why we really came here.

How do we know this shift is occurring?

Traditional systems of government, economy, religion and health care are collapsing all around us.

Money and material possessions are beginning to lose their allure.

Even once “dark corners” of the world are becoming spiritual vortexes.

Gifted children are being born in unprecedented numbers.

Time seems to be accelerating.

The Internet is helping us to learn the truth at a phenomenal pace.

We are beginning to appreciate the effectiveness of small groups and local communities.

We are becoming more interested in all things spiritual.

We are discovering that everything we once thought to be real is just an illusion.

We are learning that we created the “reality” we see around us and we can change it.

What is meant by ascension?

Ascension is the end result of the shift in consciousness. As we complete the shift in consciousness, we are propelled into higher dimensions through the process of ascension.

The Earth is ascending. It is vibrating faster and releasing its density. That is the real cause of climate change and natural disasters. We must ascend, too.

To ascend, we must release the heavy load of karma we have carried with us through many lifetimes. We must let go of our negative emotions and everything that has kept us so attached to the physical dimension.

What is the significance of 2012?

December 21, 2012 is a very significant date. That date symbolizes the shift in consciousness.

On that date, our sun will align with the galactic center for the first time in 26,000 years.

And on that date, the Mayan calendar will end. According to the ancient Mayans, 2012 marks the end of one era and the beginning of another.

As we approach 2012, we are feeling a growing sense of urgency -- and excitement. It is the time by which we should achieve a critical mass necessary for a quantum leap in spiritual growth.

What is DNA activation?

To achieve the shift in consciousness and the subsequent ascension, we have been undergoing DNA activation. DNA is the “blueprint of life” and it is located in every cell of our bodies. We all have two double-helix strands of DNA in our cells, but there are an additional 10 strands that have been dormant since before the beginning of recorded history.

Imagine the impact of having 12 strands of active DNA! We will go from using 10 percent of our brain to becoming multi-dimensional beings with psychic, telepathic, and manifestation abilities. We will be able to heal ourselves of disease. We will look and feel younger. Our memory and intuition will be vastly enhanced. We will enjoy inner peace and calmness.

A massive influx of celestial energy into our bodies is activating this additional DNA.

We chose to come here...

Unfortunately, most of humanity is still asleep. Most of humanity still doesn’t know that, at long last, we may be able to experience the golden age and Heaven on earth.

We all chose to come here at this time to experience the shift in consciousness. It’s the single most important event in human history.

How about you? Have you been feeling the shift? How has it affected you?

We Are Multidimensional Spiritual Beings!

2011-02-03T09:30:00.000-08:00

Here's what most people still believe:

- We are physical bodies -- that's what we are.

- We exist only in this physical dimension.

- This physical dimension is the only reality that exists.

- This is where we originated.

- When we die, we either go to heaven or hell.

But for me, the truth is this:

- We are spiritual beings. We take on physical bodies temporarily in order to experience the physical dimension, much like astronauts temporarily put on space suits to survive and function in space. We come to the physical dimension for the purpose of spiritual evolution. When we incarnate in physical bodies, we choose to forget what we really are, in order to make the most of our learning opportunities here. Our physical self is only a small part of what we really are.

- As spiritual beings, we are able to exist in various dimensions concurrently.

- We existed as spiritual beings long before coming to the physical dimension. In fact, as spiritual beings, we are eternal. We descended into this physical dimension from higher, more refined spiritual dimensions. The physical universe is only a small part of a much larger multidimensional reality.

- When our physical bodies die, we cast them off like old, worn-out overcoats that no longer serve a useful purpose and go on to new adventures in that dimension which matches our spiritual vibration. There are many dimensions. Jesus himself said: "In my Father's house, there are many mansions."

But we have forgotten what we really are and why we came here.

"So what?" you may ask. "Why is any of this important? Even if it is true, who cares?"

Here's why I think it is important:

We find ourselves in a critical time leading up to 2012. We are undergoing unprecedented spiritual evolution at this time, in order to prepare for the ascension to a higher dimension. Our vibration is increasing rapidly. This rapid increase in vibration is causing medically inexplicable symptoms in our bodies.

Like us, the planet Earth -- and indeed the entire physical universe -- is also undergoing a rapid increase in vibration in preparation for the ascension to higher dimensions. This increase in the Earth's vibration is causing more and more climate change, earthquakes, volcanos, floods, tornados, and other natural disasters.

We currently find ourselves here in the 3rd dimension, because this is where our awareness is focused. But our planet is preparing for the ascension into the 4th or even the 5th dimension. We must prepare for the ascension as well.

