Mass Density

All self help, personal development, growth, and self awareness work is part of the Spiritual Journey. That’s because Spirit Means Life. And all of these endeavors should have an intent to facilitate greater happiness in your life. The mystery of the Spiritual Journey is that it happens within in the realm of your perceptions, mind, emotions, and consciousness. There is no common external reference for clear communication. Much of what is passed down often gets distorted into myth and superstition by fear, self importance, and ignorance. In spite of all these distortions and illusions the journey continues.

Understanding the Spiritual Journey        Free Audio Podcast #20 (43 min 19MB)

In this audio I attempt to put this in the language of common sense as much as possible.

Items covered in this free audio:

What is the value of ceremony and ritual?
Why reading all those self help and spiritual books won’t help much.
How do you measure your progress?
What is Dreaming?
What is the value of meditation, ceremony, ritual?
What is The Initiation of Death.

I also introduce the important element of your Point of Perception that is the critical element in determining all your beliefs and emotional state. Part of the intent of this podcast was to answer some of the questions I get about what goes on the Spiritual Journeys I lead.

When it comes to changing your mind it is critical to first gain awareness of what you are dealing with. Without that Situational Awareness you will likely attempt to change things that are only symptoms. Because you don’t perceive the larger picture, you end up wasting a lot of energy on processes that don’t work effectively.

What is awareness and what does it have to do with changing your behaviors, habits and emotions? A good part of awareness has to do with perception. People who are aware see things that others don’t. They also have a context to put those little bits of information into that help them form a clearer picture. Without the small details and the larger context to make sense of things you can get pretty lost and turned around in the mind. This is what usually happens when people attempt to change a negative thought, or emotional reactions.

Here’s a story from The Power of Intuition by Gary Klein that illustrates how awareness helps to understand a situation and the importance of seeing what others don’t.

The Invisible Adversary

The Marines conducted a training exercise for inexperienced corporals and sergeants at Camp Pendleton in California. John Schmidt is a former Marine who is highly skilled at making sense of tactical situations and was observing. The instructors controlling the exercise, and acting as the enemy, called in mortar attacks, sniper fire, and mine explosions to decimate the team. After this had gone on for a while, an instructor asked a Lance Corporal what kind of adversary they were up against. “I don’t know,” was the response. “The enemy is just clobbering us.” Further questions to probe more deeply pointed nowhere. To the Lance Corporal it was undifferentiated mayhem.

To John Schmidt it was obvious that the Marines, were facing at least a platoon, and more likely, a company of about 150 to 200 soldiers. He knew this because of the mortar rounds, there had to be forward observers to call them in. Mortars are weapons that usually belong to companies or battalions not to platoons. John was keeping track of the number of enemy contacts that had been reported. If he could account for a platoon based on actual contacts, there were probably many more soldiers they hadn’t encountered. Therefore, they were almost certainly facing a larger force than a platoon. The area covered by these different contacts suggested that they were facing a company. Furthermore, the mining of the team’s path showed their adversary planned a defensive operation and a commitment of effort. This implied a force that was certainly larger than a squad. The mortars, mines, and snipers, all seemed to be trying to channel them off the path and into a nearby field that was probably the intended killing zone. (The Power of Intuition p. 139 by Gary Klein)

When people first attempt to make changes in their mind, whether it is thoughts, emotions, or beliefs, they are inexperienced. Much like these young corporals and sergeants, they don’t know what they’re up against. They get clobbered and they don’t even know why. If you are going to win over the adversaries in your mind then you will need to become aware of them and how they really operate.

Eliminating Negative Thoughts

Beginner attempts to change negative thoughts or emotions are often done as if it were a cut-and-paste operation in your Word document. When a negative thought occurs a person will try to make the case against it and prove that it’s not valid. They take the opposing side and push out the negative thought as if to delete it. Then they fill in a positive affirmation, thought, or supportive belief in its place. They might feel better for the moment, but later they can’t figure out why that old negative thought keeps recurring.

