LSP56: The Roots of Christianity and Why They Still Matter

Early on in this collection of essays about finding relationship with God, I wrote a piece called "It's the Roots, Not the Fruits, That Matter," and there I suggested that the key to reconnecting with God is understanding how your brain-soul nexus works. I also said that if you insist on trying to find God by climbing trees that are covered in the horrible thorns of distrust in God, you're going to get stabbed and cut and covered in painful scars.

As I conclude the Lessons from the Spiral Path blog, I feel it's important for me to state why, despite everything my angelic friends have taught me about the perils of assorted ideologies, I self-identify as a Christian.

This is the Geometric Stair of St. Paul's Anglican Cathedral, London, UK. The spiralling cantilevered staircase was designed by Sir Christopher Wren in about 1705. Photo credit JAT 2024.

When I first set foot on my own Spiral Path of wonder, science, and faith, I had no inkling that I'd eventually return to the Christian roots of my upbringing. I don't know where I thought I'd end up -- maybe at some pinnacle of New Age enlightenment? -- but I didn't imagine for a second that my spiritual journey would take me back to the core teachings of Jesus.

After many years of study and contemplation and conversation with God and God's angels, including Jesus himself, I think I can finally express why I now believe that Christianity in its best form (not Christianity in its worst form) is the surest hope for healing your brain-soul nexus and opening your inner heart to the experience of God's love.

Crown of Thorns plant. Photo credit JAT 2018.

I've spent a lot of time in my other books on the problems I've seen in Christianity. I'm very honest about the grave harms perpetrated under the label of Christianity. Paul's teachings in particular grafted some extremely abusive thorns onto the message of Jesus. We're still grappling today with the results of those thorns -- thorns that have hurt women and gays and children and God in the form of hate-filled fundamentalist and evangelical preaching.

But Paul wasn't Jesus. We have the power within our hearts and minds to reject what Paul told us about God, and to turn instead to the roots of Jesus' teachings about God. We have the potential to grow the tree that springs from Jesus' two great laws: "The first is, 'Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.' The second is this, 'You shall love your neighbour as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these" (Mark 12:29-31).

The roots of Jesus' teachings lead to many important spiritual and emotional and intellectual fruits, all of which may help you sense God's presence in your life. The Christianity of Jesus asks you to know yourself in positive ways; calls upon you to respect the balance between heart and mind; rejoices with you in the healing power of love and forgiveness and humbleness; reminds you to use the gift of free will wisely and well; gives you uplifting ways to think of Mother Father God and your soul and the afterlife; and most of all tells you that God loves you just as much as God has loved all the famous figures of history. No other major world religion teaches you that you can be close to God even if you aren't purely perfect, purely pious, or purely pure. It's enough for God that you try each day to understand what it means to love.

Jesus knew what few religious teachers before him articulated. He understood that Divine Love is a two-way street. He told us we must love our God with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, and all our strength, but this love we give to God is not a form of worship. It's a way of being like God, living in the image of God -- honouring and respecting our loving God by paying our blessings forward instead of hoarding them for ourselves. There's nothing quite like the inspiration that comes from accepting God's Love despite our very humble humanness.

When we love our neighbours as ourselves, we do only what God has already done. When we love with courage and hope and inclusiveness, we are walking in the footsteps of God.

My wish for you is that you may find the faith you seek on your own Spiral Path.

God bless!

LSP43: Intuition: Learning to See With Your Ears

This morning I was excited to read an article in the current issue of Discover (July/August 2015) that gives a good analogy for what I do as a cataphatic mystic and how I learned to do it. The article is called "Sonic Vision" by Berit Brogaard and Kristian Marlow, and it's excerpted from an upcoming book called The Superhuman Mind: Free the Genius in Your Brain. If you have a subscription to Discover, you can read the article online. Or you can buy the current issue at the newsstand, as I did.

First, though, a quick story that sort of shows how I navigate in my life as a mystic and auditory channeller  (Some of you may recall that I have a strong auditory connection to the soul who once lived as Jesus son of Joseph. Again, I understand this is problematic for some readers and, again, I can't apologize for who I am and what I do.)

To find the Discover article about humans who are blind but have learned to "see" their environment by using sophisticated echolocation skills, I could have kept checking on the Discover website until such an article appeared. But that's not how I live my life. There's only so much time and so much money and so much brain energy. What I do instead of constantly checking websites or subscribing to print magazines is to patiently wait until I get a message from my angels. (Again, I understand this is problematic for some readers, but this is a Christian site, and angels or messengers or persons-of-soul or whatever you want to call them have always been part of the Christian narrative.)