Those who don’t know what is going on are bound to experience discomfort, anxiety, and even panic. Personally, I’d rather know what’s going on. I’d rather know there’s no real cause for alarm.

And you? Wouldn't you rather know what's going on, too?

What Do We Do in Heaven?

2011-01-26T09:48:00.000-08:00

Have you ever wondered what we do on the other side of the veil in that place often called Heaven?

I certainly have. In my ongoing quest to find out, I have read two books by Dr. Michael Newton -- Journey of Souls and Destiny of Souls -- which describe our activities in the spirit realms.

Dr. Newton is a hypnotherapist, now retired, who has used hypnotherapy to regress his clients back to their lives-between-lives when we dwell in the spirit realms.

Under hypnosis, Dr. Newton’s clients have described the spirit realms as a beautiful place of universities, community centers, temples, libraries, cathedral-like structures, recreation areas, parks, fields, gardens, forests, mountains and lakes. Heaven turns out to be whatever we want it to be, because when we are in spirit, we can create our environment and even our own appearance as we wish.

So what do we do there?

Well, we don’t lie around on clouds. Nor do we sit at the feet of Jesus singing hymns throughout eternity. At least we don’t do that in my Heaven.

Dr. Newton’s clients say we continue our spiritual education in Heaven. Vast schools exist there which we may attend. But our classes can be held anywhere, even on the steps of a temple or sitting in a garden.

One client describes the school she attended on the other side of the veil as a Greek temple. Why? Because she spent her previous lives in Greece. She describes the teacher as a “goddess” wearing long flowing robes. She enters the temple. She sees a large library. There are gatherings of souls speaking in quiet tones at tables in the library. She joins one group. How happy she is to be with them again! They are studying the life books. These life books contain no text but rather live, multi-dimensional action pictures in which we can see our past lives.

As souls, we study many subjects. For example, we study reality creation and how to create a better reality for ourselves.

But it’s not all work and no play. There are plenty of breaks, time in nature and time alone, time for recreation, games, concerts, travel (even travel back to Earth, if we want to), and time to reconstruct the favorite places we lived in while on Earth. In fact, we are not forced to study and may take long periods of rest, if we want to, but normally we’re excited about ongoing group projects and want to be a part of those projects.

We work on our own imperfections while in the spirit realms. This desire to overcome our imperfections explains why we decide reincarnate.

As part of our preparation to reincarnate, we make agreements with many different souls. We then incarnate in groups at about the same time and meet up here as relatives, friends, or co-workers. Even though we may not be together initially, our paths do cross at a pre-determined moment, allowing us to spend time together here on Earth.

In other words, we are together on both sides of the veil. Our friends here on Earth are our friends in Heaven. And our relationship with them here is designed to support our spiritual plan for this incarnation.

Sometimes we feel lonely here because we miss our friends. But sooner or later we are drawn together. There is nothing more fun or exciting than encountering a soul mate -- that is, someone from our soul group. Instinctively we know each other. We vibrate at the same spiritual level. We share common interests and activities together. We realize that we are going through something together. We have met up here because we have work to do together.

The universal law of attraction works to being us together at the right time and place. Such encounters may seem like coincidences or accidents, but they are not. Every relationship, whether lifelong or just a passing encounter, occurs by design.

But just because we are soul mates doesn’t mean we won’t have problems together while incarnated. By pre-agreement, we may even become enemies with hopes of resolving our conflicts and overcoming our mutual problems.

In short, we do the same thing on both sides of the veil: we work, play and learn together. That’s what we do on Earth. And that’s what we do in Heaven.

You can watch the first in a series of YouTube videos featuring Dr. Michael Newton here. Dr. Newton's books are available in the books section of the Quest Store.

Why Are We Here in Earth School?

2011-01-06T18:36:00.000-08:00

Have you ever asked yourself: Why am I here? Why did I choose to return to earth school once again?

Here’s an answer that resonates with me: We come to earth school to have physical experiences, and from these experiences we learn valuable lessons that enable us to evolve spiritually. That -- in a single sentence -- explains why we come here.

However, earth school does not consist only of study and work. We also come here to enjoy the intensity and sensuality of the physical world. But when we come here, we deliberately choose to forget what we really are, to make the experience seem real. We even choose to forget why we come here.

We do not come to earth school by accident. We could remain in Heaven if we wanted to, but we choose to come here instead. There may be a waiting list of souls in Heaven, applying to come to earth school because the experience here is so exciting.

