Gary Zukav and Linda Francis: Spiritual Partnership and Authentic Power

In Spiritual Partnership, bestselling author Gary Zukav reveals a profound new relationship dynamic that enables us to reach our full potential and create authentic power and a joyful life. Spiritual partnerships are not only for couples in marriage; they can be created anywhere two or more individuals decide to engage as equals for the purpose of spiritual development.

In this extraordinary book, Gary Zukav shares a revolutionary new approach to life, relationship, and evolution. Filled with poignant examples and including specific guidelines, Spiritual Partnership empowers and enables you to explore your emotions, your intentions, your choices, and your intuition and to use them to create profound spiritual growth. Deepen your joy. Begin the journey to authentic power today. Deepen your joy. Begin the journey to authentic power today. The world is changing around you and within you, and Spiritual Partnership is the road map to that change.

A Personal Note from Gary Zukav

I wrote Spiritual Partnership: The Journey to Authentic Power, to try to get out of my own cage. I wanted, and needed, to connect with people, not just reach them, but really connect for my own well being and hopefully for theirs as well.

I have learned that the difficult times in my life are not because of other people, they are because of me. They occur because of parts of my personality that are painful to experience. When I am with someone who brings them up in me, that is a painful time, but I know that it is not about the other person when I feel angry or impatient or irritable. It is about me, and so I am intent to use my experiences with others to learn about me so that I can change me because I am really tired of trying to change other people. And not only am I tired of it, I don’t want to. It doesn’t feel good. I know deep in me that it is a wrong path for me to take, and I feel that it is a painful path for anyone to take.

Spiritual partnership is a partnership with another person or other people who feel the same way. It is a partnership between equals for the purpose of spiritual growth. So when my spiritual partners and I have difficult interactions, we do not point fingers at each other, we try our best to respond instead of react, and to support one another in doing that also. Spiritual partnership is a new kind of relationship, a different kind of relationship. We do more than talk about hair styles, life styles, car styles, children, and work. We do all those things too but those conversations take on a different meaning. While I am having them, I am noticing what I am feeling. I’m noticing if anything gets triggered in me and if it does, I pay attention to it, especially if I am becoming upset because those are the experiences that keep me from loving. They keep me apart from people.

“You cannot heal the fear of another and no one can heal yours, but you can inspire others with your emotional awareness, responsible choices, intuition and trust in the Universe.
—Gary Zukav

For a long time I thought that if I could change people enough, and get some that were just right around me, it would be easy to be loving, but it doesn’t work like that because everybody has parts of her or his personality that are loving and also parts that are not loving. I would say the not-loving parts are the frightened parts of the personality, the parts that are angry, jealous, vengeful, feel superior, feel inferior, etc. And when these parts become active, and this always happens sooner or later, that’s when the learning potential begins. Of course, it also begins when the loving parts come out, the parts that are grateful, patient, appreciative, content, etc. Being a spiritual partner means really wanting to support people because you see when they are in pain how they might learn from their pain, too, if they’re open. If they’re open.

My focus is on changing myself because I know that other people can’t change me, but I also know that each of my spiritual partners wants to change himself or herself, too. He wants to find and challenge the painful, destructive parts of his personality and cultivate the constructive, blissful parts of his personality, and so I assist him whenever I think I see that they might be active. I don’t just say, “This is what is happening in you, and this is what you ought to do.” I ask her if she is open to looking at something that I think I might be seeing. For example, some parts of my personality that I have become very familiar with over years feel superior, entitled, impatient, and don’t really care about the needs of others, but not everybody is like that. One of my spiritual partners feels a need to please other people when a frightened part of her personality is active; to see them smile or value her because of what she can do or give. So when I see that part come out in her behaviors and thoughts and attitudes, if she is open I will help her see them. And there are specific ways, very helpful ways that we can assist one another. This book gives them to you.

Once I started this book I kept writing because it felt so good. I love it when creativity begins to flow and I can think of a better way to express something—a story, or a metaphor, or a process. I love that experience of sharing. The more I stretched myself to think, “How can I say this in a way that is not by rote? How can I not take refuge in what I know how to say but really communicate in an even more meaningful way?” the deeper my understanding of spiritual partnership became and the stronger my ability to share it. One idea lead to another, one chapter lead to another, and after a few chapters I began to see an outline for the book, and that outline became WHY, WHAT, HOW, and WHO. That’s how this book unfolded.

