What Is Required to Connect with a Spiritual Guide?

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Q: I’m not having experiences of guides—not Mudrashram® guides or those of other spiritual traditions. How do I prepare myself to commune with a spiritual guide?

A: If you are initiated into Mudrashram®, one of the Multiplane Masters of our tradition looks after your spiritual progress. He or she sponsors you and guides you through your entire spiritual journey from where you start to the Infinite Stage. We call this Master, your Supervising Initiate.In other spiritual traditions, the Master on their Path plays a similar role. We point out that those of your who are currently studying with Mudrashram® may often see the guide forms of Masters from other spiritual traditions, who operate at different levels of the Continuum of Consciousness—it is common to encounter them if you were affiliated with their Path in your current or past incarnation, or if they play a role in helping you develop some aspect of your Soul Purpose or your Aeonic spiritual mission.

Many meditation students are not aware of this Supervising Initiate, in our spiritual tradition, despite regularly practicing the core techniques of Integral meditation. The same may be said for those of other spiritual traditions, who likewise practice the meditations that have been imparted to them, but they also are not contacting the Master that supervises spiritual development on their Path.

Several factors facilitate contact with this inner teacher:

  1. Devotion – Meditation students who have devotion and love for God create a “magnetic center.” This lets a Master know an aspirant is sincere about making spiritual progress and drawing closer to God. It is said that the Masters readily work with those who have an active magnetic center.
  2. Ability to contemplate – Those who have honed their ability to concentrate and contemplate can, in time, successfully discern the guide form of the Master. The Master’s guide form may appear to the attentional principle or the spirit; it may manifest as a Ray of Attunement anchored in a nucleus of identity or an ensouling entity.
  3. Requisite depth of meditation – Aspirants need to be able to move their attention to the level on the Continuum of Consciousness where this guide form dwells. Those who get waylaid in the bands of the Conscious, Subconscious, or Metaconscious mind aren’t able to go to the inner location in the Superconscious mind where the guide can be contacted.
  4. Selfless service – Seekers who contact the guide have pure spiritual aspiration, and dedicate themselves to the service of humanity and God—asking nothing for themselves. Those who are critical of the Divine and the spiritual Master of their tradition may believe they are entitled to immediately have all of their needs and demands met; these individuals have difficulty transcending their ego.
  5. Accurate meditation – Meditators who gain mastery over the three core techniques of Integral Meditation—Mantra Yoga, Nada Yoga, and Raja Yoga—improve their chances of communing with the inner guide form of a Master. Those who do their meditation practices robotically without giving their full attention have decreased probability of contacting the inner guide.
  6. Good ethical character – Developing holiness and virtue purifies the mind, and makes it more likely the aspirant can qualify for the inner sight of the radiant form of the Master within (darshan).
  7. Achievement of inner silence and stillness – The inner Master’s presence dwells in great stillness and silence; having emotional reactions and projections, and cascading waves of thought do not allow the aspirant to reach the state where he or she can behold the Master within—and where he or she can hear the Master’s voice.

To the degree you are able to make progress on these seven factors, the more likely you are to encounter the inner Master. We invite you to reflect upon these seven factors, and to see which ones you can begin to implement.

If you are able to incorporate one or more of these skills and qualities, it will be easier to contact the Mudrashram® guides and those of other spiritual traditions.

Social Orders of Motivation

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Q: Why do fear, anger, and shame run the lives of so many people? Can people get out of these circles of influence and live lives of love and altruism?

A: We need to look at the seven major social orders of motivation that play out in human life:

  1. Shame and embarrassment – the drive to not have one’s awkwardness, deficiencies, or secrets revealed
  2. Fear – the motivation to escape or avoid situations or objects that frighten one or that one perceives may cause them harm or loss
  3. Anger and rage – the impulse to harm or attack others, to right perceived injustices, or to force others to do one’s will
  4. Challenge and competition – the quest to be superior or the best, or to be recognized for one’s achievements, and to succeed
  5. Compassion and love – wanting to make a difference in the world, for one’s life to mean something, and to help and heal others
  6. Devotion and aspiration – the impetus to grow and transform spiritually and draw closer to the Divine
  7. Grace – the sharing of the Divine Spiritual Light to support personal and spiritual transformation, and to fulfill the devotion and aspiration of those who seek to advance spiritually