So here's how my discovery of the Discovery article went. First, I realized I needed to go buy a birthday card for a friend. Then it occurred to me I could walk to the plaza instead of driving (though often I drive). And because I walked to the plaza, I passed by the window of a convenience store I hadn't gone into for a long time. And because I walked past the window, I saw their sign for inexpensive cards. (I'm on a tight budget, so I'm always looking for good value). And because I saw the sign, I went in. And because I went in, I discovered the store has been turned into a good magazine shop with titles that don't normally show up in the local drugstore. And because there was a good selection of science magazines, I was able to "feel" the quantum Post-It note that was attached to the Discover issue. 

Don't laugh, but this is how I do all my shopping. It's a process of navigation. It's a process of following quantum threads until they lead me to the quantum Post-It attached to the thing I need. Often the Post-It is attached to something I'd forgotten I needed, but while I'm standing there, with my hand reaching out unerringly toward the shelf, my mind (often the slowest part of me to catch on in these situations) suddenly says, "Oh, yeah, I actually need that!"

At which point I know I've been guided by my incredibly kind and incredibly thoughtful angels.

So anyway  . . . back to the article about echolocation in Discovery. If you have a chance to read it, you'll discover an amazing story about a man named Daniel Kish who lost his sight to retinoblastomas at the age of 13 months and then figured out on his own how to use echolocation to "see with his ears." What's really fascinating (apart from Kish's skill, dedication, and willingness to teach others how to see with their ears!) is that he and others with this skill use the visual processing area in the brain's occipital lobes to generate spatial imagery in their minds. They suss out echoes that most of us can't hear (because we haven't practised hard enough) and these echoes are processed not in the auditory centres of the brain, but in the visual cortex (which does process some sounds). Using comparative informative (between the sounds going out from their clicking tongues and the reflected sounds coming back from nearby objects), the brains of these individuals can construct highly detailed images of what's nearby. It takes proper training and lots of practice and commitment, but it can be done. Sighted people can learn how to echolocate, too, although the phenomenological experience may be different.

The process described in this article is very similar to what I do and how I do it. I don't click with my tongue, of course, but I seem to be able to "click" with an as-yet-to-be-determined type of brainwave. I get "quantum echoes" coming back from nearby persons-of-soul, and these are the echoes my brain processes and turns into words and imagery.

I've known since December 2004, when I had my brain scanned on three different days at the Amen Clinic in California, that the visual cortex of my brain lights up when I'm talking to Jesus, but my auditory cortex isn't really involved in the channelling process. I've also learned after 15 years of daily experience as a cataphatic mystic that when I'm awake and channelling, I don't really "see," yet I get black-and-white visual imagery with words that come in from persons-of-soul, including Jesus. The words always come in clear as a bell -- the same as having a conversation with somebody who's in the room or on the phone with me.

SPECT scan of my brain when I'm talking with Jesus (December 2004). White areas show which brain regions are working hardest (highest oxygen uptake), red areas show the next highest oxygen uptake, and blue areas show average regions that are working but not doing the "heaviest lifting" for the task that's being captured on the scan. SPECT scans capture the brain's function during specific tasks rather than showing simple anatomy. On my channelling scan, some of the high-activity areas are in the cerebellum (which is normal for most people). Other high-activity areas (white and red) are in the thalamus; basal ganglia; posterior cingulate; and the visual cortex at the back of my occipital lobe.

This is a voluntary and learned process -- just as echolocation is a voluntary and learned process. It's also a scientific process. And I had to be trained how to do it properly, just as Kish's students have to be trained. In a few people (such as Kish) it develops instinctively. But most people have to be trained.

Being a cataphatic mystic is a bit different from being a non-sighted person who's learning to echolocate. The process is more complex, and not many people are born with the talent to be full-fledged cataphatic mystics (which is as it should be -- the world only needs a few full-fledged mystics at any given time).

But everybody is born with the brain-talent for intuition (a talent which, on rare occasions, such as during an intense emotional crisis, gets pushed more towards the mystical end of the spectrum, with actual sensory impressions coming through briefly from Spirit). And everybody can learn how to use their intuitive circuitry better than most people do. Some adults have so badly fried their intuitive circuitry that they can longer hear a damn thing from God/Spirit/Source/angels, though the potential is there -- just as the potential to echolocate is there for both sighted and non-sighted people. This potential can be developed with proper training, practice, and commitment. With the proper development of the brain's intuitive circuitry, anyone can strengthen their relationship with God (who's talking to us all the time, whether or not we consciously realize it.)

