My Spiritual Coach
Quick search
  • About Me
  • About My Sessions
  • Your Past Lives Revisited
  • Discover Your Soul Mates
  • My Soul Mate Books
  • Psychic Phenomena and Powers
  • Auras, Out-of-Body, and Life after Life Experiences
  • Astrology, Saturn, and Past Lives
  • Balance and Enhance Your Energy Centers (Chakras)
  • Blog - Q&A
  • Contact
  • Resources

How can you tell if a spiritual teacher is genuine or not?

11/14/2022

0 Comments

 
The spiritual teacher is a vessel for Divine wisdom and insight into the eternal truths that are difficult to teach. They require an equal passion for discovering their spiritual natures from their students. They are not there to rescue anyone or to create a fantasy that sells dreams to frightened people who find life meaningless. Or to set themselves up as gods to be worshipped.

Many, such as Osho, or Rajinish, begin as clear vessels and then go haywire as the love of power and ego tendencies start to emerge. We can feel all kinds of inspiration and inner peace and finally belonging around such people, or just be carried along by the crowd in a blissful dance of loosened inhibition. But that has nothing to do with spirituality and everything to do with needing to feel that somebody has all the answers. As in cases such as Jim Jones of Jonestown: People felt wonderful around him until 900 people died because of his commands, including 200 children, who were murdered.

Just because we can escape into something other than our difficult lives and join a group that makes us feel safe is not enough basis for really knowing if the spiritual teacher is genuine. It is more than a feeling. Feelings come and go and are mostly based on our mind’s reaction to something first. If we have a wonderful feeling of peace because we have finally found the answer out of our misery, that may not be enough of an indication as to whether the teacher is genuine or not.

So many spiritual teachers have gone the way of power and corruption, it would be easy to trash them all. But, the genuine ones stand the test of time. “Satya” Sai Baba was discovered to have serially molested boy students for years. Yoga guru Bikram also indulged in sexual misconduct. They both had excessive collections of jewelry, cars, and other items of personal wealth in their multimillion dollar estates. Osho owned 94 Rolls Royces, and was aiming at one for every day of the year.

Yet, on the other hand, we have Sai Baba of Shirdi, Buddha, Jesus Christ, Lao Tau, Sri Ramana Marharshi, and so many other great spiritual teachers whose lessons have endured. These teachers were simple in their lives and acknowledged that they were only expressing the inner light and the truth of Spirit and Soul that was revealed to them through contemplation and grace.
​

As we can see through the years, ultimately the true teachers emerge. They do no harm to their students. They do not seek to get rich off of their students. If they charge a fee, it is because the student needs to show commitment. The student needs to work for it. But it is a nominal fee compared to the energy the teacher puts into sharing understanding and spiritual experience of lasting value. In my own experience, spiritual teachers put in three times the energy of any student. These teachers do not want to be celebrities or be worshipped. They see themselves as humble vessels who were blessed with the ability to communicate and then step out of the picture.
0 Comments

How does someone's personal belief system effect how they see the world around them?

11/13/2022

0 Comments

 
​We are all products of our cultural conditioning. When we were children, we believed everything our parents told us. We needed to be loved and cared for. Going along with our caretakers’ beliefs and what they told us, helped us to survive. Often, if we went against these beliefs, we would be punished or ostracized. So we learned to conform. But those are not our personal belief systems. They are handed down to us, fully formed. Yet we think they are ours.

We may think we have a personal belief system, but if we scratch the surface, unless it is based on our own experience and direct apprehension, it is just one more set of ideas that someone came up with a long time ago and everyone around fell into. Then, if it is based on “belief” instead of direct knowledge, it is based on a supposition. We suppose something to be true when it is a belief. We don’t really know it. We observe, and based on our imperfect knowledge, come up with a plausible explanation.

For example, human sacrifice, was part of many of the ancient belief systems. People thought that was their personal belief. If a human was not sacrificed, the sun would not rise in the morning. It was believed to be important and necessary to kill adults, children, and babies to make sure the sun rose. Of course, now we know that the sun doesn’t “rise.” It is all a matter of the rotation of the earth and where we are on it, in relation to the sun. The sun is always there, just where it always was.

