Monthly Archives: July 2023

Revisiting the Three Threads

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By George A. Boyd ©2023

There are three threads that connect with your deeper nature that you can access from your waking state of awareness. These are:

  • The thread of faith
  • The thread of consciousness
  • The thread of intuition

You access the thread of faith when you pray and you ask your Higher Self and the Divine for help. You access the thread of consciousness when you meditate and practice mindfulness. You access the cord of intuition when you ask your Higher Self for answers to your questions, and you seek guidance and direction for your life.

You can differentiate these three threads through several parameters:

  • Where your eyes are directed for each thread – Your eyes gaze down at the heart, your eyes gaze up at the point between the eyebrows, your eyes gaze up to the brain
  • What you are doing in each state – Prayer, contemplation, inner listening
  • What is motivating you in each state – Asking for help, cultivating awareness, reception of guidance
  • What is your mindset is in each state – Believing, experiencing, knowing
  • What is the outcome of cultivating this state – Faith, mindfulness, enlightenment
  • What initiates this state – Ego, attention, Soul
  • What is the emotion associated with this state – fear and need, aspiration and seeking, love
  • In what time frame does this state operate – present looking towards the future, experiencing the present moment, eternity

You can learn to utilize each of these aspects to support you in your time of need, to gain greater knowledge and insight, and to connect with your Soul. Depending on where you are in your life right now, one of these modes may predominate:

  • When you are in a state of struggle and need, the cord of faith will be most active.
  • When you are peaceful and contemplative, the cord of consciousness will activate.
  • When you are helping others, the cord of intuition will become engaged.

We encourage you to utilize the thread that is appropriate for your current situation to get the help and support you need, to explore the levels of awareness, and to share your Soul’s wisdom.

We train you in the rudiments of accessing the thread of consciousness and introduce you to the thread of intuition in our Introduction to Meditation Program; we go deeper into the exploration of these two threads in our intermediate meditation programs, the in-person Mudrashram® Master Course in Meditation and the by-mail and online Accelerated Meditation Program. We guide you into even deeper levels of these two threads in our Mudrashram® Advanced Course in Meditation. We invite you to study with us to learn to utilize these two threads.

Finding Accurate Information

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By George A. Boyd ©2023

Q: In what ways can information be presented accurately in modern media? There is so much misinformation that is disseminated.

A: There are a variety of presentation formats in which information can be presented in various media. Here are some of the different types:

  1. News reporting – This gives brief information about what is going on in the world today. It identifies important events and presents significant personalities to the viewer. The Nightly News on most broadcast media is of this type.
  2. Brief interview – Here a news anchor or moderator asks questions to a guest to understand a newsworthy question more completely. This can devolve into a defensive, argumentative exchange if the host and guest are on different wavelengths—for example, if host and guest have different religious or political views—or if the interviewers’ questions are accusatory, or challenging the guest’s veracity or account of events. Short three to five minute news interviews on different media, or brief segments on shows like “60 Minutes.”
  3. In-depth exposition – In this format, there is an article or program that goes into depth on a particular topic or through an interview with someone—typically 30 minutes or more. It cites many sources, both those who corroborate the evidence and those that are critical of the evidence. Documentaries and investigative journalism take this approach.
  4. Monologue – In a monologue, a host discusses the news, often presenting it in a humorous way. It aims to elicit laughter; but it does communicate the host’s viewpoint on current events. You see this in late night comedy shows, where the hosts discuss the day’s events in a clever and funny way. This same format is used to interview celebrities or present new musical talent to entertain the audience.
  5. Deep exploration of ideas – In this presentation, an interviewer will ask questions to get a guest to elucidate and expand upon his or her ideas. This may ask a writer to talk about the ideas in a book; it may ask a producer or director to elaborate on the themes in a movie. Podcasts and in-depth interviews utilize this method.
  6. Sensationalism – This presents a point of view in an emotional way, which aims to stir sympathy, anger, fear, or outrage. At one extreme, this can be outright indoctrination into a political or religious doctrine designed to shape belief and behavior; at the other extreme, it presents information without any criticism or analysis—thereby transmitting distorted information, conspiracy theories, or propaganda to the public. This shows up in religious and partisan political programming, and tabloid journalism.
  7. Synthesis – This weaves the many strands of a story together to get “the big picture.” It presents commentary or analysis of the many strands that make up the disparate themes of the story and what their implication is. Experienced news commentators and independent journalists adopt this style.

