What Is Synthesis and Why Is It Important?

By George A. Boyd © 2022

Q: What is synthesis? You mention a Synthesis Center during the Light Sitting, but I’m not sure what synthesis is and why this is important.

A: Synthesis occurs at different levels of the mind:

  1. In the physical body, a metaphor for synthesis is the state of homeostasis, where the body creates the optimal balance between acid and alkaline blood chemistry.
  2. In the mental center of the Conscious mind, synthesis appears as the common area of two overlapping shapes in a Venn diagram.
  3. In the intellect, synthesis is the resolution of an argument in a common point of agreement that transcends, yet includes, the viewpoints of both opinions.
  4. In the Temple of Philosophy on the Abstract Mind Plane, synthesis is the next stage of thesis and antithesis, in which the apparent conflict of these two opposite positions is harmonized.
  5. In the Psychic Realm, synthesis reveals the nature of the Soul above the conscious zone of the mind and the unconscious zone of the mind, as the transcendent essence that reconciles both polarities.
  6. On the Wisdom Plane, synthesis occurs as an emergence phenomenon that reveals a new level beyond a current condition and the forces that hold you in dynamic stasis in that condition. Synthesis in this context occurs when you move to the next level that you cannot truly grasp when you are in the container of the level before it.
  7. In the First Planetary Initiation, synthesis takes the form of rebirth as the Moon Soul nucleus of identity, which the Holy Spirit awakens through Grace. This is the holy essence that transcends both virtuous and sinful actions.
  8. At the entrance to the Second Planetary Initiation, synthesis emerges as the powerful creative vortex of the Mighty I AM Presence, which appears as a third transcendent force that resolves the conflict between conscious volition and the unconscious motivation that opposes it: this inner Divine command breaks this impasse between these levels of the mind and clears the way to move forward.
  9. In the Greater Mystery School Subplane of the Second Planetary Initiation, synthesis is shown to be the activity of the Fourth Ray, which harmonizes the pairs of opposites.
  10. In the vehicle of the Manasic Vortex in the Third Planetary Initiation, synthesis exists as an inner center in which each octave of the mind is actively aligned with the Soul’s purpose, turning the personality and the higher vehicles of consciousness of the Superconscious mind into an instrument of the Soul.
  11. In the Buddhic vehicle of the Fourth Planetary Initiation, the downpour of the Illumined Mind purifies the mind, brings about mental healing and harmony, and re-establishes the attention in union with the Soul again—transcending the sense of separation.
  12. On the Monadic Plane, upon liberation of the Soul in the Nirvanic Flame, the Monad appears as the reunifying essence transcending both the Soul and the portions of the mind it has turned into light and the darkness of the karmic accretions of the unconscious mind.

When the mind is in conflict and turmoil, this hinders making decisions, generating forward movement in life, and allowing clear expression of the Soul’s gifts. Synthesis resolves this conflict, and allows physical and psychological tension to relax—freeing up energy for constructive use.

Whether this conflict arises as arguments in intimate interpersonal relationships, discord at work, disagreement in the political area, or a clash between nations, synthesis is a way forward beyond the deadlock. Learning how to achieve synthesis is the goal of mediation and its efforts to reach conflict resolution.

We teach the Synthesis technique as a supplemental exercise for our Intermediate meditation classes—the in-person Mudrashram® Master Course in Meditation and the by-mail and online Accelerated Meditation Program. We encourage you to find the key to produce synthesis to resolve internal and external stress in your life, and make progress, both personally and spiritually.

Finding Core Motivation

By George A. Boyd © 2022

Q: I find that I seem to have lost my passion. How do I motivate myself?