Before we come, we know that earth school will be difficult, frustrating and stressful. But we are confident that we can handle it because we have carefully planned and prepared for it. We have established the curriculum we will follow -- or disregard -- when we get here. We have identified the teachers we will meet up with. We have even selected our parents, where we will live, and the bodies we will inhabit while here. We have carefully preplanned everything to maximize our learning experience in earth school.

I certainly have learned incredible things here in earth school. The last 20 years have been especially rewarding, because during this time, I have undergone phenomenal personal change and spiritual growth. This physical world is a beautiful place, but I am no longer enamored with its illusions nor am I trapped in them.

One very important thing I have learned here in earth school is this: I am not the victim of other people, life’s circumstances, or God’s whims. Instead, I am the creator of my reality. I create every experience I have in life with my thoughts and beliefs. Indeed, I think we all come to earth school to learn how to be better creators.

We think of ourselves as individuals in earth school because we inhabit physical bodies that seem to separate us from each other. Despite this convincing illusion of separation, however, the fact remains: we are here together in earth school and the behavior of any one of us easily affects the rest of us. Cruelty and outbursts of temper can affect millions of others. If we are to achieve Heaven on earth, we must do so collectively.

We learn together and play together in earth school.

Our daily experiences in earth school mostly occur in the context of encounters and relationships with others. Before we are born, we agree to share our experiences here with other souls who will come to earth school about the same time as we do. During our lifetime, we meet up with them. Many of them become our best friends -- and our worst enemies. We learn together and play together. We often throw sand at each other on the playground.

Sometimes we feel lonely in earth school. But we are never really alone. Our spirit guides accompany us throughout our stay here, whether we are aware of their presence or not. One of their primary jobs is to guide us toward the kinds of experiences we need in order to grow spiritually. While here, we often meet up with enlightened teachers. Many of us have found that Dr. David R. Hawkins is such a teacher. We have many great textbooks available to us, such A Course in Miracles. We have many electives to choose from, such as meditation, yoga and even religion, along with many other electives. And valuable tools such as the Internet are available to us here in earth school to facilitate our learning.

Your classroom can be located anywhere in earth school. Mine happens to be located in Panama. Why Panama? Could I not have learned my life lessons just as easily in Pennsylvania? I thought I came to Panama courtesy of the U.S. Army in 1990, but in retrospect, I can see that I really came here because it is a better place to learn my life lessons. For that same reason, I have been here ever since.

I came to Panama for the very same reason that we choose to incarnate into this physical world: it is simply a better place to learn our life lessons. I could have stayed in Heaven where everything is easy, just as I could have stayed in Pennsylvania. But in earth school I face challenges that don’t exist in Heaven -- and endless learning opportunities. By coming here, I am able to accelerate my spiritual growth.

It is essential to know why we come here. Otherwise, we may waste yet another lifetime in pursuit of illusions. We may fail to achieve our spiritual goals. We may fail in earth school altogether, perhaps leading to spiritual stagnation, chronic depression, alcoholism and even suicide.

But if we fail to achieve our learning goals in this lifetime, we can return to earth school whenever and as often as we want. I imagine we could hardly cram all of our learning goals into a single lifetime. Each lifetime in earth school is just a brief “flash in the pan” for us as eternal spiritual beings.

Through reincarnation, we can return repeatedly to learn things we failed to learn in previous lifetimes. We can return over and over until we have mastered every learning goal available to us in earth school. Once we have achieved mastery, we can graduate from earth school and move on to other places and other experiences in our never-ending quest for spiritual growth. We no longer need to return, but we can return if we choose to do so in order to help others who are still struggling with their spiritual lessons here.

Our time in earth school ends almost before we know it with the death of the physical body. We then discard all the trophies we collected while here, our bank accounts and investments, relationships, memberships, homes, jobs and an endless array of other things that once seemed so important to us. We even discard our physical bodies, all the health and nutrition and physical education classes we have taken here notwithstanding.

What we do get take with us when it’s time to leave earth school are the lessons we have learned and the often-poignant memories of our experiences here. These are the things that are truly important. These are the things by which we will know whether or not our experience in earth school was successful.

Have You Ever Had a Spiritual Experience?

2010-12-20T10:39:00.000-08:00

I have had spiritual experiences -- twice! The first one occurred in 1990. I awoke one morning in July of that year, and in a matter of seconds, discovered that I could not go on living the self-destructive, alcoholic way I had been living all my adult life. What I experienced that morning was sudden, intense, brief and totally unexpected, but it set me on a path of profound personality change. My old way of living began to fall apart at once. In the years that followed, my life changed in every possible way, and I became a totally different person.