Then, as time went by, the belief about human sacrifice and the sun rising changed and was replaced by other beliefs. All beliefs are stories we have made up to make sense out of life or to get what we desire. But all beliefs are not based on any real experience—only on lack of it and lack of knowledge and actually the fear of the new and real.

As Thich Nhat Hanh says,

“Usually when we hear or read something new, we just compare it to our own ideas. If it is the same, we accept it and say that it is correct. If it is not, we say it is incorrect. In either case, we learn nothing.”
​

Beliefs are about, “This is right because people told me so and I haven’t figured it out for myself.” They are what have caused so much human turmoil. Animals have no such belief systems and are much more peaceful because of it. Especially when people start killing each other over their belief systems, which are based on conformity, illusions, and delusions that make them feel better for the moment. They can see all Christians as devils or all non-Christians as bound for Hell. And it is all based on unexamined ego patterns, shaped by fear and ignorance.
0 Comments

How does Zen help us deal with suffering and hardship?

11/13/2022

0 Comments

 
Thich Nhat Hanh, the great Zen master, says this:

“The seed of suffering in you may be strong, but don’t wait until you have no more suffering before allowing yourself to be happy.”

He is not saying that people don’t suffer. In fact, one of the fundamental observations of Buddhism is: Desire for and craving pleasure, material goods, and immortality is the root cause of all suffering. These desires are all wants that can never be satisfied. As a result, desiring them can only bring suffering.

Suffering means that we do not like what is happening in the present moment. We are not satisfied with it. It brings us emotional pain. Suffering is emotional and is a choice. Pain is inevitable and sometimes even a blessing when it lets us know that we need to take care of the issue. But suffering is chewing over in our minds the fears and anxieties that are merely add-ons and don’t help us at all.

He’s saying suffering may be a strong pull for us. We may want to wallow in it. And bask in feeling sorry for ourselves. We can ask, “Why me?”, as if this is something personal the Universe is inflicting on us, when we feel entitled to be happy every moment of the day and night. And furthermore, we never want our bodies to die. But because we know these bodies will go, we can’t allow ourselves to be happy because we will all end in death anyway.

Hanh says, stop this miserable cycle of anxiety. Don’t put off your happiness until the day when everything is picture perfect and your body won’t die. Be happy now. Even if your toe hurts and you just bit your tongue. Experience the pain fully and when it is divorced from suffering, it is just one more strong physical sensation.
​

Zen’s primary focus in on mindfulness in the present moment. It is not about the wild hurricane of the whirlwind mind. It is finding peace in every minute, joy in the kernel of timelessness, and gratitude for it. Suffering gets transmuted, through this awareness, into a profound revelation of perfection right now.
0 Comments

Can you explain the concept of "mindfulness" as taught by Thich Nhat Hanh?

11/13/2022

0 Comments

 
The moment we awake from sleep, our minds begin their whirlwind of thoughts about the future: I need to do this and that, I need to meet or avoid certain people, I’m hungry, my leg hurts, maybe I should see a doctor. But the last doctor I saw didn’t help. Now what should I do? It took so long to get my last appointment with that doctor. No we are going back into the past, remembering the unpleasant. Then we switch to the future, fearing what will happen if we don’t get it taken care of. We fear it will only get worse.

This is just one example of how our minds run away with us, as we toggle from future to past and past to future. Meanwhile, we are not experiencing the fullness of our present moment, which is all we really have. The past is gone. The present hasn’t happened yet. All we truly have is the now. And if we don’t allow ourselves to experience and pay attention to the now, in all its peace and completeness, we will be dragged around by our minds into a state of anxiety, fear, regret, despair, and unease.

And this is just the start of the day. Instead of waking up and looking at the new dawn, feeling the joy of being alive, feeling appreciation for life and love, being fascinated with how perfect it all is, we need to fix things. We need to get on with the next project, we are bored, restless, or reluctant even to wake up as we face the drudgery and difficulties ahead.