Here's a great quote from the article:

"Kish's training curriculum differs from tradition by taking an immersive approach intended to activate environmental awareness. It's a tough-love approach with very little hand-holding. He encourages children to explore their home environment for themselves and discourages family members from interfering unless the child otherwise could be harmed."

Welcome to my life! Tough-love is the key. This won't please anyone who goes to a weekend workshop and expects to emerge as an expert in intuition. But if you're willing to do the work, you can gradually learn how to create a map of your relationship with God.

Keep in mind, though, that intuition isn't a "divine gift" that's dropped fully formed into your head because you've asked for it in prayer. It's more like a packet of seeds you have to nurture if you want the stems to grow into a reliable support for your life. 

With practice, intuition helps you know where to walk -- and when -- so you can feel God's presence in your life. And all you need is your own 3D brain.

Addendum Nov. 5, 2017: Two other unusual but very real "frontiers" of neuroscience -- blindsight and tetrachromacy -- also relate to how I use my biological brain to communicate on a quantum level with God/Spirit/Source/angels. You can read more about blindsight and tetrachromacy here:

 BBC - Future - Blindsight: the strangest form of consciousness

 Human Eye Sometimes Sees the Unseeable - Scientific American

 BBC - Future - The women with superhuman vision
 

LSP41: 16 Reasons Why My Life Is Better with God

Dear God, although I know you didn't ask, here are 16 reasons why my life is better with you:

Photo credit JAT 2018

1. You've redefined everything for me about the meaning of success.

2. You've taught me that Love isn't weak or passive, but is incredibly strong and tough and durable.

3. You've taught me that Forgiveness is the most radical catalyst for change we can know.

4. You've shown me that Healing always follows Insight.

5. You've reminded me that when we Heal others, we also Heal ourselves.

6. You've whispered to me in a few of your many languages, and I'm so glad to listen to what you say to us through Science.

7. You inspire me with your example of patience.

8. You've freed me from the crippling disease of status addiction.

9. You've taught me how to care for my brain so I can use my small but worthy "three-pound universe" to listen, learn, and love.

10. You've shown me by your example that it's okay to say No when brains begin to shock us with their anger, hatred, perfectionism, and deceit.

11. You make it okay for me to smile, laugh, and enjoy all the weirdness of quantum science miracles.

12. Your faith in me helps me get up in the morning.

13. Your example of courage sustains me when the going gets really rough.

14. Your Music brings tears of joy to my Heart.

15. Your Planet (one of many!) teaches me what courage, trust, gratitude, and devotion can build when the Heart expands the limited vision of the Mind.

16. When I feel you holding my neighbour's hand, my soul smiles in peace.

Mother & Father God, you are my heroes!

LSP19: Learning How to Breathe: Finding Freedom of Spirit in a World That Tries to Crush You

Dr. Alexander and I grew up at roughly the same time.  He was born in late 1953, and I was born in mid-1958. So we've been exposed to a lot of the same influences over the years. We both grew up in that short breath of time between the end of one era (the world that died with WWII) and the start of a new era (the world that began with widespread computers networks).Yet, for all the similarities between Dr. Alexander and myself in those early years -- the books, the films, the TV shows, and the unforgettable music -- there were many differences. Each of us belonged to a particular time and place and culture, and each of us still carries the lessons of time and place and culture within us. Those lessons shaped us. To this day, the experiences of our youth affect how we claim -- and proclaim -- our spiritual life today.

How does culture shape our spiritual journey? Is there such a thing as a universal culture of Oneness that transcends all earthly differences? Do all people who connect deeply with God inevitably end up in the same place? Do we become carbon copies of each other and God?

Last time, I talked about some of the problems posed by Gnosticism. I know I've complained about Gnosticism before (sorry about that), but I keep coming back to it because it's had such a powerful influence on our spiritual lives -- not just now, but in centuries long past. I keep thinking . . . why?  Why do Gnostic ideas keep rearing their dopey heads? And why do people keep listening to them?

I've boiled it down to one painful answer. I think Gnosticism becomes very attractive to people who've noticed they can no longer breathe.

