LSP55: You, Your Life, and Your Afterlife: Abundant Gifts and Blessings

It's often said the best things in life are free. Nowhere does this hold more true than in your relationship with God.

St. Lawrence was a 3rd century church deacon who was martyred in Rome in 258 CE. Tradition reports that when he was asked to turn over the wealth of the church to Roman authorities, he instead gave it to the poor and the marginalized, those who are the church's true treasures. This stained glass window was produced in 1889 by Charles Eamer Kempe, and is now on display at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, England (gifted by Mr. Walter E. Tower). Photo credit JAT 2023.

The wonderful thing about having a relationship with God is that it's a gift -- a freely given gift between you and God -- that doesn't cost you any money and doesn't have to be carried out at a special time or a special place. It can happen anywhere. And it's an ongoing gift, not a one-time thing. Once you open your heart to a relationship with God, the blessings just keep coming.

Think of the things in your life that bring great joy. Start with your own conception. Maybe your parents had to spend some money to prepare a family home or to heal some medical issues that could complicate a pregnancy. But the moment of conception itself -- that was a gift from God, and it was free!

Think about your upbringing. Think about the experience of learning how to be a human being in a whole new world. When you picked up a something hard and heavy, like a rock, and you dropped it on your foot, you were learning about the laws of physics. And the courage to learn was free!

When you tasted what words meant, and you explored how the spices and flavours of words can shape your relationships, you were partaking of the mystery of language, a mystery that ties everything together in Creation. And it was free!

When you listened to songs and hymns and carols, and you sang them till your eyes brimmed with tears of devotion, that was free!

When you watched the buds on a plant unfurl in beauty, or paused at the majesty of a storm-filled sky, or smelled the gratitude of the soil after a long sought rain, you felt your humble connection to Creation, and the sacredness was free!

When your beloved one was close to death, and longed for release from pain and suffering, and you saw the time of passing was near, your grief couldn't take from you the trust that your loved one was close to God. As your heart broke, you felt the love -- the love which is free!

As you think about the most memorable, most transformative moments of your life (especially the feeling of God's presence, if you've had such an experience) you begin to realize that those feelings of connection, love, meaning -- they're all free. They all come from within your heart and soul. They're yours. You didn't "buy" them, because you didn't have to. You were born with them and you own them. Permanently. Nobody can take them from you unless you let them.

When you're going through a difficult time, it can help to think of your life as a one-of-a-kind story. The best stories are about rich characters, complex relationships, difficult decisions, and transformative change. Everything that's in your book belongs to you, and you'll take all of it home to Heaven when you die. There you'll have many opportunities to discuss with angelic friends and mentors what you learned during your life as a human being. You, in turn, will learn from the stories of your equally blessed friends. Every story adds to the tapestry of Divine Love. This early 14th century Book of Hours, once used for private devotions, is part of the Kenneth Thomson collection at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Photo credit JAT 2018.

This brings me to the question of religion. All major world religions do some good things (such as teaching people about human morality) and all major world religions do some bad things (such as teaching people they won't be saved and won't be allowed into Heaven unless they follow all the right doctrines, all the right practices, all the right Saviours).

Questions about the afterlife continue to haunt countless human beings in every generation. Many people turn to religious leaders to try to uncover what will happen to them when they die. Too often religious leaders use this deep seated human need as a way to acquire power for themselves, to manipulate their flocks, to demean and subjugate others with promises about future punishments from God or Source. But they say these frightening things about the End Times for themselves, not for you. They say they're worried about your soul, but what they really mean is they're worried about their own authority. They want you to be scared about what happens when you die because fearful people are much easier to control than courageous people.

These same religious leaders use the trump card of justice to explain why their doctrines of afterlife are not only true but necessary. They say that future punishment for earthly crimes is the only way to balance the universal scales of right and wrong and help good conquer evil. But they're assuming when they say it that God is too stupid and too weak to intervene in our daily lives in ways that Mother Father God -- not human leaders -- deem appropriate. It's the very idea that God constantly intervenes whether we like it or not that undermines everything religion has to say about Materialist laws of cause and effect. Just ask Dr. Eben Alexander. He didn't ask to be put in a coma and sent along on a soul journey to the very gates of Heaven. He didn't ask to become a human messenger about the inclusiveness and expansiveness of Divine Love. But it happened anyway.

Dr. Alexander's near-death experience was an unusual, but nonetheless valid, free gift from God to help him better understand the pathways open to him for building a relationship with God and Creation while he's still here on Planet Earth. Despite the struggles he went through after he awakened from his coma, I have no doubt he'd do it again in a heartbeat. He can now be of service in ways he never could have imagined before his awakening. Such service is in itself a profound gift.

As you reflect on the free gifts you've participated in during your own human life, let me ask you this: if God surrounds you with innumerable free gifts while you're here on Planet Earth, why would God suddenly take away all those free gifts just because you've transitioned to a non-Materialist state of being? Why would God suddenly punish you for mistakes you can no longer fix in the absence of a 3D biological body? Why would God give you love and forgiveness while you're a human being (as Jesus taught) but suddenly rescind these gifts and replace them with laws and contracts and covenants as soon as you die? Does this make any sense to you?

