Post by Mysti on Jul 7, 2007 14:49:49 GMT -5
THE SPIRITUAL PATH
Spiritual Responsibility
When anyone consciously commits him or her self to any spiritual path, he or she is saying to the Inner Spiritual Reality: "I'm growing up now. I know that to progress I must stand on my own two feet." This is reflected in earth-plane experience: As a child develops through his adolescent years, he needs to be given more and more freedom to discover himself, his life-path, and to learn to make his own decisions. Parental control and guidance and protection must be withdrawn so the young person may learn to exercise his own judgement and free-will. It is the same in Spiritual Growth. The spiritual aspirant becomes freed from the usual controls that the Universe exercises. He now takes over the responsibility for his own actions. He no longer yields to the controls of the Law of Karma, but willingly becomes subject instead to the Law of Dharma. He is no required to learn by experiencing the consequences of his own actions, his karma. But, now he becomes willingly, eagerly and consciously drawn toward his true Spiritual Destiny, by eagerly accepting and pursuing his own personal dharma, his true spiritual path and goal.
In order to progress spiritually, we must eventually take over responsibility for our actions. We must begin to ask for–and to receive–all the many things we need, not just
for our physical, material lives, but for our emotional, mental and spiritual well-being as well. In order for the spiritually oriented individual to advance and to accelerate that advancement, the Universe ("God," "The Power Beyond," "the Infinite Source," however you want to term it) no longer controls or orders or specifies our terms of existence. This means, for example, that the Universe no longer gives us spiritual protection as an automatic gift anymore. We have to ask for it: "Ask and it shall be given you." But, we need to know how to ask and how to receive. We need to know what to ask for and what to avoid. And, we need to know what to add to our lives and what to eliminate in our lives, what to transmute and what to discard. We need to learn how to integrate all parts of our beingness into an integrated well-functioning unity–so that we do become mentally, emotionally and spiritually single-purposed and do not continue to find ourselves to be a house divided, within the totality of our beingness. This responsibility becomes in itself awesome.
Remember, if you have consciously and with intent chosen to set forth on the Path of Light, you have already said: "I want to move forward on my spiritual path and I am going to move forward." the Universe seems to answer in this way:
<DIR> <DIR>
"Good! Workers and helpers are needed, but you will need to learn to be responsible for your own growth. From now on, I am letting you decide what you need. If I, the Universal Source, give you everything you need without requiring you to ask for it, you won't grow. I have promised free-will to my children. You tell me that you are now ready to move forward into My Light, that you are capable of making the right choices and of recognizing your mistakes and blunders. No longer will my Law of Karma teach you of your mistakes and errors. For I tell you that the Law of Dharma is a far sterner taskmaster. For when your own heart and your own soul tell you that you have transgressed, that you fallen far short of your spiritual target, you will indeed regret your errors."
</DIR></DIR>
It’s like you as a child. If your parents always make all the decisions for you and never let you learn to make decisions, never let you decide what you want and what you need for yourself, you’ll never grow. God has to step back and give you a chance to do for yourself, to give you the free-will that you didn’t have as a child under His protection.
For those who might ask: "Does God need my help?" I would suggest this. God might ask you to build him a cathedral, but He doesn’t tell you how to design it, where to put the electrical outlets, what pictures the stained glass windows should display. Sure, He could. But what picture would a parent want to tape to the refrigerator–a picture done by the parent, let’s say a most distinguished artist, one of the paintings that the artist created Himself, or one that the artist’s child painted in second grade? Which picture would be more beautiful to a parent’s eye? If you were God, what would give you more pleasure, a cathedral or temple you built yourself or a cathedral built by man to honor you? Morever, the truth is that God or Divine Purpose acts through man. When we become His agents, we become the channels that bring through spiritual love, spiritual light and spiritual life into the mundane world. I don’t want to get into theological arguments here,
but I think God wants the world, the human race to become responsible and to do for themselves.
