Identity, Community, Purpose

By George A. Boyd ©2023

Q: How does identity affect spiritual community and the sense of purpose that informs that community?

A: A spiritual community is a collective group that that forms when people share the same state of identity. Whatever purpose or addenda they carry out may come from scriptural injunctions or commandments, or from the urging of the leaders and clergy of the spiritual group.

For example, many people who are Christian identify with the Moon Soul nucleus of identity, and they see this essence in those who are Christians. This sense of shared identity—which Hans Kohut called twinship—occurs when someone’s attention is united with a spiritual essence, and they see this same essence in other people.

As for a sense of purpose, for Christians—and this is true for other groups who proselytize for their faith or Path—they are imbued with a drive to convince other people to accept the salvation of their spiritual Master and receive the Grace of the form of the Divine they worship. The scriptural injunction in the Bible to being the gospel to everyone underpins their extensive worldwide missionary work and evangelism.<./p>

The scope of the purpose of spiritual groups varies: while religions like Christianity and Islam want to bring everyone in the world into their shared identity and worldview, other groups are willing to share their state of identification with whoever sincerely wants to join the group and be initiated—but don’t aspire to be a global faith and movement.

We can tease out two aspects of purpose in spiritual groups: extrinsic and intrinsic.

Extrinsic group purpose is the mission of the group in the world—what it strives to achieve. In different spiritual groups, this may take the form of evangelism, social service, political advocacy, fundraising, publication of group teachings and doctrine, establishment of spiritual centers and places of worship, or carrying out religious rites and ceremonies.

Intrinsic group purpose involves the development of the spiritual essence with which members of the group identify. This may express as Light attunements with this spiritual essence, use of a transformational technique to unfold it along its track to its origin, and detailing the stages of potential development of that spiritual essence within its cosmology.

The relative percentage of extrinsic and intrinsic group purpose also differs between groups: some spiritual communities may be entirely focused on their external mission in the world, whereas others emphasize spiritual development and internal transformation in those who are initiated into communion with the spiritual essence with which they identify. Many groups are an admixture of both group purposes: they have a public agenda they are enacting in the world, but they also embrace a meditation tradition that aims to develop the spiritual essence with which they identify.

We detail these different stages of identification found in different spiritual traditions in our book, Religions, Cults, and Terrorism: What the Heck Are We Doing? Articles on this topic may also be found in our web log, and in our online library. Our newest print volume, which will be released in October 2023, entitled The Path Across the Sky, has additional writings on the different types of spiritual identification.

We encourage aspirants to investigate with what spiritual essence do members of different faith or meditation communities identify, and gradually develop the ability to discern that spiritual essence when it is activated through attentional union with it. As you become more familiar with the spiritual essences that dwell within you at different levels of the Continuum of Consciousness, you will come to understand how people see the world—inner and outer—the way they do. Ultimately, you will find the spiritual communities of each faith and spiritual tradition within you, and you will behold where they colonize different bands on the Continuum.

When Projections Lead to Paranoia

By George A. Boyd ©2023

Q: Are projections linked to paranoia?

A: In some people, it appears that their projections can become linked to paranoia. Projections appear to progress through seven steps when paranoia occurs:

  1. Someone reminds you of people in your life, and you react to this person in the same way as you did towards this other person from your earlier life. In psychotherapy, this is called transference.
  2. You attribute your own emotions or motivations to others. You might accuse others of doing or feeling what you are doing or feeling. This is classical projection.
  3. You act in a way to induce the emotions or behavior in someone else you suspect they have. For example, you might believe in error someone is angry with you; but then, you do something that makes him or her generally angry with you. This is called projective identification.
  4. You begin to suspect the motives of others and you find it hard to trust them, especially if they have traumatized you or betrayed you. You may generalize this to other people, who have never harmed you—you start to believe no one can be trusted. This initial motivational mistrust is the portal to genuine paranoia.
  5. You begin to believe that others are spying on you and are attempting to trap you and imprison you. You may begin to believe at this stage that others are persecuting you. This may be a realistic belief if you have broken the law and you are the subject of an investigation. But if it has no basis in reality, it becomes a persecutory delusion.
  6. You start to obtain weapons and adopt behavior that allows you to evade the detection of those whom you believe are persecuting you, spying upon you, and trying to harm you. This comprises paranoid defensive behavior.
  7. You believe you must destroy those who you think are attacking and persecuting you. You may resort to acting out or overt violence to stop them from tormenting you further. In some cases, you might engage in litigation to make them refrain carrying out the systematic program of attempting to harm you that you wrongly perceive. In other cases, you may attempt to kill them or destroy their lives in revenge for the harm you erroneously believe they have perpetrated upon you. At this level, your paranoia becomes violent and you become dangerous to others.

Most people entertain some projections at steps one and two: Someone reminds you of your uncle and you start to relate to that person in the same way as you did with your uncle. You misread someone’s emotion from his or her facial expressions, words, and body language, as something you are actually feeling.

You start to drift towards paranoia at steps three and four: You induce the feelings you have in other people through acting towards them in certain ways that makes them express that emotion—those who employ gaslighting utilize this tactic. You begin to mistrust others based on experiences you have had that traumatized you, shamed you, or harmed you.

You move into full-blown paranoia at steps five, six, and seven: your mistrust becomes delusional, and you may attempt to defend yourself, or actively attack those who you believe are harming you.

We point out that there are certain media influencers, politicians, and clergy, who evoke your outrage and fear in an attempt to manipulate and control you. They communicate to you misinformation and conspiracy theories—and if you do not have the discernment to detect this is happening to you and to realize that the information you are receiving from them is untrue—you can be unwittingly led along the primrose path to paranoia.

Many people who now are true believers in conspiracy theories and embrace every word that comes from the mouth of the their cult leader, demagogue, or dictator were seduced and deceived at some point to believe that the lies and deception this person promulgates was the truth—a truth that ostensibly was hidden from you by those who wanted to conceal this information—and you are urged to believe that only this person is revealing the truth to you.

You can be manipulated through fear, shame, guilt, and anger that others induce in you through their lies. To avoid going down the rabbit hole of paranoia, it is important that you verify the truth of each communication you receive from a source outside the group that is disseminating these spurious ideas—for, if you check the communication of one conspiracy theorist with someone who holds the same beliefs, you are not going to gain an objective view of this subject!

You may wish to monitor what emotions the words, writing, and media presentations of others evoke in you. You can explore why this information makes you react in this way. You will also benefit from seeing if you can verify what they are saying from a source independent from those who believe in this viewpoint and who are attempting to persuade you to adopt these same beliefs.

Given the right manipulation and setting, even highly educated people can be deceived by these false messages. You need to remain vigilant and use your discernment to detect these subtle attempts to get you to believe these untruths—misleading ideas that can move you down the track to full-blown paranoia.

Those of you who are interested in learning more about conspiracy theories may enjoy our new eBook on Amazon, Conspiracy Theories: How They Distort Your Perspective and How You Can Recover from Their Thrall

Another Look at the Moral Will

By George A. Boyd ©2023

Q: I am unclear how the moral will expresses in me. Can you shed some light on this?

A: [The moral will is the octave of will that is anchored in the Moon Soul or Christ Child nucleus of identity in the first Planetary Initiation.] We can examine the places in the mind where the moral will operates, how it expresses across the Seven Rays, and its influences on your life and the larger society in which you live.

When we examine the moral will and its reflections in your inner vehicles, we can visualize its operation as a series of resonances that operate in different strata of the mind and your brain:

Brain – The moral will appears as a vortex in the Moon Soul in the First Exoteric Initiation.