God the Mother and God the Father aren't fickle. And they don't play favourites. So whatever you've been told by religious or spiritual leaders about future punishment or karmic rebirth is a load of treacherous clickbait.

Heaven is the place where all of God's children are welcomed after our difficult lives on Planet Earth. No one is excluded. We were angels -- persons-of-soul -- before we were born here. When we die, we resume our lives as children of God, though we understand as never before how secure we are in the infinite wisdom of God's love.

We are, as Jesus once tried to tell us, forever blessed.

LSP20: A New Spin on the Old Seven Deadlies

We've all heard about the seven deadly sins. In the Christian tradition, pride, envy, anger, lust, greed, sloth, and gluttony are the usual contenders for the crown of worst human traits ever. Even if you don't agree with the Church's teachings on why we're sinful, it's pretty hard to argue with the fact that human beings do awful, awful things to themselves, each other, and the planet because of pride, anger, and the rest.

When people behave badly, they often look to religion to explain their behaviour and give them tools to change their behaviour in the future. Sometimes people want to change because they're afraid their souls will end up in hell. Other times people want to change because they're tired of not being able to like themselves or trust themselves. Either way, they're up against the dreaded topic of ethics and morality.

Can you actually be happy or feel your connection with God if you don't try your best to be ethical or moral?

A lot of people have simply given up on the idea of trying to be ethical and trying to live a moral life. They pretend on the surface to care about ethics, and they're quick to express their shock and outrage on Twitter, but when they're asked in their own lives to make moral choices, they don't have the tools to actually do it. What's worse, they don't know why they don't have the tools.

It's almost impossible to tackle a major psychological and spiritual issue if you don't understand at a logical, rational, scientific level why you're doing what you're doing. You need a solid explanation to stand on, so to speak, a solid explanation to help ground you and keep you sane as you struggle to change and make new choices.

As we know, the Church's explanation for why you're being proud, envious, angry, lustful, greedy, slothful, and gluttonous is Sin with a capital "S." Various Eastern and New Age teachings have trumped Christianity's Sin by claiming that all your unloving behaviour is an illusion anyway, an illusion you can escape through your own hard work and discipline.

I offer an entirely different explanation. I suggest (because it's what I've been taught through my mystical connection with God the Mother, God the Father, and other angels in the Core) that almost all human beings are wrestling with the challenges of status addiction. It's status addiction -- not Sin, not karma, and not evil forces -- that's wrecking your life.

Status addiction tricks your brain into thinking you look like this . . .

What is pride? Pride is what you "feel" when the addicted parts of your brain sense your hoard of status points is being threatened.

What is envy? Envy is what you "feel" when the addicted parts of your brain suspect your neighbour has acquired some status points you "rightfully" deserve.

. . . when really, from the point of view of God, your angels, and your own soul, your status-addicted brain looks more like this. Status addiction saps the creativity, intuition, and sense of meaning and purpose from your life. If you want to get closer to God, you need to be honest with yourself about what status addiction is doing to your brain.

What is anger? Anger is what you "feel" when the addicted parts of your brain suspect your neighbour has tried to steal status points from you.

What is lust? Lust is what you "feel" when the addicted parts of your brain justify your plan to invade somebody else's personal boundaries to steal some of their status points.

What is greed? Greed is the addictive high you feel at the very thought of acquiring some new status points.

What is sloth? Sloth is the state of denial about your addiction disorder.

What is gluttony? Gluttony is a secondary addiction disorder (a co-morbid disorder) that easily arises in the brain of a person who's already experiencing another addiction disorder (in this case, the addiction to status).

That's status addiction in a nutshell.

Now here's the big question.

How many people do you know who have managed all on their own, without any help from anyone else, to personally recognize, confront, cope with, and completely heal their own major addiction disorders (e.g. addiction to opioids, pornography, perfectionism)?

I'm guessing not many.

It takes a community to build a culture based on status addiction, and it's going to take a community to confront and heal the catastrophic problems caused by this addiction.

The first step in healing any addiction is self honesty. The second is recognizing a higher power that can give you strength.

God, please help us with this great task!

Amen.


For Further Reflection:

You may have noticed as you read this post that when the seven deadly sins are defined as "shades" or "colours" of status addiction, it's easier to see how these behaviours violate the morality of boundaries, the morality that guides all loving actions in God's universe.

Almost everyone has been in the position of feeling what it's like to have your personal boundaries invaded.

Invasion of personal space can take many forms, from the innocuous (a neighbour who stands an inch or two too close to you) to the violent (a trusted professional who sexually assaults your children). Occasionally, invasions of personal space involve tangible weapons (e.g. knives, guns, or fists) that leave marks on your physical body, marks that other people can see and sympathize with. More often than not, though, the chosen weapons are things that can't be seen with the human eye: cruel remarks that cut you down and make you feel bad about yourself; intentional manipulation that tricks you into lowering your defences so your reputation or money can be stolen from you; denial and deceit that steal your voice; physical intimidation that threatens to steal your livelihood if you refuse to submit to sexual advances; aggressive demands that you obey, even worship, your abusers lest you be ejected from your family or community and left to fend for yourself.