There is a saying that people teach what they really need to learn. Doing this in a heart-felt way has worked well for me. I can tell that I am becoming more able to connect with people because to my surprise I have become interested in them. Let me put it this way, I am aware now, much more aware of how important people are to me than I have been in the past. I like hearing their stories. I like hearing what is happening in their lives. For example, Linda Francis, the spiritual partner I live with, and I met a couple on a plane and found them to be wonderful. He told me that he has pancreatic cancer and that he and his wife were going on a cruise to Mexico. When he learned that his illness was terminal, he realized that he could spend his last days in a hospital, but that didn’t sound inviting to him. Or he could spend them really living his life, and that invited him. That is what he is doing. What I really like about him is his aliveness, his interest, his interest in me and his excitement for what I am doing. He is as grounded as he is delightful and vibrant. He said, “I am a little afraid of what it will be like to die. I am not sure about that. I know I am going to get sick. I have done my homework on pancreatic cancer. It is an ugly way to die, but I feel so alive and so grateful for every moment.” In the little time we were together, I learned about myself as well as about him, but mostly I enjoyed myself and I enjoyed him, and I feel that he enjoyed himself and he enjoyed me.

Open Your Heart

So those are the kind of experiences that are coming into my life now. And I also know that when it comes to spirituality, I am not special. If I can create authentic power and spiritual partnerships, you can. If I can make the journey from an angry, drug-using, sex-addicted, motorcycle-riding, angry—did I mention angry?—young man to someone who is now enjoying becoming an elder, anyone can. As I began to open my heart up many wonderful role models came into my life over the years, men and women who have opened their hearts or are opening them, and they are still coming. Perhaps I can be one of those role models for you, and you can be one for someone else. We are all opening our hearts, but it is not a matter of opening your heart and, there, that’s a done deal. It is a matter of continuing to open your heart moment by moment. This book is about that, and how to do it.

Love,
Gary Zukav

Spiritual partners Gary Zukav and Linda Francis invite you to create spiritual partnerships and authentic power. Learn about meaningful relationships, emotional awareness, and responsible choice.

Gary Zukav is a spiritual teacher and author of four consecutive New York Times bestsellers. Beginning in 1998, Zukav appeared more than 30 times on The Oprah Winfrey Show to discuss transformation in human consciousness concepts presented in The Seat of the Soul.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Zukav

Linda Francis has been practicing the creation of authentic power since she read The Seat of the Soul in 1989. In 1993 she met Gary Zukav and they created a spiritual partnership which is in its eighteenth year.

During this time, she co-authored with Gary two New York Times bestsellers, The Heart of the Soul: Emotional Awareness and The Mind of the Soul: Responsible Choice. They also co-created Thoughts from the Heart of the Soul and Self-Empowerment Journal: A Companion to the Mind of the Soul.

Linda is a co-founder of the Seat of the Soul Institute, the premier organization dedicated to assisting individuals in the alignment of the personality with the soul—the creation of authentic power.

Linda has been in the healing profession for three decades, first as a registered nurse and then as a chiropractor. At the present time, she is involved fully in co-creating curricula and events with Gary. Linda also guides the Authentic Power Program, which is designed to give people the tools to create authentic power and spiritual partnership in their everyday lives. http://seatofthesoul.com/about/linda-francis/

Sacred Jewels of Yoga Wisdom from India’s Beloved Scriptures, Teachers, Masters, and Monks ~ Dave DeLuca

Product Description

Millions of Americans today practice the asanas, or postures, of yoga, but many are unaware of the profound spiritual teachings at the heart of yoga’s ancient source scriptures. In this remarkable anthology, acclaimed Vedanta Yoga teacher Dave DeLuca presents 166 sacred passages from some of India’s most revered yoga scriptures — the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, the Yoga Sutras, the Bhakti Sutras, the Astavakra Samhita, and the Srimad Bhagavatam — along with teachings by two of the most beloved yoga masters of the modern era, Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda.

This combination of ancient wisdom and modern commentary makes Sacred Jewels of Yoga an invaluable introduction to the scriptural treasures of ancient India and a priceless resource for inspiration, illumination, and guidance.

Dave has presented thousands of trainings and workshops on all aspects of personal growth during his twenty years as a professional seminar leader. He started his career as a trainer for The Summit Organization. During his time at Summit he led dozens of different courses on an ongoing basis such as Self Esteem, The Power Of Purpose, Decision Making And Effective Choice, Quality Communications, and Life Designs. He went from leading Summit’s introductory weekend seminar, The Power Of Positive Feelings, to writing and leading weeklong workshops at their Hawaii and Southern California resort facilities. One of these was his signature workshop, Healing Family Relationships, which he led for Summit on a regular basis for years in Hawaii.

