(Conscious Transformation as a practical system)
I drew my teachings from the wide and varied traditions, both modern and ancient, that I had studied and developed a system known as Conscious Transformation. Through these methods, I transformed my own life and showed people how to consciously transform their lives on all levels. This system of Conscious Transformation empowers individuals to become the architect of their lives, giving them practical tools to intentionally create any vision they choose.
These are the mental, emotional, and physical bodies and a fourth body that we refer to as the spiritual body. The spiritual body is the part of us that extends beyond our human existence.
If we wish to realize our full potential and go beyond the mundane experience of life, we must be willing to master our mind, emotions, and physical body, and increase our opening to spirit.
(Training the mind rather than being ruled by it)
The mind can serve as a bridge or tool for unlocking these patterns in each of the aspects of the inner matrix. In order to unlock that door and taste freedom, we must understand the mind and gain the capacity to think the mind instead of allowing the mind to think us. In other words, we must train the mind like an athlete trains the body for a race.
The mind, like the heart, is always operating and fulfilling its purpose. The heart’s purpose is to constantly pump blood, carrying oxygen and nutrients throughout the body via the circulatory system; it does so without our awareness of this happening, without ceasing. The mind’s purpose is to think. It is constantly creating thoughts, beliefs, and concepts, giving us the ability to function in life and interact with our environments. If the mind were to stop serving its purpose, we would slip into a vegetative state, unable to function.
(The prison metaphor: expanding beyond the known self)
As time passes, food and water cease to arrive in your cell, and you experience the intolerable pain of thirst and hunger, which increases your yearning to venture outside. Finally, when the discomfort becomes too great, you step out into the unknown and begin to explore the inside of the greater prison. Time and time again, this experience repeats itself, and you venture farther and farther out. Eventually, you discover a door leading outside the prison, and one day, you step through it and begin to wander the prison grounds.
Over time, you gain awareness that this world is ever-changing and that nothing remains the same for long. As time passes, you learn to build houses, bridges, and roads. You learn to find your own food. One day you realize that there is no longer a yearning inside of you for anything. You become aware that you were actually the architect of the prison that once held you. For the first time, you know that you are truly free of its confines.
Seeing your former self in the current prison inmates, you return to the prison out of a sense of love and a desire that everyone know the freedom you experience in the world outside of the prison.
The only way to know our internal world is to step beyond our cell. Anything we imagine while we are in our cell is just an extrapolation of the cell itself. It is just an extension of what we already know and have experienced. While caged, our imagination cannot begin to approximate the majesty of existence beyond our four walls.
The mind is a pure space or void, containing the energy and power to manifest any vibration that is placed in that space. Every thought is a vibration of energy. Each
(Mind as pure space: love versus fear as the only two states)
along either a spectrum of divine love or a spectrum of fear. In any given moment, the mind is either operating and aligning with the aspect of divine love or the aspect of fear, but never both of these. It is simply impossible for the mind to be in a state of divine love and fear at the same time. In any given moment, there is a choice to be made. Divine love is an experience of expansion. When the mind is thinking positive and constructive thoughts, the mind is in a state of expansion. When we think about the opportunities and possibilities in our lives and all that is going well for us, the mind is expanding. When we focus on our good qualities and our strengths, we expand as well. When we think about the people we love and all of their wonderful characteristics, our minds are aligned with divine love.
(Three layers of mind: thoughts, beliefs, and core concepts)
In this model, thoughts occur on the conscious level, beliefs on the subconscious level, and core concepts on the unconscious level of our minds.
However, because the mind is laid down in layers, when we are engaging thought, it is like touching the surface of the ocean. If we wish to change the mind’s composition, we must dive underneath our thoughts to discover the foundational beliefs and concepts that are creating our thoughts and holding them in place.
The subconscious is the level of the mind that lies just below the conscious mind. The subconscious mind is the realm of our beliefs. Beliefs support and even establish our thoughts. Although we may be aware of some of our beliefs, there are many more that are hidden from our awareness in portions of our subconscious to which we have no access.
If I believe that I can achieve whatever I set my mind to, this belief will support and create thoughts such as I am capable; life is exciting; I will be successful; I am unstoppable; I am smart; and I can overcome anything. On the other hand, if I believe that I can’t do anything right, this belief will support and create thoughts such as I can’t do it; why try; things never work out for me; I’m never going to succeed at anything, life is so hard; I am stupid; and everyone is against me.
For example, the vibrational frequency of gratitude will create thoughts such as I am so lucky; life is so wonderful; the universe is supporting my highest good; and it is a gift to be alive.
