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Using spirituality and psychology as a defence

Katinka - Spirituality — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 13:30:50 +0000

1) Someone asking me to become a lecturer on an event asked me about karma:

I hear people saying, about someone else, that their ill health or poverty is ‘bad karma’. Tell that to the starving child in Africa.

She was right of course.

2) I heard a longtime Krishnamurti student saying:

Your whole work is a sign of your conditioning.

Which is not the nicest thing to say.

3) Someone I disagreed with gave me a bucket load of psychoanalysis as an explanation for our disagreement. Thankfully we were able, on practical grounds, to resolve our differences.

These three examples have one thing in common: Knowledge is used as a defense. That is: in order to not have to feel compassion for that child in Africa, their trouble is karma. In order to not have to appreciate someone working on totally different lines than her own, the Krishnamurti inspired spiritual teacher puts their whole work down to ‘conditioning’. The third is perhaps the most common today:

Instead of using psychology to fix ourselves, we take the easy way out and use it to put down those we don’t know how to deal with.

All this doesn’t mean, of course, that the knowledge in question is false. It’s just misapplied.

Karma gave us in the West a lot of wealth (though at present on bond). Wealth is responsibility, and when we collectively give to good causes we implicitly recognize that responsibility. Though we’ll pay the price for collectively living on debt. As for that poor child in Africa – perhaps death (and rebirth) is preferable to living with Aids. Perhaps. These are heartbreaking issues. Let’s not use karma as an excuse to avoid feeling them.

Conditioning is a problem we all have to deal with. I think that teacher has perhaps become conditioned to looking at people through ‘Krishnamurti’-glasses. Despite the words, that’s still conditioning. And like that person I got into a disagreement with, she’s started using his words as a defense, instead of applying them to herself. Which of course is far harder.

There’s nothing wrong with either psychology, Jiddu Krishnamurti or the law of karma as such. But there IS something wrong with us when we misapply them.

Searching for peace and serenity

Katinka - Spirituality — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 13:52:02 +0000

Someone asked:

I have been on a path in life that has brought me to you.
My thoughts at the moment are how does one decide which new path to take.
My search for peace and serenity has not been fulfilled and I could use some direction.
Any help you may give would be appreciated.

I answered: I can’t believe I’m saying this but here it is: stop searching.

I still have a hard time grasping that I wrote that, because I never quite get why people tout the ‘stop searching’ line. But in this case it’s pretty obvious that the searching is not helping this person, but is adding to their unrest. And if you want ‘peace and serenity’ unrest isn’t exactly a good thing.

What’s the goal of the spiritual path?

Katinka - Spirituality — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 13:11:28 +0000

I got three books in the mail this week… Two from Quest publishing, the Theosophical Publishing House of the TS Adyar in the US, another from an author herself. All three are about what one might call ‘the spiritual path‘. Two are highly personal accounts of people on the Fourth Way of Gurdjieff, one was impersonal: a commentary on the classic Theosophical text, the Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett.

I had expected to like all three. I didn’t. As it was, I found myself wondering ‘what for?’ as I read The Practice of Presence: Five Paths for Daily Life, by Patty de Llosa. In the genre, her book is quite good, if a bit pedantic here and there. She describes her personal experience with the Fourth Way, which she grew up in, The Alexander Technique, Jungian psychology, T’ai Chi and prayer and meditation.

From her description one can gather the strengths of each of these paths. But the ‘what for’ question did not get answered. I was left with the impression that for Patty the spiritual paths she was on had to do with trying to be perfect and dealing with her emotions and bodily energies. There’s nothing wrong with any of that. But WHAT FOR?

In theosophy motive is seen as a primary issue on the spiritual path. This is, as Joy Mills describes very well in her upcoming book ‘Reflections on an Ageless Wisdom‘, because motive is one of the things that last from one lifetime to the next. There, I said it: reincarnation.

I always try to write about what I know – whereas this motive thing is hard to pin down. Still, for me, the spiritual path is by definition not a selfish pursuit. I’m not accusing Patty of being selfish btw. She’s clearly a devoted mother, and has given her life to teaching people what she knows about the spiritual path. It’s just that perfection and love are two very different things.

Which brings me to the third book I read this week. In ‘The Masters Speak‘, Sy Ginsburg integrates theosophy and Gurdjeff through the teachings of Sri Madhava Ashish. Madhava Ashish advocates the path of the Bodhisattva, the path of love for all of humanity.