In 1990, Dave founded Empowerment Systems and began concentrating on writing and presenting new seminars that reflected his increasing focus on his spiritual journey. The results were such courses as Bringing Your Spirit To Life, Self-Esteem As Soul Work, Finding And Living Your Higher Purpose, and Loving The Path. It was also during this time that Dave became devoted to the study of the major religions of the world.

In 1992, his passion for greater spiritual understanding led him to the Vedanta Society of Southern California, where he began his study of ancient India’s Vedanta yoga wisdom with the Swamis of the venerated Ramakrishna Order of India. By 2000 he was an ongoing speaker at the Vedanta Society temples throughout Southern California.

Today on Mind Matters Ajayan‘s guest was Dave DeLuca, author of “Sacred Jewels of Yoga.” The conversation is an exploration of the wisdom of the East as you have never heard it presented before. Discover how the philosophy of Yoga, beyond the poses, can help to inform our active day-to-day lives.To listen to the conversation,
View Here Dave’s interview starts at 16:08

To read some of the Sacred Jewels selection, log on to http://www.davedeluca.com/sacred-jewels-of-yoga/

For more of Radio Talk on the Sacred Jewels of Yoga with David Deluca
by VividLife Radio : Listen Here

The Ego Tunnel: The Science of the Mind and the Myth of the Self by Thomas Metzinger

We’re used to thinking about the self as an independent entity, something that we either have or are. In The Ego Tunnel, philosopher Thomas Metzinger claims otherwise: No such thing as a self exists. The conscious self is the content of a model created by our brain—an internal image, but one we cannot experience as an image. Everything we experience is “a virtual self in a virtual reality.”

But if the self is not “real,” why and how did it evolve? How does the brain construct it? Do we still have souls, free will, personal autonomy, or moral accountability? In a time when the science of cognition is becoming as controversial as evolution, The Ego Tunnel provides a stunningly original take on the mystery of the mind.

TEDxRheinMain – Prof. Dr. Thomas Metzinger – The Ego Tunnel

Brain, bodily awareness, and the emergence of a conscious self: these entities and their relations are explored by Germanphilosopher and cognitive scientist Metzinger. Extensively working with neuroscientists he has come to the conclusion that, in fact, there is no such thing as a “self” — that a “self” is simply the content of a model created by our brain – part of a virtual reality we create for ourselves.

But if the self is not “real,” he asks, why and how did it evolve? How does the brain construct the self? In a series of fascinating virtual reality experiments, Metzinger and his colleagues have attempted to create so-called “out-of-body experiences” in the lab, in order to explore these questions. As a philosopher, he offers a discussion of many of the latest results in robotics, neuroscience, dream and meditation research, and argues that the brain is much more powerful than we have ever imagined. He shows us, for example, that we now have the first machines that have developed an inner image of their own body — and actually use this model to create intelligent behavior.

In addition, studies exploring the connections between phantom limbs and the brain have shown us that even people born without arms or legs sometimes experience a sensation that they do in fact have limbs that are not there. Experiments like the “rubber-hand illusion” demonstrate how we can experience a fake hand as part of our self and even feel a sensation of touch on the phantom hand form the basis and testing ground for the idea that what we have called the “self” in the past is just the content of a transparent self-model in our brains.

Now, as new ways of manipulating the conscious mind-brain appear on the scene, it will soon become possible to alter our subjective reality in an unprecedented manner. The cultural consequences of this, Metzinger claims, may be immense: we will need a new approach to ethics, and we will be forced to think about ourselves in a fundamentally new way. At TEDxRheinMain 2011 he will share his thoughts on consciousness and the self and talk about the concept of the Ego-Tunnel.

Pro. Dr. Thomas Metzinger:
(*1958 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany) is currently Professor of Theoretical Philosophy at the Johannes Gutenberg‐Universität Mainz and an Adjunct Fellow at the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Study.

In 2009 he returned from a prestigious one‐year Fellowship at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin (Berlin Institute for Advanced Study), is past president of the German Cognitive Science Society and currently president of the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness. His focus of research lies in analytical philosophy of mind, philosophy of science and philosophical aspects of the neuro- and cognitive sciences as well as connections between ethics, philosophy of mind and anthropology.

