Concerning the Maturation of the Self

Posted on November 29, 2019 by George Boyd

Q: Why is it the people who are purportedly so spiritually advanced, but who act in a manipulative and cruel way?

A: This is because, even through their Soul may have advanced along its Path through the Continuum—or the spiritual essence with which they identify has made progress on its delineated track towards the origin they perceive—they have not reached mature states of functioning at the level of the personality. You can visualize these levels of personality functioning as a series of “self states.” There appear to be 14 major self states through which people express:

Primal symbiosis – your self is merged with your mother; you sense you are one organism
Dependent self – You need your mother’s nourishment and continual care. You are not able to care for yourself.
Autonomous self – You are able to take action for yourself to complete simple tasks. You seek attention and praise for your achievements.
Superior self – You complete with others. You seek to prove your superiority over others.
Cruel self – You use your superiority to coerce others into doing what you want. You may bully or belittle others.
Manipulative self – You use others to get what you need through manipulating the information you disclose to them and what emotions you display to them. Once you get what you want, you abandon them.
Defensive self – You evade and conceal letting others know about your true motives through using lies and diversion to avoid taking responsibility for your behavior. You might feel shame, guilt or fear under the surface, but you hide it from others through an elaborate series of defenses. You may use people who are loyal to you to act as your defenders.
Repentant self – You feel vulnerable and frightened. You begin to disclose your genuine feelings and needs. You communicate clearly and honestly. You take responsibility for your actions and make amends to those you have harmed when this is possible. In religious groups, confession, contrition, and repentance mark this stage. This is a key stage of maturation to enable you to achieve intimacy with others, and to facilitate emotional healing and recovery from trauma and addiction.
Helpful self – You are engage in doing acts of kindness and express caring towards others. You begin to be conscientious: you want to do an excellent job and produce a quality product. You control what you say and do, so you won’t hurt others.
Principled self – You live up to your moral values or a code of honor. You become capable of acting with integrity.
Disciplined self – You are able to work, sacrifice, and dedicate yourself to a superior development of a skill, a creative pursuit, or a religious or political cause. You put in long hours and maintain intense focus on this subject.
Inclusive self – You are able to empathize and care for others. You can intuitively enter the experience of others: you deeply understand them and can intuit their needs. At this stage you become capable of becoming a loving parent.
Collective self – You are able to work on the needs and issues of a group beyond your role as a parent or caretaker for family and relatives. You are engaged in the issues and needs of larger groups—a company, community, state, nation, or in the international arena. You become capable of taking on projects that are for the collective good. At this stage, your Soul purpose typically overshadows your self.
Divinized self – You experience union of your sense of self with the Divine. At this stage, you become a God Realized being or an Avatar.

People usually don’t express a single self state: they typically express through a range of self states. But one of these self states may be dominant. For example:

A dominant narcissistic individual might primarily function through self states 3-7.
A born again Christian, or someone in recovery from addiction might operate through self states 8-10.
Someone training to be an Olympic athlete or a dedicated military officer would manifest self states 10-11.
The true blossoming of parenting fructifies as self state 12; gifted psychotherapists also act through this self state.
Those who can selflessly transcend personal and family life to contribute to the community manifest through self state 13.
Rare spiritual Masters consciously embody the Divine as an Avatar at self state 14.

Let’s examine how you are functioning:

What is your self state range?

What is your dominant self state, the one you most commonly express?

If you were going to assign a percentage to how much time you spend operating in these self states, how much of your time to you spend in each one?

What would enable you to move from the upper range of your self states to the next level?

What holds you back from moving to the self state of the next level?

What self states have you outgrown?

The Master Kung Tse (Confucius) made the distinction between the first seven of these self states, which he called the “inferior man;” and the last seven of these self states, which he called the “superior man.” To move from one self state to another requires:

Physical, emotional, and mental maturation
Working out the issues that keep you from moving into this next self state
Letting go of the outmoded behavior, attitudes, and beliefs of the old self state

We recommend that you contemplate these 14 self states, so you can identify:

Which self states do you no longer embody that you formerly operated through?

