What Is Integral Alignment?

By George A. Boyd ©2021

Q: How is your approach to spirituality different than the what is taught in New Age, Judeo-Christian, I AM Movement, Yogi Preceptor, and Supracosmic Guru Paths?

A: There are three aspects that condition spiritual perception:

  1. Identification with a spiritual essence
  2. The apparent path or track along which this essence develops
  3. The vision of the Source of this essence, which is the perception of the Divine in this spiritual tradition

In the Paths you mention, there is a fundamental difference in the spiritual alignment for their orientation to the apparent Divine Source and the spiritual alignment we utilize in Mudrashram®. To understand this, you may wish to imagine there is a spiritual body that contains each of these groups as centers:

Brain center – This center contains the seed atom of a Supracosmic Path, which is your identity state when you take initiation into a Supracosmic Path. This Supracosmic seed is what we call a nucleus of identity.

Point between the eyebrows – This center reveals the God Consciousness nucleus of identity of the Fifth Cosmic Initiation. My first spiritual teacher, Maha Genii Turriziani, who was a Cosmic Master, revealed this center to me. Most spiritual groups along this alignment typically do not work with this center.

Medulla – This center aligns you with the Cosmic Soul Awareness in the Second Cosmic Initiation. Light Masters activate this center.

Throat – This center awakens when a Yogi Preceptor from one of the nine platforms of Mastery in the First Cosmic Initiation unites your attention with your Cosmic Consciousness nucleus of identity. This track leads through the seven centers of Cosmic Man or Woman—you discover Brahman at the brain center of this Cosmic Body when your Cosmic Consciousness unfolds along its track.

Heart – This center is the seat of your Solar Angel nucleus of identity of the Second Planetary Initiation. I AM movement groups train you to focus your attention upon this spiritual essence and activate it through using a decree or power affirmation.

Solar plexus – This center holds the Moon Soul [also called the Christ Child] nucleus of identity of the First Planetary Initiation. Judeo-Christian traditions train you to focus upon this center and to identify with it. It envisions the Heavenly Father God as the spiritual Source, which has begotten the Moon Soul. Mystic sects of Judaism and Christianity employ transformational methods to move the Moon Soul upon its track closer to the Divine, as He is conceived in these traditions.

Navel – Some New Age groups anchored in the Psychic Realm teach people to identify with their Star Seed, which is the seed atom of your form in the fifth Subplane of this band of the Continuum. Some teachers in this realm show you how to unfold this essence, which leads to union with a form of Mastery in the Galactic Brotherhood/Sisterhood along one of twelve star pathways.

Base of the Spine – This center reveals the wave of consciousness on the Akashic Records Subplane on the Abstract Mind Plane. This center allows you to tap into the Soul’s “thought and intention” that interface with your human life through this center. There are a variety of methods that groups established in the three highest Subplanes of the Abstract Mind Plan—the Akashic Records Subplane, the Dynamic Creation Subplane, and the Universal Mind Subplane—utilize to lift your attention into union with this center. Discovery of this center enables people to realize that the Soul can create what it visualizes and intends in human life. This leads to a type of enlightenment and empowerment experience of the “eternal now,” where people come to believe they can manifest whatever they desire through aligning with the Universal Mind or Law of Attraction. Some New Age teachers will use this as a portal to guide people’s attention into union with their form on the Psychic Realm.

The Supracosmic seed atom of one of the Supracosmic Paths becomes the orienting center of Paths aligned with the axis of non-Integral alignment. A subtle current of energy runs from the Supracosmic seed atom to the wave of consciousness of the present time on the Akashic Ether; focusing on any of the spiritual essences in the centers of this form taps into this energy stream.

The Integral meditation approach we teach in Mudrashram® is instead founded upon the axis of being that runs from Satchitananda, the ensouling entity of the seventh Transcendental Path, to the lowest center in the Infraconscious mind—which we call the Wheel of Time center—below the waking state of consciousness, where attention dwells in its ground state. You can visualize the body in which the Mudrashram® system of Integral meditation does its spiritual work has the following centers:

Hridaya (sacred heart center) – This contains the Quintessence mantra or Alayic Divine Name through which the Divine Spirit flows to unfold the ensouling entity on the cutting edge of spirituality in synchrony with each other center along this axis of being.