He has edited and published extensively in German and English, e.g. one major scientific monograph developing a comprehensive, interdisciplinary theory about consciousness, the phenomenal self, and the first‐person perspective (“Being No One — The Self‐Model Theory of Subjectivity”, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2003). In 2009, he published a popular book, which addresses a wider audience and also discusses the ethical, cultural and social consequences of consciousness research (“The Ego Tunnel — The Science of the Mind and the Myth of the Self”, New York: Basic Books)

Antinatalists Already Know what Modern Psychology Will Reveal

”Why bother to succeed as individuals or to progress as societies once we have identified ourselves as only a crisscrossing mesh of stuttering memories, sensations, and impulses?”

”I am like a puppet sitting here. It’s not just I; all of us are puppets. Nature is
pulling the strings, but we believe that we are acting. If you function that way [as puppets], then the problems are simple. But we have superimposed on that [the idea of] a “person” who is pulling those strings.”

Thomas Ligotti

Your Soul’s Plan: Discovering the Real Meaning of the Life You Planned Before You Were Born by Robert Schwartz

Would you like to understand the deeper meaning of your greatest challenges?

So often, when something “bad” happens, it may appear to be meaningless suffering. But what if your most difficult experiences are actually rich with hidden purpose-purpose that you yourself planned before you were born? Could it be that you chose your life’s circumstances, relationships, and events?

Your Soul’s Plan tells the stories of ten individuals who-like you-planned before birth to experience great challenges. Working with four gifted mediums and channels, author Robert Schwartz discovers what they chose-and why. He presents actual pre-birth planning sessions in which souls discuss their hopes for their upcoming lifetimes. In so doing he opens a window to the other side where we, as eternal beings, design both our trials and our potential triumphs.

Through these remarkable stories of pre-birth planning, you can: Learn why each of us decides to experience such challenges as illness, the death of a loved one, and accidents. Other challenges explored from the perspective of pre-birth planning include being the parent of a handicapped child, deafness, blindness, drug addiction, and alcoholism.

• Understand how you as a soul create your life blueprint

• Consciously use your challenges to foster spiritual growth

• Understand that the people in your life, including your parents and children, are there at your request, motivated by their love for you to play roles that you scripted

• Replace anger, guilt, and blame with forgiveness, acceptance, and peace

• Deepen your appreciation of and gratitude for life as a soul-expanding, evolutionary process

Your Soul’s Plan: Discovering the Real Meaning of the Life You Planned Before You Were Born was previously published as Courageous Souls:Do We Plan Our Life Challenges Before Birth?

Robert Schwartz: Does Our Soul Plan Life’s Challenges Before Birth?

“This is one video conversation that you don’t want to miss. In this interview, I talk with Robert Schwartz, author of Your Soul’s Plan, about how our souls plan our challenges in life on purpose. If you’ve ever wondered why bad things happen to good people, Robert Schwartz shares with us his conclusions about that topic based on years of research.

This video conversation offers hope and understanding about the challenges we meet in life, and it might even leave you with a sense of inner peace and acceptance in the face of your challenges — or at least help you believe there is meaning to your suffering and that you’re not merely a victim of unlucky circumstances. I’m excited to present this conversation to you, so I hope you won’t miss it.” ~ Bob Olson, Afterlife TV http://www.afterlifetv.com

Your Soul’s Plan: Discovering the Real Meaning of the Life You Planned Before You Were Born by Robert Schwartz explores the premise that we are all eternal souls who plan our lives, including our greatest challenges, before we’re born for purposes of spiritual growth.

The book contains ten true stories of people who planned physical illness, having disabled children, deafness, blindness, drug addiction, alcoholism, losing a loved one, and severe accidents. The information about their pre-birth plans was obtained by four gifted mediums and channels. The book presents the actual conversations people had with their future parents, children, spouses, friends, and other loved ones when they planned their lives together. For readers, suffering that once seemed purposeless becomes imbued with deep meaning. Wisdom may be acquired in a more conscious manner; feelings of anger, guilt, blame, and victimization are healed and replaced by acceptance, forgiveness, gratitude, and peace.

Consciousness, Transformation, and the Soul’s Journey by Frances Vaughan, PhD and Cassandra Vieten, PhD

IONS Director of Research Cassandra Vieten talks with Frances Vaughan, an internationally known author-educator and a pioneer in the field of transpersonal psychology. She is the author of several books, including Awakening Intuition, Shadows of the Sacred, and Accept This Gift: Selections from A Course in Miracles.

