Monthly Archives: December 2022

Ways People Complete Things

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By George A. Boyd © 2013

As 2022 draws to a close, I wanted to share an article that discusses incompletion. As you review the goals and resolutions you set for 2022, you may notice that you may have not accomplished a certain percentage of what you intended at the beginning of the year. I wanted to share with you some ways you can do a better job of completing the goals you set for 2023—and to gain some insights into what may have been sabotaging you fulfilling your resolutions. I extend our best wishes for a better year in 2023.

One of the major issues many people have is completing or finishing issues that occur to them. These issues may take the form of:

  • A loss, which is not resolved, which leads to unfinished grief and regret
  • A betrayal or violation, which evokes rage, and a desire for revenge
  • A traumatic experience, such as incidents that occur in a relationship, through molestation, through crime, through a terrorist incident, through a natural catastrophe, or in a war
  • A failure or embarrassment experience, which makes a person not wish to try that endeavor again
  • A fearful experience, which leads a person to avoid the object or person that made him or her afraid
  • A goal left incomplete, which rankles for completion—for example, not completing a college degree
  • A creative project left unfinished, with a strong desire to finish it

People resolve these unfinished issues through several methods:

Enactment relies upon deliberation and decision to promote change. In this method, you identify what goals or actions have been left undone, and take purposive and intelligent actions to finish the goal; you persist until the goal is completed.

Understanding and communication employs dialog and listening to work with your issues. Those who adopt this approach listen to your pain, grief, rage, and shame, and acknowledge it. It uses understanding, acceptance, and forgiveness to allow you to process through the feelings, work through them, and release them. Counseling and psychotherapy use this method.

Finding solutions seeks to find an answer through reviewing potential solutions and options. This method identifies the problem, and attempts to find solutions for it. It may look at different options to solve the process, explore outcomes of those choices, and facilitate a decision to act on one of the choices. This is called the problem solving approach; work teams and inventors commonly exercise this strategy.

Mindfulness adopts observation and process to promote insight and release. This method simply allows the mind to become aware of each traumatic issue or painful feelings, to fully experience them, and let go of this. Forms of psychotherapy that teach clients mindfulness-based solutions make use of this method.

Active remembrance and release applies process meditation or free association to uncover deep issues hidden in the unconscious mind. This method focuses on a selected issue and keeps attention upon it—this may be elicited by a repetitive question, or an inquiry as to what is associated with a theme. The issue is processed or explored until its origin is located, and the person can release it, and re-create a new intention for that theme. Variations of this approach are found in Scientology™ or other “transformational trainings” that use process meditation; Psychoanalysis and its offshoots adopt the inquiry or free association method.

Invocation of spiritual assistance primarily utilizes prayer. This method invokes the Holy Spirit, or the intervention of an angel or a spiritual Master. This method calls upon the Light of etheric and emotional healing to minister to the wounds of the heart.

Transformation takes two forms: personal and spiritual transformation:

Personal transformation approaches use perspective shift, acting from another frame of reference, confronting fear or limiting beliefs, uprooting excuses and making a firm commitment to deal with the issue, facilitating realization or “aha moments,” experiencing breakthroughs or “personal wins,” or courageously doing that which is risky or scary.

Spiritual transformation uproots the karmic seeds that underlie these unfinished issues, using techniques that lead the spirit to open the inner channels of Light and Sound (the Nada), and/or to unfold the Soul and its vehicles of consciousness through methods like Bija mantra or Kriya Yoga, or through Light Immersion methods.

If people do nothing, or simply take medication to make the bad feelings go away temporarily, the issue will not resolve. If they put off dealing with the issue, it will not be finished. If they avoid the issue, it will not be ended. If they make excuses about the issue, or blame others, it will not be worked out. If they delude themselves about what the problem really is, they will not be freed from its continual rankling. If they continually think about the problem, but don’t take action, the issue will remain incomplete.