Brain – This is the seat of Satchitananda, which is called the Infinite Consciousness. This is the polestar around which all spiritual development is integrated. It is the seat of the energy of ensoulment and sentience, which we refer to as the Alaya.

Eye in the middle of the forehead – This is the center where you encounter the Soul of the Bridge Path, which unfolds during the seventh stage of spiritual development in Mudrashram®. It is the “Master Soul” within that integrates the love, wisdom, and ability you gain as you develop each octave of being in the stage one through six of spiritual development.

Point between the eyebrows – You work at this level in the Mudrashram® system of Integral meditation during the sixth stage of spirituality. One of the ensouling entities from the First to the Fifth Transcendental Path moves along with the ensouling entity at the cutting edge of spirituality—we call this spiritual essence that moves in synchrony with your spiritual development, your aligned Transcendental ensouling entity.

Medulla – This is the fifth stage of spirituality in Mudrashram®. This level of spiritual work unfolds your Supracosmic Soul and its aligned Supracosmic seed atom to Liberation. Since many people have written into their spiritual destiny that they must open only one Supracosmic Path, Mudrashram® disciples commonly find that this process of development of this ensouling entity occurs in the background while they unfold at their cutting edge of spirituality, and find to their joy that this essence has been Liberated—when this is the case, they can skip directly from work in the Cosmic Sphere to the Transcendental Sphere.

Throat – This is the Path of unfoldment of the Astral Soul in the Cosmic Sphere, which is the fourth stage of spirituality in Mudrashram®. This ensouling entity becomes your new cutting edge of spirituality when you have completed your spiritual development in the Subtle, Planetary, and Subtle bands of the Continuum.

Heart – This is the track of unfoldment of the Monad in the Transplanetary Realm. This is the third stage of spirituality in Mudrashram®. It leads the Monad through the Planetary Hierarchy to the Planetary Logos; through the Solar Chain to the Solar Logos; and through the seven solar systems of our Monadic Life Wave to the Pleiadean Logos, from which the Monad originated.

Solar Plexus – This is the pathway through the Planetary Realm on which the Planetary Soul evolves, culminating in its opening this track to the Nirvanic Flame. This is the second stage of spiritual development in Mudrashram®.

Navel – This is the corridor through which the Soul Spark, the ensouling entity of the Subtle Realm, travels in its journey of reunion with the Soul. This is the first stage of spiritual development in Mudrashram®. Not everyone starts here; most Mudrashram® students have already moved their cutting edge of spirituality into the Planetary Realm, as they have already completed the Subtle arc of their spiritual evolution.

Base of the spine – This is the locus of your Human Self. This is the zone in which you develop your human potential through using the executive functions of your personality—volition, personal intuition, intellect, concrete mind, conscience, persona, and commitment. Mudrashram® does not neglect this aspect of human nature, but puts into place programs to study its function, such as the Life Coaching, Dysfunctional Family Recovery Coaching, Cult Recovery Coaching, and Addiction Recovery Program to overcome the key life issues that hold people back from being able to enter the portals of the seven stages of their spiritual development.

Top of the feet – This is where your ego dwells, which is the integration center of your Conscious mind. This aspect of your nature is embedded in your human life, and experiences the unfoldment of your life moment to moment. The ego has a functional side, and a “dark side,” which is called the personal unconscious or Shadow. We do not demonize the ego in Mudrashram®, but teach you to train this aspect of your nature to be more responsive to the working out of your Soul’s purpose, and to cooperate with your higher nature instead of resisting it. This is the zone of practical meditation—we have designed a course, the Foundations of Practical Meditation, to help people who are learning to work with their ego to make it more functional and sensitive to the intimations of the deeper Self.

You learn how to open to your cutting edge ensouling entity and transform it, where it dwells in one of the seven stages of spirituality, in our Intermediate meditation courses, the in-person Mudrashram® Master Course in Meditation and the by-mail and online Accelerated Meditation Program.