In the theosophical view there are at least two paths to enlightenment: one that is aimed at enlightenment for oneself, the other is aimed at enlightenment for all sentient beings. On the one hand one finds eternal rest, the other is one of eternal sacrifice to help as many people and centers of consciousness as one can.

This is a traditional Mahayana distinction. The Mahayana Buddhist talks of the Bodhisattva path and the Hinayana path. This should not be mistaken for Theravada, because it’s not really about the spiritual tradition one is in. The distinction is about motive. In other words: ‘What For?’

This is a question each of us can only ask ourselves: what are we in this thing for? What is our aim, our goal? Are we in it for personal development, functioning in society better, becoming happier, gaining enlightenment and release from the cycle of suffering, or do we really want to be better tools for helping humanity stay clear of worse suffering than it’s already in?

That last option is the Bodhisattva path, the path the Theosophical Masters founded the Theosophical Society for, but in some ways it’s a rather bleak perspective. It involves becoming one of the quiet benefactors of humanity – no hope of riches and glory. Just a lot of hard work, facing up to ones demons, as well as the full depths of humanity’s despair.

Now that’s just what Patty did – at least the first half. She faced up to her demons through Jungian psychology. The issue isn’t with the techniques. I’m the last person to deny that these techniques work and can be very valuable tools on the path. As I said, it’s about motive.

I think it’s an important question that each of you can only answer for yourself (and please don’t share the answer below) What’s your primary motive? This question will keep coming back as you grow on the path.

I’ve been facing it a lot myself lately. There are layers and dimensions to motive. It’s not a one sided thing. And as I face up to my motives it becomes very clear that motives have a lot to do with how we perceive our world. If you want recognition, the lack of it becomes a real problem. If you want wealth, how do you deal with poverty? Each ordinary motive becomes a question to the universe: please allow me to…

The thing with becoming a blessing to all conscious (sentient) beings is that it allows you to instead ask the universe a question: What do you need me to do, in order to become the best help to humanity I can be? And that way, whatever the universe answers is OK and one can get on with the work.

Why is self control important?

Katinka - Spirituality — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 13:02:34 +0000

Having struggled for years with a chocolate addiction, I know the territory well. I used to eat one bar of chocolate a day. I slowly lowered that to zero chocolate. Then, a few years ago, I decided to go easy on myself and allow myself one bar (200gr) a week. I stray a bit above that every once in a while, but am pretty successful at my goal in general. But it does take self control. You know what they say: once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic. I’m afraid it’s the same with chocolate: I’ll always be a chocoholic (yes, that’s a word).

Never mind that research shows that pure chocolate, in small amounts, is healthy. Never mind that research shows that in women eating chocolate is actually correlated with psychological health. The amount I ate was too much, and with the sugar and fat content, could not be considered healthy. And of course: eating chocolate means eating less of the food we all know is healthy too: vegetables, fruit, protein etc. I was long past finding excuses for myself.

The reason I am writing this piece is that one of my favorite psychological blogs (no idea why they are on spring.org.uk) did a series on self control recently. Surprisingly enough the result of research is apparently that there are roughly two things that will help people gain self control:

This is interesting. First of all, it explains something about some theosophists I know: they seem a bit overly self controlled, which this research suggests is due to too much abstract thought Of course the reverse could also be said: studying the more analytical spiritual traditions (Theosophy, Vedanta, Buddhist philosophy, Kabbalah etc.) will help you gain self control. For most people this is probably a good thing.

In passing this explains why those kids who do better in high school, are less likely to have sex early on: they have more self control.

But to me the second part is more surprising: affirmations as a help for self control. I’ve always been a bit skeptical about the claims about affirmations, but this does give them validity. Affirmations don’t help because they create the reality people need to live in, they help because they help people get more self control, which in turn helps them achieve a greater percentage of their goals.

On the other hand, exercising self control is tiring. I think we all know this. The way to avoid eating chocolate is not to have it in the house. Having it there means eating it. That way the only moment to exercise self control is when you’re in the shop, passing the chocolate corridor. One way to be sure to give into temptation is to make it easy to do so.

So, did theosophy help me gain self control over my chocolate addiction? I’m not sure. I grew up in a home where abstract thought was normal. We discussed science and politics over breakfast. Theosophy fit into that pattern, just adding a religious and spiritual dimension.

