Getting Value from Our Teachings

Posted on February 22, 2019 by George Boyd

There are seven elements that allow you to gain value from the Mudrashram® teachings. These include:

Theory – Learn what a practice is and why we do it.
Technique – Learn how to practice the technique correctly.
Practice – Use the technique in your daily life to work on personal issues, or to activate and unfold your spiritual potentials
Create meaning – Reflect upon your experiences in meditation. Capture these insights in a journal. Creatively express these insights as writing, poetry, song, or visual art.
Integration and transformation – Notice the changes that occur to your personally and spiritually as a result of doing these practices.
Share – Tell your friends about the value you receive from the teachings, so others may benefit from them.
Advance – Take our available advanced training classes—for example, the Mudrashram® Advanced Course in Meditation is the next training step after completing one of our intermediate courses. Read our books. Study the Mudrashram® Correspondence Course and the Satsang Program Home Study Course.

We encourage you to get the maximum value from our teachings through incorporating these seven elements into your personal and spiritual life.

Challenges and Mastery of Your Faculties

In beginning your practice, you will face three major challenges. These are language, navigation, and discernment.

Language – the challenge of language is to understand what essences our words describe.

Navigation – the challenge of navigation is to locate and put your attention on each spiritual essence—your attentional principle, your spirit, and your Soul, a nucleus of identity, or a vehicle of consciousness—and do your spiritual work there.

Discernment – the challenge of discernment is to identify what is the content and the edge of a vehicle of consciousness, what comprises your sphere of consciousness, and what are the markers of a focal point, a nodal point, Subplanes, Planes, and Divisions along the Great Continuum of Consciousness.

After you have overcome these initial obstacles, your next objective will be to gain the four masteries over your inner faculties. These four masteries include:

Inner sensing – this is the ability to see, hear, and feel in your inner vehicles of consciousness

Intuition – this is the ability to access correct, valuable inner guidance from your Soul

Heart travel – this is the ability to travel in full consciousness as the spirit though the inner channels of the Nada

Attunement – this is the ability to travel within as the attentional principle, contact a spiritual Master, receive the Light, and send the Light to others

We give you the keys to understand spiritual terminology, traveling to discrete levels of the Continuum, discerning the levels of the Superconscious mind, developing inner sensing, connecting with your intuition, traveling as the spirit in the channels of the Nada, and learning to make attunements in our intermediate courses, the in-person Mudrashram® Master Course in Meditation and the by-mail and online Accelerated Meditation Program—so if you have not yet begun to study with us, this is where you will learn the core techniques and understanding to overcome the challenges and progressively master the inner work of meditation.

For those of you who have never meditated or have had not had success in meditation may wish to begin with our Introduction to Meditation program, which prepares you to make the big step up into our intermediate courses.

Actualizing Your Potentials

Once you have begun to gain mastery over these four faculties, you will begin to actualize six of the seven types of potential. The first type of potential—genetic—is achieved through control over your diet, minimizing ingestion of toxins and environmental poisons, breathing, sunlight, and exercise. Meditation supports and augments the other six potentials, which include:

Physical (athletic) – achieving optimal performance for your body in your selected sport, exercise routine, martial arts, hatha yoga, or dancing
Academic – optimal learning, reaching the most advanced education with your innate intelligence
Emotional – optimal expression of native empathy (emotional intelligence), caring, and compassion
Mental (creative) – optimal actualization of the talents within the layers of your mind; expression of your inner abilities and gifts in career, hobby, or as volunteer service
Mental (psychic and intuitive) – optimal activation of the inner senses to see, hear, and feel with crystal clarity and accuracy; ability to access intuitive knowledge for self-guidance and wise counsel for others
Spiritual – optimal unfoldment of the ensouling entity, spirit, and vehicles of consciousness to the greatest extent possible, with full actualization of the Soul’s love, wisdom, and power

As your actualize your potentials, you will experience the most fulfilling life. This is the one of the great gifts of meditation.

Reflections on Dualism

Posted on February 16, 2019 by George Boyd

Given the intractable nature of modern politics in many countries, I thought this article would shed some light on alternate ways to deal with conflict. To be able move beyond impasse and arrive at a higher synthesis is an important skill that each of us can employ in our relationships and career.