My second spiritual experience occurred ten years later in the year 2000. My father was dying of cancer that year. Suddenly and inexplicably, I became interested in near-death-experiences, and that interest in NDEs quickly evolved into an interest in all things spiritual. The Internet became my window to a spiritual universe. I found myself on a quest for spiritual knowledge and wisdom that continues to this day.

Spiritual experiences are sometimes referred to as mystical, transcendental, or paranormal experiences. Some people call them epiphanies, peak experiences, or “white light” events. Whatever you choose to call them, these experiences take you beyond the normal limits of the physical world.

People who have had these experiences say that, during the experience, they felt an overwhelming sense of oneness or unity with everything that exists, accompanied by feelings of ecstasy, love, insight, well-being, and loss of fear.

These experiences are often sudden and unexpected and may only last a short time. Normally, they are spontaneous, though spiritual practices like meditation and yoga may prepare us for their occurrence. They normally happen when we are alone. And -- perhaps most importantly -- they nearly always have a lasting impact on our lives.

William James
(1842-1910)

In his book The Varieties of Religious Experience, published in 1902, psychologist and philosopher William James identified four general characteristics of spiritual experiences:

1. They are ineffable. That is, they are difficult to describe to others.

2. They are noetic. They give us a sense of knowledge, insight, awareness, revelation, or illumination that we could not have gotten by other means.

3. They are transient. They are typically fleeting in duration, perhaps lasting only a few seconds or minutes, but they usually have a life-long impact on us.

4. They are passive. The timing of their occurrence is beyond our control. We cannot turn them on and off.

People who have had a spiritual experience may undergo a complete change in lifestyle or personality. They often become:

- less dogmatic, less authoritarian, and more relaxed.

- increasingly interested in spiritual matters.

- convinced that the mysteries of life can be revealed to us.

- less fearful of death and more interested in the afterlife.

- more connected to others.

- more joyous and serene in life.

- less depressed and anxious.

A spiritual experience almost always precipitates an increase in our level of consciousness and a life-long desire for further spiritual growth. It sets us on a conscious spiritual journey which we wouldn’t want to stop, even if we could.

So, my first spiritual experience occurred in 1990 and the second one in 2000. The first set me on a path of profound personality change. The second put me on a conscious spiritual journey. Together, they changed my life completely.

Since these experiences occurred in 1990 and 2000, I concluded -- perhaps facetiously -- that they might occur every decade for me. I further concluded that I should therefore experience one in 2010. But time is running out. Only a few days remain until the end of 2010.

How about you? Have you ever had a spiritual experience? If so, how did it impact on your life? Indeed, couldn’t it be said that all of life is a spiritual experience? I invite you to share your thoughts and describe your experiences below where it says “post a comment.”

In the meantime, I invite you to watch an insightful YouTube video on spiritual experiences by clicking here.

584Q95H6DS4U

Are You a Spiritual Seeker Like Me?

2010-12-10T05:48:00.000-08:00

Do you ever wonder why some of us become spiritual seekers, while the rest of humanity continues to languish in darkness?

Dr. David R. Hawkins tells us why in his book Discovery of the Presence of God: Devotional Nonduality. In this book, he explains how we become spiritual seekers and how this transformation affects our lives. This book qualifies as an instruction manual for seekers like you and me.

According to Dr. Hawkins, some people are born with what he calls “a spiritual propensity.” The rest of us awaken later in life. A dramatic event -- such as a near death experience or “hitting bottom” -- can awaken us. Or we might experience a spontaneous awakening in what A Course in Miracles calls “a holy instant.”

So a spiritual awakening can be gradual and subtle. Or it can be sudden and intense. Regardless of the form it takes, it launches us on a conscious spiritual journey. We become interested in all things spiritual and less interested in material things. We begin to ask questions like: What am I? And what is life's real purpose?

As our awakening continues, we undergo a personal and spiritual transformation. We no longer want to be what we used to be. Nor do we want to do what we used to do. A quest for spiritual knowledge and wisdom now motivates us. We want to know the Truth. In pursuit of this Truth, we undertake spiritual studies through books and on the Internet. We begin to attend spiritual workshops, seminars, conferences and courses. We start to seek out spiritual teachers, like-minded friends and discussion groups. In short, we become dedicated to our spiritual search.

Let me tell you about a Panamanian man who became my spiritual teacher in early 2003. I will call him “M” here. I had been doing intensive spiritual studies alone for three years when this teacher suddenly and unexpectedly appeared my life, precisely when I was ready for him. At the time, I was reading Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramhansa Yogananda, along with The Holy Science by Sri Yukteswar.

“M” began to meet with me nearly every Saturday afternoon and continued to do so for ten months, teaching me what he himself had learned in India. He called me “a selected one” and said a time would come when I would have to share with others what I was learning on my spiritual journey. He also told me of "another" like me and assured me that I would someday meet this "other" here in Panama.