My addiction went in stages. First, I went into addiction by treating chocolate as the cure to my problems. Then I was in denial for some time. Then I was out of denial and started fighting it. The whole process took years. I was a theosophist for most of that. But yes, theosophy was on my mind during that whole time and probably helped me stay on the track of abstract thought my parents and genes had already put me on.

Free will, freedom and philosophy series

Katinka - Spirituality — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 13:43:25 +0000

Over the past month or so I’ve written about freedom and free will. It has turned out to be a difficult subject to discuss. Here are the posts in the order I wrote them:

Free will, culture and responsibility
There is a consistent stream in our culture that everything is determined by circumstance: genes, conditioning, wealth… But most aside from genes, all those are the product of people acting on each other. The free will debate can also be framed as a responsibility debate. Who is responsible? If there is no free will, does that mean there is no responsibility? Or the other way around: if we choose our destiny, does that mean we’re to blame if something goes wrong? Like an earthquake?
How hard is it to discuss free will?
So: how conscious are we? And what is consciousness?
The freedom of the experience of our lives
The ultimate freedom philosophers talk about, especially existential philosophers, is not so much the world, but our experience of the world.
Free will: mind or emotion?
I’ve often said, in the past, ‘I want to want a regular job’. Rationally, financially, getting a job was absolutely the best thing. But emotionally I just wasn’t feeling it. And I knew from experience that the best way to convince someone to hire me, was to really want to be hired. So I didn’t even try, which of course was precisely in line with my emotional drives.
Free will, karma and reincarnation
Karma rules our circumstances, our potential, our habits. Karma does not rule what we do with all that today. What we do today: thoughts, emotions, words and deeds creates new karma.

Free will: mind or emotion?

Katinka - Spirituality — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 13:30:11 +0000

We’ve been discussing free will, and whether we have freedom or not, for a while now. The discussion has, as I’ve noted before, not been very clear. Either the topic is just plain difficult, or the right approach has not been found yet. Perhaps the following may help:

When philosophers discussed free will in the past, they usually referred to the will of the mind, of our thought. Whether we can choose the direction of our lives consciously, with our mind. This is also the easiest misconception (with potentially very sad consequences) of ‘The Secret’ or ‘The Law of Attraction’.

Why is that a problem? Because a lot of our will power is based in our emotions. In fact: a thought that goes against our emotions is not likely to change our lives. This is why I’ve often said that we need to face up to our emotions, even the not so pretty ones. It’s also why psychotherapy and psychoanalysis can work.

I’ve often said, in the past, ‘I want to want a regular job’. Rationally, financially, getting a job was absolutely the best thing. But emotionally I just wasn’t feeling it. And I knew from experience that the best way to convince someone to hire me, was to really want to be hired. So I didn’t even try, which of course was precisely in line with my emotional drives.

Whether it was my need for freedom, for self-expression, my love of the Internet, or even something pathological (I don’t think so, but hey) I liked where I was and where I felt (not THOUGHT) I was going.

Classic spirituality says that the emotions should be ruled by the mind. The mind should be ruled by the spirit, the divine.

I’ve only ever known how to make sense of that as follows: the mind has to take the emotions into account. After all, how can you rule something you don’t know? Having a very strong mind, and having been, like most of you, trained to use it – the issue for me has often not been to strengthen the mind further, but to get to know the emotions and purify them.

The next step, though I think in practice we usually do several things at once, is to learn to listen to that ‘still small voice’ of divine wisdom in each of us.

Seems to me that real freedom means having full insight into each aspect of ourselves (pretty impossible, but bear with me) and being able to steer our course in the world by balancing all that: mind, emotion and wisdom.

It requires all of that, because otherwise our unconscious drives will steer us one way, our mind the other, and the voice of wisdom is not heard. The result is what many people live: pulled this way and that, happiness and sorrow a mere chance. Which brings me to the other approach: if we leave concerns about free will aside, we can focus on what’s really important… How to be happy. And I do think real happiness can only be found by giving.