Differences between Non-Integral and Integral Approaches

When we compare and contrast these two approaches, we find the following differences:

  1. Non-integral alignment is anchored in centers in the higher Planes. It seeks to manifest in human life through the Aethers. Integral alignment is grounded in your physical body, and manifests in your life and your behavior.
  2. Non-integral approaches train their students to identify with nuclei of identity or with seed atoms in selected vehicles of consciousness. This perceptual frame creates a sense of separation and detachment from human life, so that those on these non-integral Paths may regard their personality and ego as alien, unreal, or even as evil. Some types of non-integral spiritual development may lead to states of dissociation, derealization, and depersonalization. In the Integral approach, the connection is maintained between the ensouling entity at the cutting edge of spirituality and your human life, so there is no sense of separation; this perspective holds that human life is the instrument through which the Soul expresses in the world.
  3. Non-integral approaches may project utopian or apocalyptic scenarios upon the world. They may visualize ideal societies, if everyone becomes aligned with their spiritual perspective. They may believe in doomsday visions such as the Last Judgment or Divine Punishment of those who do not believe and follow the dictates of their doctrine. Integral approaches focus on constructive action in your life and environment. They hold that rather than project on the world your wishes and fears, it is more productive to improve your personality and your life so you can become a finer instrument for the Soul’s expression.
  4. In some non-Integral Paths, they may awaken the Kundalini to fix your attention in a nucleus of identity. If Kundalini remains fixed in this center, it may generate Kundalini syndromes that disrupt your ability to function in the personality. In Integral Paths, Kundalini is never raised beyond the cutting edge of spirituality, and it is lowered immediately after it activates and enlivens the vehicles of consciousness of your ensouling entity.
  5. Non-integral Paths may utilize transformational methods to unfold a vehicular seed atom or a nucleus of identity with an aim to gain enlightenment and wisdom, love and virtues, and spiritual powers that can be accessed as this essence moves along its track to its apparent origin. This generates imbalance, as this essence is moved off of the innate axis of being. Integral Paths unfold the cutting edge ensouling entity in synchrony with each other center along the axis of being. As a result, no imbalance is generated; no center is moved off the axis of being.
  6. In non-integral Paths, they invoke the form of God and the Masters apparent on the inner horizon of their cosmology, which is perceptible to the spiritual essence with which they identify and unfold. In Integral Paths, invocation is performed through your Supervising Initiate, who connects your ensouling entity with its Source, and steps down that Divine energy to minister to the ensouling entity, the spirit, and the attentional principle.
  7. In non-integral Paths, their outreach to others seeks to bring these aspirants to identify with the nucleus of identity or vehicular seed atom of their Path that they cultivate and transform it along its track. Awakening the spirit is typically not done in these Paths. In Integral Paths, the aspirant is introduced to their ensouling entity at the cutting edge of spirituality. They are trained to unfold this ensouling entity and its vehicles, and to concurrently open the Nadamic Path of the spirit in alignment with the Soul. Integral Paths develop all four Poles of Being in synchrony.

Those who wish to learn about doing Integral spiritual work at the cutting edge of spirituality can do so in one of our Intermediate meditation programs. Those who wish a greater understanding of spiritual development in non-integral Paths will benefit from reading Religions, Cults, and Terrorism: What the Heck Are We Doing?

Q: How is your approach to spirituality different than the teachings of the Sat Gurus of the Transcendental Sphere?

A: Sat Gurus of the Transcendental Sphere teach their disciples to awaken the spirit on their Path and unfold the Transcendental ensouling entity of that Path. These teachers are able to awaken the spirit on one of the Transcendental Paths, but not others. In these Paths, the spirit opening the tracks of the Nada is the key method of transformation.

These teachers who work on individual Transcendental Paths dwell on the first though fifth and seventh Transcendental Paths. These include Subud (T1), Sant Mat (T2), Avatar Meher Baba (T3), the Paradise Path (T4), Eckankar™ (T5), and Brahma Vidya (T7).

Similar to non-integral Paths, they develop the spirit and ensouling entity outside the cutting edge of spirituality. Unlike the other non-integral Paths, they rarely activate the Kundalini.

During the sixth and seventh stage of spirituality in Mudrashram®, you progressively develop and liberate the spirit and ensouling entities on the Bridge Path and T1 to T7—so you do not simply develop the spirit and ensouling entity upon a single Transcendental Path, you develop and ultimately liberate all of them.

A Brief Primer on Stress and Resistance

By George A. Boyd © 2021

Have you ever noticed that some activities seem relatively easy to do, while others evoke reaction and resistance? It’s important to understand how this process works. We can start with a model of the psyche that graphically portrays this interplay between the conscious and unconscious zone of functioning.

chart of stress

0 is the transition point at the border of the Conscious/Unconscious boundary.