All invasions, however, share a common thread: a sense that someone has stolen a piece of your personal safety.

As with other forms of injury, small cuts and bruises to your sense of personal safety can, and should be, healed in short order. But major assaults, such as attempted murder, rape, or spiritual violations, leave large holes that take years to heal and always leave scars no matter how loving and forgiving you are. Coping with such major injuries can become a full-time job, making it difficult for you to apply your time, energy, and talents to anything but survival.

If it were true, as so many spiritual leaders are currently claiming, that the path to spiritual enlightenment is eradication of boundaries and transcendence of the self, then we would expect to see great benefits accrue to all cultures that oppose boundaries and endorse Oneness. We would expect to see less suffering, greater prosperity, more happiness, and more cultural creativity in dictator-driven Communist societies; totalitarian and fascist regimes; fundamentalist sects; and certain Buddhist and New Age communities -- places that have given us the chance to observe the long term effects of practising Oneness.

We do not, in fact, see such benefits. Instead, we see the opposite.

Cultures and religions that embrace a morality of personal boundaries have done a particularly good job of reducing suffering and maintaining happiness while at the same time offering opportunities for individuation, creative self expression, mutual self respect, and the quest for Meaning.

In order for you to build and maintain your relationship with Mother Father God, you need to begin to examine the ways in which status addiction is punching holes through your personal sense of safety. You're not just looking for situations where other people are trying to steal from you; you're looking for the ways in which your own habits, ideologies, and unchallenged beliefs are deceiving you into stealing from yourself.

This is what all forms of addiction boil down to: allowing some parts of your brain (especially your reward and pleasure pathways) to steal from other parts of your human self (such as your soul-related Meaning networks).

At the start of every spiritual journey, there's a person who doesn't know how to get rid of his or her multifaceted expressions of pride, envy, anger, lust, greed, sloth, and gluttony. But each step towards Humbleness, Divine Love, and Divine Forgiveness will help you gradually shed the burden of status addiction's smelly, toxic, thorn-covered leaves.

The leaves that grow in their place are Peace.

LSP18: Teeth-Gnashing and Gnosticism: The Question of Evil Entities

Okay. There's simply no way of getting around these three big questions: (1) Do evil supernatural entities exist? (2) Is there an ongoing battle in Creation between good and evil? and (3) If there is such a battle, do human beings play a significant role in restoring balance to the universe?

My short answers are (1) No; (2) No; and (3) No.

Although I'm generally supportive of Dr. Alexander's first book, there's one chapter I disagree with from beginning to end. It's Chapter 15 ("The Gift of Forgetting"), in which Dr. Alexander attempts to answer the question of why God allows evil and suffering in the world (i.e. the theodicy question).  I really wish he'd given more thought to this chapter before he decided to include it in his book. It's chockablock full of the damaging, dualistic, overly simplistic Gnostic ideas that have plagued the human-Divine relationship for centuries.

From the core assumptions of Gnosticism many different religious movements have sprouted (including the Qumran sect of Second Temple Judaism; the Persian religion known as Manichaeism; and assorted Christian heresies). At its root, Gnosticism assumes there's something seriously wrong with the world we live in, but if we have the correct secret knowledge ("gnosis" in Greek) we can escape from worldly evil and return to the love that's characteristic of our true home in Heaven. Central to Gnosticism's claims is a belief in a Christ-like Saviour figure who will risk -- or who has risked -- everything to reveal this secret knowledge to human beings.

Jesus was a man, mystic, and healer who knew God so well and trusted God so much that he rejected all the ancient religious ideas about good versus evil and taught something very different. His teachings started with the idea that God gives us full latitude to explore what free will means. Some people choose to follow the path of power and abuse, but there's always the possibility they'll use their free will to choose the other path -- the path of goodness and love and trust in God. If they don't, however, God will forgive them, bring them Home, heal them, and help them understand the free will lessons they experienced. There's no room in Jesus' paradigm for the Devil or Judgment Day or Hell or salvation of the elect. So Jesus' paradigm has never been a very popular idea, even among Christians (strange as that may seem). If you want to get to know God, and feel Divine Love in "the Core," you can't go wrong by following Jesus' teachings on courage, trust, gratitude, and devotion. This figure of the crucified Christ was made in the first half of the 12th century in Germany, and is on display at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Photo credit JAT 2018.

Dr. Alexander reveals his sympathy for the Gnostic position throughout Chapter 15. He says, for instance (and I quote), "Small particles of evil were scattered throughout the universe, but the sum total of all that evil was as a grain of sand on a vast beach compared to the goodness, abundance, hope, and unconditional love in which the universe was literally awash" (page 83).

Let's stop the bus right there. "Small particles of evil were scattered throughout the universe"!!??  Really? God is so stupid that God took a watering can and sprinkled evil around the garden of Creation? God is so stupid that God couldn't figure out any way to give us free will as human beings except to introduce seeds of evil into the world we live in (Proof of Heaven, page 83-84)?