A: It is important for you to find your core motivation. There are several levels of motivation that drive people. These include:

  1. Addiction and compulsion – these patterns of craving and obsession well up out of the unconscious mind. Those under the spell of these powerful mental forces often feel they are not in control of their behavior, when these patterns stir into activity.
  2. Manipulation – other people activate emotional patterns of rage, fear, and horror in people, and then, tell them what to do. People that are manipulated in this fashion can be programmed what to buy, who to vote for, who to love and who to hate. Those under the thrall of conspiracy theories, hate groups, and religious and political cults act under this motivation that misinformation, lies, and the malicious persuasion of others instills in them.
  3. Excitement and passion – This arises when you sense there is an opportunity to attain your desires and to realize your dreams. Many salespeople promise that their product or service will fulfill these desires, and it produces hope and optimism. When these dreams are not fulfilled, however, your passion may give rise to apathy and your excitement to depression.
  4. Inspiration and revelation – Those who have opened portals into the Psychic Realm may receive inspiration and revelation from a spiritual guide. Some feel motivated to embark on the spiritual path and bring out their Soul’s potentials listening to these messages—unfortunately, these messages can also convey false information, which can lead to delusions.
  5. Holy guidance – those who commune with the Holy Spirit and are able to listen to its whispering within the altar of the heart in the Moon Soul can be guided to carry out activities of charity, compassion, and service—but, this moral octave of volition can be shaped and conditioned through sermons of clergy with devious agendas, who can effectively take control of people’s lives to serve a religious group or its leader.
  6. Soul Purpose – those who can connect directly with the Soul can intuit the activities that carry forward the Soul’s Purpose, and they carry them out. Unlike levels (2) through (5), this form of guidance is mental, not emotional, and is task and goal oriented. When this form of motivation becomes the dominant force in your life, your transpersonal will of the Soul starts to overshadow your personal will, and guides you to carry out actions that develop your skills, that give you the necessary experience, and enable your Soul to express its purpose in your human life.
  7. Divine Will – Those who ascend to the heights of spiritual Mastery at different octaves of the Great Continuum of Consciousness receive the anointing of the Divine, and are directly shown the spiritual service and ministry they must carry out. When advanced disciples surrender to their spiritual Master and receive his or her direction (Agya), the Master conveys the Divine Will to them.

Many people experience the emotional roller coaster of levels (2) through (5). When the tranquil guidance of the Soul’s Purpose at level (6) begins to operate, it may feel strange at first, because it doesn’t stir your emotions and passions. The challenge of aspirants and disciples is to cut through these emotionalized layers of the mind and to contact the clear mental and intuitive streams coming from the Soul.

Greater serenity and a clear sense of direction is the by-product of following the Soul’s guidance. While you will still continue to react emotionally to the events of your life and in your social and community environment, and the struggles and lessons that arise when you follow your Soul’s direction, you will have a greater willingness to face these issues and obstacles and press to overcome them.

Those who are dealing with the addictions and compulsive drives of level (1) will need to find the necessary support and guidance to help them recover from these destructive patterns. Some may find our Addiction Recovery Coaching Program can help them understand, sublimate, and uproot these negative mental tendencies.

Methods of Jnana Yoga, which we teach in our intermediate meditation classes—the in-person Mudrashram® Master Course in Meditation and the by-mail and online Accelerated Meditation Program—teach you how to tune into your Soul’s guidance.

Much of the turmoil that you experience in your life comes from tapping these emotionalized layers of motivation—with their inevitable highs and lows… ups and downs… wins and losses. When the still, small voice within can cut through this mental cacophony, you can begin to find your way amidst a thousand siren voices that seek to lead you away from what you were born to do.

Working with the Challenges of a Confused Mind

By George A. Boyd © 2021

There are many people who are confused today. They are under the thrall of conspiracy theories and false beliefs, filled with fear or hate, or give their devotion and dedication to someone who perverts it. We quote from one of our articles, “The 49 Archetypes of Disciples and Aspirants”:

“Some of the greatest challenges of modern civilization are dealing with the excesses of [these four stations of confused mental operation], in which malevolent agendas pervert reason, motivation, and values of those unlucky enough to be caught up in their nets of delusion…”

These four stations are:

Deluded Believer – This individual embraces conspiracy theories; false information clouds his or her judgment.

Terrified One – This individual is absorbed in doomsday or apocalyptic scenarios; he or she attempts to find a way to survive the impeding calamity. He or she may harbor paranoid beliefs.

Deluded Devotee – This individual worships a cult leader or demagogue. He or she allows this cult leader or demagogue to shape his or her beliefs, values, behavior, and choices.