The freedom of the experience of our lives

Katinka - Spirituality — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 13:15:30 +0000

The ultimate freedom philosophers talk about, especially existential philosophers, is not so much the world, but our experience of the world. In the words of psychotherapist Irvin D. Yalom:

Nothing in the world has significance except by virtue of one’s own creation. There are no rules, no ethical systems, no values; there is no external referent whatsoever; there is no grand design in the universe…

To experience existence in this manner is a dizzying sensation. Nothing is as it seemed. The very ground beneath one seems to open up. Indeed groundlessness is a commonly used term for a subjective experience of responsibility awareness. p. 221, Existential Psychotherapy

He adds: ‘we constitute the world in such a way that it appears independent of our constitution’ (p. 222). and ‘Our sense data tell us that the world is “there”, and that we enter and leave it‘ (p. 222).

It’s true isn’t it? That’s what we experience on waking and sleeping. But the fact is, equally clearly, that on sleeping we do not leave this world any more than we enter it again on waking. Though some theosophists might disagree with that statement. Leadbeater claimed our souls went on nightly journeys, whether we remembered them or not.

My central question in this post is: if we believe we don’t have free will, what influence do we have on our own lives?

This may sound like theory, but in my teaching days I taught kids with all kinds of diagnoses. One kid who was diagnosed as having ADHD told me: I can’t help it, I have ADHD. Which implies that even if he could have changed something about how he functioned, he wasn’t going to try because the adults in his world had given him the ultimate excuse to stay hyper for the rest of his life.

No amount of scientific studies proving how much our genes and environment steer us, can change that basic fact: if we don’t take responsibility for our lives, no one can. In his chapter about responsibility Yalom shares his experiences in the challenge of helping patients take responsibility for their own lives.

However, he also notes (p. 268) that ‘Many therapists are professional advocates of responsibility but secretly, in their own hearts and in their own belief systems, are environmental determinists.’

To combat this secret tendency in the heart of his audience, he goes on to share what it is that makes us know there is freedom of sorts. First of all (p. 271): we shape our own environment. Some people create conflict wherever they go. Others find helpful people wherever they go. The difference is in the person, the environment follows.

However, to take responsibility of our lives is ultimately, as Yalom suggests, to take responsibility of our experience of our lives. He quotes the ancient philosopher Epictetus who said: (p. 272)

I must die. I must be imprisoned. I must suffer exile. But must I die groaning? Must I whine as well? Can anyone hinder me from going into exile with a smile? The master threatens to chain me: what say you? Chain me? My leg you will chain – yes, but not my will – no, not even Zeus can conquer that.

Back to Yalom goes so far as to say: One’s attitude towards one’s situation is the very crux of being human (p. 272)

So, what do you all think? Is there free will? Are we fated to experience life in a certain way?

How hard is it to discuss free will?

Katinka - Spirituality — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 15:25:07 +0000

I have loads of notes waiting to be turned into blogposts on the topic of free will, which is why I decided to write a series of posts about the topic. But first I want to note an observation about the comments to my first post in the series last week.

First off: neither the Dutch, nor the English post in the series got as many responses as I’m used to. Second: none of those responses really discussed my own first take on the topic. This is not a complaint, just an observation. Next: I find it very hard to respond TO these comments. Now why is that? Why is it hard to discuss free will?

I think it has something to do with the fact that the main issue here is: how conscious are we? One commenter rightly noted the Gurdjieff (and Freud I may add) did not think we were free beings. It was Gurdjieff’s main goal to help us BECOME free. Apparently he did think that was possible, but only to those who had faced their own lack of free will first. But isn’t that a paradox?

So: how conscious are we? And what is consciousness?

Consciousness is another very sticky subject. Defining consciousness is hard. Sticking to any one definition is even harder. But for the purpose of this discussion the main issue seems to be: are our conscious selves (as opposed to our unconscious drives, conditionings etc) in control of our lives? The answer to that one has been clear in psychology for a century and the answer is NO.

BUT, and this is more recent psychological research, perhaps we CAN influence our own unconscious. That is: by integrating our conscious and unconscious, perhaps we can get more control of our lives.

Which brings me back to why it is so hard to discuss free will: perhaps because this question touches on one area in our lives it is hardest to have full self-knowledge about.

Had you all noticed how hard this issue is to talk about?

Michael Mirdad interview

Katinka - Spirituality — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 13:35:59 +0000

As promised, here’s some questions I had for Michael Mirdad, author of ‘You’re Not Going Crazy…You’re Just Waking Up! The Five Stages of Soul Transformation Process’, and his answers.