“M” taught me many things that year. He taught me about the importance of Pythagorus, Melchizadek and Enoch. He taught me about Rennes-le-Chateau, yoga and tai chi, dreamwork, inter-dimensional travel, the true story of Jesus and Mary Magdelene, the pyramids, the Pleiades, and the physical symptoms of ascension. I'm sure he taught me many other things which I have long since forgotten.

It was an exciting time in my life! I was surging spiritually. But at the end of 2003, “M” disappeared from my life, just as mysteriously as when he first appeared, and I never saw him again. Because of what he taught me, however, I became totally dedicated to my search for spiritual knowledge and wisdom.

As a result of this kind of spiritual dedication, our level of consciousness can rise dramatically. In fact, Dr. Hawkins says that it can rise by hundreds of points on his Scale of Consciousness in a single lifetime. By contrast, most people’s calibration changes only five points or so during their lifetime.

Because of his spiritual dedication, a seeker can lose interest in other activities that once seemed important to him. These other activities may now seem shallow, irrelevant, disappointing, silly, or even irritating to him. Perhaps he regrets that he wasted so many years of his life on them. He now has better things to do and is no longer willing to waste his precious time on nonsense that fails to satisfy his longing for personal and spiritual growth. I, for example, became entrapped in a well-known social fraternity at the very end of 2003 just as “M” was leaving, and it took me five years to extract myself from its grip, despite my early disillusionment with it. It practically destroyed the spiritual progress I had previously made.

The spiritual seeker works to free himself from the oppressive bondage of this world, even though he knows he incarnated into it to learn valuable lessons. In contrast to his old ways, he now seeks to change himself rather than trying to change the world. He now knows that there is nothing wrong with prosperity and abundance, but at the same time, he also knows he can only find lasting happiness in spiritual endeavors and not in material pursuits.

The spiritual journey is seldom easy, and the seeker discovers this sooner or later when he encounters blockages, temptations and his own character defects along the way. He often experiences frustration, spiritual stagnation and “dark nights of the soul” when God seems remote. The ego clearly does not want him to learn the things he is learning.

But all of this can be transcended, and Dr. Hawkins tells us how in his book. Dr. Hawkins also cautions against getting caught up in spiritual sideshows and guru worship, cults, sects, and secret societies. These kinds of things can divert us from our spiritual goals, as happened to me. Further, he discourages us from trying to develop psychic skills such as divination, clairvoyance, channeling and mediumship, psychometry, and telepathy. These skills may occur spontaneously later in our spiritual growth, but early on, they can amount to what Dr. Hawkins describes as an attractive but potentially harmful “astral circus.”

There are two spiritual practices which Dr. Hawkins recommends. First, he encourages us to practice contemplation, which is a variation of meditation in which we consciously focus on a spiritual thought. Second, he encourages us to practice “random acts of kindness” at all times with no expectation of reward or recognition.

Life as a spiritual seeker is the greatest adventure that I can imagine! But what about you? Are you a spiritual seeker, too? How did you become a seeker? How has it affected your life? Please share your thoughts and experiences with the rest of us below where it says “post a comment.”

*********

Discovery of the Presence of God: Devotional Nonduality is Dr. Hawkins’ sixth book. I read this book and enjoyed it immensely. The teachings in it served as the basis for our Hawkins study group meeting on December 6th.

“Devotional nonduality” -- which Dr. Hawkins teaches -- may be described as a profound dedication to raising our level of consciousness, seeking enlightenment, and discovery of our one true nature as Self. This book is available at the Quest Store, along with other books by Dr. Hawkins.

Why is Time Accelerating?

2010-12-05T16:41:00.000-08:00

Do you remember how summer vacations seemed to last forever when you were a kid? I certainly do. I spent endless hours sitting on the front porch, reading science fiction books during summer vacations. Time had no meaning for me back then.

But, goodness, how that has all changed! Now I never seem to have enough time to do the things I want to do or have to do. I often wonder where my days go. I just put away the Christmas things for last year, and now it’s time to get them all out again. Each morning, I get up and have my coffee. Then suddenly it’s time to go back to bed, and I can’t account for what I did all day long. Have you been experiencing this, too?

Time, it seems to me, is accelerating. And this apparent acceleration of time has been having a profound impact on us. It has led to chronic stress, urgency, confusion, irritability, anxiety and even fear and panic. Along with these emotional effects, we have been experiencing physical symptoms as well, especially chronic headaches, fatigue and nervous system disorders. The acceleration of time is having its greatest negative impact is on those of us who don’t know what’s going on.