The Committed Life
Under the assumption that the reader has consciously and with firm intent committed himself or herself to the Spiritual Path, or to "the Path of Light," as I call it, he will find that certain things happen:
1. Taking Responsibility. When you commit yourself to the spiritual path you are telling God, or the Universe or the Ultimate Reality: "Hey, I'm ready to start growing up. I'm ready now to begin to take on the responsibility for my own personal spiritual growth. I want to accelerate my spiritual growth."And, that responsibility now becomes yours. You now have to ask the universe for guidance, for protection, and for all the material things that you require. You have to begin building and shaping your own being. Well, you have taken on that responsibility. Got it? You have taken on the responsibility for your own self-development.
2. Helping Others. Also, just as you reach for help and guidance from those further along than you are on the spiritual path, you are equally obligated to give help to those struggling behind you, those not as far along in spiritual development as you are. Even as you reach ahead for help with one hand, your other hand must reach back to give support to others not as far along the path as you are.
3.Exercising Self-Discipline. You must discipline yourself. You will need to meditate regularly. Prayer is asking, telling God about the things you need and expressing gratitude for what you receive. Meditation is or becomes listening to more advanced inner planes guides, to angelic beings, and to God for what He has to tell you. For most of us it is best to set aside at least thirty minutes daily for meditation. There will be many things to learn. The training and study required will also call for self-discipline.
4. Studying and Learning. You need to learn, to study about your own special path.
5. Enjoying Your Path. If this is your true path, you will enjoy what you are doing along the path, And you will be doing what you love to do. It will feel more than just right to you--it will fit you perfectly.
6. Giving Up Attachment to Results. You will learn not to be attached to results. You will know that what you are doing is right for you. And, you won’t care what the actual physical-plane results or outcomes turn out to be. Because the important essence is in the doing, not in the earth-plane results you obtain. It is a matter of your intent. This is for some of us, myself included, the hardest principle to accept. Would you like an example?
Suppose your path is to create spiritual paintings for others. Then you must go through the discipline, the training to become an artist. You must learn as much as you can about art, particularly religious and spiritual art, and about pigments, paints, brushes, etc. Then you paint–and, if this direction is right for you, you love to paint and you paint because you love to paint. It gives you great enjoyment to express spiritual themes on canvas. Or, maybe a you are a Celtic Shaman or an American Indian Medicine Person who does sand paintings, whatever. But you must not put your energy into any concern for the outcome: "Will someone buy my paintings? Will the paintings help others?" No! You put your energy into the creation, into your intent, not into the results.
For myself: I love to teach, to help others along the path. But I can't worry: "Is that student going to meditate daily or not?" "Will that other student use what I teach effectively or not?" I do my best and I don't worry about the outcomes. Does that make sense?
</DIR></DIR>
THE COURSE
The Course Plan
The lessons in this course are taken from a weekly study class and intended to be read and followed, one lesson for each week. You will need a week, in most cases, to put into practice the exercises and techniques given in each lesson. As the basic lessons are progressive in nature, the reader is advised to take each of the basic topics in sequence.
Basic Topics: This course will begin by covering certain basic topics:
1. Finding Your Own Personal True Spiritual Path.
2. Finding and Working With Your Inner Child.
3. Finding the Names of Power and the Astral Image That Works for You.
4. Basic Meditation Techniques.
5. Spiritual Cleansing and Spiritual Protection.
6. Dealing with Negative Thoughts and Dismissing Negative Entities.
7. Seeing Auras and Working With Auras.
8. Using the Spiritual Energy of the Triune Ray.
9. Working With Dreams.
10. Manifesting–Bringing What You Want and Need into Your Life.
Advanced Topics: Topics to be covered in the advanced lessons include:
1. Communicating With Spiritual Guides, Teachers and Angelic Beings.
2. Communicating With Elemental Forces and Powers.
3. Communicating With Your Own Higher Self
4. Astrology for Spiritual Progress
5. Spiritual Growth, Initiations and Promotions.
6. Understanding and Using Psychic Energy
7. Vibrations and Tides, Polarities and Cycles
8. Sexual Powers, Soul Mates, Twin Flames and Twin Flickers.
9. Ceremonials and Rituals for Manifesting.
11. Appearances and Reality
12. Voluntary Astral Projection and Remote Viewing
13. Spiritual Warfare and the Dark Forces.
14. Astral Weapons and Astral Combat
SPIRITUAL TEACHERS
The credentials of any spiritual teacher are or should be always suspect. It is easy enough for a self-proclaimed teacher or guru to say: "I have studied in India under the great guru, Sri Wizzananda" or "I have received the fifteenth plane initiation from a great adept or master of the Ancient Western Mystery School of Ballyhoo." And, those claims may or may not be true, so what? Perhaps, it is even true that the teacher really is a great sage, a true adept, even a Master of the Wisdom or a true prophet. But, even so, is that the teacher you can learn from? It is up to the student, the aspirant to exercise discernment: Does what the teacher says ring true for you? Does the teacher speak to you in a meaningful way, in a way that you can and do understand? Are you able to apply what he or she says into your life? If the teacher or guru tells you that at the end of the course he will bestow upon you the ultimate Crystal Rainbow Bridge initiation or that you will be inducted into the Great Spiritual Brotherhood as a true adept, does that really mean you will have attained to the level signified by that initiation or just that you are given some sort of "initiation" and, perhaps, a certificate, a piece of paper with fancy seals and scroll-work, stating that you’ve attained to that level?
I have found that some teachers, recognized to have great abilities and insight, just do not speak to me. Their words just don’t speak to my heart and my soul. So, I ask you to exercise your discernment with what I give you. If I am not a teacher with whom you are comfortable, if I am not a teacher who dispenses knowledge within your understanding and grasp, if you are not able to apply what I impart to your own spiritual growth, or even if you decide that what I teach is pure nonsense, be assured that I will not be dismayed if you go on to seek out another mentor. In fact, I would encourage you to do so.
You will find that I am not concerned to teach any particular theory or dogma or religion–nor do I wish to argue or debate their relative validities and merits. For a large part, I am teaching from my own experiences; and any theories which I do advance are intended only to give you some sort of framework or foundation with which to help your understanding and to assist you in turning the techniques I give you into practical
applications in your life. I have learned many things the hard way, and my hope is that I will be able to guide you safely past some of the many pitfalls and some of the countless impediments that I have experienced along my upward climb. I do not assert that I have attained to any high degree of mastery, nor even that I am some sort of highly advanced soul. I am just a wayfarer, a pilgrim, on the pathway towards the Light who hopes that he may be of some help to others who are also wayfarers called to the spiritual quest.
Nothing I will give you is carved into granite nor cast into steel icons. I would hope that from what I do impart to you, you will take those portions meaningful to you and reshape them and incorporate them into your own religious or spiritual framework. I will admit, that my own background being what it is, much of what I give you will be framed in Christian terminology. However, I will attempt to show you how these same principles and techniques can be recast and reshaped without difficulty into whatever religious and spiritual setting that you are most comfortable with. Spiritual truths transcend all religious dispensations.
<DIR> <DIR>
For those who still feel moved to ask about my academic credentials, I will say that I have received my Master of Arts in Philosophy and my Doctorate in Philosophy from highly respected universities. I have done additional graduate studies at an major school of theology and have pursued post-doctoral studies at another well-known university. For what it is worth, my doctoral dissertation focused on the philosophy of mysticism. My undergraduate discipline was Electrical Engineering and I practiced actively as a Professional Engineer for several years before entering my graduate studies and my subsequent teaching career in philosophy and comparative religion. I, further, have been honored to have been ordained as a minister in a small but spiritually oriented Christian denomination for more than thirty years.
</DIR></DIR>
HOMEWORK
Yes, there will be homework assignments associated with every lesson. How could a retired college instructor ever be able to give up assigning homework? As the course is planned, you will have just one lesson a week to read and study. Similarly the homework assignments given with each lesson are intended to be followed during the week following the associated lesson. Some assignments such as meditation practice and the visualization exercise given below will become ongoing, once introduced.
You will need to start a spiritual journal or diary to record your results of meditation and other topics. A simple college type spiral-bound notebook is perfectly adequate.