1. You say that nearly every process of learning is ultimately about understanding and experiencing greater levels of unconditional love (p. 14). What do you mean by ‘unconditional love’ and how would you describe it?

Unconditional love means to love everyone and everything unconditionally. This means loving all without a hesitation of whether or not they are worthy of this love. It also means having respect for everyone and everything. It isn’t the same as the love we often feel as human beings, including romantically. When we love unconditionally, we are expressing the highest form of love that a human being can experience. It’s a Divine expression that exists in the heart and soul of every being–although not yet developed in every being.

2. You say there are three states of mind or levels of consciousness. Can you explain the difference? And how does one avoid over estimating the ‘level’ one is at?

There are basically three levels of consciousness that you will reside in as you go through the soul transformation process: Victims, Students and Masters. Victims allow crisis to destroy them and fail to see any lessons to learn from the ordeal nor do they allow themselves to heal whatever brought the crisis to them. Such behavior of denial usually keeps attracting similar lessons to the Victim–again and again.

Students do their best to participate in the changes life throws at them to improve their lives. This allows them to learn their lessons, as all good Students do, which in turn more likely allows them to move across the bridge to the new, re-building phases.

Masters are individuals who have developed enough spirituality within themselves that they have graduated, more or less, from being mere Students on the path. Masters can be so courageous that they actually don’t wait around for the next change that life throws at them. Instead, they know how to recognize what exactly it is in their life that needs to be dismantled and brought to a new level of experience. Masters choose to initiate changes of anything that would hinder their greater good.

3. You quote a variety of spiritual teachers from East and West, but your main inspiration is ‘A Course in Miracles‘. What’s the most important thing the Course has taught you?

Well, ACIM is certainly one of the most powerful books available and is referenced in the “Crazy” book, I generally don’t associate with it more than other similar materials. Nevertheless, a couple things that the Course shares that almost nothing else has effectively done, is the difference between the ego and the soul, as well as the difference between reality and illusion.

To understand more completely the difference between our Spirit, our soul, and our ego, let’s use the human body as a roadmap of sorts. Our Spirit then resides in the upper three chakras (located in the head and neck); Our humanness resides in the lowest three chakras (located in the root, navel, and solar plexus chakras); and our soul is then located in the remaining center (heart chakra) that sits directly in between our Spirit and our humanness. Our Spirit is the Divine spark or I Am Presence that resides in us all, untouched by our wounds or limiting belief systems.

This is why, how, and where we can literally say that God is within us and yet is also in Heaven. Heaven in this case is high up in the heavens–the heavens that float up above our body and soul–in the upper chakras.

Our soul, on the other hand, is the part of us that believes it can separate from Spirit and is therefore off on some journey down into the “Garden of Eden” (within our hearts) and has begun a journey into the universe. Having then bought into the idea that we have separated from Spirit, gone into the universe on a journey of learning and experience, we fell (from the Eden-like state within our hearts) into an even great state of separation and created the world of our humanness, wherein our newly densified identity (ego) was given the reins to rule and control who we believe we are and chooses for us what is real and valuable and what is not.

So, where we are now is as follows: Spirit is forever sending a loving call for us to return to our True Identity. Our heart and soul hears the call and is always doing all that it can to speak to our fear-based humanness and convince it to release its beliefs and attachments and to rise up and go Home. The ego part of our humanness resists at all costs, knowing that when we rise into love, fear (and its source–the ego) ceases to exist.

Nevertheless, every time we allow ourselves to listen to the higher calling of our Spirit and soul, making healthy choices in our lives and doing all that we can to be loving and forgiving, we dismantle the ego’s hold on us and rise into a higher level of consciousness–closer and closer to our True Nature–God.

4. The three early stages (dismantling, emptiness and disorientation) all sound very painful. Can one speed up the process?

Yes, we can usually speed up the process by practicing responsibility and by learning the lessons that got us into the crisis in the first place. In other words, since we are there to learn, the sooner we do it, and with humility, the sooner we will get to the other side. One of the dangers though, is in our refusing to let go of control. This is certainly the issue that slows us down the most.

5. You describe the goal of the five stages as ‘waking up’. What do you mean by that?

The term “waking up” is meant on a few levels. First of all, it is referring to our need to wake up on a personal level and become more active, conscious participants on our spiritual path. Second, it refers to our need to wake up from the hypnotic control that this illusionary world has over us. In other words, the crisis’ in our lives are literally “wake up” calls to help birth us into becoming spiritual beings and not just human beings.