Oh, come on!

This particular species of religious tree has been nurtured wherever people have been trying to reconcile the experience of deeply felt Divine Love with the realities of suffering and abuse in the world. Gnostics are the first to loudly trumpet the preeminence of Divine Love and the first to fall back on the myth of "good versus evil" as soon as they're asked to explain why suffering exists in the world.  In my view, the Gnostic answer to the three questions posed here is sloppy, lazy, and not the least bit courageous.

It takes courage and trust to hold fast to God's hand, to look beyond the simple black and white myths of Gnosticism, to open your whole heart, mind, body, and soul to another explanation for suffering besides evil and evil entities. It takes courage to completely let go of all belief systems that preach the existence of supernatural evil as a force in opposition to God. It takes courage to let go of the idea that "we can't truly know good unless we know its polar opposite, evil, so God must allow some evil to exist." This is the old idea, the Materialist idea of cause and effect, the New Age idea that makes no room for the wonder and mystery of Divine Love.

I should say, in closing, that I understand the position Dr. Alexander found himself in when he was writing his book. He was trying to find a logical explanation for suffering that would be accepted by an audience steeped in myths of good versus evil, light versus darkness. I once swallowed this logic myself (to my utter chagrin). However, if Dr. Alexander has to go through what I went through, his angels are gonna kick his ass around the block until he takes what he wrote in Chapter 15 and dumps it in the garbage can.

Good luck to you, Eben!  Call me if you need some help!

Best wishes,
Jen


For Further Reflection:

There's no question that human beings can spin webs of evil unimaginable to the heart of an angel, webs of evil so all-consuming that sometimes the shock waves last for decades, centuries, even millennia. It's natural and normal for us to wonder where such evil comes from. We all want explanations we can understand, because when we have explanations, we can begin the search for solutions.

Newton's third law states that for every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction. Most of us assume that Newton's third law applies in metaphysical physics as much as in classical physics. We believe that if we understand the cause of evil, the countervailing reactive force will become clear to us. We also assume the corollary: if pure love exists in the world, it must exist as a response -- an equal and opposite reaction -- to pure evil.

Our human minds find this Materialist approach appealing. After all, it seems eminently logical. It seems highly consistent with the laws of classical physics we've deduced through observation and experience. It suits our human preference for cause-and-effect justice.

Every major world religion is a response to our mind-based desire for explanations and solutions about evil. We turn to our religious leaders to explain the cause of evil so we can choose appropriate actions to heal and prevent evil.

While many of the healing actions appear similar from religion to religion (e.g. be kind, be merciful, be hospitable), the explanations for the causes of evil appear on the surface to differ widely. Christianity, Islam, and some branches of Judaism rely heavily on theories about evil entities. Buddhism, and the older traditions from which it sprang, preach the inescapable laws of karma. Dig deeper, though, to the tap roots of these religions, and you'll find a common link: the assumption that the true cause of evil is a vast, metaphysical force you can do battle with but never control (unless you're a bona fide saint, Bodhisattva, or Messiah).

Nobody wants to hear that the actual cause of evil lies in the scientific wiring of the human brain. Who's going to put money in the collection plate just to hear the bad news that we, as persons-of-soul, incarnated on purpose to see what it feels like to struggle with free will and seek redemption? That kind of teaching puts all the onus on us as human beings. It means we have to learn to take responsibility for our own thoughts, feelings, and actions. There's no supernatural force to blame when we screw up and harm our relationships, including our relationship with God. There's no get-out-of-jail free card. There's only ourselves, our families and communities, and our relationship with God.

So yes, your human brain allows you the possibility to choose some very evil, scary paths. But keep in mind that your human brain isn't supernatural. It's 100% temporary biological matter. It isn't going with you when you die. It's staying right here, with the rest of your biological body, to be recycled into the planet as organic and inorganic matter. So whatever evil your brain manages to create during your human lifetime, you can trust that God knows how fix it even if you don't.

God is much smarter about all these questions than we can ever be. Although it's okay for us to be upset and confused about evil on Planet Earth, it's not okay for us to believe that God and God's angels have been negligent in their care of us or the universe.

Don't EVER tell God or your angels that you need protection from evil entities. Asking for protection is a clear indication that you're not ready or willing to trust God.

Instead, ask God for help in understanding how you've been using your own free will to shoot yourself in the foot. Then ask for help in learning how to take control of your own free will.

It's kind of like learning to right a small boat in big waves. It's challenging, but God knows that, with help, you can do it.

LSP15: Why I Don't Use Traditional Meditation Techniques

There's a reason why I don't meditate.

I don't meditate because traditional Buddhist meditation practices damage the health of the brain-soul nexus.* Since it's the brain-soul nexus that allows me to connect with God in the Core, I won't do anything to jeopardize the connection. This means (among other things) that I refuse to meditate.