We see examples of how these seven orders of motivation play out in society:

  • Social control usually employs shame (1) to influence people to adhere to the social norms of the family, friendship, education, employment, civic, and religious arenas of life.
  • Politicians and demagogues—as well as many who seek to sell their products and services—often tap into fear (2) and anger (3) motivational frames.
  • Those who seek to gain respect from others and wish to be perceived as successful and winners draw their inspiration from challenge and competition (4).
  • Those who are on the spiritual Path awaken love and compassion (5) and devotion (6), which enfires them to make spiritual progress and actualize their personal and spiritual potentials.
  • Those who have achieved spiritual Mastery share the Grace (7) of their Divine Empowerment.

In Mudrashram®, we support the development of compassion and love (5), and aspiration and devotion (6) through our teachings, meditation training, and Light Ministry. To shift out of the lower four social motivational platforms into these two higher ones, you need to focus your attention on your inner spiritual essences—your attentional principle, the spirit, and the Soul.

We teach you 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. Those who have not meditated before will benefit from taking the Introduction to Meditation Program, which prepares you to perform the more advanced meditation practices of our intermediate courses.

Transition Points in Meditation

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By George A. Boyd ©2023

Q: Are there discrete markers for mastery of meditation?

A: We can describe the initial transition states that mark the entrance into a new stage of meditation:

  1. You are caught in the bubble of the Conscious mind and you have no awareness of anything outside of it.
  2. You have your first awakening experience. You passively move your attention out of the Conscious mind, but this experience is not under your control. This occurs, for example, when you ingest a psychedelic drug, or you have a spontaneous astral projection experience.
  3. You have an awakening experience that is under your control. You consciously collect your attention to achieve the state of mindfulness—you are fully present, aware, and inwardly alert. You become aware of your present time experience in the waking state of consciousness.
  4. You first experience moving your attention along the thread of consciousness. You become aware of your experience at the focal points of the Conscious and Subconscious mind.
  5. You have your first contact with your attentional principle. You awaken as your intentional consciousness.
  6. You have your first contact with the Self at the core of the Metaconscious mind. You experience the activity of volition.
  7. You have your first contact with your spirit. You activate your spirit’s love and devotion, and the conative principle that operates in the spirit, the wish.
  8. You have your first conscious union with the Soul. You experience the operation of the transpersonal will.
  9. You have your first experience of working on your personality with your attentional principle using a meditation technique.
  10. You have your first experience of generating transformation at the level of the Soul and its associated vehicles of consciousness.
  11. You have your first experience of making Light attunements with your attentional principle.
  12. You have your first experience of being able to translate the Soul and lead the spirit into the channels of the Nada.

We can describe the steps of inner awakening:

Before people awaken, they are in stage (1). They are not aware of anything outside of the waking state of consciousness.

The Neophyte stage begins when people have an opening experience at stage (2). Those who do not retreat in terror when they have this experience move into the Aspirant or Seeker stage.

Many people have been introduced to stage (3), mindfulness, through popular magazines or yoga classes. They learn how to relax and collect their attention, and they become aware of their experience in the present time.

Stage (4) begins when you gain the ability to move your attention along the thread of consciousness and can contemplate the focal points of the Conscious mind—and later, the Subconscious mind. We teach this method in our Introduction to Meditation class.

Stages (5), (6), and (7), bring about awakening of the three immortal essences—attentional principle, spirit, and the Soul; (8) the Self, the integration center of the entire personality, and (9) confer the ability to do work on the personality and (10) in the Superconscious mind. We teach these techniques in our intermediate meditation classes, the in-person Mudrashram® Master Course in Meditation and the by-mail and online Accelerated Meditation Program.

We teach the technique to make attunements (11) in our Light Sittings, and in the Attunement Meditation workshop. Those who take Teacher Training One at the Form of the Disciple level of the Bridge Path learn to make many different attunements, both with the personality and also with the essences that dwell in the Superconscious mind.