Which self states do you embody now?

Which self states you could you inhabit in the future? (Pay attention to what needs to be mastered or overcome to move into this self state.)

For some of you, moving to the next self state seems difficult. You feel you are stuck in old patterns. You’ve never learned the skills to fully actualize your human potential. The influences of your past seem to hold you back.

Those of you who are experiencing these inner limitations may benefit from a coaching experience:

Those of you who have never learned the skills to actualize your potential may benefit from our Life Coaching Program.
Those of you who had negative spiritual experiences in a cultic group may receive help re-owning your life through our Cult Recovery Coaching Program.
Those of you who have lingering issues from your experiences growing up in a dysfunctional family may find your pathway to becoming whole through our Dysfunctional Family Coaching Program.
Those of you who are recovering from an addiction may reconnect with their inner sources of strength and wisdom to enable them to avoid relapse and to facilitate their personal growth with our Addiction Recovery Coaching Program.

You can learn more about our coaching programs here.

Reflections on Judgment

Posted on November 22, 2019 by George Boyd

Q: The Bible says, “thou shalt not judge.” Can you shed some light on judgment?

A: It is important to understand the levels of judgment and when each is appropriate. There are seven major types of judgment:

Critical judgment – This finds fault with others based on your internal standards of conscience. When your conscience is vitiated, this type of judgment may give rise to egotism, prejudice, jealousy, envy, arrogance, pathological narcissism, and fanaticism.
Decision-making judgment – This looks at the pros and cons of different options and decides which one is best. This type of judgment attempts to guide you to make the optimal decision that will bring you the best results. Professional counselors facilitate you to use this type of judgment.
Juridical judgment – This makes decisions about guilt or innocence and sentencing based on a review of prior case law, the evidence in the case, the accused person’s prior criminal history, and the assessment of his or her probability of committing additional offenses or fleeing if released to the community. This type of judgment establishes the rule of law. Judges make these types of decisions. Attorneys argue for the conviction or defense of the accused. Legislators at the state and national level generate new laws. Law enforcement places those who violate the law and are apprehended into custody.
Righteous judgment – This examines the consequences of action—how your actions and speech will impact others and your self. When you use this type of judgment, you attempt to choose actions that are appropriate, prudent, circumspect, efficient, causing the least amount of harm—and ideally, actions that are kind, compassionate, and wise. This type of judgment dawns in those who practice the precepts of religion. If this type of judgment is applied for long periods of time, it develops good character and saintly virtues.
Spiritual discernment – This enables you to intuit the different layers of your Superconscious mind through the brain center of your Soul’s essential vehicle, and to realize your Soul’s true nature. Employing this type of judgment ultimately leads to enlightenment. This type of judgment blossoms in advanced aspirants and disciples.
Higher order spiritual discernment – This enables you to discern a nucleus of identity, ensouling entity, or spirit of the Transplanetary, Cosmic, Supracosmic, or Transcendental bands of the Continuum, and to identify with it. Those that reach the Mahatma stage on the Bridge Path gain access to the interpenetrating awareness, which enables them to discern the spiritual development of others at every level of the Continuum. This type of judgment awakens in advanced disciples.
Ministerial judgment – This type of judgment reveals the essential nature of each individual, whom the Master selects to receive spiritual ministry. It discerns what types of attunements are appropriate for aspirants and disciples at their current stage of spiritual development. Initiates utilize this form of judgment.

Scripture condemns critical judgment, when it makes comparisons of others to spurious values. These comparisons to the inner standards of conscience include:

Your “egoic standing” – These are judgments you make about your status and how well you are doing compared to others. When you are doing well, this type of critical judgment allows you to feel superior to others. You might, for example, consider yourself to be wealthier, more intelligent, more beautiful or handsome, physically stronger, or more sophisticated or cultured than others.
The criteria of prejudice – In this perspective, you compare others to negative stereotypes you learn about them—you presume that each member of this targeted group has these same negative characteristics. This type of critical judgment breeds hatred and intolerance; it breeds acts of discrimination, injustice, and violence.
The criteria of jealousy – Through this filter, you consider that another person is a rival for the affections of someone you desire. It leads you to perceive only the negative characteristics of your rival, and you may attempt to sabotage the other person’s efforts to have a relationship with the one you desire.
The criteria of envy – Through this lens, you feel you are inferior to others because they are wealthier, more beautiful or handsome, have a partner who loves them, are more famous or have greater adulation from others—and you want these things for yourself. Envy drives you to adopt a variety of defense mechanisms, including viewing what others have as flawed or defective (sour grapes); justifying your own station in life as virtuous; adopting passive aggressive stances in your relationships with these people; or finding ways to criticize or “bad mouth” them to others.
The criteria of arrogance – When you regard others from this standpoint, you not only feel you are superior, but you also feel justified to bully, harm, or destroy others’ person, property, or reputation—especially when you believe they are competing with you for something you want. Arrogance may lead you to justify criminal or violent acts against those who you don’t like, or who oppose you.
The criteria of narcissistic entitlement – When you adopt this attitude, anyone who doesn’t love you, obey your every wish, agree with your every decision, or remain perpetually loyal to you—you suspect them of being a traitor, you immediately belittle them, and jettison from the circle of those who currently entertain your favor. Mental health professionals refer to this behavior, when it is pronounced, as pathological narcissism.
The criteria of demonic rage – Those who demonstrate this radical stance so strongly believe in their political or religious ideology that they hold—that if others do not follow their belief system, they are judged to be evil, and can be persecuted, tortured, or killed. This type of critical judgment underlies the mindset of the political or religious fanatic, the hate group follower, or the terrorist.

When you are able to activate your higher wisdom faculty that operates righteous judgment, you will begin to uproot these types of critical judgment. You will replace these negative character traits of critical judgment with:

Humility
Gratitude
Caring for others
Considering what is for others’ highest good
Kindness and helpfulness
Acceptance of others’ diversity and difference
Tolerances of differences of belief and opinion
Understanding
Forgiveness
Mercy

When you deconstruct your negative, critical judgment mindsets, you replace it with virtues. You begin to rehabilitate your character and purify your conscience. The scripture you cite admonishes you to work form the platform of righteous judgment, so you can engage in this ongoing project of character transformation, thereby turning your vice into virtue, your ignorance into wisdom.

To facilitate this healing of your conscience and rehabilitation of your character, you may wish to contemplate each of the virtues listed above, and identify how you might express these virtues in your relationships with others. The meditation of the pairs of opposites in our intermediate courses—the in-person Mudrashram® Master Course in Meditation and the by-mail and online Accelerated Meditation Program—will help you develop these virtues.

It is important to understand that this scripture is not asking you to abandon discernment, to not administer the law if you are a judge, or refrain from making optimal personal choices—it is asking you to root out the negative aspects of critical judgment and replace them with wisdom and virtue.

You also need to be clear that not all forms of judgment are negative: it is the negative attitudes of critical judgment that you must remove.

Using Mantras to Deepen Your Awareness

Posted on November 16, 2019 by George Boyd

Q: In Transcendental Meditation™ they talk about using a mantra to travel through the bands of awareness to arrive at what they call Pure Consciousness, like a bubble rises from the depths of the sea and arrives at the surface. How is this different than what you teach in Mudrashram®?

A: The “thought bubble” type of mantra that Transcendental Meditation™ teaches is only one variety of mantramic repetition. It is important that you are cognizant of the different types of mantras, and what they do. In general, there are seven major types of mantras in addition to the thought bubble type:

Transformational (bija) mantra – this type of mantra draws down the Light of Spirit to burn the karma between an ensouling entity—or a nucleus of identity—and the next nodal point. This allows this spiritual essence to unfold into that new nodal point and transform along that Path. We teach this type of bija mantra, which we call the Quintessence Mantra or Alayic Divine Name, in our intermediate meditation classes, the in-person Mudrashram® Master Course in Meditation and the by-mail and online Accelerated Meditation Program. It is keyed to your ensouling entity at your cutting edge of spirituality.
Contemplative mantra – this type of mantra allows you to unite your attention with your spirit. This method is variously called remembrance, simran, or zhikir. It aims to unite your attention with the spirit, so your spirit can begin to travel of the segment of the Nadamic Path on which it dwells. We teach this type of mantra in the Nada Yoga module of our intermediate meditation classes.
Centering mantra – this type of mantra leads your attention to a state of contemplative union with an integrative center or spiritual essence within you. For example, there are mantras that will unite your attention with your Self (Swa Dhyan), a nucleus of identity (Manasa Dhyan), or your Soul (Atma Dhyan). We teach how to use this type of mantra in our advanced course of meditation, the Mudrashram® Advanced Course in Meditation.
Awakening mantra – this type of mantra is keyed to awaken the energy of the Kundalini Shakti. We teach this powerful technique in our intermediate meditation classes.
Focusing mantra – this type of mantra helps you concentrate your mind, collecting your attention so that you can enter the state of conscious presence (mindfulness), in preparation for depth meditation. We teach this method in our beginning meditation class, the Introduction to Meditation Program.
Invocational mantra – this type of mantra calls upon a spiritual being and aims to lift your attention and awareness into this being’s presence. These types of mantras are typically spoken aloud (chanting), sung (bhajan), or repeated silently with your attention within the mind (japa). They readily lift your attention into altered states of awareness; many spiritual groups teach this method. We teach you a variety of chants in our intermediate meditation courses.
Empowerment mantra – these specialized mantras are used to activate spiritual powers and release powerful energies. They are taught in magical or tantric meditation schools. Many types are known: for example, there are mantras of this type that can turn you into an channel for a god or goddess; awaken a hidden spiritual power (siddhi); nullify an inauspicious planetary influence; bestow wealth or the ability to have children upon you; open a particular chakra; or release a powerful energy (Shakti) upon purification of a particular track in the unconscious mind. As these types of mantras can produce spiritual imbalances and expose you to spiritual influences you cannot control, we generally advise students to avoid using this type of mantramic practice. We do not teach this type of mantra.

The thought bubble technique is a variety of transformational mantra that unfolds the Supracosmic seed atom on the Brahma 5 Supracosmic Path. There are four orders of mantra on this Path:

The first order leads to union with Brahman in the First Cosmic Initiation and the Great Voidness beyond it (Shanti Desh) — there are sixteen varieties of this mantra. For more information about this type, see our article, “Use of Transformational Mantra as a Therapeutic Modality.”
The second order is keyed to the top of the First Cosmic Initiation. This leads to the state of liberation of the cosmic consciousness nucleus of identity, which is called Kaivalyam.
The third order leads the Supracosmic seed atom of the Brahma 5 Supracosmic Path to the top of the Cosmic Sphere. This Supreme Light has been called Parinirvana or Brahma Jyoti.
The fourth order opens the Supracosmic chakras of this Supracosmic Path and returns the seed atom of this Path to its origin in the Supracosmic brain chakra. This brings union with the Guru of this Path, and grants the ability to empower all four orders of mantras (Mantra Shakti).

This mantra taught in Transcendental Meditation™ does not affect the ensouling entity at the cutting edge of spirituality, but instead unfolds the seed atom on one of the Supracosmic Paths. It promotes relaxation, stress reduction, and ultimately absorption of your awareness in this seed atom upon this Supracosmic Path. Next, you return to the origin of this first order of mantra that this lineage bestows.

