Spiritual Development

What is spiritual development, really?

Spirituality is quite a different thing to religion, Spirituality is defined as “incorporeal or immaterial nature. ” and religion is defined as “a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs. ”.
Central to the whole realm of spirituality is the belief that we are all beings of a spiritual (non corporeal) nature, having a physical experience of life on Earth. Many exoteric religious belief systems call that idea heresy, and maintain that we are foremost physical beings who may, through faith and devotion, gain a spiritual existence. Spirituality finds a home in most if not all world religions, but, as the dictionary definitions allude, spirituality tends to be somewhat less proscriptive in terms of rituals, devotion and morals. I maintain that there is no need for proscription once a sufficient level of understanding of universal law is reached.
However, if you look towards the inner esoteric traditions of many religions, you tend to find a greater coherence and commonality between them, than you tend to see amongst the devout followers of the exoteric traditions. Spiritual development, regarless of tradition, tends to converge on the direct experience of one's spiritual nature. Only the languaging and conceptualisation diverge. My assertion here is that for example, the enlightened Muslim Sufi ( a follower of esoteric Islam) would find greater commonality of belief and experience with an enlightened Christian, Buddhist or Hundu Monk than might be expected. Recognising that the outer forms and behaviours of religion are merely guidelines, the truly spiritual person recognises another truly spiritual person regardless of the form of observances. In effect, they converge on the unknowable, un-speak-able truth.

I maintain that as a person develops spiritually, he or she paradoxically has less use for proscriptive religion, yet upholds the teachings in an even purer way than the merely devout person. Furthermore, the truly spiritual person understands the meaning of other religious teachings, because they actually understand the enlightened nature of the prophet, sage or master's teachings.

On the other hand, those who rigidly follow the outer rites, forms and proscriptions of religion, without gaining the type of wisdom posessed by the enlightened masters around whom formed the religions, tends to breed a rigid and fundamentalist view of holy doctrine. In such people, intolerance is common. There is clearly a belief that “my way is the right way” and non-believers are destined for eternal suffering. This is the genesis of so-called holy war, surely abhorrent to enlightened beings.

Essentially, I believe that spirituality is synonymous with the seeking and development of enlightenment. Seeking to have the perspective and characteristics of the enlightened principals of religion.

What has hypnosis got to do with spirituality?

If you read what the founder of hypnosis, Milton Erickson had to say about the subconscious, you would find it hard to deny the parallels between the subconscious and what people call 'God'. I do not know what God is, and I do not believe that it is possible to know. What I do know, is that the various writings about God and the various attributes assigned to God, seem identical to those ascribed to the subconscious. Hypnosis can be seen as faithful prayer, meditation and religious contemplation if you are religiously inclined. It can be seen as a useful approach by the non-religious person.

Both hypnosis and spirituality result in a loosening of conditioned behaviour, an increase in true, definition-free awareness, and an acceptance of the latent potential of humanity. Krishnamurti lectured at length about the pervasive nature of conditioning as a barrier to enlightenment, and the power of meditation to transcend the thinking mind. See Freedom from the Known His lectures were addressed to pure awareness and frequently baffled audience members who tried to think through his words. Buddhist and Taoist sages correlate enlightenment with the state of 'No Mind'. If you want to hang out in the place of 'No Mind', you need to quieten the thinking mind and transcend conditioning. Quieting the thinking mind can be achieved with meditation, you can do the Avatar course or it can be achieved via hypnotic trance much more rapidly.

Meditation and Hypnotic trance

A hypnotic trance is identical to the trance of deep meditation, in my experience. I have been taught meditation by Christians, Buddhists and Hindus ( see Wake Up and Roar: Satsang With H. W. L. Poonja, Vol. 2 (Wake Up & Roar) ) and I have experienced deep trance states . I cannot tell the difference between any of these states of consciousness and the state of deep hypnotic trance, they seem identical. In order to get into a deep meditative state (i.e trance) it is necessary to quell the chatter of the conscious mind. Various devices are employed to achieve this state: repeating a mantra or prayer, focussing on an object like a candle, focussing on a feeling like compassion, chanting the 108 names of God , whatever. From my perspective, hypnosis has developed a number of efficient techniques to achieve the quieting of the conscious mind. Anyone who has tried to do meditation knows how hard it is to get quiet, and when the mind is quiet, it is an experience that is impossible to convey to one who lives solely in the chattering monkey mind of consensus reality. When you experience the peace and freedom of a quiet mind, it becomes difficult to return to the consensus world, and very difficult to believe the nonsensical chattering of the surface mind. You simply know that who you really are, is much much more than the body, the monkey mind or whatever anyone tells you about yourself. I believe that in that state of consciousness, I am closer to this idea of God, than I am in regular consciousness. In deep communion, you might say.

Meditation and Prayer

So, in deep communion with my true state, I ask for situations in my life to be resolved. I ask for peace, health, the means for survival in a physical body, happiness, and for the relief of suffering. Beyond that I ask for specific talents so I can enjoy my physical world as I choose, so I can play in this physical world and appreciate it for the beautiful creation it truly is. This is what hypnosis is for.

The Avatar approach

The Avatar course teaches an approach - a technology if you like - to manifestation that directly handles the contradictory parts of an “affirmation,” but the materials are confidential and I can't discuss them. The technology is very effective and rapidly leads to non-dual spiritual awareness which is life-changing. You can find someone to teach you the Avatar Course almost anywhere in the world.
The Avatar course attracts spiritual seekers from many countries and religious backgrounds. It is not unusual to have Buddhist nuns and Christian ministers working together, even chanting Hindu mantras like “Om Shanti” !!; the material is highly spiritual and totally non-religions.