I refuse to tell my brain to stop doing its job so I can have a rest from my own thoughts and emotions.  My brain comes pre-wired with a set of more effective tools I can use whenever I need a rest.

The most important of these tools is sleep. A solid 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep is one of the most powerful spiritual tools available to you. It's free. It's available to everyone (barring circumstances such as parenthood or illness). It's highly effective. And the healing mechanisms that kick in while you're asleep come pre-loaded in your DNA.

I know of people who get up early or stay up late so they'll have time to meditate or pray each day.  They cut short their sleep-time -- sleep-time that's required for optimal brain-soul health -- so they can voluntarily put their brains into "low-emotion mode." The brain's "low-emotion mode" is a lot like your computer's sleep mode: the power's on, but nobody's home. The power's on, but you're choosing not to use your full emotional computing capacity to be the best human being you can be. The power's on, but you're choosing to ignore what it means to love.

"Jesus said: 'The Pharisees and the scribes have taken the keys to knowledge and have hidden them. They did not go in, and they did not permit those desiring to go in to enter. You should be clever as snakes and innocent as doves'" (Gospel of Thomas 39a-b). Emerald Tree Boa at the Metro Toronto Zoo. Photo credit JAT 2017.

Let's face it -- while you spend an hour focusing only on your breathwork, you're not reflecting on your relationships or working to forgive a harmful choice or learning something new that you didn't know yesterday. You're not choosing to love somebody. You're not choosing to engage in active contemplation of humbleness and love. You're not choosing love.

What . . . you thought love was an instinctive process that didn't require any effort on your part?

It's fine to begin the process of active contemplation by sitting quietly, slowing your breathing, and relaxing your brain. Sometimes this starting point is called "centering." Centering is helpful. But choosing to meditate so you can escape from your own emotional self -- not so helpful.

I understand how wonderful it can seem at first to be able to sit down and not have to listen to all the annoying, confusing, stressful thoughts going round and round in your head. This is the great appeal of intensive meditation practice. But there's a huge cost to this kind of practice, and you need to know about it. You need to know that if you place your spiritual eggs in the meditation basket, the long term cost will be a greater sense of distance between you and God, not a smaller sense of distance.

I'm not being cruel or judgmental here. I'm being rigorously scientific. Traditional Buddhist meditation practices are specifically designed to create an internal experience that matches the outward belief in "dependent origination." In this context, meditation is a highly effective practice for those who wish to focus solely on human will without regard for the needs of relationship with a personal God (Buddhism being a non-theistic philosophy). Meditation does exactly what it claims to do: it does a very good job of helping people shut down the painful emotional centres related to love, grief, trust, forgiveness, and humbleness.

However, since you need all these emotional centres in order to feel your connection with God's love, the one thing pure meditative practice cannot do is help you get closer to God. Even though it can be painful to deal with love, grief, trust, forgiveness, and humbleness, these emotions are part of the soul, and you can't deny these feelings or ignore them if you want to get closer to God. Instead, you have to learn to work with them in positive and mature and transformative ways. (Jesus called this "entering the kingdom of the heavens.")

Major world religions share one universal characteristic: each religion has thousands and thousands of theories and doctrines and traditions about who God is, how Creation came into being, and how human beings should correctly understand their relationship with Creation. It's so complicated that no human brain can make sense of it all.

It's no wonder, then, that it never occurs to us that building a relationship with God might actually mean using the ordinary tools we already have inside our bodies and brains -- the tools we're born with because God put them there through the process of evolution.

In other words, God, the great scientist, expects you not to waste the healing gift of sleep.


* Because Pure Land Buddhism focuses on love and empathy, I partially exclude this tradition from my general remarks on meditation -- though only partially.


Addendum October 19, 2017: In a Scientific American post on October 11, 2017, writer Bret Stetka reviews some of the recent research into meditation and mindfulness-based interventions: "Where's the proof that mindfulness meditation works?" 

Addendum November 6, 2017: In a Scientific American post on October 31, 2017, psychology professor Cindi May writes about a large mindfulness study involving adolescents: "Mindfulness Training for Teens Fails Important Test"

Addendum December 1, 2019: It's generally supposed that meditation practitioners experience only positive effects from the practice. Here are two articles that remind us the reality is more nuanced. One is a 2019 essay called "The Problem of Mindfulness" by Sahanika Ratnayake. The other piece, "There's a dark side to meditation that nobody talks about" by Lila MacLellan from 2017, briefly reviews some of the challenging issues of meditation.

Addendum February 7, 2021: Here's another article that presents a balanced picture about the practice of mindfulness: "How too much mindfulness can spike anxiety" by David Robson, posted February 4, 2021 on the BBC.

Addendum November 29, 2021: A recent study suggests that independent-minded individuals can become less altruistic and more selfish when using certain mindfulness techniques. The study is reviewed in "How mindfulness could make you selfish" by David Robson, posted August 16, 2021 on BBC Worklife.