I mean this in a spiritual and emotional sense rather than a physical sense. 

In Johnson's Canyon, Alberta, you'd think the steep rock walls towering on both sides of the river would make you feel claustrophobic, but instead there's a sense that you've stepped into a unique pocket of beauty where God is telling a story that's different from the narratives of the surrounding mountain terrain. I think part of what makes Johnson's Canyon so popular and so appealing is its ability to surprise us. Our souls long to be delighted and surprised by unexpected turnings on the path of life. Unfortunately for us in today's society, the brain's System 2 circuits despise unexpected . . . well . . . unexpected anything. System 2's need to maintain intense perfectionistic control over all aspects of life is one of the hallmarks of status addiction in the brain.

Breath, as a metaphor for life in all its complexity, has been linked by innumerable authors to the elusive concept of "spirit." The Book of Genesis is crystal clear on the connection. (Ruah in Hebrew means divine wind, natural spirit of man, and breath.) But you don't have to believe in the Bible to feel the link between breath and freedom of life, freedom of spirit. When you live in a culture that gives you the freedom to be yourself, you feel alive and free and full of purpose. When you live in a culture that forbids you to be yourself, you feel suffocated and frustrated and low in spirit.

It's bad enough living in a culture that forbids you to be yourself. When you live in a culture governed by status addiction, it's even worse. You feel choked to death by all the rules and expectations and lies. You feel trapped, unable to feel your core self drawing the breath of life and love and spirit. You long to escape just so you can remember what it feels like to be at peace in your own skin.

Gnosticism appears to offer you that escape. Gnosticism starts by affirming your impression that you feel miserable as hell (which you do). Then it says you have a small spark of God inside you that's desperate to return to its Source (which sounds kind of right because you can feel your inner longing to breathe). Then it tells you there's a "good" place (somewhere off in Creation where Source exists) and an "evil" place (which may look a lot like your local neighbourhood gang headquarters). Last, it promises that if you possess the secret knowledge given by the prophesied saviour figure, you can escape all the evil and return to the good place, where everybody blends together in a blissful state of "oneness." 

You know what's missing from this pretty little Gnostic picture? Self honesty.

Gnosticism is designed to shift your focus and attention away from the bad decisions you and your neighbours are making right here and right now. Gnosticism gives you a way to make excuses for the humongous problems created by status addiction.

Once you fully accept the harm created in our society by status addiction, there's no need whatsoever to claim that God scattered small bits of evil throughout the universe. It's status addiction that crushes the heart out of people and takes away their chance to breathe. It's status addiction writ large across communities in the form of "noble cultural traditions" that ruins lives.

As it happens, I didn't grow up in a culture steeped in status addiction. Sure, there were currents of status anxiety here and there, and some of them were pretty ugly. But by and large, the Canada I grew up in was relatively egalitarian compared to most other nations at the time. I'm not saying Canada was problem-free. I'm saying I learned at a fairly early age how to breathe.

And I didn't need Gnosticism to do it.

What I've learned on the Spiral Path is that when you strip away the claustrophobic demands and expectations of status addiction, you get an incredible sense of expansion in your life. You get this feeling of being able to breathe from deep inside your gut. Suddenly you can enjoy the best things in your culture -- the books, the films, the TV shows, the music -- without being afraid for your soul's salvation. You gradually learn how to sort out what your soul likes and what your soul doesn't like. You stick with what you like, and you respect your neighbour's right to like something else. We don't all have to be the same.

Did you see this week's story about Sister Cristina Scuccia, Italy's "Singing Nun," who won Italy's version of The Voice by really rockin' it from her heart and soul?

There's a person who knows how to breathe.


For Further Reflection:

You know that feeling of constantly needing to check your smartphone and desperately hoping for likes on your most recent post? That compulsion about spending time on your social media pages, a compulsion that won't go away no matter how much you tell yourself to ignore it? That rationalization telling you it's okay to text while you're driving and ignore your children while you're checking for likes one last time?

That's status addiction.

Bearing in mind how many people have this feeling every day, would it be fair to say that countless millions of people have a problem with addiction and don't even realize it?

Yes, it would be a fair and honest thing to say.

The problem with any kind of addiction, whether it's status addiction or an addiction to sex or substances, is the way it messes with our brain networks and prevents us from being our best selves. This isn't news, of course, to anyone who's discovered the power of denial and deceit to disguise addiction. Denial and deceit give our brains the momentum needed to suppress the soul's morality of boundaries and choose the brain's morality of Oneness instead. It's the morality of Oneness, with its focus on blurred boundaries, communalism, and rights without responsibilities, that allows us to rationalize the crimes we commit during the throes of our cravings.