Think about these questions during the week: What do I want from a spiritual teacher? What do I need to learn? How do I utilize discernment to determine whether a given
teacher is right for me? Am I really ready, willing, able and eager to take on the responsibility for my own accelerated spiritual growth? Be sure to enter your answers into your spiritual journal.
Visualization Exercise: One ability that will be needed later in the lessons is "visualization." This is the ability to hold a picture in full detail in your mind’s eye. This ability will help you to see in the astral and spiritual realms and will increase your ability to manifest in your life all that you want and need.
Visualization is more than just seeing a picture. You should also add or include, to the extent you are able, the sounds, feelings, and smells associated with the visualization. Start with a spiritually uplifting picture; one about 8 inches by 10 inches , give or take, will work quite well. The actual size is not important. But do pick a picture that is spiritually uplifting to you–you might pick a picture from your own religious path. This can be anything from a painting of the Ascended Christ (I’d avoid the crucifixion scene) to that of an angelic being, a picture of the Buddha or an American Indian Medicine sand painting. The a picture of a enchanting landscape with mountains, waterfalls or a pleasant forest brook will do very nicely as will that of a lovely garden. Be sure, however, that the picture you select has only positive feelings for you.
Now, the technique is this: Sit for maybe ten minutes once or twice each day. Look at your chosen picture carefully, then close your eyes and attempt to see that same picture in your mind’s eye. You probably won’t be able to see that picture clearly in your mind’s eye. So, open your eyes, look at a few of the details that your mind’s eye missed and try to include them in your mind’s eye picture as you close your eyes again. Repeat this process several times, each time trying to see more of the picture in detail while your eyes are closed. Don’t expect perfect results in just a few days. You are training your mind to do something it hasn’t done before and that takes time and patience. Eventually, after a few weeks, you should be able to hold the picture in clear detail in your mind’s eye. You are aiming towards seeing the whole picture in exact detail. If this is a picture of the Buddha, you should work towards being able to count the number of folds in his robe, see clearly how it is draped over his body, etc. If it’s a forest scene, you should be able to count the number of trees, even the number of branches on a tree. But, don’t be discouraged. Even fuzzy pictures will work.
Copyright © 2001 Quinten Lance Corbenic
Spiritual Responsibility
When anyone consciously commits him or her self to any spiritual path, he or she is saying to the Inner Spiritual Reality: "I'm growing up now. I know that to progress I must stand on my own two feet." This is reflected in earth-plane experience: As a child develops through his adolescent years, he needs to be given more and more freedom to discover himself, his life-path, and to learn to make his own decisions. Parental control and guidance and protection must be withdrawn so the young person may learn to exercise his own judgement and free-will. It is the same in Spiritual Growth. The spiritual aspirant becomes freed from the usual controls that the Universe exercises. He now takes over the responsibility for his own actions. He no longer yields to the controls of the Law of Karma, but willingly becomes subject instead to the Law of Dharma. He is no required to learn by experiencing the consequences of his own actions, his karma. But, now he becomes willingly, eagerly and consciously drawn toward his true Spiritual Destiny, by eagerly accepting and pursuing his own personal dharma, his true spiritual path and goal.
In order to progress spiritually, we must eventually take over responsibility for our actions. We must begin to ask for–and to receive–all the many things we need, not just
for our physical, material lives, but for our emotional, mental and spiritual well-being as well. In order for the spiritually oriented individual to advance and to accelerate that advancement, the Universe ("God," "The Power Beyond," "the Infinite Source," however you want to term it) no longer controls or orders or specifies our terms of existence. This means, for example, that the Universe no longer gives us spiritual protection as an automatic gift anymore. We have to ask for it: "Ask and it shall be given you." But, we need to know how to ask and how to receive. We need to know what to ask for and what to avoid. And, we need to know what to add to our lives and what to eliminate in our lives, what to transmute and what to discard. We need to learn how to integrate all parts of our beingness into an integrated well-functioning unity–so that we do become mentally, emotionally and spiritually single-purposed and do not continue to find ourselves to be a house divided, within the totality of our beingness. This responsibility becomes in itself awesome.