Vieten: There are so many questions I could ask you. One of the first stems from how we here at IONS have been orienting our work around the phrase “consciousness matters.” What have you learned in all of these years about how consciousness matters? What does that phrase mean to you?

Vaughan: Well, when I hear that phrase, I think of course it matters. Consciousness matters in everything that we do and everything that we experience. It’s the most essential aspect of our reality. Consciousness matters not only for our own health, happiness, and well-being but also for our interpersonal relationships and for our future as a species. We all participate in the collective consciousness of the society and the planet. Most of the work that we need to do, however, is our individual inner work. We need to become aware that our consciousness determines how we live our lives. Consciousness is the essential element that enables us to recognize our freedom and our capacity to make a difference in our own health and well-being as well as in relieving the suffering of others.

One of the things that I’ve noticed in my work is how much unnecessary suffering we create for ourselves, both individually and collectively, out of ignorance or a misunderstanding about being a victim of the world rather than recognizing the possibility in our role as co-creators. When our minds join, we become much more empowered to really make a difference in the world. Individual consciousness is our individual responsibility. As we grow and develop, we learn how much our intentions, attitudes, and values do shape our experience. Learning this is crucial for our healing and our happiness; it enables us to love deeply, to experience joy, and to live life to the fullest. Yes, consciousness matters.

Vieten: How do you define consciousness?

Vaughan: Well, that’s a question that has been debated ever since I can remember and certainly before that. I don’t think there’s a single definition that can define consciousness, but I will say that we need to be aware of two basic ways of working with consciousness. One is to assume that consciousness is an epiphenomenon of matter—which is the dominant view in our materialistic culture. In the idealistic view, however, consciousness is fundamental, and everything in the physical universe is an emanation that comes from consciousness. So, whether you believe matter is fundamental or consciousness is fundamental makes a big difference in how you choose to work with consciousness.

Many people in consciousness research are primarily interested in the correlations of consciousness with brain function. I think that’s interesting work, but I don’t think it’s what really makes a difference in how we experience our lives and our interpersonal relationships. Awareness may be a better term to use when we talk about what I feel is both our collective work and our individual work: How do we connect the inner life of mind and spirit with the outer work of action and service in the world? That is a universal challenge for us: to recognize how our beliefs, values, and attitudes affect our life experience and then to recognize how these contribute to the well-being of others and the planet—and how our unconsciousness increases suffering and much of what is so wrong with the world. Each one of us makes a difference, so we need to recognize the responsibility each of us has.

Vieten: In a way, the pathway between the heart and the mind—or what we call the noetic and the external worlds—is the shortest distance there can be. But for most people, connecting these two aspects of life is a long journey. What have you learned about how we can walk that path?

Vaughan: Well, we’re all on that journey. One of the things I recognized over the years of my work in this field is that we tend to think the outer world causes the inner world of our experience. But I’ve seen how much the inner world is the cause of our experience in the outer world. For example, people may come into psychotherapy feeling like a victim of the past, of difficult, challenging, and traumatic past experiences. And yet, when they begin to do inner work and look at their own experience more deeply, they realize that they are not the victims of the past and that they really can recreate and reinvent themselves. They discover that they can make a difference in their lives right now and into the future. When we change our beliefs and attitudes internally, about ourselves and the world, it initiates the changes we want to see in the world, as well as in ourselves. At first, we may feel there’s a split between what’s going on in our consciousness and what’s going on out in the world, but then we discover that inner work is more fundamental, because when we do do inner work, our experience in the world begins to change. I’ve seen this happen so often! Most of us underestimate the power of individual consciousness to change our lives and to affect everyone we encounter.

Vieten: You were involved in our study on transformations in consciousness and know that it led to a model that presents some of the facilitators of transformation. Many of these are common sense—you know, such as having some sort of a daily mind-body practice, having a positive community, and similar things that we know are good for us. Now, we’ve turned our attention to the barriers that block these kinds of transformations. It’s kind of easy to say what’s good for us but not always easy to do what we know is good for us.

Vaughan: Yes, that’s true. Certainly in psychotherapy, that is what the work consists of, identifying the barriers and working through the obstacles to inner peace and the capacity for love.

I don’t think I’ve met anybody anywhere in the world who didn’t want to give and receive love. So many people feel they have to find it out there somewhere. But we find it first within ourselves, and then we find it everywhere. There’s a saying that if you see the love of god in you, you will see it everywhere because it is everywhere. Of course, the main obstacle that prevents us from experiencing this is usually fear. When we begin to see that all of our fears are about the future and that our resentments, anger, and guilt are about the past, we also begin to see that right now, in this moment, we are free, free to take responsibility for our attitudes and to choose what we pay attention to. So much of consciousness is related to our attention. The more we do some kind of meditative practice, the more we realize the power of attention.