Using the metaphor of a garden, thoughts are the leaves of weeds that we can see. When we pull the leaves off a weed it appears that we have solved the problem. However, when you look below the surface, you find that the roots of that weed are still there. Beliefs are the roots of thoughts. If you want to permanently remove a certain thought, you will have to remove the beliefs the thought is rooted in.

Attempts at changing a thought without addressing the belief is like tearing the leaves off a weed and leaving the roots intact. If you can’t see the beliefs in your mind you will have a tough time changing the thoughts. It’s important to get a clearer picture of what you are up against.

The difference between thoughts and beliefs

Example of a negative thought: “I shouldn’t have done that.”

To the casual observer, this appears to be a single thought of self judgment. However there is a system of beliefs at the root of this thought that are invisible. For starters, this judgment is a comparison that finds us wrong. Assumed in this comparison is some other action that would have been “right”. This “right” action is often not spoken in the words, but implied.

There is also the element of faith or belief in that assumed right action. The defined wrong action and the hidden “right” action for both have some faith invested in them. Without faith in this other mental construct, there would be no basis for comparison that leads to self judgment.

The Inner Judge

The part of the mind that speaks the judgment, “I shouldn’t have done that”, we could call the inner judge. It’s not the total mind, just one aspect. If another part of our mind were to disagree with this judgment, then that different part of the mind can easily be seen. This can happen if we have the opposing thought, “That’s not true. It was good that I did that.” However, if there’s no disagreement with the inner judge, the judge stands alone, and it appears as our only voice. This can make it difficult to see this inner judge character as only one aspect of the mind. Instead we tend to think of it as “me.”

Even when there is no disagreement with the inner judge there is still another part of the mind at work. It is the part that silently agrees with the judge. We call this the victim. The victim part of the mind accepts the criticism from the inner judge. When the judge and the victim agree it is also difficult to perceive these parts of the mind as separate from you. Without the awareness of where you stop and the beliefs and voices in the mind begin you will have a difficult time with these adversaries.

Awareness: The Context for Thoughts and Beliefs

What appears as one thought, “I shouldn’t have done that”, is really made up of several components that comprise a belief system. Aside from the negative thought there is:

1) The invisible force of faith you put in that negative thought.

2) The criteria of what is right or expectation that we compare our self to.

3) The invisible force of faith that we put in the criteria of “right”.

4) The inner judge part of the mind that is making the comparisons

5) The voice of the victim that accepts the comparisons of the inner judge.

6) Then there is the resulting emotion of unworthiness when this self judgment is accepted to be true.

The emotion is the consequence of believing the negative thought of self judgment. That emotion can also be a trigger for another set of beliefs such as, “I shouldn’t feel this way,” or “I wish I didn’t feel this way.” Belief in these thoughts can create more emotional reactions. When uncontrolled in the mind this can lead a person into uncontrolled downward spiral of emotions.

Set Up for Failure

When you attempt to change those negative thoughts with a cut-and-paste operation, you are likely to fail. You are pulling a leaf off a weed but leaving the roots in tact.

Each thought is sourced in a belief, and most beliefs are networked with other beliefs. The victim voice in the mind is often in automatic agreement with the judge voice. The judge voice is echoing the comparison based on the belief in the criteria of what is right or successful. The negative thought, “I shouldn’t have done that,” is just the common sense conclusion to these other beliefs. It may be the only part you hear, but it doesn’t mean that it is the only part to the problem.

Attempting to change the thoughts you can see won’t effectively get rid of the beliefs. To effectively change the negative thoughts you will have to change the beliefs that you don’t see. That’s why awareness is so important. Without awareness you won’t be able to see into that invisible world of beliefs where the real issues lie.

Reality

If you’ve attempted to stop or change your negative thoughts and haven’t been successful it doesn’t mean you are a failure. Your results aren’t a measure of your performance, discipline, or personal will power. More likely they have to do with your experience, awareness, and the tools you are using. Developing the awareness to find a belief, and skillfully remove it is a bit more involved than pushing aside a negative thought.