The natural polarities you perceive in your mind construct an inner dualism. This dualistic gestalt portrays a lighted zone of integrated, conscious functioning, and a darkened zone of chaotic, desire-driven urges that arise in the unconscious mind. There are several different perspectives that people hold about this interplay between light and darkness.

Light wars against darkness; darkness seeks to destroy the Light. Darkness is the enemy of the Light.
Light and darkness alternate over time in a never-ending cycle.
Light and darkness are relative to the Infinite. Light grows as the Soul moves closer to the Source and darkness recedes; the further you are away from the Source, the greater the darkness that is in you.
Light and darkness are complementary: each is required for the other to exist. The light contains an aspect of the dark; the dark contains an aspect of the light. They are the dual faces of Nature, yin and yang.
Light and darkness are thesis and antithesis in an eternal dialog. Synthesis transcends this tension of opposites, and combines and unites the apparent contradictions.
Light is the fullness of holy virtues that the darkness veils, and expresses as negative passions such as egotism, ignorance, attachment, envy, jealousy, greed, anger, and lust. The Light, sent forth as the Holy Spirit, transforms these dark passions into holy virtues.
Darkness is the raw material that the Light must be transform and shape. This inchoate matter of the mind must be “saved,” “redeemed,” or transmuted and refined through the Power of the Light.

The propensity to demonize another arises when you see darkness is a force that you must battle against. Demonization gives rise to prejudice, bigotry, racism, intolerance of differences, and intractable argument. Over time, this can degenerate into cruelty, violence, and war.

While it is a natural response to approach that which you perceive as evil from this reactive, defensive, eye-for-an-eye stance, it may be beneficial to switch perspectives and view this emergence from the unconscious mind of another in another way. For example, where outright warfare is not required for collective protection, it may be judicious to see if a synthesis can be found between the polar perspectives of the two parties.

Alternately, it might be helpful to see the potential of what the opposing side can be if the issues creating the conflict can be resolved. Diplomacy, constructive dialog, and mediation seek to find this common ground that can back down this conflict from the brink of violence and war.

Psychotherapists apply this principle to work with the internal conflicts within their clients’ psyche. Through therapeutic exploration of issues, they stop the inner arguments within the mind and the forces that formerly in opposition and tension now work together towards a common purpose.

Aspirants and disciples will find they can diffuse the dualistic, polarized, and antagonistic perspectives within them through active contemplation and reflection. This will enable them to defuse the ego’s reactive propensity to anger, condemnation, and revenge when it encounters opposition or frustration of its desires. The ability to change perspectives, to see the problem in a new light, may help to change these antagonistic beliefs and belligerent behavior. This can lead to constructive resolution of issues and frustrations without escalating to hatred, violence, and war.

On Transformational Psychic Readings

Posted on February 9, 2019 by George Boyd

For today’s post, we will combine two articles we have written on this topic. The first article details the three major psychic reading approaches. The second identifies features that make a reading transformational.

Major Psychic Reading Approaches

There are three major approaches for psychic readings.

The first approach is informational. This reading will reveal who you are, who you have been, and what you can become.

Examples of informational readings that we give include a Soul Reading, which shows you where you are on the Path, and what are your Ray characteristics; an augmented Soul Reading, which lets you see your future lives projected in the Divine mind; a Past Life reading, which reveals to you who you were in your other lives in this cycle of time; a Soul Purpose Reading, which tells you key markers of your spiritual destiny; a Higher Octave Soul reading, which makes you aware of the state of your spiritual development in the Cosmic, Supracosmic, and Transcendental levels of being; or a Karma Reading which uncovers what is in the karmic reservoir of your unconscious mind.

The second approach is impressional. This reading may read meaning into symbols, numbers (numerology), the array of the planets at a particular time (astrology), the lines on your palm (palmistry), or the archetypes portrayed on tarot cards. Alternately, it may read the energy surrounding your body (aura), or purport to contact your Higher Self or your spiritual guides to give you guidance.

We do two readings of this type, the tarot card reading; and the foot reading, which is a reading of your aura.

The third approach is transformational. This reading may give you information, but the data it reveals will be couched in a way that will affect your way of perceiving, believing, or responding to the issues in your life. It may, for example, contain an extra layer of advisement, counsel, or revelation, which allows you to make a new response to your problems or concerns. This reading may alternately provide impressional information, but will give you options to make better and more effective choices.