Hate-filled One – This individual embraces a hate group or terrorist group. He or she seeks to eliminate those who are of other religions, races, ethnic groups, or cultures.

“People who are caught up in these mindsets of delusion may truly believe that they have discovered the truth. When challenged, they will tenaciously defend their beliefs and their leaders who disseminate these warped visions of reality.
For this reason, it is difficult to break people free from the thrall of these enveloping bubbles of belief to get them back into touch with their humanity and innate spirituality—to enable them to extricate their Self and their Soul from the illusions in which they are immersed…

We have treated the methods by which these delusional beliefs can be deconstructed in our article, “Getting Untangled from Delusional Beliefs,” which is our blog post for July 19. 2019. You may wish to read the entire article for an overview of this topic.

Those who want to go into these topics of belief construction and deconstruction in religion, cults, and terrorist groups more deeply may wish to acquire our book, Religions, Cults, and Terrorism: What the Heck Are We Doing? You may also enjoy our public webinar series on Cults and on Judeo-Christian religion, where we explore some of these topics in greater depth.

We will excerpt from this article to detail specific strategies how people can extract themselves from these delusional mindsets:

“You unravel these knots of belief through applying strategies that deconstruct them. These methods include:”

  1. Be willing to experience the world as it is without the filter of beliefs, metaphors, or symbols. The practice of mindfulness, being present and aware, helps you do this.
  2. Accept that people hold many alternative perceptions of reality. Seek to understand why they view the world differently. Studying the different strata of the Great Continuum of Consciousness and finding the different identity states that people embrace will assist you to understand this phenomenon.
  3. Take ownership of your projections. Notice if you are using symbols or events to project your desires on other people or the world. Tools such as process meditation and the Mandala Method help you trace your beliefs back to their origin, which gives you the option to re-own them and modify them.
  4. Use contradictory or conflicting evidence to arrive at a greater truth, a more complete theory that includes other viewpoints. If you hold truths hypothetically until you can fully confirm them, you will avoid the trap of tenaciously holding erroneous beliefs. Be willing to question what you believe as you gain new evidence. The Synthesis Method is a valuable tool for resolving conflicts between beliefs—it allows you to find a higher standpoint that allows you to integrate both perspectives.
  5. Dissolve your bubble of belief through experiencing your intentional consciousness (attentional principle), your loving heart (spirit), and your transcendent being (Soul) directly. Experience your body, your vehicles of consciousness and the levels of your mind directly, and relate to the world and other people from your authentic spirituality.
  6. Seek empathy, understanding, and compassion for your Self and others. Cultivate humility and recognize you do not have all the answers—you continue to learn and grow. Also allow others to discover their own truths. Don’t impose your beliefs and values on others. Share your discoveries in consciousness if they ask you about them.
  7. Take ownership of how you persecute and harm others and stop doing this. Take responsibility for your own actions, words, and thoughts. Stop blaming others for your shortcomings and failures; strive to improve yourself. Deconstruct the mindset that makes you believe you are under attack: embrace the beauty, harmony, and perfection of the universe as it is.

“We suspect that if those who hold these rigid belief systems of apocalypse, hatred, and conspiracy would utilize these steps, much of the political and religious strife in the world could be dissolved. We are not holding our breath that this will happen any time soon; but employing methods like this to deconstruct these mindsets would relieve a lot of the turmoil in our world today.”

“We teach methods one through five in our intermediate meditation classes, the in-person Mudrashram® Master Course in Meditation and the by-mail and online Accelerated Meditation Program.”

The inner scaffolding of these four types of the confused mind is constructed of a network of beliefs—beliefs that influence people’s choices, values, emotions, and behavior. It is possible for people to change these beliefs and extricate themselves from the hypnotic spell that these distorted doctrines and perverted ideologies cast upon their minds and their lives.

Those of you, who have gotten out of these life-consuming mindsets, but have lingering issues from your involvement in these groups and movements, may benefit from our Cult Recovery Coaching Program.

Moving from Self to Soul

Moving from Self-Polarization to Soul Awareness

By George A. Boyd © 2022

Q: I’ve been able to experience my Self and I have a reasonably good grasp of functioning from this level, but I am having difficulty lifting up into Soul awareness. How do I make this next step?