Some people claim that the apparent acceleration of time occurs when we are doing things we enjoy. Others say it happens as we get older. Still others argue that it’s a consequence of the rapid pace of technological innovation.

All of this may be true, I don’t know. But I would like to share with you two other possible explanations for the apparent acceleration of time: a scientific explanation and a spiritual explanation.

First, the scientific explanation...

Years ago, scientists discovered that the earth’s electromagnetic field has been vibrating, or pulsating, at a frequency of 7.8 cycles per second, and it has been vibrating at this same frequency for thousands of years. They named this phenomenon the Schumann resonance after the German physicist Winfried Otto Schumann who predicted it mathematically in the 1950s. More recently, however, scientists have discovered that the earth’s vibration is rising and now stands at 12 cycles per second. This may provide a scientific explanation for the apparent acceleration in time. Einstein himself said that time can speed up.

And now, the spiritual explanation...

The earth is vibrating faster in preparation for the global ascension to a higher dimension. We who inhabit the earth must likewise prepare for the ascension. And we must do so now, because time may be running out.

We are awakening from thousands of years of fear and ignorance. Like the earth itself, we who have chosen to awaken spiritually at this time are now vibrating more rapidly than before. Spiritual growth that once took years or perhaps a lifetime to accomplish can now be accomplished in months or even days. In fact, A Course in Miracles tells us that we can experience a “holy instant” in which we awaken immediately. As we awaken and actively pursue the truth, there occurs a “time of revealing” along with a “time of quickening.” And as we have awakened individually in recent years, we have begun to meet others like us who are having similar experiences. Together, we are discovering that we are part of a rapid global awakening.

The great shift which we are now experiencing seemed to begin in the 1960s. At least that’s the way it seems to me in retrospect. But the shift really exploded after the Harmonic Convergence in 1987, marked by an alignment of the Sun, Moon and six of the planets. This convergence ushered in a 25-year period of earth “cleansing” with global and human turbulence that will culminate in 2012. The year 2012 is not the end of the world. Rather, it is a time symbolic of new beginnings. It is a time by which, I hope, we can achieve the kind of critical mass we need to propel humanity as a whole into an awakened state of consciousness.

So, we now find ourselves in between 1987 and 2012. We find ourselves in a time “between worlds” when our purpose is to deal with our problems and prepare for the ascension to a higher level of consciousness.

Have you noticed lately how often you may have been seeing “11:11” on your digital clock? This number symbolizes the global awakening. And have you noticed how quickly your desires and intentions have been manifesting into reality lately? Indeed, we have been learning how to become better creators of the kind of reality we would like to experience, and that may be the main reason why we incarnated on earth in the first place. Have you noticed, also, how much more quickly you are now confronted by opportunities to pay off karmic debts? It seems like we can now pay off our karmic debts almost immediately, rather than having to take them with us into future incarnations. I believe all of these experiences are a consequence of our accelerating vibration and the apparent acceleration of time.

As you probably know, I am a devotee of A Course in Miracles. This is what ACIM has to say about time...

Time, it says, is an illusion, just like everything else here in the physical dimension. We created time to separate the events in our lives. We invented clocks and calendars to “measure” time. The ego takes advantage of our belief in the existence of time, to convince us to repeat the past and avenge the injustices we think we have suffered. But the only time that really exists is the Eternal Present Moment. And, in fact, we are merely reviewing everything we believe has happened to us in this lifetime, much like watching a movie.

Until now, we’ve been enslaved by time, just as we’ve been enslaved to our physical bodies which demand so much of our time. But our priorities are shifting from trivial to spiritual matters as a consequence of our spiritual awakening. We can now discard burdensome possessions and tiresome beliefs. We can now focus on our inner transformation. And when we do that, the world we see around us will be transformed as well.

So I ask: Have you felt this apparent acceleration of time? Why do you think it is happening. How has it affected you?

It’s an exciting time to be alive, isn’t it?

The Ten Most Important Things I've Learned on My Spiritual Journey This Year

2010-11-26T14:57:00.000-08:00

My spiritual awakening began in the year 2000. The spiritual floodgates suddenly opened. Divine knowledge began to pour in.

Since then, I have learned incredible things every year. This year has been no exception.

Here are the ten most important things I’ve learned on my spiritual journey in 2010....

1. We create every experience that occurs in our lives.

We do this with our thoughts and beliefs. The more we dwell on what we don’t want, the more of it we attract into our lives, whether it be stress, poverty, sickness, relationship problems, or whatever have you. We can use positive affirmations and other spiritual tools to create the kind of happy, healthy, abundant life we want.