I notice, for example, that in dialogue, if we can really give each other the “unconditional, positive regard” which Carl Rogers talked about, it means a lot. This kind of quiet, non-interfering attention seems to be what most of us want, and we can give each other that unconditional, positive regard not just in a consulting room but in any situation. We also refer to this powerful attention as presence. Cultivating presence means removing the obstacles that get in the way of our being fully present with another person. And gain, we may find the same kinds of obstacles, those issues that bring up our fears, anxieties, and self-consciousness.

Sometimes people on the spiritual path will say, “Well, that’s all ego, which somehow we have to get rid of.” I think it’s important to remember, though, that the ego can be either a good servant or a poor master. Zen Buddhists capture this in their pictures of herding ox. You don’t want your life to be run by your ego desires because ego desires are never fully satisfying. But you also need to have an ego to help manage your life and everyday concerns. On the spiritual path, we can make friends with the limitations of ego. When we can accept that no one is perfect and yet still free to cultivate awareness, we can deepen our ability to be more fully present with one another. There is a lot of healing in this. I believe we need both the inner work of meditative practices and the interpersonal work of psychotherapy, whenever it’s appropriate. It’s not an either-or but a both-and relationship between these two.

Vieten: It can sometimes be difficult, though, to tell the difference between ego desires and a deeper orienting principle. Do you have ideas on how to navigate this better?

Vaughan: One distinction I think many people find useful is to recognize the difference between ego desires and soul desires. Although people have different beliefs and ideas about what we mean by soul, most agree that there are some things that are really satisfying to the soul which are not necessarily satisfying to the ego. The ego tends to want material things, concrete things—you know, the ego thinks the next car or the next house will make me happy, but of course that never lasts very long.

The ego is also engaged in thinking that the next relationship will make me happy, when in fact nobody else can make us happy because it has to come from the inside. We’re responsible for our own happiness; we can’t depend on somebody else or the possession of more things to make us happy. On the other hand, the soul is nourished by beauty, music, love, nature, and by a sense of connection with other people. So, I think it’s not too difficult for people to distinguish the longings of the soul from the desires of the ego.

Vieten: What’s captured your curiosity recently? What’s the next wave in your own evolution?

Vaughan: One is my work with the Metta Institute, which Frank Ostaseski founded. It’s an end-of-life counseling program for people who work with the dying. The students who come to this program are from different professions—doctors, nurses, chaplains, and many others who in some way are working with those facing the end of life.

Over the years, the feedback I’ve heard is how much gratitude they feel for the opportunity to deepen their spiritual awareness and to make their work more effective with others. I think that’s true for all of us, that the deeper we go inside ourselves, the more we can open that door for others at any time in life, not only at the end of life. But end-of-life counseling demands coming to terms with our own mortality and the recognition that we don’t know how much time we have—at any age really, though all of this becomes more obvious as we get older. Thinking about spirituality and aging has been an interesting new development for me.

Coming to the latter part of my life—when we want to do what we can in whatever time we have left here on earth—I find there are two things that are most important: the practices of gratitude and forgiveness. Forgiveness is about letting go of the past, a deep letting go. Of course, we have to let go throughout our lives because losses are inevitable, but they become more obvious as we get older. Many of our friends pass away, and we realize the truth of the teachings of impermanence. Impermanence, like change, is a fact of life. Even a relationship that lasts many, many years is temporary.

And so, when we really grapple with the fundamental existential issues of life, we begin to see that, yes, each moment is an opportunity to practice gratitude. Forgiveness frees us up to live wholeheartedly in the present, not constricting or depriving ourselves of joy by holding on to resentments and old grievances. Many people have said to me that they wish they had been able to wake up to this sooner in their lives, before facing the end of life.

Another thing I’ve learned from aging and spirituality is this question many people ask themselves toward the end of their life: Have I loved well? Not, what did I accomplish or what have I done, but did I really live wholeheartedly? So, I think that is the task.