You experience the Conscious Zone of the mind as an area of light, where you are free to act. You experience the Unconscious Zone of the mind as an area of darkness, where you feel stress, anxiety, craving and desire, resistance, and dread.

When you are operating in the Conscious Zone of the mind, as the task becomes more difficult and challenging, you move from +7 to +1. Ease of action, even playfulness marks +7. The experience of challenge and having to operate at your maximum capacity indicates you have reached +1.

When you move to the 0 point, you reach the transition point between the Conscious Zone and the Unconscious Zone. You may feel a certain anxiety as you move across this border into operating from the Unconscious Zone.

At -1, you begin to feel stressed, like the task is getting to you and you are looking for something to lower the stress and demand upon you. At -7, you cannot function any more; you are experiencing your painful core emotions—such as suicidal depression, full panic attack, primal rage, or intense self-hatred.

The more time you spend relating and reacting from the Unconscious Zone, the greater physiological markers of stress you exhibit; the deeper you go into this layer of the mind, the greater emotional distress and misery you experience.

To expand your comfort zone, you need to engage activities that elicit a -1 response, and relax as you do engage in this activity. As you practice the activity more and it becomes easier to do, you may find that your stress response lowers and you are become willing to engage in the action without resistance or reaction. Through this means, you begin to open this area of your Conscious Zone to integrate new behavior; the Unconscious Zone yields this aspect of your behavior to the control of volition.

Methods such as Wolpe’s systematic desensitization, used in Behavioral Psychology; and mindfulness help this process of reintegration, as you are able to loosen the death grip of these reactive patterns of the unconscious and extend the zone of your conscious functioning.

In our intermediate meditation classes—the in-person Mudrashram® Master Course in Meditation and the by-mail and online Accelerated Meditation Program—we teach methods to work with material in the unconscious. These include methods like Process Meditation, the Mandala Method, and the Rainbow Technique. These methods empower you to work with unconscious material in the -1 to -5 range.

The deepest levels of core psychological pain and defensiveness at -6 and -7 are typically out of the range of effectiveness for self-help methods, such as we teach—these are deepest levels of the Unconscious Zone best addressed with professional psychotherapy—and sometimes, medication must be used to lessen the severe reactions and dysfunctional reactive behavior that arises from these deep wellsprings of the mind.

We encourage you to monitor your behavior and notice, which aspects of your behavior come out of this Unconscious Zone. When they come up, notice what you feel… notice what your thoughts and beliefs are when this arises… and notice any desire or aversion that accompanies this reaction. This will help you identify what your deep issues are—once you know what they are, you can work with them using the self-help methods you have learned, or seek professional help when these are beyond your ability to resolve using your own resources.

The Seven Ray Expressions of the Conscience

By George A. Boyd © 2021

Q: Does the conscience evolve? Are there core expressions of the conscience?

A: We see the full expression of the conscience in the following roles:

1st Ray – The Prophet manifests on this Ray, as the one who speaks the Word of Power as God inspires. The archetype for this expression is the Fire atop the Mountain that is the presence of the Divine.

2nd Ray – The Psychologist or Therapist adopts this posture, and seeks to bring about psychological wholeness. The archetype for this expression is the Soul at the core of the psyche.

3rd Ray – The Social Reformer aims to change others’ behavior so they live in a way he or she believes is best, through enacting rules, policies, and laws, and enforcing those laws. He or she seeks to compel others to follow the rules, using rewards for compliance and punishments for non-compliance. The archetype for this expression is the Horned God, the Lord of Matter.

4th Ray – The Saint exemplifies holy virtues and lives love and service. The archetype for this expression is the Christ, the fourfold image of the whole Self.

5th Ray – The Law Giver views the ancestry and phylogeny of human beings going back to the origin of life, and views the entire content of the ancestral unconscious. He or she brings moral rules to humanity based on their state of spiritual evolution. The archetype for this expression is the Manu, the guardian of the potentials of the human race.

6th Ray – The Devotee follows scriptural guidelines scrupulously, and attempts to be a perfect role model. The Devotee conscience style may be found as the good son or daughter, the exemplary student, the model employee, or the impeccable soldier. The archetype for this expression is the Crucified One.

7th Ray – The Theocrat attempts to impose his or her religious doctrine and morality on the entire society, demanding obedience. Those that do not comply may be threatened with excommunication, inquisition, torture, or execution. The archetype for this expression is Kal, the Dark Lord.