A: First, you have to engage the connection of the Self with the Soul through the inner portals:

  1. You shift from using your will to get things done to the passive reception of guidance for action from the Soul, using reflective or receptive forms of meditation.
  2. You move from empathic and caring engagement with other people via inner withdrawal. You invoke the Soul’s unconditional love, and receive that love as an emotional healing Attunement.
  3. You change from applying your intellect to solve problems to establish a dialog with the Soul and listen to the downpour of its intuitive wisdom.
  4. You transfer the focus of your attention from union with the Voidness of Being with heightened aliveness of your senses to union with the Soul through Pratyahara and Laya, riding up the inner sensory channels into the presence of the Soul.
  5. You transition from active learning, study, and remembering information to contemplation of the vehicles of consciousness of the personality and the Superconscious mind, up to the presence of the Soul.
  6. You lift out of the mode of personal discipline, conscientiousness, living up to your values and striving to live with integrity to remembrance of the Soul and God, using prayer, chanting, and worship. In this passive mode you invite in the gifts of the Soul or the anointing of the Holy Spirit to express through you.
  7. You change over from the mode of enacting your dreams and goals to turning off the vehicles of the personality and the Superconscious mind and awakening the Kundalini Shakti into the presence of the Soul and entering Samadhi.

Aligning with the Soul and expressing it appears to pass through several steps. Some people will move through these steps progressively, one-after-another; others will be drawn to specific steps and directly begin to function from this level.

These steps are:

  1. You maintain receptivity and openness to spiritual experiences. A series of coincidences, signs, or serendipitous encounters guide you to explore choices that you would not have considered when you operated in rational and linear context of the Self.
  2. The still small voice or voice of intuition gives you clear guidance for action. It may also warn you against taking certain actions.
  3. You begin to travel as your attentional principle with attention conjoined into the Subtle Realm beyond the Self. Here you behold the archetypes and myths of this realm.
  4. You engage with the vehicles of consciousness of the Probationary Path—the Biophysical Universe, the Abstract Mind Plane, the Psychic Realm, and the Wisdom Plane—and express the Soul’s abilities and wisdom from these levels of the Superconscious mind.
  5. You interface with your Moon Soul nucleus of identity and commune with the Father God, the Christ, the saints, and the Holy Spirit. You may use prayer and supplication to direct the Light of the Holy Spirit to heal and minister to your own needs and the needs of others.
  6. You gain union with the Mighty I AM Presence and speak the Word of Power as a decree. You use this power within you to change negative conditions into positive ones, and to effect personal transformation and character reformation.
  7. You connect with your Manasic Vortex center and you get direct guidance from your Soul, your Monad, your Supervising Initiate, and you have direct prehension of the Soul’s purpose.
  8. You gain union with the Soul in its essential nature. You witness it expressing its abilities in the Superconscious mind and channeling its love, wisdom, and ability through your personality.

Direct meditation on your Manasic Vortex center, your Crown of Purpose [if you have one], and your Soul’s essential vehicle will speed the rate of integration of the Soul’s experience and expression. We teach methods to meditate directly upon the Soul in our intermediate courses, the in-person Mudrashram® Master Course in Meditation and the by-mail and online Accelerated Meditation Program.

Roberto Assagioli, an Italian psychotherapist, referred to this opening of awareness to encompass the Soul and to allow its expression, as spiritual Psychosynthesis. To promote this higher order integration, you need to cultivate conscious communion with the Soul, until it clearly emerges and begins to overshadow the personality, and guide it to carry out the Soul’s purpose—and make the personality into an instrument for the Soul’s creativity and gifts.

Shifting from Ego to Self

Transition for Ego-Polarized Identification to Self-Empowerment

By George A. Boyd © 2022

Q: Many people are trapped in their ego. Can they rise above this?

