Q: Why do people of various spiritual schools of thought describe different realms in which they travel? Why aren’t they all going to the same place? I’m thinking of the differences between Theosophists, Spiritualists, Shamans, Sorcerers, and so on.
All of those worlds various people describe exist for those people. Many dimensional states exist in which one can travel and experience a spiritual reality. Just as there are many countries to which you could travel to in your world and have different cultural experiences. One cultural experience does not negate another. They are just different. Where these teachings may be misleading is if one were to believe they were a complete description of the All-That-Is. They may be an accurate description of one individual’s or many individuals’ journeys, but they would not be an accurate description for all. This is because each individual’s vibrational rate determines whether they may or may not be able to enter that particular world.
Descriptions of these realms are all a kind of window dressing, just as the existence you currently occupy is window dressing—not really a complete reflection of the soul, merely hinting at the soul and what’s beyond. There is a commonality in all, which is of good and evil, but there’s not much else in common.
Q: Why is the common thread good and evil?
Whether you use other names, which remove the emotional charge and the value judgment, we are still talking about the positive and negative energies. This is the common thread because positive/negative, good/evil, whatever description you choose to call it, is necessary for the All-That-Is to evolve. Energy must be created into form. Form must be destroyed so it can release its energy, and so on.
Q: Are fables or stories of spiritual realms helpful in connecting people with their spiritual selves, or are they more escapist?
It depends on the clarity and consciousness of the individual. If the individual has accomplished a certain self-awareness, then it’s helpful. But if self-awareness is not present, it can be a form of avoidance of deeper issues and escapism. Different vibrational rates travel along different spiritual paths. This is why it’s important for each person to seek out their own path, rather than just join someone else’s bandwagon where they may or may not be lucky in getting on the path that’s traveling at their vibrational rate. It’s important for each person to feel his or her own way along these spiritual threads to the universe.
Q: How does someone feel these different threads? How do you know which ones to try?
Yours will resonate with you. For instance, it might be impossible for you to invest yourself in any spirituality, philosophy, or religion that places a great emphasis on traditional concepts of good and evil. Each knows within themselves what feels right, because it makes them feel clearer, stronger, more intuitively and spiritually connected. If it doesn’t, then it’s not the right path for you.
Q: Is the Harry Potter story popular because people are interested in the good and evil story?
No. People are interested in the magical world, and supernatural powers. Children like to fantasize about being powerful and having magical, wishful thinking become reality, as Harry does. The resonance is not to good and evil, but to the magicalness of life that people wish was there and sense somehow could be, should be there, but don’t know how to experience it on their own.
Q: Of course, there’s a difference between magical thinking and spiritual thinking.
Magical thinking is the forerunner of spiritual thinking. Magical thinking is the immature understanding of spiritual laws. But it is what often entices people to begin down the road of true spiritual thinking. It is a stage that most people need to go through. It is the allure that brings them to the beginning of their true search.
Q: How does one move from magical thinking to become more of a spiritual thinker?
The beginning path is all about gaining power. The power to know about others or the future, the power to control your own or someone else’s mind, the power to influence nature. Eventually, one realizes that there is really no meaning in any of that. It’s a kind of trap. Still, the draw to intuition represents a point of no return on the spiritual journey. Once one has reached that point, one can never go back. The only way out is to grow through intuition and use it for clarity until one comes to spiritual beingness, where it is ultimately about powerlessness. When one reaches that stage, one realizes that power falls on the side of destructive energy. Spiritual growth is on the side of creative energy. In spiritual clarity, one wants nothing to do with power. One wishes to simply exist and experience the All-That-Is. Once one reaches that stage, the motivation for power is gone, because the thing that craves power is gone. The ego is gone.
Q: Is it necessary to go through that process of fascination with power, then a desire to achieve power, and then a realization of some kind of power, before we can get past it?
Yes, it’s necessary. One must have the emotional and physical experience each step of the way to know what it is that you do and don’t want. To know who you are and are not. To know what you’re ready to take with you and leave behind. Otherwise, it remains an intellectual exercise and becomes a potential stumbling block, an inhibitor to spiritual growth. One should not look at this as, “What a waste to have to go through all this.” That’s all a part of getting to where you will ultimately want to wind up.
Q: Are there any hints you could provide for a meditation that more effectively helps us experience some other realms?
Until you have a firm grip on basic meditation, those exercises are not recommended. For basic meditation, just pick a format, pick a time. That’s all. One format could be where you keep a meditation journal and you write and listen for guidance. You could repeat a mantra or do creative visualization. It doesn’t matter where you start. It just matters that you pick a format that you use consistently every day. It helps to meditate in the same spot at the same time every day so that it can begin to reinforce a clear habit rather than a random or occasional occurrence. You could just say the rosary.
Q: Say the rosary? Are there that many Catholics here tonight? (laughter)
Some people are inhibited because they don’t know how to create a format on their own. The rosary is a format that’s familiar to many, and it is a kind of meditation. You could get a book on meditation to look for various ideas and practices. But you really just need to pick a format and a time and start being consistent.
It’s helpful when one’s traveling along the spiritual path to find someone to guide you who’s already grown past the stage of fascination with intuition so that they can help guide you through the traps and illusions.
Q: How do you find somebody like that?
Ask them about their experience. Listen to how they talk, and what subject matter they are interested in speaking about. Notice if most of the ego seems to be at least in check if not dissolved.
Q: How do you find people who’ve reached that station in life?
There are many. Read a book, speak to someone else who knows of someone, meet various people and use your own judgment. If you really had the desire, you would make the effort. And you would eventually find the right vibratory rate for you.
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