We offer two transformational hybrid-readings, the Soul Attunement Guidance channeling, which combines a reading of where you are on the path with specific guidance for that level and Light Immersion; and the augmented Meditation Consultation, which may begin with a Basic Soul Reading or tarot card reading to gather some information to shed light on your situation, and then give you specific techniques to promote insight, empowerment, and change.

Many people tell us that our Relationship Compatibility Reading was transformational for them, as it allowed them to see their potential life partner in a more complete way, and to be able to see both the factors that draw them together and those that pull them apart.

There may be times when you just need information, which you can get from an informational reading. There may be times when you need a template for understanding that an impressional reading provides. And there are times when you need solutions or answers that transformational readings can reveal to you.

We hope that you can use this information about the three approaches to readings to help you decide which reading approach you need, and when each is appropriate.

What Makes a Reading Transformational?

There are a variety of psychic readings that you can obtain—a structured reading, such as an astrological, numerological, or tarot reading; or an unstructured reading like an aura reading or a Soul reading. For the reading to move beyond merely providing you interesting or novel information, it needs to actively empower you to resolve your problems, to move ahead in your life, and to facilitate change—in other words, it needs to be transformational.

What are some of the markers of a transformational reading?

It leads you a new perspective from which you can regard your problem, so that you can better understand it, and work to resolve it.
It gives you hope, and an expectation that you will resolve the problem in the future.
It teaches you a technique, which enables you to resolve the problem.
It allows you to discover the underlying assumptions of the problem in an area of the mind that was out of your awareness, which enable you to uproot it and overcome it.
It challenges you to take action—despite your apathy, fear, and despair—and to do whatever is necessary to create change.
It awakens your faith in your Self, your Higher Self, and in God, which emboldens you to take action to resolve your problem, and makes you believe that you have the support and inner guidance to succeed, even though you do not currently have all the resources available to resolve the problem.
It uncovers a synthesis and generates realization, which enables you to understand your problem in a grander context, as part of a larger purpose, leading to an ultimate enhancement of your abilities and flowering of those aspects of your life that are presently functioning poorly.

Unlike an attunement, which may actively burn away the karmic precursors of your problem, a reading gives you information about an area in your personal or transpersonal life for which you seek greater clarity, and to assist you resolve a problem. Inviting the Holy Spirit to minister to you, or receiving a healing from a master healer are examples of attunements.

Here’s what a transformational reading can do for you:

If the reading enables you to change your perspective from ego to Self, or from ego to your Higher Self (Soul), this can open to you new possibilities for responding to the problem. A reading that makes you aware of your power of choice, or your ability to create through intention might empower you to do something new and effective, which will help you resolve the problem.

If it instills hope, you will feel—despite your current despair that nothing will change, or your apathy that your efforts are futile—that conditions will change in the future. An astrological reading that shows the planetary auspices under which you operate will change to more beneficent configurations in the future can give you hope.

If you have a new behavioral response, or an internal method that you can use within your mind and consciousness to respond to a problem, this empowers you to take a new action that is more effective that what you have been doing, or to work it out within your mind. Many self help books aim to teach you effective techniques that will help you resolve your problems and reach your goals.

Psychotherapy and hypnotherapy lead to encounter and confront elements of your mind that may have been out of your awareness. By enabling you to work with them, you can dismantle the seeds of doubt, depression, anxiety, unrealistic fear, and self-sabotaging patterns that get in the way of you moving ahead.

Sometimes you only need something to motivate you to move ahead to actualize your dreams. If the reading gives you a sense of urgency with encouragement you can succeed, and bids you to stop putting off your dreams, this can provide a sufficient impetus to get you to finally take action.

Faith allows you to open a portal into higher aspects of your mind that have greater abilities and resources than your ego. If your faith gives you confidence and conviction that the power within you has what is necessary to overcome your problem, you will move ahead, even though you feel anxiety, fear, doubt, or trepidation.

If you can view what you are going through as part of a developmental or transformational process, it can sometimes make it feel less overwhelming. Instead of resisting it, you can understand that it is a step in your learning, a stage in your growth, and you can work with your Higher Self to bring it to completion.