A: You can pursue rising above the ego through several strategies:

  1. Discipline – Using your volition to control your speech and behavior. Overruling the rebellious ego through command and clear direction. Military drill instructors, “boot camp” training, and Reality Therapy adopt this approach.
  2. Empathy and understanding – You reflect back emotions and meaning to the ego. It feels understood and known, and lets go of its rebellion and resistance. After this is repeated over a period of time, it uncovers the Self and its ability to take responsibility and initiate change. Humanistic and Existential therapy employ this method.
  3. Working a program of recovery and reform – In this strategy, you implement a structured program with the ego designed to bring about belief and behavior change. This is utilized in recovery programs modeled on Alcoholics Anonymous. Our structured Dysfunctional Family, Cult, and Addiction Recovery Coaching Programs utilize this methodical, step-by-step format.
  4. Present time process – This type of meditation cultivates Mindfulness or attentional clarity and presence. Once mindfulness has been achieved, the meditator moves on to Vipassana, where attention is held one-pointedly on the present time experience of movement, sensation, deep body awareness, emotions, thoughts, and “I am statements” of the ego. This deep processing leads to a breakthrough experience where attention is lifted out of ego-polarization and discovers the Self and the Voidness of Being.
  5. Analysis of experience – This traces emotions, attitudes, and beliefs back to their origin and uncovers the place where you can make a new choices—about new behavior, values, and reactions to experience—and no longer be frozen in old patterns. Rational emotive behavior therapy, Psychoanalytic therapies, and Process Meditation work to uncover the emotional and cognitive impressions that lock you into egoic identification.
  6. Self-transcendence – This seeks to access a state of consciousness transcendent to the ego. Faith in God, prayer, and meditation are methods that characterize this way of attempting to rise above the ego. Some groups that use these techniques aim to establish identification with an essence in the Superconscious mind—a nucleus of identity, spirit, or ensouling entity—and to detach entirely from the experience of the ego.
  7. Perceptual change – This approach sees the ego inhabiting a series of perceptual platforms, or mindsets, in which the ego holds certain beliefs about the world. When you can extricate your attention from these mindsets, it can shift into operating from the standpoint of the Self, in which you can directly make new choices to change your situation. Coaching commonly applies this perspective to work with individuals, who are seeking to improve their lives.

Narcissism

Narcissism is absorption in the ego. It is immersion in the ego’s desires. It commonly takes the form of a warped attempt to meet survival, safety, love and belongingness, and esteem needs. When you are in this narcissistic frame of reference, you have difficulty recognizing the needs and viewpoints of others, and block any attempt at communication or persuasion that doesn’t conform to your own desires or viewpoint. You may project your own emotions and desires on others, and falsely attribute your own motivations to them.

Some of the core mindsets of narcissism include:

  1. The world and other people only exist to fulfill my desires.
  2. Others must love me and take care of me because I’m special and precious.
  3. Anyone who disagrees with me is evil, deluded, and has no right to exist.
  4. The world and other people are dangerous are evil and dangerous, so I must have weapons to defend myself. If they harm me in any way, I am entitled to destroy them.
  5. Those that support me and are loyal to me receive my support and approval. Those that oppose me are evil, deluded, and have no right to exist, and I will utterly destroy them.
  6. I know better than anyone else. I am a genius, gifted, and highly intelligent. People should only listen to me, because I alone possess the truth and answer to any problem. I am always right and infallible.
  7. Since I am smarter than anyone else, I alone can be entrusted with power. When I am endowed with the power I richly deserve, those who support me will be rewarded; those that oppose me will be punished, imprisoned, or utterly destroyed.
  8. No one is greater than me: all must worship me and faithfully obey my every wish.

On the other side of these layers of narcissistic mindsets, is the breakthrough point. At this deep place in the mind, you transcend the ego. You realize, “I am nothing before Almighty God.” This is a place where you experience complete surrender and self-effacement before God: genuine spirituality becomes possible when you reach this stage of inner realization.