 

For Further Reflection:

Have you ever asked yourself why meditation places such an important role in the life of a devout Buddhist? Is it a simple tool, a spiritual practice to help you advance toward the goalless goal of happiness and compassion? Or is it something more, an internal path of immanence that may guide you eventually to the bliss of Oneness (i.e. dependent origination) if your faith is strong enough? Is meditation less a practice and more a sacrament? If so, can this sacrament be detached from its Buddhist roots and applied neutrally to other faith traditions without any consequences?

People who have grown up in the Christian tradition are familiar with the power of sacraments to change how we choose to relate to each other and to Creation. Sometimes, during great crises, it's only our connection to the power of sacraments that keeps us from falling apart.

In most mainline Protestant churches, there are only two sacraments: Baptism and the Eucharist. In the Roman Catholic church, seven sacraments are recognized: Baptism, Penance, Confirmation, Marriage, Eucharist, Holy Orders, and Anointing of the Sick. In the Eastern Orthodox tradition, the concept of sacraments is broader and more fluid. And in various aboriginal religions, the concept is broader still.

Regardless of religious tradition, however, human beings are drawn to the mystery of sacraments, to the places, symbols, and experiences that help us feel connected to God and all Creation. We crave such sacraments and we feel quite lost when they're stripped away from us. The history of iconoclasm shows us that whenever our leaders try to eradicate our heart-based connection to the sacred, we rebel. Even Buddhism has rebelled through its imagery, its architecture, its mandalas and prayer wheels, and its other sacred symbols of the teachings.

Because Christian sacraments typically involve external rituals and symbols, we tend to think of them as, well, external. It doesn't occur to us to think of Buddhist meditation -- an internal experience, if ever there was one -- as a sacrament. But it fulfills every need of a sacrament because it embodies in a biological way the cosmogonical doctrines of the religion. Every time you engage in meditation as a Buddhist, you're reminded of the cosmogonical doctrine of dependent origination, and you're striving to match every aspect of your life to that doctrine. This is no different than what Pauline Christians do when they take the Eucharist and remind themselves they must try harder to match their lives to the pattern of Jesus Christ, whom they believe was with God at the beginning of time.

Sacraments link theoretical doctrine to daily life, but sacraments differ from religion to religion because the theories of God differ from religion to religion. The sacraments are like the outer branches of the spiritual tree; they can only grow from the specific roots that nourish them.

There's no doubt from a scientific perspective that traditional Buddhist meditation techniques affect the wiring of the human brain in distinctive ways. All religious practices, regardless of origin, have some sort of effect on the brain if they're repeated often enough. So the question you need to ask yourself is this: do you want to enthusiastically embrace a practice -- a sacrament -- that's specifically designed to help you overcome the idea that you need a personal God in your life?

Or would it be more helpful for you to graciously accept the right of all people to choose their own path, and then humbly go your own way without fear that you're messing up your own quest?

LSP5: Feeling Completely and Truly Well

Dr. Eben Alexander describes in his book how he knew during the early stages of his recovery that he was "completely and truly 'well' for the first time in [his] entire life" (page 123). This statement is right on the money from my point of view. Feeling your connection with God means feeling "completely and truly well."

This doesn't mean you'll never get sick. This doesn't mean you'll never die. It means you feel wholly present in your human skin and wholly accepting of the many simple truths about God and God's Creation that you've never noticed before.

People are often afraid that if they know "too much" about the mysteries of Divine Love, their sense of wonder will be diminished, and they'll be left with nothing but a bunch of facts and legal rulings, like the mundane wrappings strewn on the floor after all the Christmas presents have been opened. Fortunately, nothing could be further from the truth. The more you open your eyes and your heart to God's mysteries, the more mysteries you stumble across in the course of your everyday life. This photo, which reminds me of the feeling of Divine Love, came to me in an unexpected way. My angelic guardians, who know me so well, suggested one day that I put my camera in the trunk of my car "just in case." I didn't get around to taking any photos that day, so I left my camera in the trunk. It turned quite cold that night, and by the time I visited the nearby conservatory the next day, my camera was so cold that the lens fogged over when as I entered the warm, moist interior of the gardens. At first I was upset. But my loving guardians pointed out that I could take some misty photos before my lens warmed up. This was clearly what they had in mind for me all along. I got some lovely mystical shots that make me smile with wonder every time I look at them, but I wouldn't have got them if I'd been purely logical about how to use my camera. Photo credit JAT 2018.

This can be a hard thing to put into words, especially if you're not 100% sure yourself exactly what you're trying to express. I can see this struggle in Dr. Alexander's book. He knows he knows it, but he still isn't 100% certain of what he's trying to say. Why isn't he sure? He isn't sure because during any near death experience, your brain gets what writers call an "info-dump" -- a vast quantity of new information that can take many years to process. I estimate that, during his 7-day coma, Dr. Alexander probably received the equivalent of a few terabytes of new data.

That's a lot of new data.

Dr. Alexander is a very bright man, and, as a soul, he's also a risk taker who's willing to plunge right into the deep end and worry later about the mechanics of swimming. So for him the right approach to finding his connection with God was to jump hard and fast into the pool, hold his breath, and take in as much information as he possibly could in one big gulp.