Thich Nhat Hanh steers us away from this unhappy way of living. He says:

“If while washing dishes, we think only of the cup of tea that awaits us, thus hurrying to get the dishes out of the way as if they were a nuisance, then we are not “washing the dishes to wash the dishes.” What’s more, we are not alive during the time we are washing the dishes. In fact we are completely incapable of realizing the miracle of life while standing at the sink. If we can’t wash the dishes, the chances are we won’t be able to drink our tea either. While drinking the cup of tea, we will only be thinking of other things, barely aware of the cup in our hands. Thus we are sucked away into the future—and we are incapable of actually living one minute of life.”

We are not really living when we are rushing off to the next thing and seeing the present moment as an encumbrance that we need to get through somehow. The present moment becomes something we must survive so we can get to the next thing that we must survive. It is a pointless and completely miserable way to live: Let’s get on with it so we can rush to the next thing we need to get on with. Instead, Thich Nhat Hanh says:

“When you walk, arrive with every step. That is walking meditation. There’s nothing else to it.”
​

Now we are at one with our body and its movement, each step, the earth, and the freedom of present moment awareness. We are not dragged down by the sorrows of the past or the fears about the future. We are mindfully walking, one step at a time, and being happy with that one step. Focussing our attention on that one step. In that mindful step is the key to our freedom from the churning of the mind. There is no place to go. We have already arrived.
0 Comments

How can belief in something that cannot be seen or measured provide strength and comfort?

11/5/2022

0 Comments

 
We can't see electricity, nor the interconnections of the Internet that makes our communication with each other possible. We don’t see the air, yet we rely on it for our very lives. We put our trust in so many things that we cannot see or measure.

We can measure the outcome or output of these invisible forces, such as how much light or heat electricity puts out. But the actual invisible energy is not quantifiable in that way. All we can do is rely on the thermodynamic laws and laws of electrical flow to predict their outcomes.

Belief and trust are two different things. Belief means, “I don’t know. I’d like to think it’s such and such a way. But I don’t really know.” Or, belief is based on blind trust, as a child believes in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.
​

But when it comes to finding strength in unseen forces outside ourselves and our sensory apparatus, it is more a matter of deep feeling, and an inner knowing that comes from profound experience. If it is based on belief alone, we could find comfort in the Great Rabbit in the Sky, if that is what our culture teaches. Then, a new belief system comes along, such as the Great Turtle beneath the Earth, and we believe that as well. Because belief is not based on knowledge or experience.

The most important things in the world are those unseen things, such as love. We can’t see love or peace. We can only feel love, peace, and joy. Also, it doesn’t depend on sight at all. Sighted people rely so much on what they see to believe what they think is real. What about our blind brothers and sisters? They can feel the presence of the Holy Source Energy of the Universe too. Because, Spiritual forces are not dependent on our senses, which can easily be lost, destroyed, or diminished by age.
​

Therefore, the only things that are truly comforting, are the eternal things, which cannot be destroyed or diminished. That is what brings comfort. But don’t try to measure them with any scientific instruments. You must feel them to know them.

​
0 Comments

What aspects of yourself did you have to let go of in order to progress further on your spiritual journey?

11/2/2022

0 Comments

 
The spiritual journey is not a linear, progressive achievement. This is a prejudice that comes from how the human mind works: Needing a story with a beginning, a middle, and an end. With the spiritual journey it is a deepening of awareness that continues but doesn’t end with some final state. It is continuous and eternal and not based on earthly sacrifices. It’s a mistake to think we must give things up to get there.

Spiritual people can feel anger. They may not feel love for everyone and everything. They may give into the fears of the mind on occasion. It is ridiculous to impose saintly values on people who are all too human while in the human form. For example, Alan Watts was enlightened and in tune with the underlying harmonious structure of the Universe. He also was an alcoholic and a chain smoker. He didn’t give these things up and didn’t feel the need to. He knew that addictions come with the body and we don’t need to bolster our ego minds by promoting ourselves to sainthood in the eyes of others.