Most people do not reach these depths of development of the conscience. Instead, what you will see is character style.

  • The Prophet character style gives commands and expects obedience. He believes he is always right, and does not handle criticism well.
  • The Therapist character style is empathic, listens, and considerate. She may attempt to analyze your behavior and give you feedback on how it impacts her.
  • The Social Reformer character type tries to change the world. He may be involved in politics or advocacy for his chosen causes.
  • The Saint character style is self-effacing, modest, and humble. She finds things to be grateful for, to appreciate. She treats others with love and kindness.
  • The Law Giver character style is highly aware of the language, non-verbal signals, and culture of others and attempts to enter their frame of reference to reach them and communicate to them in a way they can understand.
  • The Devotee character style holds her self to the highest standards. She may be self-critical, perfectionistic, and seeks to please others. She may deny herself and neglect her own needs to be a role model of the behavior that is held out to her as ideal.
  • The Theocrat character style seeks to impose his religious or political values on others. He may be intolerant of views other than his own. He may seek to convert of others to share his beliefs and values through preaching or arguments.

It is sometimes hard to determine what character style a person embodies, as there are overlapping characteristics. For example, 1st Ray, 3rd Ray, and 7th Ray types may seek to force their viewpoints and values on others. Both the 4th Ray and the 6th Ray types may wish to be good and virtuous. Both the 2nd and 5th Ray types are empathic and work to understand others.

As you study these character styles in yourself, you may find that there are strengths that this type embodies, as well as some negative characteristics. You may wish to identify and strengthen the positive qualities this character style embodies through practicing that trait; and lessen the negative characteristics through choosing to not express them.

We do a lot of comparisons in our writing between the Seven Rays. We have an introductory section on the Seven Rays in our book, A Mudrashram® Reader: Understanding Integral Meditation. We recommend this book to those of you who want to have a resource that will help you understand the meditation types we introduce in Mudrashram® and many key meditation concepts.

Exploring the Motivational Spectrum

By George A. Boyd © 2021

Have you ever noticed that people approach their activities with different levels of willingness to engage in them? Here are some examples of different motivational mindsets:

  1. Enthusiastic embrace of an activity – you do it joyfully and freely; you look forward to doing the activity.
  2. Encountering difficulty – you may have an initial enthusiasm for the activity, but you experience disappointment in your results from doing the activity—you discover you are not very good at the activity. You may become self-critical, wary and vigilant that others may criticize you or make fun of you. You may try to find out why you encounter these difficulties and try to improve them.
  3. Trepidation – You have reticence to begin and continue an activity. You may not trust your performance or your ability, and you may do it with some anxiety or fear that you will fail or that you may risk hurting yourself.
  4. Avoidance – You have a resistance to do an activity. You find excuses for not doing it. You procrastinate in starting it. You may sabotage your efforts so people won’t trust you to do activity correctly.
  5. Defiance – You stubbornly and defiantly refuse to do the activity. You cannot be persuaded to consent to participate in the action.
  6. Capitulation – You do the activity only because you are coerced, threatened, or intimidated to do the action. You may have genuine dislike for the activity, but you feel you must do it, or you genuinely face negative consequences: violence, abuse, punishment, incarceration, or death.
  7. Surrender – You carry out in response to an inner command or direction you receive from your Soul, from your spiritual Master, or the Divine. You carry out the activity as your duty in service to your Soul or God, in spite of your personal feelings or the opinions of other people.

You may wish to examine which of your current activities fall into each of these categories. You could do a brief inventory to see what activities your truly enjoy and love to do, and those that being up stress and conflict.

The Role of Desire in Motivation

Positive motivation is founded upon desire: you want to do something. Negative motivation is founded upon aversion: you don’t want to do something, but there are consequences for failing to do the action.

People cope with their desires in different ways, depending on whether they can satisfy them directly, whether they are attainable, whether they or other people approve or forbid them, or whether they are attempting to relinquish desires to achieve a state of spiritual transcendence or enlightenment.

