In the past quarter decade, I’ve meditated with gurus, worked with mediums, communed with THE seven angels, and talked to supportive spirit friends on the phone and through the radio. That may suggest a rich spiritual experience, but it doesn’t necessarily equate to spiritual advancement, as I’m learning recently.

There’s a spiritual path that everyone takes, eventually, to find peace and paradise. Some of us find the path while we walk the Earth, while many others find it only after we’ve kissed the material world and carnal body good-bye for that grand voyage… those Stygial shores… the pearly gates… the Summerland….  In any case, once we’ve made the trip and look back on our mundane Earth experience, it looks like a journey from darkness into light.

Me? I’ve had a good number of glimpses down the path since my near-death experience with cancer in 1988, but only in the past month or two have I looked long and hard to see what sort of rewards and challenges are strewn about, waiting for us all. Here I am at age 61… so maybe I can start the journey this coming year (2011)… and with any luck take the journey while still living a mortal life!

The path goes by many names and has been illuminated by many religious and spiritual leaders, but it always leads to the same place: unparalleled joy, understanding, and enlightenment. Here are a few of the timeless road signs posted down through the ages at the entrance to path, by those who’ve taken the journey:

Know thyself. (ancient Greek philosophers)

Be in the world but not of it. (the gospel John)

The kingdom of God is within. (the gospel Luke)

Just let go. (Swami Durgananda a.k.a. Sally Kempman)

Self-realization. (ancient Hindu texts)

Self-actualization. (Abraham Maslow)

The eight-fold path to end suffering. (Siddhartha, the Buddha)

The magic of awakening. (Sirshree)

(I included links in the above list because of the amazing writing, especially in the two Durgananda articles, which offer some of the best descriptions of “the path” that I’ve found to date.”)

Shortly after my 1988 bout with cancer I went to see Gurumayi, the pretty, young leader of Siddha Yoga, during her visit to Denver. As a vast gathering of devotees sat cross-legged on mats and filled the ballroom of an airport hotel, Regina and I were lucky to be near the front of the throng. We would have been some 10 or 12 rows out, had there been rows. Upon seeing the swami, Regina instantly felt transformed by her gentle shaktipat (refined life energy) that swept over the crowd, while I felt little. I learned later that everyone consciously feels the force and the pull only when they are ready, not so much before. Still, I remember at one point I felt such a warm, grateful feeling toward the lovely swami sitting, smiling, addressing the crowd, that I mentally formed a beautiful white latticework arch around and over her, and filled it with entwining green vines of rich red roses. I swear, she seemed to stop short for an instant, look directly into my eyes, and nod intently (maybe to send a wave of energy my way), before resuming her talk. That was my first solid lesson in the creative power of thought and intention! I immersed myself in the chanting and (attempted) meditations for a couple of years… but didn’t make it onto the path of enlightenment. Still wasn’t ready, apparently.

In 1991 I met George Meek and embarked on a 20-year adventure into the miraculous world of ITC (instrumental transcommunication). With friends in Luxembourg I soon established INIT, an international research panel, and we began receiving some of the greatest miracles in history, I kid you not! The Seven angels who made those miracles possible told us they’d been assigned by the spirit-world hierarchy to be communication gatekeepers between Earth and the higher realms of spirit. Because of a dense, dark ‘plague’ of confused and disagreeable spiritual energies surrounding our world, created largely by our own troubled thinking, such protective gatekeepers will be necessary in order to sustain high-tech communication channels with the finer realms of spirit in the future. I say “the future” because our INIT group fell apart around the year 2000. Our strength was provided by the resonance of our wonderful members, which allowed The Seven to protect our work, but when the harmony began to give way to dissonance (caused by runaway egos and hormones), protection became more and more difficult to sustain… giving the troubled spirit forces the chance to move in and disrupt things.

The future of ITC, then, depends not on the willingness and strength of finer spiritual forces (they’re over there, with wisdom and power of the ages, waiting to make it happen, folks!), but on us humans and our ability to work together in peace and harmony.

So, that brings us back to… the path!

Since the fall of INIT, I’ve been struggling inside to figure out how to get people to work together with enough harmony and sustained good will to make a real ITC project viable. I’ve tried various group experiments with heart meditations, to no avail… in part because of the motivation and self-discipline needed by all members to do the meditations on a regular basis.

Well, just this month (December 2010) I’ve found what could be a better answer than heart meditation – – the path of self-realization. If we’re trying to forge a group of harmonious members, then of all the people on Earth, it is those who’ve walked the path to find bliss and enlightenment who would have the best chance… right?

Well, maybe and maybe not.

As I said, our INIT group consisted of great men and women of good will… and while the noble side of our natures prevailed for several years, our inner dopplegangers eventually reared their savage heads to turn order to chaos.

Even the wonderful Siddha Yoga organization, which has helped many thousands of people on their spiritual paths, has been ripped apart at times by their members’ (and leaders’) savage side.

As I’ve said many times in many ways, to be human on Earth is to have a noble side and a savage side… and maybe there’s no way to take human egos, hormones, and other savage-makers entirely out of the picture… but…

… I would bet that the path of self-realization comes closer than any other way.

Maybe we’ll find out next year. There’s a group of path-walkers based in India (where else, hey?) who are planning such a project… and if I participate in that project, then I’ll certainly have to start walking that path… or maybe jogging, to catch up!

I plan to write more of this in coming articles.

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Other posts on health and well-being:

Meditation & Prayer:   Heart meditation    –    Meditation; ticket to paradise   –   Prayer; another ticket   –   Tapping on Heaven’s door   –   The answer to everything

Exercise:   Some great exercises   –   Mantric exercises

Spiritual Growth:   Embrace the divine; it’s where we shine   –   Go to the light   –   Healing and the human spirit   –   Love and good will… but what about trust?   –   The carnal line between noble and savage   –   An apology can lift the spirit

Self-Awareness:   Are you an extrovert or an introvert?   –   Know Heaven   –   Know thyself

Addiction & Mental Illness:   Nonfunctioning alcoholism   –   Mental illness: barriers lost