Those that are empowered at the Mahatma stage of the Bridge Path gain the ability (12) to send the Light to translate the Soul and manifest the guide form to the attentional principle and the spirit. These abilities are gained when the advanced disciple takes Teacher Training Two.

We encourage you to become familiar with each of these transition points, and learn to master the proficiencies of each stage. Learning targeted meditations for stages (4) to (12) facilitates moving to the deeper states of contemplation beyond mindfulness—you are trained in these methods in our Introductory, Intermediate, and Advanced meditation classes.

Chats and Tatts Podcast is now live

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I did an interview on Chats and Tatts on October 18, 2023 with Aaron Della Vedova. This is now available on popular podcast channels and YouTube. You can listen to the show on the channels below.

Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/chats-tatts/id1664472316?i=1000635681250

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3Sv5o24E5RW7VjfUZapcnP?si=959j3oiiS-CwMEvlWjFxjw

Youtube: https://youtu.be/bb-EXJfEsng

A Functional Scale Revisited

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By George A. Boyd ©2023

Q: At what level are people able to do spiritual work?

A: We can conceive human functioning as an eleven-point scale:

-5 Gross physical dysfunction – Catatonia or paralysis, inability to use the body

-4 Etheric body dysfunction – Chronic debilitating illness, not having the energy to carry out the activities of living

-3 Mental dysfunction – Cognitive disorganization and delusion, deficits in intellectual ability

-2 Emotional dysfunction – mania and depression, inability to form normal human relationships

-1 Egoic dysfunction – Anxiety, personality disorders, inability to experience integral Self

0  Integral Self – Normal adult functioning, having the capacity to make congruent choices, to plan for the future, and to achieve one’s objectives

+1 Aspiration and idealism – Dedication of one’s life to a cause greater than oneself

+2 Creativity – Expression of the Soul’s gifts through the operation of the transpersonal will

+3 Altruism and service – Living a life of love and compassion, charity, and caring for others, which expresses the unconditional love of the Soul

+4 Inner awakening – As one awakens the three immortal principles—the attentional principle, the spirit, and the Soul—one gains the ability to work on the personality and to awaken and transform one’s spiritual potentials

+5 Thaumaturgy – This grants the ability to minister the Light, and to guide, teach, and initiate others—this expresses the Illumined Mind and the Divine Spirit

We can find common characteristics for those who operate at the levels that exist within the personality (-5 to 0) and those that transcend it (+1 to +5):

Physicians and mental health professionals assist people to get to level 0, where people can function optimally in their lives.

People who join causes—military, political, and religious—follow beliefs and perform behavior to dedicate themselves to something greater than themselves. These individuals operate at level +1.

Those that develop a gift that comes from their Superconscious mind—athletic, scientific, artistic, philosophical, metaphysical, or psychic—tap into their creative nexus at level +2.

Those who awaken as their attentional principle, spirit, and Soul are capable of working at level +4. This is where we begin our students in Mudrashram®. This is where one gains the ability to do spiritual work.

Those who become spiritual Masters or who work directly with spiritual Masters are able to engage in spiritual ministry at level +5.

We observe that people who operate in levels -5 to -1 typically have difficulty with adult functioning. If they try to transcend the Self—without working out their issues—through forays into spiritual levels +1 to +5, they experience difficulties maintaining their rationality and balance.

If they attempt this jump into the beyond before they have achieved the Integral Self stage, they often bring their emotional, cognitive, or egoic dysfunction with them. This yields distortion of spiritual concepts, belief in conspiracy theories, and fanatical behavior.

Before you can safely transcend the Self, it is important that you reach stable functioning as your Self—and are able to carry out the activities of adult functioning.

Those who dedicate themselves to an aspirational agenda at level +1—if they still have unfinished resolution of cognitive, emotional, and egoic issues—are more likely to succumb to demagogic and cultic manipulation, making them prone to believe in conspiracy theories and to adopt fanatical behavior.

We suggest that you study this eleven-point scale of functioning, and identify the factors that will allow you to stably move to higher levels of functioning and to ready yourself for conscious spiritual work.