It may not seem reasonable to you that God allows your biological brain to wander off on technological tangents and succumb to the evils of denial and deceit, but this is the only way God can offer you the chance to experience redemption without in any way harming your eternal soul.

Jesus was among a rare group of religious thinkers for whom the path of redemption was the only way to reestablish a relationship with God. In practical terms, the path of redemption means being honest enough to see the perils of a morality of Oneness and being courageous enough to set aside Oneness for a morality of boundaries. This is what he wrote in the Letter of James (parts of which I'm certain were written by Jesus himself in his own highly literate hand):

"But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves [at the face of their birth] and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like. But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act -- they will be blessed in their doing" (James 1: 22-25).

On your own spiritual journey, you need to be able to look in the mirror and recognize yourself. You need to be able to remember who you are at all times so you're not vulnerable to the lies that other people are trying to tell you.

The freedom to be yourself and to breathe in the wonder of your own uniqueness as a child of God will help you find the daily blessings you so long for in your life.

LSP16: You Don't Have to Climb Mount Everest

"Healing and Hope for the Brain-Soul Nexus" is the tagline for one of my earlier books, and it's the central theme of all the work I've been researching on humans searching for God. It's actually a pretty simple idea, the idea that if you heal your own brain-soul nexus, you're on the "easy path" to knowing God in this lifetime. But since when do most of us want to do things the easy way?

While just about everybody else on the spiritual circuit is out there hammering away at the importance of ancient consciousness-altering tools such as prayer and meditation, me, I'm hammering away at the importance of consciousness-healing tools.

This goes back to the roots that are holding up your spiritual tree. The spiritual practices you choose to highlight in your life will depend on the starting assumptions -- the roots -- of your relationship with yourself and God. These choices matter because spiritual practices, no matter which tradition they stem from, all have a specific scientific purpose. They're all designed to do something specific to your brain chemistry.

And there you were thinkin' that spirituality is an escape from ordinary, everyday, scientific realities  . . .

Perhaps you already know that ancient spiritual practices are based on empirical observations about the science of brain function. But most people have been led to believe that spiritual practices such as prayer, meditation, fasting, hallucinogenic drugs, trance states, and energy work are somehow separate from everyday science. They've been led to believe the divine rules are different when it comes to ancient spirituality.

They're not. The rules have never been different for these practices. These practices all create specific changes in your brain architecture whether you want them to or not. They're very powerful tools -- far more powerful than modern pharmaceuticals such as S.S.R.I.'s or mood stabilizers -- and as such, they need to be understood and respected for what they can do, as well as what they can't do.

In my view, it's irresponsible and reckless for religious leaders to recommend intensive use of spiritual practices in the naive belief that science doesn't apply. In God's Good Creation, science always applies. Nobody can escape the consequences that come from overuse of spiritual practices, just as nobody can escape the consequences that come from overuse of food or medication or alcohol or anything else that affects our brain chemistry.

As many wise people over time have pointed out, moderation is the key.

What I'm trying to say is that it's not smart to sign up at the spiritual smorgasbord and pile up your plate with all the ancient goodies you've never tried before. You need to remember that some of these old practices can hurt your brain -- not because the ancient teachers didn't understand how the brain works, but because they did.

I know this is a distressing thought, but there has to be a solid, scientific reason why so many people over so many centuries tried so hard to reconnect with God, yet never felt a dammed thing except frustration and despair. Do you really think God created your brain in such a way that you'd have to climb Mount Everest so you can feel God's love? Do you really think that only the people who set themselves apart to constantly pray and meditate have the potential to feel God's love?

There are ways of communicating clearly with God that can help you heal your brain-soul nexus and feel God's love. (And no -- I'm not about to suggest anything occult!)  There are ways of talking with God and sitting quietly with God that look on the surface like ancient prayer and meditation, but are, in fact, something quite different because they use different parts of the brain than ancient practices use.

What matters here is whether you use the parts of your brain that are hardwired into your soul's own needs.

Consciousness-healing techniques (as opposed to consciousness-altering techniques) always start with an unshakable belief in the good soul that you are.

