What Spurs Growth?

By George A. Boyd © 2018

Q: What is it that spurs personal growth? Why is it that some people seem to stay where they are in their lives, while others seem to dramatically change, try new things, and reinvent themselves?

A: There seem to be a variety of characteristics that promote change and reinvention. Here are some of them:

  1. You are on fire to change. You are unwilling to accept the status quo any longer.
  2. You have a realization of a vital truth. You can no longer keep doing things the same way after you have had this insight.

  3. You have a clear vision of what you want and a plan to reach it. You believe your plan is doable and achievable. You take constructive action to begin to enact your plan.
  4. You see yourself in your core as perfect and whole. You note a shadow over this vision of yourself—you begin to consciously hold your attention on that darkness to begin to dissolve it and break it up, so your innate perfection can emerge and shine through.
  5. You identify specific issues that hinder or sabotage your path to success and achieving what you want. You process those issues to completion, and you re-choose and re-create a new way of thinking, believing, and acting that yield better results.
  6. You have absolute faith, courage, and conviction. You make a resolute decision that what you want shall be made manifest.
  7. You sense that you are organically growing and developing into a pre-formed pattern that is within you. You feel that you are moving inexorably into this next step of your personal growth.

If you sense this undercurrent of growth within you—in whichever of these forms it takes—open yourself to it, and let it begin to change you. Your fear and your clinging to what is safe will resist this transformation, but if you stop fighting it, you will move into your next step of growth—you will do things that you cannot now believe are possible for you and achieve things that you thought were unattainable. When the inner forces of personal growth summon you, embrace them.

Identification

By George A. Boyd © 2014

A fundamental principle of the mind is identification. It has a major role in personal and spiritual life; it governs what we will become—and when we become that&mdssh;what we will do, be, and have, once we have attained it.

At the personal level, let us say you want to become a plumber. You imagine, visualize what it will be like to become a plumber. You decide to make that happen. You go to school. You complete your apprenticeship. You become a journeyman plumber. You get your state license.

When this is accomplished, you realize, I am a plumber—and you can now be a plumber in the eyes of the community and the State. Then you can do plumbing professionally. You can have the income that plumbers make, and the satisfaction of serving people in the community.

The same thing is true in the spiritual life. Let us say you are completely blown away by a Yogi Preceptor, and you decide you want to attain that state of consciousness. You imagine what it would be like. You begin the Path to becoming a Yogi Preceptor by taking initiation. You practice a transformative meditation that transforms your cosmic consciousness progressively through the bands of the First Cosmic Initiation. After sustained practice, you break through all barriers, and finally attain the Guru Padam, where you fully become a Yogi Preceptor.

Now you are a Yogi Preceptor. You can do what Yogi Preceptors do: teach, guide, initiate, and counsel others, and embody the goal to them. You can now have what Yogi Preceptors have: spiritual powers, respect and reverence from others, and the ability to assist others to reach this same attainment.

That dream with which you identify, be it a personal goal or a spiritual one, is crucial to your life, because it creates your destiny.

Identify with nothing, and you repose in being, and float though life, monitoring the present moment.

Desire something and dream of attaining it, and you will mobilize your entire mind to assist you become it.

Be careful what you decide is worthy for you to become. Some people dream of being gang members, human traffickers, drug dealers, terrorists, thieves, murderers, rapists, and dictators—and bring evil and suffering to many, when they realize that dream.

Your mind is a dream-fulfilling mechanism. Therefore, dream noble dreams, aspire to greatness, a noble and magnanimous character, to excellence, to goodness, and to become an instrument of love and Grace, and make the world blessed because you are here.

Do not settle for mediocrity. Do not follow the crowd. The genie stands before you and asks, “Oh Master, what dream may I fulfill for you?” Choose well, for what you dream; and that with which are fully identified, you shall become.

New Year’s Process

One of the things I do when each new year begins is that I do a process to help me complete my old year, and set goals for the next. I’ve done this as a webinar, which I’ve recorded and edited for you. Want to listen in and do this for yourself?

Get out a sheet of paper and write down your answers as I ask the questions and do this along with us.

The Seven Varieties of the One-Pointed Mind

By George A. Boyd © 2018

Q: I find myself being wavering and ambivalent much of the time. I never keep my resolutions. It’s hard for me to decide on what to do and to make commitments. How do I reach the state of “one-pointed mind” that the most dynamic and successful people have?