People don’t complete things because they don’t use the tools designed to help them complete things. If you use these tools effectively and resolutely, you will finish these issues and move forward in your life.

If you don’t use them, you will remain stuck in the past—in the morass of should have, would have, could have, I regret that, sorry that I didn’t, must not have been meant to be—and all of the other mental quagmires that impede your forward progress towards success and fulfillment.

Some of these methods you can learn to use and do for yourself; others may require the assistance of a professional counselor or therapist. Realize that if you do not take action on these issues and work to resolve them, however, they will continue to hound you until you finally resolve them and finish them for good. May you summon the courage and resolve to not be bound another day by these incomplete issues of your past.

Seven Patterns of Attentional Interface with the Ensouling Entity

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By George A. Boyd ©2008

Excerpted from The Advanced Practice of Meditation

By placing the attention upon a particular spiritual essence the attentional principle, an ensouling entity, the spirit of one of the 12 domains, or a nucleus of identity, the meditator moves from association to union and finally to identification.

Identification with the attentional principle or an ensouling entity, spiritual essence, or a nucleus of identity leads to different perceptions of the inner and outer world (cosmos), path, and apparent purpose.

In different spiritual traditions, the attention is trained to associate with a targeted ensouling entity, nucleus of identity, or spirit on the Great Continuum of Consciousness. Depending on the spiritual teachings and philosophy of this group, the justification for doing the particular spiritual practices that they use is to accomplish (a) specific aim(s). These objectives of their meditation system may include:

  1. Union of attention with ensouling entity bring Gnosis and Realization (the Truth)
  2. Awareness of the ensouling entity upon a path of Light (the Way)
  3. Becoming aware of the gradations of the Path, discerning stages and landmarks (the Path)
  4. Becoming aware of the lighted zone awakened by the light and the zone of unconscious, marking the unawakened portion of the Path and its ultimate goal (the Purpose)
  5. Becoming aware of the vehicles of consciousness upon the path and the particular intelligences, abilities and virtues these vehicles of consciousness contain within them (the Plan)
  6. Becoming aware of the path of the spirit (Nada), the location of the spirit upon the Path, and the Nadamic tone associated with the ensouling entity’s station on the path (the Love)
  7. Expressing the gifts and powers of the Soul, by awakening the full potentials of the mind through the Kundalini Shakti (the Life)

Attentional Interface

When a meditation system targets an ensouling as its object of meditation, they may use alternate tracks to associate the attention with this ensouling entity. These seven patterns of attentional interface with the ensouling entity are shown below:

  1. Liberation of the ensouling entity
  2. Spiritual evolution of the ensouling entity to a place of Mastery and Empowerment
  3. Union of the attention with the ensouling entity and enjoying the peace and bliss of that state
  4. Developing the powers and abilities of the soul with an aim to gain mastery over the mind and body, and ultimately Supreme Nature and consciousness
  5. Discernment of the true nature of the Soul above elements that veil or obscure its realization, such as “Illusion,” “the mind,” the “ego,” or “karma”
  6. Opening the path of the Nada: advancing the spirit along this track to its ultimate union with the Divine in its source
  7. Awakening the power of the Kundalini Shakti to fix the attention in union with the ensouling entity; and receiving Shaktipat to advance the ensouling entity upon its Path.

Initiates and advanced disciples may select dominant patterns of relating to the ensouling entity. For example, Jesus’ statement, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life” emphasizes the second, first, and seventh attentional tracks. The advanced disciple undergoing the Fourth Planetary Initiation, who becomes “the Way and the Path,” utilizes the second and third attentional tracks.

We encourage aspirants and disciples with each of these patterns of attentional interface with their ensouling entity. This will allow them to have the greatest attentional flexibility; and will permit them to adopt the appropriate stance to perform the variety of techniques that make up an Integral meditation system.