Instead of trying to climb the spiritual Mount Everest proclaimed in many ancient religious texts, try hiking up a real hill and taking in the view with all your senses. If medical or financial limitations prevent you from visiting the countryside, try sitting in the sun by your favourite window or taking a short walk in your neighbourhood if you're able. Look at the trees. Listen to the birds. Be grateful for the gifts of Creation that surround you and support you. I know this sounds ridiculously simple and not very flashy. But that's the point. God loves all of us equally and wants everyone to have a chance to feel Divine Love. So why would God set up a system that allows only the rich or the full-time ascetics or the already-enlightened to heal the brain-soul nexus? God wouldn't. So start where you are and don't be ashamed if your current circumstances are modest and maybe even a bit ramshackle. God won't care as long as you're trying each day to be a loving person! This photo was taken outside Banff, Alberta. Photo credit JAT 2015.

For Further Reflection:

There's been a lot of talk lately, even among scientific circles, about the importance of gratitude in maintaining our physical and mental health. Gratitude for the good things that come our way is one of the few spiritual practices everyone can agree on. It offends no one. It's also an effective strategy for countering the negative thoughts we all struggle with. Gratitude helps us see the glass as half full rather than half empty. So I highly recommend the practice of positive gratitude to everyone.

How does the spiritual practice of gratitude differ from an ordinary, on-the-fly expression of thanks? It differs because it's a contemplative practice instead of a social practice. If you're like most people, your brain is adept at manoeuvring through complex social interactions (saying thank you automatically) but much less comfortable with contemplative norms (saying thank you when there's no direct social benefit for you). So it will probably take you some time to develop the habit of spiritual gratitude.

Set aside some quiet time each day to reflect on the small things you're grateful for. The place and time don't really matter. You can do your contemplative work wherever you feel comfortable, which may need to be the bathtub if it's the only place where you can find some time and space for yourself in your busy day. You can write down your observations about gratitude if you want to, but, again, the process isn't rigid, so you don't have to write anything down unless it helps you.

The core of the practice is to quietly thank all the people (including God and your angels!) who brought positive encounters and experiences and everyday needs into your life. That's it. Three honest daily observations about the people (especially God and your angels!) who helped you are usually enough (unless you had an especially eventful day). The key is to become conscious of the help you received. Don't take it for granted.

(1) Be aware. (2) Be appreciative. (3) Say thank you. These are the three essential steps of positive gratitude.

It's important not to cheat by making blanket statements about how lucky you are and how grateful you are for just, well, everything. In order for the practice of gratitude to make a difference in your life -- for gratitude to permanently alter your brain networks in helpful ways -- you need to spend quiet time each day untangling the great big ball of blessings you've received. You need to separate and sort your blessings (as best you can) into individual threads.

Why do you have to remember the individual people and individual acts that have made a difference in your life? The answer lies in the way your brain works.

Your brain is tasked with innumerable responsibilities each day, and each task uses up precious biological resources. So in any circumstance where your brain thinks it can save energy by using macros or stereotyping or quick algorithms -- in other words, "brain apps" -- your brain will use its built-in apps unless you tell it otherwise. Like it or not, your brain (unless you tell it otherwise) has an unfortunate tendency to see other people as faceless, nameless "worker ants" whose only job is to serve you. As far as your brain is concerned, this is both logical and efficient, especially in our harried, over-stressed culture.

Naturally, if your brain is invested in forgetting who people are and what people did for you, it becomes difficult for you to see other people as unique individuals and cherished children of God. It then becomes harder to know them, to know yourself, and to know God.

The goal of contemplative gratitude, therefore, is to insist that your brain smarten up and change its priorities. You're telling your own brain that one of your important new priorities is to see other people as individuals, to appreciate their talents, to understand how important they are to the overall happiness of the whole community.

With practice, you'll know them better and you'll know yourself better. Eventually, this will help you know God better.

A wonderful side benefit to this spiritual practice is the unintentional and unavoidable growth of your own sense of Humbleness. After you've spent a year thinking about all the ways in which your neighbours have helped you, and all the ways in which their talents differ from yours, and all the ways in which they're worthy of appreciation, it's pretty hard to maintain the illusion that you're better than other people and more deserving of God's love than other people.

After all, you ain't growing and picking and sorting and packing and shipping and marketing and grinding and brewing all those coffee beans by yourself. Are you?

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.

LSP4: Second Chances

Do you worry there's only one right way to find the doorway to God's help? Are you afraid that if you pick the wrong path, you'll be punished by God?