Point between the eyebrows – The moral will’s first reflection may be found in the 11th nodal point of the Heavenly Realms Subplane of the Psychic Realm, where it dwells in the Lower Heavens. This urges you to live up to noble spiritual ideals and to express a saintly character.

Throat – The moral will’s second reflection resonates in the 10th nodal point of the Universal Mind Subplane, where it draws upon the Law of Divine Power to anchor affirmations that support good behavior and acts of kindness and charity.

Heart – The moral will’s third reflection is anchored in the point between the eyebrows center of your form on the highest Subplane of the Biophysical Universe, in the Planes of Etheria. This sets up the resonance for harmonious living and right activity in human life and in the family.

Solar Plexus – The moral will’s fourth reflection is established in the 10th nodal point of the Subtle Mental Subplane in the Middle Subtle Realm. This brings the revelation of scriptural truths and Divine commandments that enjoin ethical behavior.

Navel – The moral will’s fifth reflection operates in the Subtle Causal Body in the Lower Subtle Realm. This brings the blessings of a saintly character.

Base of the spine – The moral will’s sixth reflection activates the solar plexus center in the vehicle of the Conscience of the Metaconscious mind, where it sets up the rules for self-discipline, promotes self-restraint, and exhorts renunciation of sensual pleasures and carnal habits.

Feet – The moral will’s seventh reflection acts to mobilize inhibitory neural pathways that suppress certain behavior. This stops you from acting in certain ways.

When the moral will is activated, we see that it can be detected at each of these levels. When the moral will’s activity is viewed across the Seven Rays, it is perceived differently:

First Ray – This conveys Divine direction through commandment or prophesies. It directs you to act in obedience to God.

Second Ray – This grants understanding as to why you should follow the commandments of God. It gives you a reason why you should follow what the Divine tells you what you to do.

Third Ray – This provides knowledge of the consequences of evil actions and good actions. The moral will gives you the injunction to follow the Path of righteousness and goodness.

Fourth Ray – This brings a feeling of peace; you feel Divine Grace is touching you. This indicates you are living in harmony with the inner direction of the Divine.

Fifth Ray – This guides your Conscience to exact observance of Divine commandments, which leads you to be scrupulous and conscientious, and to carry pit introspection into your motives, so you can live with a “pure heart.”

Sixth Ray – This inspires the fear of God. It insists you abandon rebellion against God and to be obedient to God’s will.

Seventh Ray – This establishes habits and rituals to carry out Divine commandments and principles of righteous living. For example, this might encourage you to do daily prayers, engage in scriptural study, attend religious services, and to inner purification to live in accordance with the inner direction coming from the moral will.

You may experience the moral will through one or more of these its expressions. As you understand these different ways the moral will expresses, you will come to recognize when it is operating.

The moral will operates in progressively broader scopes of activity:

Individual behavior – You choose to follow the direction of the moral will.

Family – You or another family member hold other family members to live up to the ideals of spiritual living, as the whispering of the moral will directs.

Social group – You and members of a friendship group or club to which you belong hold each other accountable to follow rules and principles of ethical behavior.

Company – The leader of a company or a manager brings spiritual values into the policies that employees are expected to follow. Management holds employees to these standards.

Community – City council members and those who sit on country boards of directors bring their values into play to shape board decisions as to what is enacted and funded.

State – State legislators and the governor of the state use the moral will to guide the development of state laws that affect the citizens of the state.

Nation – Members of congress and the senate, together with the president and his cabinet, frame national policy and legislation according to the principles of the moral will that guide them.

People who express the moral will not only utilize it to guide their own lives, but they also bring it into expression in larger social circles, where their values influence and affect the lives of others.

We encourage you to study the moral will through these three perspectives. This may help you better grasp how it operates within you and affects the world around you.

Effects of Identification

Effects of Identification on Behavioral, Affective, and Cognitive Functioning

By George A. Boyd © 2023

Q: I’ve noticed that my Christian friends seem to identify with something different than I do. What is going on here?