I’ve been thinking about a kind of developmental sequence as we go through different stages in life. There are so many ways, of course, to think about psychological and spiritual development. But when I think about how our consciousness evolves, I think we all start out in a place of magic. As children, we see so much in the world that seems to be magical. Then in adolescence and early adulthood, we have to make our way in the world and to obtain a degree of mastery in whatever our chosen profession or way of life may be. After that comes the search for meaning, which usually doesn’t show up until midlife, when we begin to question some of the things we’ve been doing and begin to wonder what it all means. And then, I think later life gives way to the mystery. We realize that no matter how much meaning we find in our lives and how much we’ve been able to accomplish or achieve, they’re all part of a great mystery.

In my experience, the mystery shows up at the moment of birth and at the moment of death. When we can integrate all those different aspects—magic, mastery, meaning, and mystery—then we can say, yes, we’ve been able to look at life from different perspectives, and we can be grateful for the consciousness that we’ve been given. It’s not about being intellectually accomplished but more about integrating the heart, the mind, the body, and the soul.

Vieten: That’s a beautiful evolutionary model. It makes me think about an interview I heard with Erik Erikson’ wife, Joan Serson Erikson—who, as you known, made a substantial contribution to the life stages perspective Erikson shared. She was about ninety-five at the time of this interview, and she said something like: “The one thing I want to say about the last stage, which we called wisdom, is that I think we were wrong. It’s not wisdom in the sense that you know what you’re doing and where everything comes from. It’s really more about being able to be in the mystery.” Which is what you’ve just said.

As you know, at IONS, we study those experiences that reside outside our current scientific models or materialist models of reality but that continue to be relatively common. I wonder if you want to say anything about numinous or extraordinary experiences and what they might tell us about the potentials of consciousness and what we still have to learn in this place of mystery.

Vaughan: Yes, I’ve always been interested in these kinds of experiences. I wrote my book on awakening intuition because I felt we didn’t pay enough attention to the intuitive experiences that can be so significant in our lives. As I know you know from your work at IONS, the challenge is how to distinguish the cutting-edge science from the pseudoscience. We need a lot of discernment when we begin to explore these areas because sometimes our beliefs and our wishful thinking can carry us away. So, how do we keep the dialogue going between science and spirituality? Certainly, the Institute of Noetic Sciences has contributed a tremendous amount to this dialogue. It’s crucial for our deepening understanding because often such experiences will open the door to a deeper appreciation of spirituality.

Vieten: One more question. In your recent book, Accept this Gift, you’ve pulled quotes from A Course in Miracles. A Course in Miracles was an important thread that led to the formation of the Institute of Noetic Sciences in 1973. Would you want to share anything about the Course?

Vaughan: A Course in Miracles has certainly been important in my life. There are many quotes and daily lessons that I appreciate. One of my favorites goes something like, “I rest in God. God is the light in which I see, and God is the love in which I forgive.” The Course says that it was sent to teach us, step by step, how to return to the eternal Self we thought we lost.

In another one of my favorite quotes, the Course says: “A new beginning. Simply do this. Be still and lay aside all thoughts of what you are and what God is. Hold on to nothing. Do not bring with you one thought the past has taught or anything you learned before from anyone. Forget this world, forget this course, and come with empty hands unto your God.”

I have found many of its quotes inspirational. Mostly, the Course gave me a sense of the healing that comes from recognizing that we are all connected and that we all have the capacity to connect with whatever we mean by God. It may or may not be a sense of a personal God; it doesn’t matter what the framework is. We all have the capacity both to be more fully who we are and to connect to that which is larger than we are.

Dr. Vaughan is an internationally known author, educator, and psychologist. She has been a pioneer in transpersonal psychology and has published more than a hundred articles on topics of psychotherapy, spirituality, and personal growth. She is the author of several books, including Awakening Intuition, The Inward Arc, Shadows of the Sacred, and coeditor of Paths Beyond Ego. She is currently a trustee of the Fetzer Institute and a founding faculty member of the Metta Institute in California.

Dr. Vieten is Director of Research at the Institute of Noetic Sciences, a licensed clinical psychologist, author, and presenter.

Stuart Hameroff – Do we have a quantum Soul?

Dr. Hameroff’s research for 35 years has involved consciousness – how the pinkish gray meat between our ears produces the richness of experiential awareness. A clinical anesthesiologist, Hameroff has studied how anesthetic gas molecules selectively erase consciousness via delicate quantum effects on protein dynamics.

Following a longstanding interest in the computational capacity of microtubules inside neurons, Hameroff teamed with the eminent British physicist Sir Roger Penrose to develop a controversial quantum theory of consciousness called orchestrated objective reduction (Orch OR) which connects brain processes to fundamental spacetime geometry. Recently Hameroff has explored the theoretical implications of Orch OR for consciousness to exist independent of the body, distributed in deeper, lower, faster scales in non-local, holographic spacetime, raising possible scientific approaches to the soul and spirituality.