In my life, I gave up owning anything for five years. It was a positive experience to be able to live without possessions and very liberating. But it wasn’t because I thought it would get me farther on the path or that I could bribe Source Energy or God with my saint-like behavior. It wasn’t because I was trying to be a martyr. It was specific to me and what I needed to learn and when I learned what I needed, I moved on from that discipline.

It’s an imposition on spiritually inclined people to expect them all to be Mother Theresas and Sri Ramana Marharshis. Those beings did what they did because it brought them meaning and the maximum amount of joy in their lives. They couldn’t do anything else. It was their very nature and their choice. They weren’t going without and serving others so they could feather their nests in the next world. They had to do what they did based on their destinies. Nothing else made sense to them.

And, so I have let go of nothing, even troubling thoughts if they arise. They are just part of how the the mind works, churning out worries, fears, and apprehensions. I don’t need to think I am actually these thoughts and get caught in the whirlpool of misery. On the other had, I don’t need to force them away. I can let them be, the way we can let a car alarm carry on in the street when there’s no means to shut it off.

Eckart Tolle tells of a time he was in Starbucks and a fan came up to him and said, “You drink coffee?”, in an outraged voice. The public expects enlightened beings to be plaster saints at all times. They force us into molds of their fairytale vision of enlightenment. While, if you read any of the stories of the Zen masters, you will see they were cruel at times and seemingly lacking in compassion. That is because they were shocking students out of their cliches about what enlightenment really is.
And therefore, I have let go of nothing except sainthood itself. “Bring it on,” I say to the Universe. I know whatever you bring is for my good and my gaining. I can have fun, be full of life and energy, and still be in touch with All-That-Is. As Lao Tsu says in the Tao (19th verse):

“Give up sainthood, renounce wisdom,
and it will be a hundred times better for everyone.
​

All of these are outward forms alone;
They are not sufficient in themselves.”ick here to edit.
0 Comments

Did Oscar Wilde believe in soul mates?

11/1/2022

0 Comments

 
Oscar Wilde went to prison because of his soulmate relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas. Wilde ruined his life to be with him. That can be a sure sign of soulmate bonds, which sometimes do not end happily. Though Wilde did not specifically use the term “soulmate,” he refers to the same feelings soulmates elicit, especially in his letter to Douglas.

These letters refer to being together in the afterlife, the divine and otherworldly nature of their love, and Wilde’s inability to be without him, even after he treated Wilde in a cruel and cowardly manner. Here are some statements from Wilde to his beloved, from various letters, which state the infinity of a soulmate interaction:

“I must see you soon — you are the divine thing I want — the thing of grace and genius. . . .”

“Let us always be infinitely dear to each other, as indeed we have been always. . . .I think of you daily, and am always devotedly yours.”

Wilde says that he cannot be without Douglas, no matter what, which many soulmates feel. They often take it literally and many documented cases show they even die together, though this was not the case for Wilde and Douglas:

“It is really absurd. I can’t live without you. You are so dear, so wonderful. I think of you all day long, and miss your grace, your boyish beauty, the bright sword-play of your wit, the delicate fancy of your genius, so surprising always in its sudden swallow-flights towards north and south, towards sun and moon — and, above all, yourself.”

In this excerpt, Wilde places their relationship in the context of life and death:

“Death and Love seem to walk on either hand as I go through life: they are the only things I think of, their wings shadow me.”

Here, Wilde talks about his soul’s yearning, and brings in eternity (now and forever) once again.

“London is a desert without your dainty feet… Write me a line and take all my love — now and forever.”

And finally, we see eternity mentioned again. He was sure of the deathlessness of their love. He wrote this just before he got out of prison for practicing “The love the dares not say its name.” Here he talks about meeting Douglas in the afterlife. This is what gives him hope after the ordeals he suffered in this life to continue his contact with Lord Douglas:

“This is to assure you of my immortal, my eternal love for you. Tomorrow all will be over. If prison and dishonour be my destiny, think that my love for you and this idea, this still more divine belief, that you love me in return will sustain me in my unhappiness and will make me capable, I hope, of bearing my grief most patiently. Since the hope, nay rather the certainty, of meeting you again in some world is the goal and the encouragement of my present life, ah! I must continue to live in this world because of that.”