Remember, if you have consciously and with intent chosen to set forth on the Path of Light, you have already said: "I want to move forward on my spiritual path and I am going to move forward." the Universe seems to answer in this way:
<DIR> <DIR>
"Good! Workers and helpers are needed, but you will need to learn to be responsible for your own growth. From now on, I am letting you decide what you need. If I, the Universal Source, give you everything you need without requiring you to ask for it, you won't grow. I have promised free-will to my children. You tell me that you are now ready to move forward into My Light, that you are capable of making the right choices and of recognizing your mistakes and blunders. No longer will my Law of Karma teach you of your mistakes and errors. For I tell you that the Law of Dharma is a far sterner taskmaster. For when your own heart and your own soul tell you that you have transgressed, that you fallen far short of your spiritual target, you will indeed regret your errors."
</DIR></DIR>
It’s like you as a child. If your parents always make all the decisions for you and never let you learn to make decisions, never let you decide what you want and what you need for yourself, you’ll never grow. God has to step back and give you a chance to do for yourself, to give you the free-will that you didn’t have as a child under His protection.
For those who might ask: "Does God need my help?" I would suggest this. God might ask you to build him a cathedral, but He doesn’t tell you how to design it, where to put the electrical outlets, what pictures the stained glass windows should display. Sure, He could. But what picture would a parent want to tape to the refrigerator–a picture done by the parent, let’s say a most distinguished artist, one of the paintings that the artist created Himself, or one that the artist’s child painted in second grade? Which picture would be more beautiful to a parent’s eye? If you were God, what would give you more pleasure, a cathedral or temple you built yourself or a cathedral built by man to honor you? Morever, the truth is that God or Divine Purpose acts through man. When we become His agents, we become the channels that bring through spiritual love, spiritual light and spiritual life into the mundane world. I don’t want to get into theological arguments here,
but I think God wants the world, the human race to become responsible and to do for themselves.
The Committed Life
Under the assumption that the reader has consciously and with firm intent committed himself or herself to the Spiritual Path, or to "the Path of Light," as I call it, he will find that certain things happen:
1. Taking Responsibility. When you commit yourself to the spiritual path you are telling God, or the Universe or the Ultimate Reality: "Hey, I'm ready to start growing up. I'm ready now to begin to take on the responsibility for my own personal spiritual growth. I want to accelerate my spiritual growth."And, that responsibility now becomes yours. You now have to ask the universe for guidance, for protection, and for all the material things that you require. You have to begin building and shaping your own being. Well, you have taken on that responsibility. Got it? You have taken on the responsibility for your own self-development.
2. Helping Others. Also, just as you reach for help and guidance from those further along than you are on the spiritual path, you are equally obligated to give help to those struggling behind you, those not as far along in spiritual development as you are. Even as you reach ahead for help with one hand, your other hand must reach back to give support to others not as far along the path as you are.
3.Exercising Self-Discipline. You must discipline yourself. You will need to meditate regularly. Prayer is asking, telling God about the things you need and expressing gratitude for what you receive. Meditation is or becomes listening to more advanced inner planes guides, to angelic beings, and to God for what He has to tell you. For most of us it is best to set aside at least thirty minutes daily for meditation. There will be many things to learn. The training and study required will also call for self-discipline.
4. Studying and Learning. You need to learn, to study about your own special path.
5. Enjoying Your Path. If this is your true path, you will enjoy what you are doing along the path, And you will be doing what you love to do. It will feel more than just right to you--it will fit you perfectly.
6. Giving Up Attachment to Results. You will learn not to be attached to results. You will know that what you are doing is right for you. And, you won’t care what the actual physical-plane results or outcomes turn out to be. Because the important essence is in the doing, not in the earth-plane results you obtain. It is a matter of your intent. This is for some of us, myself included, the hardest principle to accept. Would you like an example?
Suppose your path is to create spiritual paintings for others. Then you must go through the discipline, the training to become an artist. You must learn as much as you can about art, particularly religious and spiritual art, and about pigments, paints, brushes, etc. Then you paint–and, if this direction is right for you, you love to paint and you paint because you love to paint. It gives you great enjoyment to express spiritual themes on canvas. Or, maybe a you are a Celtic Shaman or an American Indian Medicine Person who does sand paintings, whatever. But you must not put your energy into any concern for the outcome: "Will someone buy my paintings? Will the paintings help others?" No! You put your energy into the creation, into your intent, not into the results.