It’s a lot like being up against a company or battalion. It doesn’t mean that you are beat, it just means you had better gain a greater awareness of what you are up against. Then get the training and reinforcements to do the job of changing your core beliefs instead of being distracted by the negative thoughts.

The process begins with self awareness. Developing awareness will give you the ability to see more clearly these hidden beliefs. Without that ability of perception you won’t be able to see where those negative thoughts are coming from. And it’s darn difficult to stop an enemy that you can’t see.

For exercises and practices in raising your awareness and changing core beliefs I suggest the Self Mastery Audio program. The first few sessions are free.

Hi Gary,

I have been hearing a lot about LSD lately and the effects of it on the mind and how it can expand consciousness. From what I heard it can give you the same results as years of self mastery work and meditation. It sounds pretty far fetched. I was just wondering what you think about using LSD or other drugs to advance consciousness on this spiritual journey.
Being Curious AJ

Hi AJ

Drugs can have an impact on your brain and you will likely have an experience from that. What that experience will be you won’t get to know in advance.

I suppose that if you took a pot of coffee and poured it on your computer and monitor you would get an interesting experience as well. There would be a show of sparks, smoke, and possibly even an electrical fire. To a young child, or the inexperienced or naive this could be seen as a magical and profound show. To someone a bit more familiar with electricity and shorting out electrical circuits it will be foolish, dangerous, and an expensive waste of electronics.

In the same way you can have different experiences if you pour chemicals on the synapses of your brain. However at what price? As far as I know those parts of the body are not replaceable. You get issued one brain with that body so you might want to seriously consider how much risk you take with it.

My personal opinion about using drugs to elicit spiritual and conscious expansion is this. I don’t recommend it. I’ll go so far as to discourage the use of drugs for spiritual growth and consciousness purposes. These are a few of my reasons:

1. I first suggest starting with the awareness of what beliefs in the mind propose this avenue of curiosity. What beliefs dictate that you need or would benefit from an artificial substance? What part of this belief system implies that you are not powerful enough to create change on your own? What it is it about these beliefs that discount your use of skillful practice and discipline?

2. Then there is the down side risk of letting your self lose conscious control and possibly injuring your self on just a physical level.

3. I don’t see how one progresses to a Spiritual Self Mastery by losing conscious control through substances. This is just a bit contradictory. I don’t know what your version of “self mastery” is but it doesn’t fit mine. Self Mastery has to do with gaining conscious control of your mind, not abdicating power of the mind over to a substance.

4. Now consider the upside of a drug induced spiritual experience of conscious awakening. You are likely to attribute the source of your conscious raising experience to the drug. In the belief system of your mind the drug becomes the power necessary to open the door of consciousness. This perspective indirectly creates the belief that you are less powerful. The paradigm results in disempowering your self. I don’t see this as a path to gaining conscious control over one self and mastering one’s life.

The Spiritual Journey

Stopping your internal dialog and accessing expanded levels of consciousness is challenging. It is even more challenging to do without skilled guidance and a mentor. It’s why I suggest people get skilled guidance. I’ve attempted to make some of that guidance easily available on this web site through the free audio and the Self Mastery program. It certainly is not all the guidance everyone will need for every circumstance and question, but hopefully it is a starting point.

For me that guidance came in the form of my mentor, don Miguel Ruiz over many years. The guidance of my mentor was invaluable in my journey. Through his words, wisdom, and perspective he lent me his consciousness.

He was also able to provide one of the most powerful and addictive substances for my personal growth and spiritual progress. That substance wasn’t a drug, it was unconditional love. The power of unconditional love was so addictive that I made every effort to be in his presence as much as I could. But what was more powerful that sharing his unconditional love with me is that he taught me how to grow my own.

I understand that desire for that feeling of love that is often called a spiritual experience. I haven’t done any recreational drugs in my life. I really don’t have any desire to. I feel the unconditional love that I create and I don’t’ have any desire to pour artificial chemicals on that. The added benefit of using love to facilitate your expansion of consciousness is that you don’t have to come down from it.