Genuine spirituality does not serve the desires of the ego: it seeks to love, to serve, to heal, to inspire, to uplift, and to empower others to achieve actualization of their personal and spiritual potentials. Once you have transcended these egoic mindsets, you can begin to counter these false narcissistic beliefs. You realize:

  1. The universe and other people do not exist to fulfill your desires. You need to take constructive, intelligent action and get what you desire yourself.
  2. Other people will not necessarily love you and take care of you. You need to love, care for, and nurture yourself.
  3. People have their own perspective and they won’t necessarily agree with you. They have the right to their opinion; you have the right to yours. You acknowledge that as they learn new things and you learn new things, these opinions may change.
  4. There is evil and danger in the world. You need to use good judgment and prudence to avoid getting into situations where you are at risk of fraud, theft, kidnap, rape, or other bodily harm. A protective weapon might be required in your situation, but for most people, this is not required—and many people have no wish to harm you in any way.
  5. Not everyone has to like you or be loyal to you. You can aim to build relationships with a few people of good character and integrity to be your friends and loved ones, and they will provide love and support in your life. Not everyone will be your friend.
  6. You can become knowledgeable about the subjects you study and more proficient at the skills you practice. You don’t know everything. There are many skills at which you are not proficient. In some areas, you may be able to advise, guide and teach others. In other areas, you look to others for advice, guidance, education, and training in their areas of greater expertise.
  7. You have discovered some principles that you recognize as true, but they may not be truths that others can recognize or apply. You don’t have all the answers; you have found the solutions to some problems. You make mistakes. You are by no means, always right or infallible.
  8. Misusing power can intimidate, imprison, or destroy others; rightly used it can uplift and empower others. Wisdom needs to guide the use of power; love and compassion need to temper it. In roles where you are granted leadership over others, it is your duty to serve others and ensure they are treated with dignity, fairness, and justice. You need to hear their concerns, and when it is possible, find solutions for them. You need to promote their education, skill building, employment, and personal actualization.
  9. While each human being has an atom of the Divine within their Soul, he or she is not the Universal Creator. You have an atom of Divinity within, but so does everyone else. You can honor the Divinity within yourself and others, and treat each other with dignity, respect, and love.

The shift from narcissism to self-empowerment looks like:

  • You move from a sense of entitlement to self-empowerment, where you take constructive action to get what you need and want.
  • You get beyond absorption in narcissistic, egoic love and are able to provide self-care and self-love, and are able to love and care for others.
  • You rise above arrogance to have respect for a diversity of options, values, and points of view.
  • You pass through the frightening corridors of paranoia to a realistic appraisal of the world and assessment of danger and risk. You gain the courage to face life in spite of its uncertainty.
  • You jettison your demand for unflagging loyalty and focus instead on living up to your own standards of integrity, and surround yourself with those who demonstrate integrity, trustworthiness, and honor.
  • You let go of your delusional omniscience in which you believe you know it all and make a realistic appraisal of your knowledge and skills, and your strengths and weaknesses. You have a willingness to learn new things.
  • You overcome your urge to control others and use your power to make them obey you and embrace responsibility, duty, and service to others.
  • You abandon your illusions of false omnipotence and demand to be worshipped and feel genuine humility and gratitude.

It is possible to disassemble the network of beliefs that hold these ego-polarized mindsets in place, and shift into the intelligent and empowered perspective of the Self.

In the Mudrashram® system of Integral meditation, we teach a variety of methods in our intermediate classes—the in-person Mudrashram® Master Course in Meditation and the by-mail and online Accelerated Meditation Program—to help you make this shift form narcissistic, ego polarization to the perspective of the Self. For example:

  • We train you in Centering Techniques (strategy six) to help you recognize and operate from the Self.
  • We teach you methods to work with your Subconscious mind to work with entrenched beliefs and mindsets (strategies five and seven).
  • We show you how to achieve mindfulness and practice Vipassana that enable you to break through into the awareness of your Self and the Voidness of Being (strategy four).

Many people resist correction and change, which only entrenches them more tenaciously in their egoic perspective. It is when the holes begin to appear in their defensive armoring that they can admit they need help, and can begin to adopt modalities or programs that can help them change.

For those who want to change their lives, we offer a structured Life Coaching program (strategy three) to assist them progressively shift into the perspective of the Self and employ its faculties to improve their character and the quality of their lives.

We encourage you to dispassionately examine your own tendencies to narcissism and ego polarization and identify strategies that work for you to rise above these regressive and negative patterns, so you can begin to actualize your personal potentials and express the Soul’s purpose in your life.