We encourage you to find readings that not only give you knowledge about who you are, who you have been, and what the future might portend, but also give you tools to deal with the real problems and issues in your life.

What Holds People Back from Being Able to Meditate?

Posted on February 1, 2019 by George Boyd

There are several issues that hold people back from being able to meditate. These include:

Mental illness or severe physical illness – here you are unable to focus, and can’t think clearly.
Demands of work and family – in this situation, you simply have no time for meditation.
Cultural or religious prohibition – in this scenario, there are prohibitions on doing certain forms of meditation, or the cultural or religious group sees meditation as a pathway to madness or possession by evil spirits.
Addiction – here you are obsessed with the object of your addiction, which largely takes over your life and thought.
Rational or skeptical mindset – You do not enter an altered state of consciousness outside of the logical parameters of brain or physical universe; doubt and skepticism vitiates any inner experience and attributes it to an epiphenomenon of the nervous system or temporary psychosis.
History of religious cultism or religious abuse – Your prior religious involvement has created sufficient personal dysfunction, so that you are frightened to again enter altered states of consciousness through meditation.
Dysfunctional family background – In this case, you are dealing with the sequelae of abuse, trauma, and neglect, and until these issues are handled, it is hard for you to escape the psychological undertow of these issues.

Mental and Physical Illness – Mental illness and physical illness clearly must be controlled to the point that you can meditate: these conditions must be professionally supervised, though some people can find methods that help them get to a point where they are able to meditate. Some actually get help with their physical or mental health condition using prayer and meditation, but they must attain the requisite ability to focus their attention and to think clearly to move beyond the rudiments of relaxation and mindfulness.

Demands of Work and Family – The demands of work and family are a lifestyle issue. Many do not see another option for their overwhelming days; clearly they must find a way to clear up some time through letting go of some commitments and delegating some tasks. For some, getting clear about their priorities and re-creating a life that actualizes their personal potentials assists them to make changes in their lifestyle. For these, we have designed our Life Coaching Program.

Cultural and Religious Prohibition – Cultural and religious prohibition is commonly seen in milieus where there is a dominant religious authority that dictates rules for living and social conduct. These fundamentalist and totalitarian societies attempt to enforce conformity of belief and behavior. You may see it in radical Muslim sects, and in authoritarian sects of Judaism and Christianity; it appears in cultic groups from all religious backgrounds; it is also evident in atheistic Communist regimes, which attempt to constrain religious activity.

Clearly, you must have access to an alternative way of thinking and living. Some escape these totalistic, repressive environments either through emigration or joining an underground group that encourages prayer and meditation.

Addiction – Addiction can become life consuming, and meditation becomes impossible. You must get into recovery if you are to become free from the tenacious grasp of addiction. We offer some support to this group of individuals through our Addiction Recovery Coaching Program, which has now been completed, and is now available. We encourage people dealing with an addiction to find a supportive group to assist them attain and maintain abstinence from their addictive substance or behavior.

Skeptical Mindset – To overcome the self-sabotage of a rational or skeptical mindset, you must have an experience that cannot be explained away with a brain-based axiom. You must verify that there is something outside the scientific worldview to begin to entertain the possibility that you can transcend the brain and visible physical universe, and move into the other dimensional worlds of the Great Continuum. We teach you how to transcend brain-based awareness in our beginning meditation class, the Introduction to Meditation Program; and in intermediate meditation classes, the in-person Mudrashram® Master Course in Meditation and the by-mail and online Accelerated Meditation Program.

Cult Involvement or Religious or Authoritarian Family Issues – Those who have had prior involvement with a religious cult or have had a background in a religious authoritarian family will need to deal with the issues of betrayal and abuse. We provide these individuals a structured way to work through these issues in our Cult Recovery Coaching Program. This program is now available.

Dysfunctional Family Issues – Like those dealing with addiction or cults, those growing up in a dysfunctional family must work through their issues before they are ready to meditate. Many of these will benefit from counseling, therapy, and support groups. We have developed a Dysfunctional Family Coaching Program to help them explore and work through these issues. This program is also now available.

Those who can overcome these hindrances to practicing meditation can make progress in their inner development. Not everyone is able to overcome these challenges, so not everyone is able to meditate—but for those who can, the potential benefits are great, indeed.