Oh what a difference a point of view makes…

Dear Gary,

I have an experience to share instead of asking a question this time.

I was doing the journal exercise and looking at a particularly intense recent emotional experience. I sensed that I was hitting on some very strong beliefs and even though I could journal out a lot of what was going on in my head, assign it to the various parts of my ego, I still found myself stuck in that point of view. The Judge concluded that I simply couldn’t make the agreements dissolve right then and there, and therefore, this was pointless. Through a chain reaction of agreements, it told me that I wasn’t going to figure this out. (I just got Session 11 of the Self Mastery series, so I see that lie hidden in the vagueness there.)

The frustration built up as the Victim accepted all of those self-judgments, and–to borrow a metaphor you’ve used–the elastic bands began to pull me back into old habits. I went to try and sleep. I had gotten stuck in this unsolvable intellectual conundrum of whether or not I could bring a particular person back into my life. I felt intense fear that this person would not allow it.

Then a funny thing happened…. a shift in my point of view

My mind just shifted. I thought that no matter what happened in that situation, I could be grateful. I could be grateful the person considered my request; grateful that she would say yes; grateful that she’d say no; grateful that I had my past experiences with her and that my memory functioned enough just to be able to remember them. I could even go one step further: to be grateful that my mind had the ability to make me feel misery by entertaining false beliefs as being true. The emotion I felt was so powerful, it actually brought me to tears. I’ve never experienced anything like it. In that moment, I was so grateful, I couldn’t contain it in my self.

What is incredible to me about that situation is that I made no specific effort to shift into gratitude. It just happened. What is even more interesting is that I’ve had other less intense moments like this where I simply shift and see the same situation completely differently. I’m not going at it consciously and I didn’t set out that day to do that.

The emotion of the experience I described only lasted a short time, though. The elastic of old habits eventually pulled me back to a more familiar emotional state.

So, I don’t suppose I have a question for you today. I ask a lot of those and instead would just like to share an experience with someone who is going to appreciate the magnitude of what it meant to me.

And also, I’d like say your most recent podcast on breaking habits and addictions was a great listen. The metaphor of the elastic bands really helped put shifting one’s perspective into, well, a different perspective.

I’ve found that I really don’t have anyone in my day-to-day life that I can talk to about this process. While I know many wonderful caring people who will listen to me, they simply aren’t familiar with the ideas you’re presenting. I could explain them, but I feel they use up a lot of my personal power. This isn’t to say I feel lonely in this process. Rather, I understand that what I’m doing is immensely personal and that someone else isn’t readily going to understand what that experience means to me. I consider it my path and while some can help me keep an eye out for obstacles to expect, I know I’m the only one who can and will walk it.

Much gratitude, as always.

B. B.

——————

A few thoughts on this course subscribers experience.

His emotions didn’t shift by accident. His emotions shifted because his point of view shifted. It didn’t shift in the moment of doing the Self Mastery exercises, but the exercises had a lot to do the change. The exercises in awareness and changing emotions helped knock down those walls so that he could slip easily through the opening when it was time.

Changing core beliefs, stopping the voices in your head, and shifting your emotions doesn’t usually happen the way you expect it. And that can be a good thing as long as you don’t let the expectations of your inner judge dictate your actions and intent.  Sometimes shifting your mind is like one of those tricky puzzles.  You work at it, and work at it, and then, boom.  A new perspective opens up and you see the key that unlocks it.  The funny thing is that easy solution only seems to appear after you have put your hard work and effort into the change.

With your words you have the power to lift people up and inspire them towards love. You also have the power to put them down. When you believe the words of another you are using your power to create your own emotional suffering. When we are children we do not learn how to use this power. By the time we are teenagers we use our words out of habit and do not know what we do.

You have the power to create happiness through the expression of love and truth. You also have the power to create emotional suffering in your self, and in others depending on how you use your word. When you hurt your self or another there is a way to ease and heal that suffering in your self and in another. That way is forgiveness.