Those wishing to learn the techniques of our Integral meditation system may wish to take our in-person intermediate course, the Mudrashram® Master Course in Meditation—we are starting a new virtual class on January 19, 2023—or the by-mail and online version of this intermediate class, the Accelerated Meditation Program. Please contact us if you wish to join one of these classes; you may wish to schedule a spiritual discovery session to see if either of these classes match your meditation objectives.

Sources of Sin in Spiritual Practice

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By George A. Boyd © 2020

Q: How is it that those who say they are spiritual do evil and hurtful acts? How do they justify this?

A: We can characterize seven major types of spiritual groups:

  1. Practices of the Lower Astral Plane that Wiccans and Occult Initiates utilize
  2. Practices of the First Cosmic and Supracosmic Paths that teach Occult practices to gain powers
  3. Practices of groups that identify with a nucleus of identity, keep attention fixed on it, and transform it
  4. Groups that advocate practicing love and holy virtues
  5. Groups that teach discernment and wisdom
  6. Groups that identify with the spirit and use it to unfold a Transcendental ensouling entity
  7. Groups that coordinate unfoldment between spirit and ensouling entity at the cutting edge of spirituality

When we examine the karmic patterns that emanate from these traditions, we observe that:

  • Types one and two generate primarily negative karma.
  • Type three yields mixed positive and negative karma.
  • Types four through six give rise to primarily positive karma.
  • Type seven is mixed: this is dependent upon the karma that arises from the matrix of destiny karma and whether someone is concurrently operating from any of these other platforms.

Q: How can someone recognize he or she is involved with one of these negative karma producing groups?

A: There are several warning signs. Look for:

  1. Thelema – This is the admonition to do whatever you want, regardless of how it might impact others.
  2. Evasion of karmic responsibility – This shows up as entertaining ideas that your actions have no karmic repercussions if a certain altered state of consciousness is maintained while doing the action.
  3. Permission to act on Lower Astral themes – The teaching condones, even encourages use of drugs, libertine and abusive sexuality, criminal acts, misuse of power, and spiritual enslavement of others.
  4. Grandiose and narcissistic attitude –You come to believe that you are above the Karmic Law and you are superior to others.
  5. Lack of empathy and compassion – You view only the personal outcome of the behavior for yourself without considering its impact on others.
  6. Justification of evil deeds – You rationalize the commission of evil deeds as revenge, getting your just dues, or you are entitled to do, be, or have what you want, no matter who is harmed in the process.
  7. Lack of repentance or remorse –You do not express any regret for engaging in negative actions that harm yourself or others.

The identification that leads to operating from types one and two must be broken.

  • You need to make amends to those whom you have harmed.
  • You must renounce the beliefs and behavior that lock these karmic impressions into place.
  • You must give sincere repentance for each of your evil deeds must be made, together with resolving to never repeat them.
  • You must stop any behavior that draws upon the energies of the Lower Astral.
  • You must realign with the spiritual core of love and compassion, and release the desire to have power over others.

Continuing in this state of mind will continue to accrue negative karma. At a certain level of accretion of negative karma, this will devolve the ensouling entity at the cutting edge of spirituality.

Moreover, until this karma is resolved, you will be unable to pass into the Light of Liberation. These adharmic actions must be halted. You must remove these impressions from your mind and heart before you can become re-established in the harmony of Dharma.

Those wishing to learn more about the working of karma may enjoy our new eBook, Understanding Karma and Destiny. Those who wish to work on character reformation may enjoy our other new eBook, A Primer on Spiritual Ethics and Character

The Seven Gates

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The Seven Gates: How You Becomes Trapped in Your Limitations

By George A. Boyd © 2016

There are seven gates, which keep you trapped in the bubble of the Conscious mind. When this gate is opened, it transforms the way you view the world and how you identify yourself with what you feel is your true essence. These gates, and the transformation they produce when they are opened, are listed below:

  1. The gate of the brain – from reason to the Soul’s intuition (Jnana)
  2. The gate of the brow – from the waking state of awareness to attentional Union with the Soul (Samadhi)
  3. The gate of the throat – from consensual speech to the communication of the Soul’s truths (Satsang)
  4. The gate of the heart – from identification with the ego to rebirth as and identification with the spirit
  5. The gate of the solar plexus – from identification with human abilities to the discovery of the transpersonal will (Siddhi)
  6. The gate of the navel – from immersion in fear and craving to faith and freedom in union with a nucleus of identity suffused with the Divine Light and Grace
  7. The gate of the root – from identification with the human body and brain to awakening of the power of energy and awareness, bringing about Union and identification with the Soul

One of the purposes of meditation is to give you the key to open each of these gates. In the Mudrashram® system of Integral meditation, we give you specific tools for unlocking these gates.

  • To open the brain gate, we teach you Jnana Yoga, which connects you with your Soul’s intuition.
  • To open the gate of the brow, we teach you Purusa Dhyan and Raja Yoga. [Purusa Dhyan means you unite your attention with your attentional principle. This technique is described in our article, “How to Open Your Own Third Eye.”]
  • To open the gate of the throat, we teach you chanting and intoning, which open the higher octaves of your speech.
  • To open the gate of the heart, we teach you Surat Dhyan and Nada Yoga.[Surat Dhyan means you unite your attention with your spirit.]
  • To open the gate of the solar plexus, we teach you Agni Yoga.
  • To open the gate of the navel, we teach you Manasa Dhyan and prayer.[Manasa Dhyan means you unite your attention with a nucleus of identity.]
  • To open the gate of the root, we teach you Kundalini Yoga.

To open even one of these gates brings breakthrough; we teach you open all seven.

You can learn about these methods in our intermediate courses, the Mudrashram Master Course in Meditation, which is available in-person; and the Accelerated Meditation Program, which is available by-mail and online.

Moving from Atheism to Sainthood

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Stages of Religious Development: Moving from Atheism to Sainthood

By George A. Boyd ©2022

Q: How do people transform from having no belief in God—they are atheists—to becoming saints?

A: There appears to be a 12-step progression from atheism to sainthood. We can briefly describe these stages as follows:

  1. Atheism – you have no belief in God, you believe that only the body and brain are real and that believing in God is a delusion
  2. Agnostic – you are open to the idea that God may exist, but whatever God might be is outside of your experience
  3. Awakening of faith – You first begin to believe in God; you remember a Higher Power and pray to it
  4. Initial doctrinal programming – you are taught what to believe about God and what God requires of you; this varies for each sect and faith tradition
  5. Evangelical fervor – you are told to spread the message of faith to convert others to see the truth, as you know it; you attempt to proselytize others
  6. Quest for political power – you are part of an effort to bring your group’s beliefs to influence policy and law, and to elect those who believe as you do to rule over your community, your county, your state, and your nation
  7. Compassionate advocacy for those who are suffering – you get into touch with feelings of love and compassion, and you do volunteer service, charity, or active advocacy for an aspect of human or animal suffering
  8. Moral reformation – you work on yourself to improve your character and begin to live holy virtues in your life
  9. Mystic experience – you begin to commune with guides, angels, the Holy Spirit, or the Divine, as you know it in your religious tradition, through entering into altered states of consciousness
  10. Transformation – you experience the Light transform the spiritual essence with which those in your religious tradition identify; you awaken new abilities, intuitive knowledge and understanding, and enhance your love, compassion, and virtue
  11. Vision and revelation – as you move closer to the Divine that you know in your tradition, you have a series of visions and revelations; sometimes these experiences will give clear guidance that orients you and bestows wisdom—but in other cases, they will give you distorted information and lead you to fanaticism and madness
  12. Assumption into Grace – as you continue the transformational process, you will move into the Presence of God as the Divine is known in your tradition, and you will be anointed to minister, teach, counsel, and/or guide others