6. You use the word ‘God’ a lot, but from your occasional references to It, I gather that you’re not talking about a personal God. What’s the meaning of the word ‘God’ here?

As you’ll find in my books and teachings, I often say that God is more likely to be experienced by humans as a feeling–such as love, peace, and joy, rather than seen–such as an actual Being. So in some ways, it’s not personal at all, in the sense that God is not personified or made into a limited being with form. And yet, God is indeed personalized in that it is literally brought into your very heart and soul as a feeling that is tangible and indeed very personal.

7. What’s the relationship between us and God?

Simply stated, God is the part within each of us that remembers our Divine Nature. This Divine Nature is sometimes referred to as our I Am Presence but, by any name, it is all that really exists and is constantly knocking at the door, meaning calling to us from the center of our mind, asking us to wake up and rediscover who we really are.

8. Surrender plays an important part in your book. What does one surrender to? Why is surrender important?

Surrender is crucial in so many ways. Surrender demonstrates that we are open to learning and are willing to release our ego nature. Surrender means that we are open to being guided from a Source that is higher than our limited selves. Surrender is an essential ingredient to get us over the bridge between our old, limited lives to the new life that awaits us when we learn to follow Spirit as our Guide.

PS. I noticed in Katinka’s blog that the Re-Building Stage is not totally understood. The main point here is not that we will now move on the new lessons and problems. The point of making it over that bridge into a new level of love and trust is that when we learn to function from this new level, we tend to attract less problems. Also, if indeed we do have a crisis, we tend to be able to move through them far more quickly and with greater ease. Love & Light, Michael Mirdad

The five stages of the soul transformation process: Michael Mirdad

Katinka - Spirituality — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 13:28:04 +0000

Two weeks ago I wrote about spiritual evolution from the perspective of long term cycles. This week I will go into the more practical day to day questions relating to our own soul transformation process. Personally I can’t take 2012 seriously enough worry about it. I do however have to deal with personal challenges just like anybody else. Michael Mirdad, known mostly as a teacher of sacred sexuality, has brought out a book that addresses these issues: You’re Not Going Crazy…You’re Just Waking Up! The Five Stages of Soul Transformation Process. Mirdad looks at the process of spiritual transformation as a cycle consisting of 5 stages. We will go through these stages again and again as we let go of the past and reinvent ourselves. The only way to avoid them and step out of the cycle is to become so aware of our own growth process as to learn the lessons needed without life needing to give us a hint.

That last sentence will probably mean very little to you unless you already know his work. So here are the five stages Michael Mirdad talks about. The explanation is mine:

Dismantling: when your life seems to be falling apart.
Emptiness: when your emotions catch up with all the changes and you feel depressed and alone.
Disorientation: when your mind tries to make sense of it all, and can not.
Re-building: when hope comes into your life because things are starting to change.
A new life in which you’ll probably be making new mistakes and get caught up in new illusions.

As Mirdad says, the first three can be summed up as dismantling and the last two as re-building.

I hinted in my introduction at the way that Michael Mirdad points to to avoid having to go through the dismantling phase again and again: it’s by becoming a master of your own path. He distinguishes between three kinds of people (p. 15): victims, students and masters. The victim let life’s troubles wash over them without seeing them as opportunities to heal and learn. This means they will never get to the rebuilding part: they will keep cycling through the various dismantling phases (1-3). Students do their best to participate in the changes life throws at them to improve their lives. This allows them to bridge over to the re-building phases (4,5). Masters, in this sense, are individuals who ‘have the spiritual awareness to “be the soul itself” that initiates the Soul Transformation Process. Masters don’t wait for life to dismantle – they will themselves actively dismantle those aspects of their life that block their spiritual path.

Michael Mirdad is a student of ‘A Course in Miracles’, so it’s no surprise that he sees unconditional love as the main lesson to be learned (p. 14). Stay tuned for an interview on this blog with Michael Mirdad…

In his interview with me Michael tells me I did not describe the rebuilding phase very well. Here’s what he says about it: The main point here is not that we will now move on the new lessons and problems. The point of making it over that bridge into a new level of love and trust is that when we learn to function from this new level, we tend to attract less problems. Also, if indeed we do have a crisis, we tend to be able to move through them far more quickly and with greater ease.

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