A: There are seven “power states” of the mind. These are:

  1. Concentration – This occurs when you collect your mind stuff, which produces mental alertness and presence.
  2. Decision – This happens when you select one action from other options, together with putting aside other options.
  3. Commitment – This operates as an emotional affirmation and tenacity to complete a long- term goal.
  4. Union – This is the state of mystic union or Samadhi, in which your attention in a state of voidness and Being, or united with an essence of consciousness.
  5. Investigative focus – This is a state of inquiry in which the mind asks continual questions until it arrives at correct answer, exact knowledge, clear understanding, and full realization and mastery of the object of inquiry. This intensive discernment opens the Buddhic capsule of the Soul and brings about enlightenment.
  6. Faith – This is the absolute conviction of the existence and Presence of God through establishing a dynamic connection with the Divine through the cord of faith. Your reception of God’s comfort and love, God’s communication of guidance and direction to you, and your expression of love, devotion, and worship for God mark the presence of faith. This may also face the form of igniting the love and devotion of your spirit, together with an irresistible yearning to go back to your Divine Source.
  7. Creation – This occurs when you generate one-pointed intention marshalling the forces of your attentional principle to create and manifest what you desire. This can take the form of an affirmation, decree, or powerful suggestion. Making attunements also uses this magnetizing of your intentional force.

You can activate these “power states” through remembering an incident in your life when you experienced these states in your life. Inquire, what were the circumstances, the way your saw the world, when you were able to muster these powerful focusing forces within you.

See if you can replicate that energy through focusing your attention upon it, and notice what enables it to come forward.

You can also observe another person who models this quality, and determine what enables him or her to express this quality. Cultivate this quality in yourself. [My mentor, Eben Pagan, used to say that if you want to become successful, spend time with people who are more successful than you, and their qualities will rub off on you.]

Resolve to learn how to acquire these seven “power states” of mind. Do not stop until you have developed them to a state of proficiency.

If you understand how each of these “power states” of the mind operates, you can readily acquire them.

  • Concentration arises from one-pointed intention. Intention is a faculty of your intentional consciousness, which we call the attentional principle. You use intention to collect your attention and move it to discrete focal points. [We teach this practice in our Introduction to Meditation Program. We show you how to focus your attention and explore each level of your Conscious, Subconscious, and Metaconscious mind, and activate your abilities at these levels.]
  • Decision arises from the faculty of volition that is anchored in the Self at the core of your personality. Your intellect frames the options available to you, and their pros and cons, and you choose the option that appears to be best.
  • Commitment engages your desire body, which provides the tenacity, courage, perseverance, and long-term staying power to stay with a decision you make for as long as it takes to reach your goal. This can take the form of obtaining a college degree, sustaining a marriage to raise your children together and spend your retirement with your life partner, or saving for your retirement throughout your working career. If you can make an important life decision, activating your desire body can translate your choice into the motivation that will drive you forward through the difficult periods and get you to your goal.
  • Union unites your attention with an object of meditation. Your intention focuses your attention on that meditation object. Your awareness opens. You become completely absorbed, at one with this object of meditation. [We teach you how to produce the state of union through our training in Raja Yoga, which is a part of our intermediate training, the in-person Mudrashram® Master Course in Meditation and the by-mail and online Accelerated Meditation Program.]
  • Investigative focus activates your faculty of reason through your will. It can stimulate your quest to find out the causes of selected phenomena; in this aspect, it is the driving force of scientific research and discovery. In its higher form, it appears as incessant questioning that you direct to your attentional principle, your spirit, or your Soul. This opens the Soul’s illumined mind, and progressively leads your attention to the state of enlightenment—when all of your Soul’s wisdom and knowledge is opened to you. [We teach you how to tap into your intuitive stream that can answer your questions through our training in Jnana Yoga, which is a part of our intermediate training, the in-person Mudrashram® Master Course in Meditation and the by-mail and online Accelerated Meditation Program.]
  • Faith connects you with God through the cord of faith and remembrance. Through this connection, you establish a dialog and loving relationship with the form of the Divine to which you pray and invoke. Its higher counterpart awakens when you focus your attention on your spirit. [We teach you how to awaken your spirit and show it how to travel back to its Divine Source through our training in Nada Yoga, which is a part of our intermediate training, the in-person Mudrashram® Master Course in Meditation and the by-mail and online Accelerated Meditation Program.]
  • Creation focuses the forces of thought, contemplation, suggestion and affirmation to anchor what you intend in the Subconscious and Superconscious mind. Its higher counterpart is to “carry the Light” and make attunements. [We teach you how to activate the power of creation through affirmation and how to do attunements in the Invocational Methods and Agni Yoga modules of our training, which is a part of our intermediate training, the in-person Mudrashram® Master Course in Meditation and the by-mail and online Accelerated Meditation Program.]

Develop these “power states” of mind within yourself, and you will transform the way you study and learn, the way you operate in your career, and the way you achieve your personal goals. It will also enhance your meditation and communion with God.

The mind does not work at its best in a state of duality, polarity, or ambivalence. Find the point of clarity, synthesis, and purpose: this will enable you to summon forth these “power states” of mind. This will connect you with your innate ability to do what you say you will, to complete and achieve your personal goals, and to fulfill your spiritual destiny. Settle for nothing less.