You may wish to notice what you desire, and which of the following strategies you are using to fulfill, suppress, or transcend your desires:

  1. Direct action – You have a desire: you act on the desire. No deeper aspect of your psyche or a “Higher Power” hinders you from taking direct action. You bear the full responsibility for the consequences.
  2. Fantasy – You cannot act on your desire due to your circumstances. You may fantasize about achieving what you desire. You may feel envy or jealousy for those who are able to enjoy the desire, but you can’t. You may feel something is wrong with you, because you can’t have what you want, when others can have it. You may engage in a symbolic or substitute activity to vicariously enact the desire. For example, someone might resort to masturbation instead of having a regular sexual partner. In this strategy, you feel frustration and unhappiness.
  3. Taboo – Your conscience forbids you from enacting certain activity. Alternately, those around you may forbid the activity. You may attempt to indulge in the activity secretly. This inner conflict may make you split your perception of yourself into a good, obedient self and a bad, defiant self. You may find that part of your psyche aligns with your values of goodness, truth, and righteousness; part aligns with rebellion and to the sense of entitlement to do forbidden things. Your conscience may criticize, argue with, and punish your bad side; your bad side may feel it is persecuted or under attack, and may redouble its defense of what it desires and its right to have it.
  4. Dissociation – In this strategy, you enter an altered state of consciousness through prayer, meditation, or hypnosis, and identify with a spiritual essence. While you are in this altered state of consciousness, your bad side’s activities may be temporarily suspended. You may disidentify with your ego and your personality, and re-identify with this spiritual essence—you may distance yourself from your former behavior through regarding the part of you that did bad behavior in the past as your sinful self, but now you have abandoned that sinful self, because you have been saved and reborn.

If you remain in these altered states of consciousness for extended periods of time, you may experience dissociation, where you can no longer feel your authentic feelings; depersonalization, where your life no longer seems real; or de-motivation, where your personal desires no longer seem worthwhile pursuing anymore. Instead of acting on your desires, you may instead enact a prescribed lifestyle. If your authentic desires emerge, you may attempt to meditate or pray them away.

  1. Decompensation – At this stage, you experience vivid hallucinations and projection of your repressed desires as intrapsychic demons and devils, which appear to attack you. You are engaged in a pitched inner battle to overcome these resurgences of your desires, which appear to personify in the depths of your mind. It may be difficult at this stage to identify these demons and devils as your own desires, because you have disowned them. Instead, these personifications appear to be part of a universal force of evil—Kal or Satan. Some people may adopt severe austerities at this stage to attempt to suppress this evil they see within them. Some people become psychotic at this stage.
  2. Monastic surrender – You surrender your desire for wealth, sex and sensual pleasure, and to pursue your personal dreams or desires. You may take a monastic vow of poverty, chastity, and obedience. You live a life according to the dictates of the scriptures of your faith at this stage; you may belong to a monastic community. You may engage in isolation to avoid temptations; you may become a hermit or holy wanderer. You spend you day in prayer, contemplation, and meditation. In some religious communities, you may carry out service or ministry. You submit yourself to the guidance of a spiritual mentor, who gives you regular guidance and direction for what you must do.
  3. Agya – Your life, desires, mind, and will are completely surrendered to the Will Divine. You enact this Divine direction in your daily life. Those who become Gurus, Prophets, and spiritual Masters operate from this platform. When you function from this level, you allow yourself to become the instrument for Divine Light, Grace, Love, and Wisdom to express through you. This inner Divinity fully overshadows and controls your life.

You may wish to examine which of these strategies you are using to avoid fulfilling your desires; through psychotherapy and coaching you can sometimes free yourself to embrace your natural desires and let go of the self-torment of strategies two and three—fantasy and taboo.

Those of you who are trying to avoid your desires through strategy four, dissociation—and you have gotten involved in a religious or political cult—can often benefit from a structured program such as our Cult Recovery Coaching Program, which can walk you through the steps to re-own your life, your sanity, and your genuine desires.

Those of you who have moved onto the platform of decompensation—strategy five—may frankly not be reachable though psychotherapy, coaching, or spiritual intervention. If you are functioning at this level, your challenge is to determine whether you seek to dedicate your life completely to God, in which case, you may opt for the wraparound support of a monastic community, or whether you will embrace your authentic human life and its desires again, and come back down to earth.

It may be valuable to determine which of your desires could be satisfied through direct action, and which legitimately need to be deferred—or outright jettisoned; for not every desire of the human heart is noble, worthy, and good. As you reflect upon the motivational spectrum, you may wish to identify healthier ways to achieve your dreams: psychotherapy may help those of you who are deeply entangled in the throes of self-torture and self-sabotage.