Therefore, we can see, that though the term “soulmate” is not explicitly used, Wilde feels in his deepest heart and Soul, that this love is the most profound relationship of his life. He has a “divine belief” it it. And he feels that it will continue forever. It will never die. And that is what characterizes soulmates.
0 Comments

What are some of the most important spiritual principles that can be found in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) literature?

10/31/2022

0 Comments

 
“Let go and let God,” is one of the fundamental spiritual precepts in AA. This is why AA has been the most effective treatment for the destructive patterns of alcoholism, through the years, that I have encountered. We have already relied on our fearful minds and fault-finding intellects to take us to a place where we are out of control. We believe the negative bias of the mind and therefore try to numb it by consuming ever greater quantities of alcohol. Our decisions have taken us down a dead end of ruin and loss.

Willpower didn’t work for us. Therefore, it’s time to let go of the idea that we, personally, are the masters of the universe, can control our self-destructive impulses, and begin to understand the forces that are really “in charge.” Then, we must give up our fearful sense of self and rest in the bountiful heart of the Universe.

AA shows us that thinking we’re capable of total self-management doesn’t work if we believe we are our worrisome, petty minds. They will drive us to drink or other destructive addictions. We must acknowledge and give up the control to a Higher Power—which is the force behind all that is, because it works. AA does not assign a name, such as Jesus or Allah to this Higher Power. This allows everyone access to the idea something larger and wiser than our smaller selves is in control. We’ve allowed ourselves to get out of control anyway, despite our willpower, thus we have become alcoholics, addicts, and dependent on substances to get us through the day.

It is a humbling position, that leads us to recognize that we are in charge of so very little. And that we have messed up and are destroying our health, lives, and the lives of those around us. It takes the burden off of us when we realize that we can depend on something much larger than our little fears and ambitions to break a destructive pattern. Just as we do not circulate our own blood or beat our own hearts or order our stomachs to digest our food, we need to acknowledge that something much greater is at work. It’s delusional to think we can control everything and therefore become very upset when things don’t go according to our plans.

Our plans to go to the bar every day or drink a bottle of whiskey in our room never contributed to our health or abundance or happiness. Why did we think that our plans to quit the habit, based on our own mistaken mental habits, would work out when we are the ones making the decisions? Those decisions were flawed and made us feel more like failures when we couldn’t live up to our resolutions to quit. And so we took another drink to drown out all the mental noise.

The Higher Power is the source of wisdom, love, beauty, and peace. AA tells us to get into contact with the spiritual underpinning of All-That-Is. Stop thinking it’s all on us to fix things. It doesn't work, obviously. Willpower doesn’t work. It doesn’t work because we are forcing ourselves through sheer discipline, which we don’t have when it comes to substances.
​

It takes surrender. Or as the apostle John said in the New Testament, “I can, of my own self, do nothing . . . because I seek not mine own will but the will of the Father that hath sent me.” Our willpower alone does not work and we are backed up against the wall. The only way to go is to surrender: “Let Go and Let God.”

​
0 Comments

Who is better, Deepak Chopra or Dr. David Hawkins (quantum healing)?

10/23/2022

0 Comments

 
Both Chopra and Hawkins are accomplished, visionary thinkers and physicians who incorporate spiritual modalities into bodily healing and mental health. As to which is better, it is up to you if you like one style over the other. Both emphasize the same points and bring out the fact that hard scientists have not explored spiritual avenues enough to be effective in healing or in giving us answers to the deepest questions in life.

In 1995, Dr. Hawkins came out with a "Map of Consciousness,"in his book Power vs. Force. The "Map of Consciousness" brings discoveries from quantum physics and nonlinear dynamics. Deepak Chopra’s book Quantum Healing appeared in 1989. It is about the invisible mind-body connection and how we can alleviate our suffering by understanding this interrelationship and its spiritual component.