Before this absorption with the seed atom is attained, there are a variety of intermediate states that may be experienced, including:

Union with the subatomic field
Union with the physical universe
Union with the spiral of spiritual evolution; vision of the goal of spiritual evolution (Omega Point)
Union with an Oceanic state of consciousness (e.g., the Void beyond the Nirvanic Flame)
Union with the cave of the Cosmic Child (ground state of cosmic consciousness)
Union with cosmic consciousness, with the experience of energy flowing out into the universe and returning to this center
Union with the cosmic physical body and turning this form into light
Union with the cosmic physical universe and viewing the entire universe as composed of light rays
Union with the cosmic astral body with awakening of the first order of extraordinary powers (siddhis)
Union with the cosmic astral universe and viewing the celestial heaven worlds
Union with the individual causal body—at this level you gain union with the Supracosmic seed atom of Brahma 5

Beyond this seed atom, there are the following additional states up to the origin of this first order Transcendental Meditation™ mantra:

Union with one of the gods or goddesses of the cosmic causal universe to which your mantra is keyed
Union with the cosmic AUM vibration
Union with the Supreme Light on the Ideational Plane and awakening of the second order of supernatural powers (siddhis)
Union with Brahman with God Realization
Union with the Great Void of Peace (Shanti Desh); merging into the origin of the first order mantra

While many people use thought bubble technique mantras as a way to relax and release stress, they are not aware that sustained use of this method will ultimately open them into these higher states of awareness. For many individuals, Transcendental Meditation™ has been their introduction to meditation, and they do not realize they are actually developing an aspect of their Supracosmic consciousness outside of their cutting edge of spirituality.

So while they are “transforming” or “evolving” this Supracosmic seed atom of the Brahma 5 Supracosmic Path, this does not affect the state of spiritual evolution of their ensouling entity at the cutting edge of spirituality. Rather, they are “doing something else,” other than the Divine Plan out-pictured behind their ensouling entity at their cutting edge.

It is possible to use techniques to unfold one of the nuclei of identity along its track—any one of the 64 active Supracosmic seed atoms are included in this category; to open the Nadamic channels of the spirit in one of the domains of the spirit other than the one contiguous with the cutting edge ensouling entity; or to transform an ensouling entity in another octave of being than the cutting edge. In Mudrashram®, we think it is a better idea to start with the cutting edge of spirituality and not jump ahead into these alternate tracks of spiritual development that are not germane to the work of fulfilling the Soul’s intrinsic spiritual destiny.

Methods to Activate Mantras

The thought bubble technique is rather novel in the way this mantra is activated: after some initial repetition of the mantra, you simply hold your attention on the mantra and it seems to repeat itself. As this repetition occurs, you sense you are moving to a deeper level in meditation. This deepening continues as long as you keep your attention focused on this mantramic seed.

There are alternate methods to activate mantras, however. These include:

Chanting the mantra aloud
Breathing the syllables of the mantra
Visualizing the letters of the mantra and manipulating them in special ways [Tibetan Buddhist schools teach this visualization method of mantramic syllables in Tibetan script to activate mantras on their Path]
Repeating the mantra with your attention
Repeating the mantra with the tongue of the spirit
Intending the mantra as a beam of thought to strike the bija mantra

We teach our students to use intention to activate the Alayic Divine Name. These other methods to activate mantras have no effect on the Quintessence Mantra.

Hopefully this discussion has enabled you to make distinctions between these two types of mantra meditation. It is important to understand what Transcendental Meditation™ does and how this is different than what we teach in Mudrashram®. We recommend that you be clear about what you are trying to achieve with your spiritual practices, and find a Path that allows you to reach that objective.

Reflections on Power

Posted on November 8, 2019 by George Boyd

Q: I have come across a list that Hubbard posits are the twelve conditions of life. It struck me that Hubbard places power at the top of his twelve conditions. One list of these conditions, as Jenna Miscavige-Hill remembers them in her book, Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology™ and My Harrowing Escape are:

12 – Power
11 – Power change
10 – Affluence
9 – Normal operations
8 – Emergency
7 – Danger
6 – Non-existence
5 – Liability
4 – Doubt
3 – Enemy
2 – Treason
1 – Confusion

How do you view this formulation?