For myself: I love to teach, to help others along the path. But I can't worry: "Is that student going to meditate daily or not?" "Will that other student use what I teach effectively or not?" I do my best and I don't worry about the outcomes. Does that make sense?
</DIR></DIR>
THE COURSE
The Course Plan
The lessons in this course are taken from a weekly study class and intended to be read and followed, one lesson for each week. You will need a week, in most cases, to put into practice the exercises and techniques given in each lesson. As the basic lessons are progressive in nature, the reader is advised to take each of the basic topics in sequence.
Basic Topics: This course will begin by covering certain basic topics:
1. Finding Your Own Personal True Spiritual Path.
2. Finding and Working With Your Inner Child.
3. Finding the Names of Power and the Astral Image That Works for You.
4. Basic Meditation Techniques.
5. Spiritual Cleansing and Spiritual Protection.
6. Dealing with Negative Thoughts and Dismissing Negative Entities.
7. Seeing Auras and Working With Auras.
8. Using the Spiritual Energy of the Triune Ray.
9. Working With Dreams.
10. Manifesting–Bringing What You Want and Need into Your Life.
Advanced Topics: Topics to be covered in the advanced lessons include:
1. Communicating With Spiritual Guides, Teachers and Angelic Beings.
2. Communicating With Elemental Forces and Powers.
3. Communicating With Your Own Higher Self
4. Astrology for Spiritual Progress
5. Spiritual Growth, Initiations and Promotions.
6. Understanding and Using Psychic Energy
7. Vibrations and Tides, Polarities and Cycles
8. Sexual Powers, Soul Mates, Twin Flames and Twin Flickers.
9. Ceremonials and Rituals for Manifesting.
11. Appearances and Reality
12. Voluntary Astral Projection and Remote Viewing
13. Spiritual Warfare and the Dark Forces.
14. Astral Weapons and Astral Combat
SPIRITUAL TEACHERS
The credentials of any spiritual teacher are or should be always suspect. It is easy enough for a self-proclaimed teacher or guru to say: "I have studied in India under the great guru, Sri Wizzananda" or "I have received the fifteenth plane initiation from a great adept or master of the Ancient Western Mystery School of Ballyhoo." And, those claims may or may not be true, so what? Perhaps, it is even true that the teacher really is a great sage, a true adept, even a Master of the Wisdom or a true prophet. But, even so, is that the teacher you can learn from? It is up to the student, the aspirant to exercise discernment: Does what the teacher says ring true for you? Does the teacher speak to you in a meaningful way, in a way that you can and do understand? Are you able to apply what he or she says into your life? If the teacher or guru tells you that at the end of the course he will bestow upon you the ultimate Crystal Rainbow Bridge initiation or that you will be inducted into the Great Spiritual Brotherhood as a true adept, does that really mean you will have attained to the level signified by that initiation or just that you are given some sort of "initiation" and, perhaps, a certificate, a piece of paper with fancy seals and scroll-work, stating that you’ve attained to that level?
I have found that some teachers, recognized to have great abilities and insight, just do not speak to me. Their words just don’t speak to my heart and my soul. So, I ask you to exercise your discernment with what I give you. If I am not a teacher with whom you are comfortable, if I am not a teacher who dispenses knowledge within your understanding and grasp, if you are not able to apply what I impart to your own spiritual growth, or even if you decide that what I teach is pure nonsense, be assured that I will not be dismayed if you go on to seek out another mentor. In fact, I would encourage you to do so.
You will find that I am not concerned to teach any particular theory or dogma or religion–nor do I wish to argue or debate their relative validities and merits. For a large part, I am teaching from my own experiences; and any theories which I do advance are intended only to give you some sort of framework or foundation with which to help your understanding and to assist you in turning the techniques I give you into practical
applications in your life. I have learned many things the hard way, and my hope is that I will be able to guide you safely past some of the many pitfalls and some of the countless impediments that I have experienced along my upward climb. I do not assert that I have attained to any high degree of mastery, nor even that I am some sort of highly advanced soul. I am just a wayfarer, a pilgrim, on the pathway towards the Light who hopes that he may be of some help to others who are also wayfarers called to the spiritual quest.