David Wilcock: Occupy Your Self! Personal Spiritual Development (updated May 3, 2012)

David Wilcock explores the core spiritual teachings we need today… in order to be able to truly become who we already are!

The 2012 prophecies now have a stunning factual basis behind them in David Wilcock’s New York Times bestselling book, The Source Field Investigations. In this video, breaking new ground in production value for Divine Cosmos, David Wilcock goes into the spiritual principles hidden behind these scientific investigations.

Meditation, dreamwork, out-of-body experiences, philosophical principles, the Law of One, the fourth-density shift… all of this and more is explored. David Wilcock’s brilliant spiritual insights give you practical tools that can help improve the quality and joy of your life… right now!

THE SOUL SOLUTION Enlightening Meditations for Resolving Life’s Problems ~ Jonathan Parker

Revelatory answers in the search for meaning can seem to be the privilege of only the most evolved, brilliant, or blessed beings. But motivational counselor and teacher Jonathan Parker puts those answers within grasp. His step-by-step soul-solution process addresses that most profound of human quests with techniques that prompt transformational shifts.

Refined over Parker’s decades of counseling experience, these meditations and self-guided practices explore fear, meaning, ego, love, abundance, and healing in ways that will connect you to your core — the soul, beyond body and mind, from which real understanding and lasting fulfillment flow. By merging with this source, you will discover the love and peace that already exist inside you, allowing negative thoughts, painful memories, and limiting patterns to dissolve easily. By doing so, you will begin to experience the soul’s limitless gifts and replace endless searching with joyful, enlightened, and empowered being.

8-minute interview with Jill Bennet. Jill asks Jonathan the following questions:

1. Aren’t all meditations supposed to be enlightening?
2. What does the book [The Soul Solution] focus on?
3. Do we have only a percentage connection with our soul or are we disconnected?
4. How do we stay connected with our soul when our lives are so busy?
5. Does connecting with the soul ever get easier and become second nature?
6. Is it possible to go through the day with no mood swings or ever have a bad day?
7. What if a person is skeptical about the soul?
8. Where would a person begin to change their life around?
9. What should be a person’s experience with meditation?

10-minute%20Interview%20with%20Jill%20Bennett_mp3.mp3

Jonathan Parker

For over thirty years, Jonathan Parker has been a counselor, author, and creator of one of the largest libraries of audio recordings for personal enrichment and self-directed growth in the world. His unique, spiritually based methods go far beyond traditional motivational and self-help techniques, empowering others to rise to an enlightened life and develop their innate potential.

His wide spectrum of programs tap the deepest reservoir of human capabilities and inspire success in achieving the highest of human potentials. His programs have touched the lives of many thousands, lifting them to achieve personal excellence and financial success, vibrant health, winning performances, and the heights of the human spirit.

His recordings, workshops, and retreats offer inspiring and life-changing experiences. Jonathan lives with his wife, Jackie, in Ojai, California.

Power of The Soul Inside Wisdom for an Outside World by John Holland

This fascinating book gives you the tools to help tap into one of the most powerful forces in the Universe -YOUR SOUL. This is a step by step guide to help you reconnect with your natural spiritual abilities. You’ll develop a conscious awareness of the spiritual laws that exists in each and every person. “Power of the Soul” will help you to dismantle some of the barriers created by your outer-self, to unveil your true inner-self and enable you to break free from some of the psychological restrictions that have prevented you from identifying and realizing your full potential.

Within these pages you’ll learn how to:
• Discover and access your spiritual faculties
• Open yourself to a guiding higher consciousness
• Tap in to your own intuitive abilities
• Remove psychological and spiritual blocks
• Find your true self as you understand the nature, function, and purpose of the soul
• Create and control your own path
• Use spiritual energy to heal yourself and others
• Enhance your body, mind, and soul to live a life of harmony

This transformational book is more than just a guide. It is also a way back to a life lived from the inside out. No matter what your walk of life, this book will help you to follow your own spiritual journey. “When you tap into the incredible force and power of your soul, and once your spiritual gifts are recognized, opened and used,” says John, “you’ll see yourself and the world in a way you never thought possible.”

POWER OF THE SOUL Inside Wisdom for an Outside World, John Holland

Science, Consciousness & Swami Vivekananda

Science, Consciousness & Swami Vivekananda