A: We need to consider the impacts of attentional focus and identification on different parameters of personality functioning:

Focus of attention – focusing attention for sustained periods on a spiritual essence ultimately leads to the state of identification with that essence.

Choices – a spiritual teacher or clergy of one’s faith may encourage or command that one make certain approved choices.

Values – one may incorporate the moral values transmitted through the teachings of a spiritual Path or from the scriptures and religious discourses of a religion that cultivates identification with this essence.

Beliefs – one learns a variety of beliefs from the teachings of their Path or their religion that supports their identification with the spiritual essence.

Emotions – based on the beliefs of the Path or religion, one may experience a variety of emotions. These emotions can be negative, such as guilt, fear, shame, anger, or paranoia; these emotions can be positive, like love, compassion, forgiveness, peace, or joy.

Perception – one sees the world and other people from a different perspective in each identity state.

Behavior – the choices, values, and beliefs one learns in this Path or religion directly influences ones behavior and relationships with others.

The essence with which one identifies varies between different spiritual traditions. For example:

  • Identification with the Moon Soul nucleus of identity characterizes Jewish and Christian spirituality in the First Planetary Initiation.
  • Identification with the Solar Angel nucleus of identity is found among those who follow the “I AM Movement” groups of the Second Planetary Initiation
  • Those who study with Yogi Preceptors of the First Cosmic Initiation adopt identification with the Cosmic Consciousness nucleus of identity.
  • Those who study with the Movement of Inner Spiritual Awareness (MSIA) cultivate identification with the Cosmic Soul Awareness nucleus of identity.
  • My first spiritual teacher, Maha Genii Turriziani, who founded the Risen Christ Ashram Foundation, led his disciples to identify with the Astral Soul ensouling entity of the Cosmic Sphere.
  • Many world religions—such as Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Sikh, Jain, and Zoroastrian—teach their followers to identify with the Supracosmic seed atom on a Supracosmic Path.
  • Sat Gurus of the Paths of the Transcendental Sphere train their disciples to identify with the spirit upon a Transcendental Path.

We invite you to inquire into how identity states work. You can use questions like these to explore these alternate identity states in yourself and in others:

  • With what spiritual essence do you identify with in your faith or on your spiritual Path?
  • How is this identity state different that what people identify with in other faiths or spiritual Paths?
  • Upon what essence do you focus your attention?
  • How does this influence the choices you make?
  • How does this identification shape your values and the moral code that guides your behavior?
  • How does it affect your character?
  • What beliefs did you learn from this faith or spiritual Path?
  • When you study the teachings of the faith or spiritual Path and practice them, what emotions do these teachings draw out in you? Are these positive emotions like love and compassion? Are they negative emotions like paranoia and mistrust, or grandiosity—feeling you are superior to others? Are you taught to detach and dissociate from your feelings, and to regard your life and personality as unreal or a hindrance to your spiritual development?
  • How does holding your attention in this identity state change your perception of your life and personality, other people, and the world? What cosmology and archetypes do you encounter when you enter into union and identification with this identity state?
  • What actions spring from the beliefs, values, and choices you have learned and incorporated from this faith or spiritual group?

Doing this contemplation may help you better understand those who belong to other religions or spiritual Paths.

The sustained focus of attention upon a spiritual essence leads to identification with that essence. Your experience of this spiritual essence can be that it is:

  • Static and unchanging
  • The essence transforms towards an inner spiritual horizon
  • Upon liberation of the essence, after completing your journey of transformation, you spontaneously re-identify with a new spiritual essence.

In Mudrashram®, we teach our students to identify with their cutting edge ensouling entity, their spirit, and their attentional principle. As Mudrashram® students evolve spiritually, the spirit and the ensouling entity with which they identify shifts, as they move into each new spiritual stage.

Those that wish to awaken their cutting edge ensouling entity, their spirit, and their attentional principle—and transform through each stage of their spiritual evolutionary plan—can learn how to do this in our intermediate meditation classes, the in-person Mudrashram® Master Course in Meditation and the by-mail and online Accelerated Meditation Program.