Information gathering and dissemination types 3, 5, and 7 undertake a serious inquiry to uncover the truth and to gain an accurate grasp of the topic under investigation. Type 6 is the least likely to present the truth; it often presents a covert agenda to influence readers, viewers, or listeners to believe distorted or false information.

We suggest that you examine the format of the news and information you receive through various media—newspapers, magazine articles, radio, podcasts, television, and internet videos—to identify which of these types the hosts or anchors use to communicate to you. Notice which of these formats seem to unearth the truth, and which obfuscate it.

You cannot blindly believe whatever is presented through the media; you must use discernment and critical thinking to identify the information that is disseminated is valid, accurate, and reliable.

Effects of Identification

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Effects of Identification on Behavioral, Affective, and Cognitive Functioning

By George A. Boyd © 2023

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

July 2023 Master Course

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We will be starting a new Mudrashram® Master Course in Meditation on Thursday July 13, 2023 at 6:30pm Pacific time. The course will go ten weeks in a webinar format. Classes will be short—an hour to an hour and one half on most nights—so you can laser focus on the topic we are covering. We’re offering this class for $360—about 88% off what its actual value is.

If you want general information about what the class covers, you can go to https://mudrashram.com/master-course-in-meditation/.

If you want to know why you should take the class, go to https://mudrashram.com/why-take-the-mudrashram-master-course-in-meditation/

If you aren’t sure this is right for you, please feel free to contact us and I can talk to you to help you determine whether this fits for you.

If you are clear you want to take this class and you want to enroll now to hold your spot, you can sign up at https://mudrashram.com/programs/. We are opening up twelve slots. When those are gone, they are gone.

If you want to gain a complete understanding of meditation and just not a stray technique here and there, I want to let you know this is a course that will give you incredible value. Please join us!

When You Break Out of the Bubble of Belief

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By George A. Boyd ©2023

Editor’s note: Many people see the world through the prism of their religious or political belief system, and never transcend it. When you move beyond this constructed framework, you see the world anew. This poem speaks to this experience of going beyond belief.

When you break out of the bubble of belief, you see the world as it is.

You experience the levels of the mind as they are, and you witness the content there.

You directly experience your intentional consciousness, your spirit and your Soul, beyond concept or metaphor.

You touch your enlightened mind and you realize your Soul, beyond words and beyond descriptions.

 

When you break out of the bubble of belief, you transcend paradigm, doctrine, and credo.

You travel on the Continuum of Light as a conscious being, a traveler to Supernal Worlds.

You at once encounter the many wondrous forms of God on each successive Plane,

And you behold your forms on each Plane of Light—and witness the gifts each form contains.

 

When you break out of the bubble of belief, you travel on rivers of light and sound back to God.

You detach from the tethers that tie you to this world and journey through worlds of ineffable splendor.

You dissolve all hindrances and return to the fount from which you arose in the beginning,

And you unite with your Divine Beloved for all eternity.

 

When you break out of the bubble of belief, your Soul evolves.

You open and actualize each nodal point upon the Way, and grow in wisdom;

You grow in love and virtue; you bring out your dormant powers;

You fulfill the intrinsic purpose for which you were sent into Creation.

 

When you break out of the bubble of belief, those who remain within it, condemn you.

They cannot conceive anything exists beyond their scripture, their cosmology, and their mythos.

You become threatening to them because you are free,

And because, you have escaped from the ethereal cage that binds them.

 

When you break out of the bubble of belief, you can interface with the content of the mind.

You witness your thoughts and feelings and choices arise in the slipstream of your life:

Like an artist, you can change the picture that you see,

And write a brighter destiny—greater than any one you could ever conceive.

 

When you break out of the bubble of belief, the chains of karma no longer imprison you.

You bring down the beam of fiery, Divine Spirit to dissolve these karmic accretions,

You redeem the potentials hidden in your unconscious mind, turning its darkness into light;

Transforming its nescience and torpor into consciousness and new ability.

 

When you break out of the bubble of belief, you awaken to new possibilities.

The door of the sepulcher opens, and you walk out of the tomb.

You are resurrected into your immortality that has always dwelt within you.

You know the bliss of being and you repose in transcendent peace.

 

When you break out of the bubble of belief, you do not wish to return to this prison.

Though others may regard you as a madman, an apostate, or a traitor—someone whom the devil has deceived.

You regard them with the heart of compassion and with serene detachment,

And you hold out your hand to those who yearn to emerge from their suffering and bondage.