A: Hubbard’s highest position on the twelve conditions is power, and the ability to increase one’s power. The application of power takes the following forms:

Earth – the exploitation of its resources to gain profits
Animals and plants – exploitation of living creatures to fulfill human needs and to make money
Religion – development of a religious cult; exploitations of followers for money and sex; and to fulfill the leader’s narcissistic desires to be loved and worshipped
Body – Control of the bodies of others through intimidation and demands for obedience; those who are disobedient may be subject to violence, torture, imprisonment, or death
Intimate Relationship – Enslavement of his or her partner; control through emotional and physical abuse; using partner for sexual gratification and fulfilling of his or her needs
Customer relations (sales) – Views others as sources of money, he or she uses any means fair or foul to make the sale—lie, cheat, and deceive if necessary—the only thing that matters is to meet and exceed sales targets and enrich his or her self.
Career – Become an autocratic boss who drives employees to meet goals; readily fires those that he or she doesn’t like; uses employees for sex; frightens and intimidates them to demand their loyalty, obedience, and silence
Finances – Achieve money at all costs through any means fair or foul; use legal loopholes and surreptitious means to hide money from taxation
Organization – The leader has absolute control over the organization through policy and direct command; no dissent is tolerated
Government – The government is a dictatorship; the leader exerts control over all aspects of the country through the military, police, and secret police; the leader suppresses any dissent of criticism; he or she may muffle the press, imprison or disappear those who do not obey his or her directives
Perceived enemy – Destroy the enemy without mercy; ruthlessly pursue the enemy until he or she is utterly vanquished; crush the spirit of the enemy so he or she will be obedient and servile

Q: Then gaining power is not the highest aim of life?

A: This perspective of placing power, as his highest objective, places Hubbard in the same mindset as the Occultists and dictators of the Lower Astral Plane. It is not surprising, that those who adopt this mindset often turn religion into a cult, with their central aim to exploit others for money; those who enter the political arena with this mindset become demagogues and authoritarian leaders.

If we view the keynotes of each level of the Continuum from the Middle Subtle to the Soul Plane in the Planetary Realm, we find that Hubbard’s call to power is most typical of the Lower Astral Plane:

Level of the Continuum	Keynote
Middle Subtle	Obedience – Following cultural norms, and religious and moral precepts
Lower Astral	Power – Gaining power and wielding it over others; forcing your will on others
Subtle Illumined Mind	Protection from dark forces – Using Soul force to counter dark magic
Biophysical Universe	Harmony – Living in harmony with the earth and cosmos
Abstract Mind Plane	Control of mind – using mind to control athletic performance, make discoveries and innovations in science, augment creative expression in art, pursue truth through philosophical inquiry, to overcome personal obstacles, and to manifest what you desire
Psychic Realm	Development of psychic powers and metaphysical ministry – activate your psychic abilities and use them to help others
Wisdom Plane	Development of wisdom – gain wisdom, practice forgiveness and understanding
First Exoteric Initiation	Faith and love – establish faith in God and follow his guidance; read the scriptures; express love, charity, and kindness towards others
First Mesoteric Initiation	Devotion and purity – draw nigh to God’s presence; develop virtue and holiness; minister the Holy Spirit to others
First Esoteric Initiation	Knowledge of the Mysteries – gain insight into symbols and archetypes; identify the hidden truths and teaching substanding ancient faiths
Second Initiation	Power united with love – activate the Mighty I AM Presence, speak the Word with love to set others free, to empower them, and to motivate them to achieve their highest potential
Third Initiation	Love united with wisdom – develop the innate abilities within each person, make the personality into an instrument for the Soul, align your life to carry out your Soul’s purpose and to fulfill your Divine Plan (spiritual destiny)
Fourth Initiation	Illumination, Grace, and Compassion – receive the Light of Illumination to remove ignorance and gain enlightenment; become an instrument for the Grace and compassion of the Masters; express your highest genius to uplift humanity
Fifth Initiation	Mastery – Gain mastery over each vehicle of consciousness and use your love, wisdom, and power to serve others spiritually

We suggest that gaining power as your ultimate aim— as Hubbard advocated—is not a very uplifting or noble goal. We encourage you to examine the keynotes for each stage of your spiritual journey and aim to incorporate each of these higher objectives and fulfill the high calling of your spiritual destiny. Renounce the will to power; embrace love and service, and you will become an instrument of the Light.