Can a Woman Become a Pastor?

By George A. Boyd ©2023

Q: I was reading about how the Baptist convention censored Saddleback Church for ordaining a woman as a pastor. Is there some reason that a woman could not perform that role in the Church?

A: This is an instance of “is a penis required for this?” principle. A woman has the exact same chakra system as a man, and can perform exactly the same functions as a man. We refer you to our article in our online Library, “Introducing the Chakra Model” to learn more about this system of chakras of the Subconscious mind. [If you don’t have access to our free online Library of some of our additional articles, you can go here to sign up. Some of our most popular articles, we have placed on our Open Stacks page, and we are adding new articles weekly to our weblog.]

Let’s summarize our chakra model. The eight chakras of the Subconscious mind and their key aspects are listed below:

  1. Base of the spine – survival, health, orientation to the external world
  2. Navel – sexuality and parenting
  3. Solar plexus – education and career
  4. Heart – altruism, service to others, expression of love and compassion in action
  5. Throat – creativity, expression of the Soul’s gifts
  6. Point between the eyebrows – intuitive connection with the Soul, attunement and ministry
  7. Brain – gaining wisdom from experience, learning the lessons of life
  8. Transcerebral – experience of the Soul on its own Plane, mystic union, enlightenment, Gnosis

As a woman or man grows personally and evolves spiritually, she or he progressively activates each of these chakras in turn. As the Soul moves through the Subtle and Planetary bands of the Continuum, its development is mirrored in the chakras of the Subconscious mind—the petals of this system of chakras awaken and she or he gains the ability to utilize powers from selected petals of the chakras that have been opened. [You might not use the abilities of every petal of for each of the chakras; you will only actualize the ones that are germane to your Soul’s expressed purpose—the aspect of your Soul’s purpose that it manifests in your current human life.]

Either a man or woman can:

  • Take care of survival needs
  • Experience sexuality and participate in parenting
  • Become educated and pursue a career
  • Perform service and charity to support his or her chosen community
  • Express creativity and the gifts of the Soul
  • Meditate and commune with the Soul
  • Gain wisdom from experience
  • Know the Soul directly

In patriarchal societies, women are permitted to only operate through the first and second chakras. This effectively stunts a woman’s personal and spiritual growth.

In Mudrashram®, we recognize that a woman’s birthright is to fully actualize her full personal and spiritual potential. In this perspective, there is nothing to preclude a woman from performing a leadership role in her religious organization, from expressing her creativity, from having a rich spiritual life, and from gaining wisdom and enlightenment.

If we examine the ministerial roles that someone—who has evolved to the top of the First Exoteric Initiation—can adopt across the Seven Rays, we find the following types:

First Ray – The Prophet is someone who channels Divine guidance and inspiration.

Second Ray – The Teacher is someone one who elucidates the scriptures and gives guidelines for moral and upright living.

Third Ray – The Apostle is someone who founds churches and spiritual centers, and brings new followers into the church through evangelism.

Fourth Ray – The Healer is someone who uses the Light of the Holy Spirit to promote physical and emotional healing.

Fifth Ray – The Pastor is someone who adopts a leadership role in the church; ensures that there are regular services; that the needs of the faith community are met; that sufficient donations are received to fulfill the church’s mission; and that there is an organizational plan to fulfill the mission of the church— and may deliver prophecy, teach, evangelize, heal, minister, or carry out the priestly role to administer the sacraments, as the pastor has been given these additional gifts.

Sixth Ray – The Minister is someone who prays to God and invokes the Holy Spirit to minister to members attending church services.

Seventh Ray – The Priest is someone who administers the sacraments of the church and performs prayer, rites and rituals on behalf of the congregation, and for the betterment of the community, the nation, and the world.

A woman can do all of these things: a penis is not required for this!