2. As spiritual beings, we pre-plan each of our physical lives before we are born.

I have often wondered what we do during our inter-lives between physical incarnations. One of the most important things we do is pre-plan our upcoming lives.

Prior to birth, we meet with our spirit guides who will accompany us during our upcoming life. We also meet with those souls who will incarnate with us and who will meet up with us during our life. We reach agreements with them about what we will do to and for each other while here on earth.

3. When we are born, we draw the veil of illusion (or forgetfulness) over us.

We do this so that the physical “reality” we have created seems real to us. We want to focus our attention here and accomplish our purpose in coming here, without constantly longing to return to the spiritual realms.

As a result of this veil, we appear to be separated from, or even exiled from, the spiritual realms beyond the veil. “Piercing the veil” allows us to remember what lies beyond it. We do not have to physically die to pierce the veil. We can do it through a spiritual process known variously as awakening, enlightenment, or a shift in consciousness. Spiritual practices such as meditation accelerate this process.

4. Most of us go through life without ever learning our life purpose.

This is like going someplace you’ve never been, with no road map and no idea what you’re going to do when you get there.

We have a collective purpose in coming here. That collective purpose is the spiritual growth of humanity.

We also have individual life purposes. I think it was in the year 2005 or so that I discovered my life purpose. My life purpose actually consists of two parts. First, I came here to learn things and overcome specific traits and habits -- such as impatience and judgmentalism -- which block my spiritual growth. Second, I came here to share with others what I’ve learned along the way and contribute to the global awakening.

To begin to discover your life purpose, ask yourself two simple questions: Who, or what, am I really? And why am I really here? The answers you discover to those two questions will change your life forever.

5. We incarnate over and over for the purpose of spiritual evolution.

Many of us have already incarnated hundreds, if not thousands, of times. As a result, we seem to be on a never-ending journey through the cosmos. We intentionally draw the veil of forgetfulness over us when we are born, so that we are not distracted by confusing thoughts of other lives we have lived. That’s why we are not able to remember our other lives for the most part.

Unconsciously, however, we retain memories of our other lifetimes. Often we can access these memories through a process known as past-life recall during hypnosis, meditation, or remembering spontaneously.

My own past-life recall experiences have helped me come to understand what I am and why I am the way I am in this lifetime. When we cannot find the cause of some chronic physical affliction or emotional problem in this life, chances are its origin lies in a previous lifetime. And that’s where we need to go to solve it. We can solve problems originating in other lifetimes and accelerate our spiritual growth in this lifetime by using past-life recall.

6. We are not physical bodies. That’s not what we are.

Most of us continue to believe that we are physical bodies. The belief that we are physical bodies is what makes us feel limited, vulnerable, threatened, and separate from God and each other.

To reinforce its stranglehold on us, the ego uses every tool at its disposal to convince us that we are physical bodies. It uses fear, sickness, pain and death to convince us. As a result, we spend virtually all of our life taking care of our physical body and attending to its needs. With our attention thus diverted, we never discover what we really are.

Our physical bodies are simply vehicles that enable us to live and function in this physical world. They are like cars. We get in them and they take us where we want to go. But we do not become our cars when we get in them. And when we are done with them, we simply get out of them.

7. Everything I see and experience is simply a projection of my mind.

I have been deceiving myself along. I thought what I saw with my physical eyes was real. I thought that events occurred outside of me and then affected me. It turns out, much to my surprise, that I have created the world I see with my own mind. The kind of world I see is simply a reflection of my own thoughts and beliefs about the world.

Thus, physical “reality” is an illusion, and collectively we have created this illusion. Even our physical bodies are an illusion, and therefore death of the physical body must be an illusion, too. Knowing this frees me from fear. It takes away my justification for experiencing loss, pain, grief, sickness, or suffering and misery of any kind.

8. We are divine spiritual beings.

Every single one of us is a divine son or daughter of God, perfect as God created us and without limitations. As divine spiritual beings, we cannot be harmed in any way, nor do we ever die. We are divine beings who have disguised ourselves as human beings.

9. We are not, and never have been, separate from God or each other.

We created this physical universe in order to separate ourselves from God. We created these physical bodies in order to separate ourselves from each other. The illusion that we are separate from God and each other is the source of all human ills.

The term “salvation” can be defined as the end of the illusion that we are separate from God and each other. Salvation releases us from the illusions of this physical world. It releases us from the need to blame others or feel victimized. It releases us from the need to judge and condemn the things of this world.

This physical world and everything in it is temporary, including our physical bodies. By definition, anything that is temporary is an illusion that passes away.