Most souls who are here on Planet Earth are not risk takers to this degree. There are many souls who, like myself, need to know about the mechanics of swimming before they go anywhere near the deep end. They need to understand at a logical level where they're going -- and why -- so they won't be afraid.

I've spent the past few years reverse-engineering the process of going to the Core. Like Dr. Alexander, I have a hard science background (mostly chemistry). Although I'm a practising mystic, and although I see wonder and mystery and divine love in everything around me, I also need straight, simple, scientific answers to all the big questions in life.

It's not good enough for me to say, "Well, I've been to the Core and I've talked to God the Mother and God the Father and I trust in their love." I need to know how I do this. I need to what's going on inside my brain, what's normal and completely and truly well about the physiology of my brain that makes it possible for me to do this in my everyday life. Because if I can do it as a normal human being, then it's not about "otherness" or "transcendence" but instead about "wholeness" and "healing."

This opens up a realm of possibilities for others who want to know what it feels like to be "completely and truly well."

Being open to the idea that there really is a God, and being open to the idea that God is a real person (actually, two people united in love as parents to us all) is the first step in the healing process.


For Further Reflection:

You've probably heard of the placebo effect and its role in helping us heal our physical minds and bodies. Although researchers aren't entirely certain how the placebo effect works, there's no doubt our DNA comes preloaded with a mysterious healing mechanism that can help us move towards a state of wellness.

Two psychospiritual factors are especially relevant in activating the placebo effect. One is our personal desire to get better. If we secretly want to remain sick because we're getting secondary benefits, there's not much of an incentive for the body to trigger its own healing mechanisms.

The second factor is our relationship with our caregivers, including our professionally trained physicians, nurses, and the like. There's evidence that when we trust our caregivers, and believe they're acting with genuine care and concern for us (instead of acting by rote for the sole purpose of billing our insurance companies), we're much more likely to experience the positive benefits of the placebo effect. (A 2018 experiment in Britain investigated this effect.)

There's a similar spontaneous healing effect that takes place within our bodies and brains when we turn our attention in positive ways towards a loving relationship with God. Some people call this effect "faith." Whatever you call it, there's nothing quite like the experience of opening your heart to God's immense love and feeling safe in that love.

Your biology responds to relationship with God in the same way your body responds to an empathetic caregiver. You may continue to be physically sick (because not every illness can or will be cured), but inside your Heart you find the courage to believe you're still safe in God's love, despite your pain.

Feeling "completely and truly well" is an emotional and spiritual state, not a physical or cognitive state. Once you decide the feeling of psychospiritual wholeness is worth the trouble, you and your angels will understand each other much better.

LSP2: Journeying to the Core

In Dr. Alexander's book, we read about his frightening medical journey, a journey involving great pain and fear for himself, his family, his friends, and the medical staff who are desperately trying to reverse his coma. It's only while Dr. Alexander is deep in a rare form of coma that he's free enough to journey to the Core and find the wholeness and peace that come with reconnection with God.

Dr. Alexander did it the hard way.

I'm not in any way trying to deny or minimize what happened to Dr. Alexander and those who care about him. I've been a mystic long enough to know that everyone's journey on Planet Earth is unique, and no two situations are identical. God the Mother and God the Father always know what's best for each person and each family.

Having said that, I also know there's the easy way and the hard way. Dr. Alexander was conscripted into the hard way. It worked for him. It worked for many of those around him. And I've no doubt it has worked and will continue to work for many others.

But it isn't the only way.

Dr. Alexander makes this point himself near the end of his book. In Chapter 33 ("The Enigma of Consciousness"), he says, "Another aspect of the good news is that you don't have to almost die to glimpse behind the veil -- but you must do the work. Learning about that realm from books and presentations is a start -- but at the end of the day, we each have to go deep into our own consciousness, through prayer or meditation, to access these truths (pg. 157--158)."

It's right here, in this paragraph from Dr. Alexander's book, where I see (as I've often seen) the great plague that so often infects the spiritual journey. In one breath, there's the excitement and anticipation of truth and new healing possibilities. In the next breath, there's the depressing reality that people on a spiritual journey are repeatedly instructed to use only the "old toolkit" of ancient religions and to disregard at all cost any methods that might call into question the wisdom of teachers long dead.

What's with this idea that "old" is always "better" when it comes to the spiritual journey? If I were to say to you, "you're having a seizure because you're possessed by demons, and the only cure is for me to repeat this ancient incantation after you pay me a thousand dollars"  . . . would you accept that?

Getting to know God doesn't have to be like St. George fighting the dragon to the death. But you do need to work hard to know yourself as God truly knows you. There are many ways to "do the work" of healing your own brain-soul nexus so you can feel the life-changing touch of God's unconditional love in your Heart. This beautiful carved ivory is from the Kenneth Thomson collection at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Photo credit JAT 2018.

My own connection was built slowly and in the way that was right for me. Today my connection is so strong and sure that I can request the "channel" be opened up between God and myself at any time and in any place. I've had conversations with God while I'm sitting at a red light in traffic, and while I'm trying to troubleshoot a difficult issue at work. God is so kind and generous that no issue is too small for them to share with me. I feel constantly humbled and blessed to know them and to know their love for all their children.