The reason we cannot accurately envision the world that will emerge when we align with a higher level of consciousness is that any visions we create for our future will be extrapolations of what we have known at our current, lower level of consciousness. The world that will emerge from this higher level of consciousness will be beyond that which we can currently conceive. We simply cannot accurately imagine what we have never experienced.
We can and should use our vision to motivate us to move forward and create beneficial changes. However, we cannot become too attached to how we will manifest our vision or what it will be like when we arrive at this new place. If we already knew how to create our vision, we would already be there.
(Relationships as mirrors of inner patterning)
We think we are having different relationships with different people, but in truth, because our unconscious internal patterning drives us, these relationships are only a projection of our own internal states of being. We are first and foremost in relationship with ourselves, and all our external relationships are a projection of this most important relationship. This is why the relationships in our lives act as mirrors. As Joseph Campbell noted in Reflections on the Art of Living, “The universe is a great spread-out net with, at every joint, a gem and each gem not only reflecting all the others but itself reflected in all.”
When we begin to accept our relationships as the mirrors they truly are, suddenly all blame is gone. Because relationships are here as a tool to show us what lives inside us so that we can attend to those patterns, how can we be angry or disappointed at the person we are in relationship with? After all, the problems that we see in others are a reflection and illumination of our own areas of internal existence that need to be shifted and transformed in order that we might experience something different. With acceptance of this truth comes a new level of accountability but also a new level of empowerment.
The brain’s limbic system actually senses our environment before the brain can see what is present. The ventral vagus nerve runs between the brainstem and the heart. It perceives the sound of people’s voices and their facial expressions. When the ventral vagus perceives that someone is in a state of peace by noticing such expressions as a softening of facial muscles or relaxation in another person’s tone of voice, it senses that it is safe to connect.
(The love we crave is found in our own spiritual self)
Unbeknownst to most of us, the love that every human being truly craves is the love that comes from that connection to our own spiritual self. The love that we desire is the pure unconditional love only found in these higher levels of consciousness. This love exists inside of ourselves, but until we realize it, we cannot experience it at will or offer it to another. Only this unconditional love satisfies our deepest of human desires.
In order to evolve our relationships, what is necessary is a commitment to embody a state of compassion, joy, and peace regardless of what presents itself in our environments.
That truth is that we are all connected to everything in this web of life. As Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “It really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” This unconditional love or spirit connects all and is innate within all things. The life force that exists in one human being is the same life force that exists in all of humanity. This same life force also exists in the trees of the forests, the depths of our oceans, and the animals in the wild. It is the power that sustains the perfect conditions on Mother Earth to support life. It aligns the planets and the stars in perfect harmony. All life forms are different manifestations of the same intelligence that brought pure formless energy into form.
As poet John Donne said, “No man is an island, entire of itself. Every man is a piece of the continent. Entire of the main.” As Einstein similarly noted, man’s experience of separateness is “a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness.”
As we desire to be connected to higher and higher states of being and move into these states, we remind others of the brilliance that lives within them. As we go out into the world, we begin to sow the seeds of our new state of being. When we go to the grocery store and interact with the shoppers and the clerks, instead of planting seeds of anger and resentment, we plant seeds of love and compassion.
(Daily practice: checking in and living the work)
We must consistently tune in to the aspects of our inner matrix to ensure that we are on the path of engaging only what supports our optimal health, well-being, and consciousness.
With this increased awareness, we can conduct our lives in a very deliberate manner. Day by day, we continue to expand our connection to the spiritual until one day, this connection guides every thought, emotion, and action that we take.
For each week, you will find a quick checking-in exercise to do throughout the day. By checking in on the state of your inner matrix, your mindfulness skills are incorporated into your daily life beyond your twenty-minute a day practice. Now you are not just practicing, you are living the work. To check in, set an alarm on your computer, phone, or watch to go off in increments throughout the day. Once an hour is optimal. The more frequently you do the practices, the more rapid the changes will be. If you are at work and concerned about the noise, simply place your phone on vibrate or turn the sound of your alarm down low. When the alarm goes off, take just a moment to check into your internal state, using the tools that are provided. This practice takes only a minute or two but is a powerful tool for increasing awareness, interrupting your patterns, and bringing the benefit of Conscious Transformation into your daily life.
What is the mind thinking about? Are the thoughts of a higher or lower nature? Is the mind clear and focused or confused and chaotic? What emotions are present? Are they of a higher or lower nature? How does the body feel? What sensations am I experiencing in the body and where are those sensations located?