Hawkins’ "Map of Consciousness," shows that with each rise in the level of consciousness, the "frequency" or "vibration" of energy increases. In this way, higher consciousness radiates a healing effect on the world. He also tested human muscle response to these vibrations, which stays strong in the presence of love and truth. But negative energy fields induce a weak muscle response.

Chopra’s approach is similar: Human beings can become “metahuman” by reaching a new place of awareness and thus be endlessly healthy and free. He sees the human body as supported by a "quantum mechanical body" composed not of matter but of energy and information. Contact with these higher fields of energy and information brings health, happiness, and benefits to the world as well.

Both Hawkins and Chopra adhere to the fundamental ideas of the world’s great spiritual traditions: Kindness and compassion to everything and everyone, including ourselves; humility; forgiveness; reverence for all of life; and surrender to Cosmic Consciousness (or God). It is a direct path to Enlightenment in which each internal progression of love and integrity uplifts the whole of existence: "We change the world not by what we say or do but as a consequence of what we have become," states Dr. Hawkins.
​

Chopra also says, “Each of us is a unique strand in the intricate web of life and here to make a contribution.” So it’s not a matter of who is better. They are both great contributors to our understanding of how to alleviate the enormous amount of suffering in the world and in ourselves.
0 Comments

What is the connection between Martin Heidegger's philosophy and Buddhism (especially Zen)?

10/23/2022

0 Comments

 


Martin Heidegger’s philosophy is deep and complex, and yet he makes statements that are simple and Zen-like. Zen is accepting things as they are and not fighting the flow. This includes the Zen approach to death, which is Life and Death are one. It is a continuum. There is no dividing line between them. As in the world of form, there is actually no dividing line between anything, there only seems to be to our perceptions. Everything interacts as part of a cosmic dance of chemicals, atoms, and non-physical elements. All is one underneath it all.

Heidegger made this statement:

"If I take death into my life, acknowledge it, and face it squarely, I will free myself from the anxiety of death and the pettiness of life - and only then will I be free to become myself.”

He is saying that our fear of death and our craving to “make something” out of our lives puts us on a hamster wheel of tasks and to-do lists that never end but don’t lead to peace, joy, or understanding of our true selves. Instead of being in denial about our own physical death, if we face that it is inevitable, we won’t scramble around living life on the surface. It’s like the Kamikaze fighter who crashed his plane but didn’t die. He expected to. die And when he survived he felt renewed, as if he saw life and all its glory for the first time.

Heidegger also said, “Every man is born as many men and dies as a single one.” He is saying that we are more than the physical bodies, which, like snowflakes are all individual but form the totality of the snowfield. Or like raindrops falling into the ocean. The individuality disappears, once we cross over into death.
​

This is Zen-like because of the emphasis, that after all, All is One. We realize that the deepest level of our life, what in Zen is called the "true self," is always here-and-now. This true self, even though here-and-now, is always changing. When we are born we enter the world of change and when we die we enter the world of change. It is always the same yet always changing. If we don’t realize this, we live deluded lives. That is why Heidegger said, “Transcendence constitutes selfhood.”

​
0 Comments
<<Previous
Forward>>

    Author

    As a spiritual guide, healer, and lecturer, I have had the privilege to touch the lives of people who long to understand their higher selves. Please leave questions and comments for me. Hope to see you often here!

    Categories

    All
    Chakras
    Consciousness
    Death And Dying
    Dreams
    Energy Fields
    Enlightenment
    Good And Evil
    Health And Healing
    Karma
    Life After Life
    Meditation
    Movie Reviews
    Past Lives
    Philosophy
    Present Moment Awareness
    Purpose In Life
    Religions
    Soulmates
    Spirit Guides Angels
    Spiritual Growth
    State Of The World
    The Soul
    The Universe

    Archives

    May 2022
    February 2022
    October 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    February 2017

    RSS Feed


© Copyright June Marshall, 2014 - Present. 
    All rights reserved.       


Site designed and maintained by Newmedia Publishing