Journeying to the Core isn't about escaping your human self through consciousness-altering techniques. It's about healing your own brain-soul nexus. The tools for this journey are already present inside your biological body AND inside all your RELATIONSHIPS.

As Dr. Alexander discovered, this a journey no one can -- or should -- embark on alone. It's the Heart, not the Mind, that shows us the way to the Core.


For Further Reflection:

The key to reconnecting with God is to remember at all times that you`re trying to build a relationship with God -- with God the Mother and God the Father. This may sound ridiculously obvious, but you`d be surprised how many people on the spiritual path lose sight of this crucial truth.

It`s very easy to get lost in all the excitement of ancient secrets and modern insights and exciting new techniques that may (or may not) help you expand your consciousness. What`s the end result of forgetting that relationships are the key? You usually find yourself trapped more than ever before in pure Mind where the lessons of the Heart can`t be heard and God can`t be felt.

Prayer and meditation won`t help you much unless you`re willing to start with the choice that relationship with God is the path you really, really want to know more about.

If you start with the idea that God the Mother and God the Father are phenomenally brilliant -- way smarter than you or any human being now or ever, in fact -- you`ll quickly realize there`s nothing they don`t already know about you and nothing that will stop them from doing what needs to be done. So if you want to reconnect with God, it has to be on their terms, not your terms.

Fortunately, God`s terms are founded on Divine Love and Divine Forgiveness.

LSP1: Proof of Heaven

Welcome to Lessons from the Spiral Path!

I've started this blog so I can talk specifically about questions raised for readers of Dr. Eben Alexander's bestselling book Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife.*

"Red Warrior" (detail) by J. MacDonald, (C) 2003.

I first read this book in November 2012. Dr. Alexander's evocative tale of being in a deep coma for seven days and then waking up with intense memories of his time with angelic beings didn't surprise or shock me. I have my own long experience of daily encounters with the Divine, though I've never had a near-death experience; nor do I use any of the consciousness-altering techniques suggested by Dr. Alexander (such as binaural beats, meditation, or traditional forms of prayer). I'm simply a mystic, one who has learned through slow, dogged work what to do and what not to do if you want to feel God's presence in your everyday life.

Some of my thoughts will be in response to the Seven Postulates proposed by a working group of scientists and researchers who call themselves Eternea. Dr. Alexander is one of the founders of this organization. You can read about Eternea's Seven Postulates here.

I welcome comments and questions from anyone, including angry skeptics. Comments will be moderated. I'll delete any comments with links to sites I consider "for-profit." I also welcome e-mails at realspiritik@gmail.com if you have questions about God, the afterlife, or the soul. I'll try to get back to you as quickly as I can.

What makes the information here different from what you've read on other sites?

Good question. Well, (though I don't ask you to take this on faith) . . .

As part of my daily mystical practice, I visit the Core (as Dr. Alexander calls it) every day. I talk to God the Mother and God the Father every day. They totally rock. I love them beyond what any words can describe, and I know in the very depths of my bones how much they love all of us. Feeling their love is a life-changing experience that takes about 5 minutes. But listening to them as they carefully explain why human life is the way it is . . . that takes years. You'll find many sites that talk about the love, but you won't find many sites that tell you how to get closer to God without almost dying. You're going to die some day, of course, but in the meantime, it's possible for you to feel so much more than you realize.

When you've learned how to connect voluntarily with the Core, you discover that God isn't serene and detached and transcendent. They're very chatty and very kind and very humble and also very funny (as in having a terrific sense of humour). They, along with a few particularly canny angels, have taught me what I know about the Spiral Path.

If you'd like to know more about God and God's unconditional love, please join me on the journey! I promise the path will never be straight, but it will always bring you the laughter and tears you need.

Blessings,
Jen     
 
* Eben Alexander.  Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2012.  

Addendum November 15, 2020: I first wrote this post almost 7 years ago. Since then, my experiences with God and God's angels have deepened in ways I never thought possible. In particular, my studies have expanded more and more into the science of God's universe. As part of my recent research, I bought and read the 2017 book Proof of God, written by Ptolemy Tompkins and Bernard Haisch. As I read Proof of God, then visited Ptolemy Tompkins's website, I learned that Mr. Tompkins was the ghost-writer -- and therefore the actual author -- of the book Proof of Heaven. This was news to me. I have no objection in principle to ghost-writers, but a ghost-writer makes many decisions about what to include and what not to include in another person's story. Now that I've read Mr. Tompkins's Proof of God, I see that his lenses on the big questions about God and God's Creation are very different from my own. There's no possibility that Mr. Tompkins could have ghost-written Proof of Heaven and not allowed some of his own biases and assumptions about God to shade the depiction of Dr. Eben Alexander's unique journey. So I caution readers of Proof of Heaven and its sequel Map of Heaven (which I have not read) to bear in mind that these books were written in a collaborative way and not primarily by Dr. Alexander himself.