Before the awakening of faith, there is nothing to give people any certainty that God exists. There are a variety of things that can awaken faith:

  • Listening to a religious message conveyed through preaching, sermons, religious writing, or satsang
  • Spontaneous awakening through Grace
  • A traumatic or emotionally painful experience that makes you ask for help
  • Reawakening of childhood religious beliefs that you had abandoned
  • A decision made based on philosophical analysis and a search for meaning
  • An encounter with a saint that changes your beliefs and behavior
  • Focusing attention on the Superconscious mind through active meditation or passive means such as ingestion of psychedelic drugs that produces a peak experience in which you experience God, and this awakens belief in you

The initial programming you receive after faith awakens in you conditions what direction your religious life will take. This may lead you to an external focus of expression, where you:

  • Evangelize others
  • Engage in political advocacy
  • Pursue social justice and advocacy for some group that is suffering
  • Seek moral reformation—to improve your character and to act towards others in a kinder and more loving way

In other cases, this initial programming you receive after your initial awakening of faith may lead you to an internal quest. This may inspire you to seek out:

  • Mystic experiences
  • Transformation
  • Visions and revelations
  • Ascension into heavenly realms and into the Presence of the Divine

Apollonian faith traditions emphasize directing you to external expression; Dionysian faith traditions encourage internal experiences of mysticism and transformation that ultimately lead to establishing the spiritual essence developed in their spiritual tradition in the Presence of the Divine.

Commonly, Western religious traditions anchored in the First Exoteric Initiation emphasize this external expression; in contrast, Eastern religious traditions anchored in the First Cosmic Initiation, and selected Supracosmic or Transcendental Paths cultivate this internal expression—you also find an emphasis on this internal expression in the New Age groups that operate in the Psychic Realm.

Leaders of religious and religiously influenced political groups, who regularly tap into the band of vision and revelation, may disseminate misinformation, conspiracy theories, and other forms of distorted messaging. Followers of these misguided leaders amplify this message through spreading it to others, and advocating on behalf of the leader to influence social, corporate, and political decision-making to enact the group’s agendas. Hate mongers, racists, and religious fanatics tap into this band of distorted revelation and turn it into speech and behavior that targets those whom these groups persecute or blame for the troubles in the world.

Those who typically come to Mudrashram® are those who seek mystic and transformational experiences, and who want to make their conscious ascension to Liberation and spiritual Mastery. Those who have been dyed in the color of distorted revelation, however, do not do well pursuing our teachings and using our practices.

Those who have learned these distorted beliefs must unlearn them; they must be willing to move from conviction about these beliefs to a willingness to release them and learn a set of truths founded upon the Soul’s authentic discovery and direct experience beyond the filter of conspiracy theories and flawed conjecture.

Those who achieve sainthood must (1) experience the awakening of faith, (2) select an internal development method that promotes mystic experience, (3) generate transformation of their spiritual essence, (4) discourage distorted revelation, and (5) progressively transform the spiritual essence cultivated in that religious tradition into the Presence of the Divine, where it can be Divinely anointed and empowered to minister the Light to others.

Unfortunately, many are waylaid on this inner journey through fascination with visions and revelations, and are led astray. To embrace genuine spirituality, they must jettison their false beliefs and simply observe what is there in their heart, their mind, and their Soul. Once they can verify and replicate the steps of their progressive inner discovery, they can begin to construct an accurate mapping of the Path and identify those elements within their heart and mind that are stable, reliable, and sound.

Those who are searching for mystic experiences and transformation may learn the inner methods to produce them in our intermediate meditation courses. These intermediate meditation classes are the in-person Mudrashram® Master Course in Meditation and the by-mail and online Accelerated Meditation Program. Those who wish to prepare themselves to perform the more advanced meditations of our intermediate programs may benefit from first taking the Introduction to Meditation Program.