10. I am asleep in Heaven, dreaming that I am having this physical experience.

I never really left Heaven. I’ve been dreaming all along and didn’t know it. Just as we awaken each morning and discover that our nighttime dreams aren’t real, so too we can awaken from this daytime dream we find ourselves in. This awakening can occur at the time of our physical death. I would prefer, however, to awaken while still here in the physical world. I would rather awaken now than continue to wallow in misery and ignorance throughout my entire lifetime. I would prefer to know the truth.

I can experience “Heaven on earth” right now. I don’t have to reincarnate thousands of times more for this to happen Nor do I have to wait until I have achieved some mystical level spiritual growth or enlightenment. I don’t need to change the world. I just need to change my mind.

Somehow I think I’ve always known the things I’ve learned in 2010. But I forgot them along the way. It’s now time to remember them. Remembering is what “the second coming” really means. It’s what 2012 really refers to. A Course in Miracles has certainly helped me to remember.

But my spiritual awakening has only just begun. And the ego doesn’t want me to remember these things. So I still have a long way to go and much spiritual work to do.

Where Is My Real Home?

2010-11-06T07:16:00.000-07:00

Do you remember the story of the prodigal son? It is one of Jesus’ best-known parables. It goes like this....

The younger of a man’s two sons asked his father for his inheritance. He then set off to a faraway country where he squandered his inheritance in riotous living. With no money left, he soon had to accept work tending pigs. He was so hungry that he could have eaten the husks he fed to the pigs.

The prodigal son returns

Severely despondent, he longed to return home but was afraid. Eventually, he did decide to return home, expecting his father to renounce and punish him. Instead, his father ran to meet him as he arrived and welcomed him with great joy and celebration.

Like the prodigal son, we left Heaven to set out on a great adventure through the cosmos. But we have not been happy in our misguided travels. We now feel a faint but growing desire to return home to Heaven. Yet we fear that our Father in Heaven will judge and condemn us. Instead, He has been patiently waiting and will greet us joyously when we finally decide to return home.

I’ve been feeling like a prodigal son lately. Not long ago, I was looking at some photos I took last year during a trip to Pennsylvania where I grew up. Suddenly, I was overcome by homesickness and a desire to return home. Maybe that’s why I’ve been feeling like a prodigal son. Or maybe it was Lesson 182 in A Course in Miracles that awoke in me a dormant memory of my real home.

Where I lived at age 5 to 7

I have spent time in many places around the world, most of them courtesy of the U.S. Army -- places like Europe, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East and North Africa. In 1990, the Army brought me to Panama. I retired from the Army in 1991 and remained here in Panama. Though I decided to stay here, I was violently torn for a decade by conflicting desires to be in two places at the same time: Panama and Pennsylvania. This torment did not end until I discovered that I am here for a reason and I have some mission to complete here. Even so, there is only one place on earth where I get that special feeling of being home-home. And that place is, of course, central Pennsylvania with its hills, valleys, forests, rivers, and farms, where I grew up. No matter where I’ve been or what I’ve accomplished in life, I am, and always will be, just a simple country boy from the hills of Pennsylvania. Certainly it’s as close as I can get to Heaven while still here on earth. But is Pennsylvania my real home?

ACIM Lesson 182 answers my question. It tells me that Heaven is my real home. LIke the prodigal son, I have travelled far from my real home. And on this journey through the physical realm, I have squandered my God-given inheritance in debauchery.

Lesson 182 puts it so eloquently: “This world you seem to live in is not home to you. And somewhere in your mind you know that this is true. A memory of home keeps haunting you....” But the lesson reassures me. It says: all I have to do is to be still and in an instant I can experience Heaven once again.

Surely Lesson 182 qualifies as one of the most beautiful lessons in ACIM. It says that I am in exile here, learning things and playing “games” to occupy myself in order to cover up my sadness, until it’s time to go home again. My persistent homesickness for Pennsylvania merely symbolizes my homesickness for Heaven. In retrospect, I can see that I’ve always felt it, though faintly. And I can see that my desire to re-create Heaven here on earth has been a poor substitute for Heaven itself. To be sure, my memories of Heaven are not very clear. But I think those memories explain my desire to remember what lies beyond the veil.

So, am I a prodigal son? Yes. Most definitely. But you know what? I believe we all are, whether we know it or not. As Lesson 182 says, “...everyone who walks this world...is not at home.” Heaven is our real home.

A Course in Miracles is available at the Quest bookstore.

The Quest-affiliated ACIM study group meets every Tuesday evening in the Albrook community of Panama City, Panama.