Most of the recent writers talking about God, the soul, and the afterlife are describing the early stages of the faith journey. They start with their observations about how messed up our human lives are. Then they offer their insights about how you can get onto the Spiral Path. This is fine. In fact, this is what you find at the heart of the world's great religions: the yearning to step onto the Spiral Path and stumble your way toward reconnection with God.

For many people, this is the longest part of the human journey, the part that fills up the bulk of their lives. Often people only find what they've been looking for as they draw near the end of their allotted time on Planet Earth. So they don't have a lot of time to "start again," so to speak -- to start again on the faith journey by asking all the questions they didn't think to ask the first time.

Each person's journey on the Spiral Path is unique. Like this rune stone that tells the story of a Viking expedition to the Far East that didn't go well, the narrative of our lives is filled with unexpected plot twists. Shit happens on the Spiral Path. Shown here is a reproduction of a Viking rune stone that was part of a special exhibit at the Royal Ontario Museum. Photo credit JAT 2018.

The difference for me is that I've had plenty of time -- many years, in fact -- to come full circle on the Spiral Path and start again near the beginning with fresh eyes, fresh questions, and a healed heart. This is a chance not many people get.

I view myself as a spiritual muckraker, someone who's not afraid to challenge old ways of religious thinking that are holding people back as they try to reconnect with God. To be good at this, I had to draw a deep breath and accept a costly twist in the path: a return to university when I was forty-nine. Theological studies helped me examine religious thought patterns from the inside and compare what I was reading to what I'd been experiencing as a heretical Christian mystic.

I began my academic studies after I'd already come full circle on the Spiral Path -- after I'd already learned what it means to forgive, what it means to receive God's love, what it means to find redemption as a human being. I'll be very honest with you and say that a lot of the church's traditional teachings look like a pile of mouldy baloney once you've talked to God the Mother and God the Father about the soul's journey in Creation.

Nonetheless, I still self-identify with Christianity -- that is, with the teachings of Jesus son of Joseph. If you've read my other blogs, you know how little sympathy I have for the teachings of Paul. (I filled three books with thoughts about the contrasts between Jesus and Paul, so you know I take the subject seriously!) Having complained at length about orthodox Western Christianity, I still maintain there's good stuff hidden within Christianity (especially the idea of a personal God and a soul that's inherently good); so, if you need to know where I'm starting from, I'd reply that I'm starting from the same place as that well known heretical Jewish man who came full circle on the Spiral Path and restarted his relationship with God after he (the man) realized that questions are the doorway.

If you wholeheartedly believe in the Church's teachings on sin, separation, sacraments, and salvation ("the 4 S's"), you're not going to like my posts. If, on the other hand, you're open to the idea that God has never stopped talking to you, and never will, and that you're totally worthy of God's unconditional love, you may find something helpful in my thoughts.

God bless,

Jen

For Further Reflection:

Because God is always with you, and because God's angels are always with you, too, there is no limit to the number of times you can have a second chance. Right up until the day you die, God is presenting you with new opportunities for change, growth, learning, and asking logical questions. No matter how often you turn away from Divine Love, God will forgive you and find exasperating ways to challenge you to be your best self.

You know that saying about new chances? The saying that wisely reminds us,"When one door closes, another door opens"? It's true. I don't know who first came up with this maxim, but I know it's a timeless truth for anyone who wants to get closer to God the Mother and God the Father.

As humans, most of us have some pretty bad habits. We like to cling to things we know, things we're comfortable with, things we believe are right (even when they're totally wrong). So God and God's angels frequently close certain doors you're clinging to in order to shake you up and give you a chance to let go of bad habits.

Dr. Alexander's book, when looked at through the light of this maxim, is the story of how God firmly slammed the door on one man's narcissism and opened up a different door (previously hidden beneath layers of anger and status addiction) that showed this same man he's worthy of God's love.

It's important to keep in mind as you pursue your own journey of relationship with God that Dr. Alexander never asked for the journey he got. He never prayed for it. He never used any rituals to get it. He didn't, in fact, even know he was on a journey. Nevertheless, he got the journey God decided was best for him and for those around him.

Dr. Alexander wasn't unique or specially chosen in this regard. Everyone gets the journey and the doorways that are best suited to them.

Keep your eyes and ears open for the doorways God is showing you all the time. Keeping your eyes and ears open is a huge part of learning how to be in full relationship with God.

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.