A dog crate with no door defeats the point of the crate because a dog seeking freedom simply walks away. In this podcast and post I will utilize a metaphor of a three-sided prison to help illustrate the tragic state of so many of us. Why don’t we walk out into the freedom we really want? Why is the prison we know preferred to the freedom for which we long? Once we gain the eyes to see the only thing left is to follow the voice that leads us out into the exile of freedom.
I know that I confuse a lot of people. This happens because I bring together seemingly unrelated ideas. Our confusion is often dismissed or skimmed over and in the podcast and post I want to invite you to explore areas of confusion because it is a window into something truly profound. Here I will weave together multiple diverse ingredients as an object lesson that exposes how our pride robs us of learning from others and it robs the world of our unique contribution. This is all hidden beyond our confusion and I’ll help you gain the required categories in order to see it.
Do you see yourself as a spiritual person? If not, then you probably don’t define many of your activities as spiritual practice. If you do, then you likely have a number spiritual practices in which you engage. In this post and podcast I tell my story of how my spiritual practice has evolved over the years. The further we perceive God from our inner reality, the more elaborate the practice will be. Religion has commoditized spiritual practice and too often it diminishes the experience of those who don’t subscribe. I give you a new lens to see spirituality and a menu from which all comers can know a transformative inner experience.
The ancient tabernacle and temple was said to be the dwelling place of God. Its design had a three spaces that represented closer proximity to God who dwelt in darkness inside the inner most room called the Holy of Holies. In this podcast and post I show how the tearing of the temple veil is the ultimate remodel of religion. God creates an open floor plan where people are no longer isolated from God. It’s a NEW THEOLOGY. One that doesn’t require the structure, process or religion to access God. The open floor plan means we each have direct access and it shows up as that small little voice inside us.
Mainline denominations are in decline. The church’s response is to blame the culture and claim that it no longer has any desire for God. In this podcast and post I will show that modern people are very curious and interested in God, but their consciousness has outgrown a regressive, tribal, and threatening portrait of God. While institutionalized religion needs this image of God to sustain itself, individuals don’t. Faith is ultimately between oneself and God (Rom 14:22), thus the image of God is not some man “up there” somewhere, but the power within us showing up as our very life.
We all ascribe meaning to something. There is no such thing as a meaningless existence. What is it that causes us to see one thing as meaningful and another thing as random? In this podcast and post I examine the threshold at which point something becomes meaningful and how suffering is often the basis for a high threshold. While most view suffering as a detour to life, I will show how it is actually the path to our best life. If we can find meaning in suffering, then our threshold lowers to where we will find meaning in everything.
In the conclusion of this series, we take a look at the highest (known) level of consciousness. In this post and podcast we will learn three very important lessons on our way to high consciousness and guess what, it is not limited to those with high IQ’s. In fact, as you will learn, the integral stage is within all of our grasp. And if that is true, then so is a united world.
Millennials get an unfair rap as if they are the only ones with a postmodern worldview. In this podcast and post I explain why some so-called post-moderns are actually people bouncing around between lower stages of consciousness. True postmodernism is the integration of multiple stages of consciousness and while it does reflect an evolution of our thinking, it isn’t perfect. For this reason, many in traditional, scientific, and militaristic levels really push back against postmodernism as if it is a regression rather than a progression in consciousness. Today we learn why the ruin of postmodernism is not its eradication but ironically, its inclusion of the contributions of other stages of consciousness. Why does such an inclusive group struggle so much with including certain ideas?
In this weeks podcast and post we continue our examination of the stages of consciousness by looking at the scientific or modern stage. The scientific/ modern level is the first stage of consciousness that empowers people to set aside their differences in order to focus on something bigger than themselves. All higher consciousness moves toward unity. While true science doesn’t allow for opinion or bias in the process, we live in a world where groups of people manipulate science for personal gain. This is actually not science, but tribalism masking as higher consciousness. Quantum physics has forced science to accept non-empirically based reality as fact, and as a result finds increasing alignment with theological pursuits of truth. The result has great promise for humanity, but first we must move beyond our post-modern pitfalls.
Tradition is a container. It’s the necessary structure that is constructed in order to allow the most number of people access to the containers contents or treasure. In this post and podcast I explain how the traditional level of consciousness entered conventional wisdom and provides people with meaning and purpose. While tradition brings good things like structure and control, it isn’t entirely good. While it brings bad things like structure and control, it isn’t entirely bad. As consciousness raises, we can see in this phase the transition out of a binary system as we learn that it’s not as simple as choosing between the contents or the container. If we want the treasure, we have to buy the field (container), but a field with no treasure is expensive dirt.