Nothing I will give you is carved into granite nor cast into steel icons. I would hope that from what I do impart to you, you will take those portions meaningful to you and reshape them and incorporate them into your own religious or spiritual framework. I will admit, that my own background being what it is, much of what I give you will be framed in Christian terminology. However, I will attempt to show you how these same principles and techniques can be recast and reshaped without difficulty into whatever religious and spiritual setting that you are most comfortable with. Spiritual truths transcend all religious dispensations.
<DIR> <DIR>
For those who still feel moved to ask about my academic credentials, I will say that I have received my Master of Arts in Philosophy and my Doctorate in Philosophy from highly respected universities. I have done additional graduate studies at an major school of theology and have pursued post-doctoral studies at another well-known university. For what it is worth, my doctoral dissertation focused on the philosophy of mysticism. My undergraduate discipline was Electrical Engineering and I practiced actively as a Professional Engineer for several years before entering my graduate studies and my subsequent teaching career in philosophy and comparative religion. I, further, have been honored to have been ordained as a minister in a small but spiritually oriented Christian denomination for more than thirty years.
</DIR></DIR>
HOMEWORK
Yes, there will be homework assignments associated with every lesson. How could a retired college instructor ever be able to give up assigning homework? As the course is planned, you will have just one lesson a week to read and study. Similarly the homework assignments given with each lesson are intended to be followed during the week following the associated lesson. Some assignments such as meditation practice and the visualization exercise given below will become ongoing, once introduced.
You will need to start a spiritual journal or diary to record your results of meditation and other topics. A simple college type spiral-bound notebook is perfectly adequate.
Think about these questions during the week: What do I want from a spiritual teacher? What do I need to learn? How do I utilize discernment to determine whether a given
teacher is right for me? Am I really ready, willing, able and eager to take on the responsibility for my own accelerated spiritual growth? Be sure to enter your answers into your spiritual journal.
Visualization Exercise: One ability that will be needed later in the lessons is "visualization." This is the ability to hold a picture in full detail in your mind’s eye. This ability will help you to see in the astral and spiritual realms and will increase your ability to manifest in your life all that you want and need.
Visualization is more than just seeing a picture. You should also add or include, to the extent you are able, the sounds, feelings, and smells associated with the visualization. Start with a spiritually uplifting picture; one about 8 inches by 10 inches , give or take, will work quite well. The actual size is not important. But do pick a picture that is spiritually uplifting to you–you might pick a picture from your own religious path. This can be anything from a painting of the Ascended Christ (I’d avoid the crucifixion scene) to that of an angelic being, a picture of the Buddha or an American Indian Medicine sand painting. The a picture of a enchanting landscape with mountains, waterfalls or a pleasant forest brook will do very nicely as will that of a lovely garden. Be sure, however, that the picture you select has only positive feelings for you.
Now, the technique is this: Sit for maybe ten minutes once or twice each day. Look at your chosen picture carefully, then close your eyes and attempt to see that same picture in your mind’s eye. You probably won’t be able to see that picture clearly in your mind’s eye. So, open your eyes, look at a few of the details that your mind’s eye missed and try to include them in your mind’s eye picture as you close your eyes again. Repeat this process several times, each time trying to see more of the picture in detail while your eyes are closed. Don’t expect perfect results in just a few days. You are training your mind to do something it hasn’t done before and that takes time and patience. Eventually, after a few weeks, you should be able to hold the picture in clear detail in your mind’s eye. You are aiming towards seeing the whole picture in exact detail. If this is a picture of the Buddha, you should work towards being able to count the number of folds in his robe, see clearly how it is draped over his body, etc. If it’s a forest scene, you should be able to count the number of trees, even the number of branches on a tree. But, don’t be discouraged. Even fuzzy pictures will work.
Copyright © 2001 Quinten Lance Corbenic